Star Trek (1966) 2.08

I, Mudd

The Enterprise and it's crew are forcibly transported to distant Class K planet they had never visited before. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura and Chekov are all ordered to beam down with Norman, an android who, disguised as a member of the crew, is the one who programmed the Enterprise to travel to this planet. On the surface of the planet they meet the man behind the android, Harry Mudd.

Mudd, surrounded by androids who look like identical beautiful women named Alice, explains to Kirk and the others how he got to this planet and why he summoned them. The androids, who come from the Andromeda galaxy, want more people to study. The people who made them are all gone. Kirk and the others try reasoning with Harry and the androids but it gets them nowhere. Harry makes plans to leave but at the last minute he finds out that the androids don't intend to let him leave. 

Kirk and Harry work with the away team plus Scott who was forcibly beamed down later. They trick the androids and fry their circuits by doing things that make no sense at all. 

Thoughts

Sulu is in this episode but only in the first segment in the scenes that take place on the bridge of the Enterprise.

I remember watching this episode before but it has been a long time since I last saw it. I remember enjoying it when I saw it when I was much younger. I enjoyed it very much this time around. Clearly they are playing parts of this episode for laughs but I don't mind. I vastly prefer this episode to the previous one in which Harry Mudd appeared.

Notes

Roger C. Carmel played the part of Harry Mudd. This is the second of two appearances he made on this show. His first appearance was in 1.06 Mudd's Women. He also voiced the part of Harry Mudd in an episode of the animated series in the 1970s. He appeared in one episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

Richard Tatro played the part of Norman. This is the only episode of this show in which he appeared. Twin sisters Alyce and Rhae Andrece played all of the Alice androids. This is the only episode of this show in which they appeared.

This is the second of two episodes that Stephen Kandel had a hand in writing. He wrote the teleplay for 1.06 Mudd's Women.

This is the 11th of 15 episodes that Marc Daniels directed. The previous episode he directed was 2.06 The Doomsday Marchine.