star trek shorts mudd

Harcourt Fenton Mudd

Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd was a male Human , notorious for being a con artist , smuggler , and swindler, who lived during the mid- 23rd century .

• 1.1 Early life
• 1.2 Captivity by the Klingons
• 1.3 Escape and reunion with Stella
• 1.4.1 First encounter with the Enterprise
• 1.4.2 Hot water on Deneb V
• 1.4.3 Second encounter with the Enterprise
• 1.4.4 Third encounter with the Enterprise
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 See also
• 3.2 Appearances
• 3.3 Background information
• 3.4 Apocrypha
• 3.5 External links

History [ ]

Early life [ ].

Mudd claimed that he had been screwed over since the day he was born, and justified his con schemes by claiming he deserved their prizes.

According to a deleted scene from the script of " Mudd's Women ", Mudd was said to have been born on Antares Pi IV . Additional script notes indicated that he was forty-seven years of age, indicating a birth year of around 2219 . [1]

Mudd claimed to have once robbed a Betazoid bank by memorizing all the necessary codes; it was later speculated that in order to have really done this, he would have needed a time crystal like the one he used against the crew of the USS Discovery .

In the mid-2250s, Mudd was due to marry Stella Grimes , daughter of wealthy arms dealer Baron Grimes . ( DIS : " Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad ")

Dialogue in "Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" establishes that Stella had not seen Mudd for a year when she re-encountered him after his flight. It was not stated in which year this episode was set, the previous one being placed in late 2256 .

In Mudd's account of events, he fell madly in love with Stella, the only woman he ever loved. Her family did not approve of him, so he felt he had no choice but to try and buy her father's respect. He borrowed a large sum from some non-traditional lenders and gifted her with a moon . This scheme worked, but he eventually fell behind on his payments and his creditors came after him. They chased him into Klingon territory , where he was captured and deposited on a prison ship . ( DIS : " Choose Your Pain ")

However, when Starfleet researched Mudd, another version of events emerged. They suspected that Stella was merely Mudd's target after they discovered that he had fled her and taken her dowry with him. They theorized that he had fled into Klingon space not to escape his creditors, but to flee her father, who had offered a reward for finding him. ( DIS : " Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad ")

Captivity by the Klingons [ ]

For some time, Mudd shared a cell with Starfleet Lieutenant Ash Tyler . As a method of preventing camaraderie amongst prisoners, when the Klingon guards periodically came to deliver a beating, they would allow the subject to choose one of their fellow prisoners to receive the beating instead. Mudd always chose that option. Mudd kept a pet while imprisoned, a small alien insect-like creature he named Stuart , which he trained to steal small objects such as food, sometimes from fellow prisoners.

Mudd meeting Captain Gabriel Lorca

In December 2256 , Mudd and Tyler were then joined by the USS Discovery 's Captain Gabriel Lorca . After Lorca's interrogation by L'Rell , Mudd was discovered to be spying on his prisonmates for the Klingons, passing on information when other prisoners confided in him. Lorca and Tyler managed to escape soon after, but left Mudd behind. ( DIS : " Choose Your Pain ")

Escape and reunion with Stella [ ]

Escaping from Klingon custody with the help of Stuart, Mudd tracked down Captain Lorca aboard the Discovery in an attempt to steal and sell the ship to pay off his debts with the Klingons, equipped with a time displacement device and traveling inside a gormagander .

Unfortunately for Mudd, Lieutenant Paul Stamets was able to use a side effect of a recent spore drive -related eugenic manipulation to see through Mudd's temporal manipulation.

With his help, members of the Discovery crew ultimately managed to out-con Mudd, in reuniting him with Stella and her father. Although Mudd already spoke of his love in the past tense, Stella was eager to forgive and marry him, claiming that she had always known what kind of person he was. Her father supported the marriage, justifying this bizarre position by saying he'd do everything for his daughter. Before the duo left with Mudd, Stella's father promised to keep Mudd with Stella, and away from Starfleet. ( DIS : " Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad ")

Rainn Wilson offered his own theory as to how Mudd escaped the prison in AT : " Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad ". According to him, he was of no great value to the Klingons, but through camera surveillance they realized he was pretty crafty, after which they let him go free if he went after Lorca, and even gave him the gormagander.

Abandoning Stella and life as a con man [ ]

Mudd's interstellar exploits began again after he deserted Stella once more, becoming a peripatetic grifter who roamed through the galaxy practicing various cons, schemes, and scams – not always successfully. At some point subsequent to his encounter with Discovery , the Federation had charged Mudd with thirty counts of smuggling , twenty counts of attempted homicide , one count of attempted regicide, and "penetrating a space whale" (the aforementioned gormagander), and offered a bounty of 100,000 credits for his capture. In typical fashion, Mudd turned this to his advantage; he built or obtained a number of android duplicates of himself, and (while disguised as a female alien bounty hunter ) sold these androids to other bounty hunters, whose hopes of receiving the bounty on the real Harry Mudd were dashed upon discovering that they had paid for an android copy. ( ST : " The Escape Artist ")

Mudd's police record

By 2266 , Mudd had been convicted of smuggling (receiving a suspended sentence), transporting stolen goods, and purchasing a space vessel using counterfeit currency . For these last two crimes, Mudd was sentenced to undergo psychiatric treatment , the effectiveness of which was officially disputed. He held a master's license , permitting him to legally operate a spacecraft, but this license was revoked on stardate 1116.4 for operating stolen spacecraft and transporting illegal goods. ( TOS : " Mudd's Women ")

First encounter with the Enterprise [ ]

Mudd showing Captain Kirk his "cargo"

Mudd was first encountered by the crew of the USS Enterprise in 2266. Mudd, using the illegal Venus drug , attempted to sell Eve McHuron , Ruth Bonaventure , and Magda Kovacs to a group of lithium miners led by Ben Childress on Rigel XII . The drug gave the impression that the three women were beautiful, when in fact they were not. Childress and the other miners married the women anyway, as they were more interested in companionship and the benefits that having three practical, intelligent women around could provide, and the women were happy to escape their previously lonely existence. Before leaving Rigel XII, Mudd asked Captain James T. Kirk if he could remain on the planet, saying it would be adequate punishment, though this request wasn't granted. Criminal charges were later pressed against Mudd for his actions and he spent at least some time in jail . ( TOS : " Mudd's Women ")

In the final draft script of "Mudd's Women", Mudd instead opted for jail rather than be left on the planet, telling Kirk he would " rather go to prison than live on this forgotten hole. "

Hot water on Deneb V [ ]

Somehow, though, Mudd soon escaped. He then promptly began to sell the plans for alien technologies to various worlds – without bothering to pay any royalties to the actual off-world patent owners . This ended when an attempt to sell Vulcan fuel synthesizer technology to the inhabitants of Deneb V backfired. The transaction was unmasked as a hoax when the Denebians actually contacted Vulcan to ensure that Mudd had the rights to sell the technology in question, which, of course, he did not. ( TOS : " I, Mudd ")

Second encounter with the Enterprise [ ]

Mudd with Kirk again

The penalty for fraud on Deneb V was death . However, Mudd managed to "borrow" a spaceship and escape before the sentence could be carried out. He ended up fleeing to a previously uncharted planet , one that was populated entirely by androids programmed to adapt the planet for productive use, who became interested in studying Mudd as a specimen of Humanity . This meant that while the androids attended to his every need, and even made him the titular ruler of the planet (later named Mudd in his honor), Mudd was not allowed to leave.

Mudd surrounded by three of five hundred copies of Stella

Mudd then attempted to broker a deal where he would be allowed to escape if he provided the androids with other prime Human specimens to study. Therefore, in 2268 , Mudd identified the starship Enterprise to the androids as a likely source of exceptional examples of Humanity. (Mudd had no idea at the time that the androids instead planned to take over the galaxy and make all organic sapient races so totally dependent on them that they could effectively enslave these races.) Subsequently the android known as Norman , posing as a member of the Enterprise crew , successfully took control of the ship and took it to the planet Mudd. The crew of the Enterprise, however, was able to escape captivity by identifying Norman as the control for all of the planet's androids. With Harry's help, the crew proceeded to confuse Norman with illogical behavior, causing him to break down. After the androids were reprogrammed, Mudd was left behind on the planet as an example of a Human failure – along with five hundred uncontrollable android replicas of his shrill wife Stella for company. ( TOS : " I, Mudd ")

Third encounter with the Enterprise [ ]

Mudd causes a miners riot on the planet Motherlode

Eventually, Harry Mudd stole another spaceship and escaped the androids' planet in 2269 . He traveled to the planet Ilyra VI and "sold" Starfleet Academy to its inhabitants. Mudd then used the proceeds of that con to travel to Sirius IX , where he discovered a love potion crystal that he sold to over a thousand of the planet's inhabitants. Unfortunately, the buyers suffered allergic reactions to the crystals , and Mudd was forced to flee to the mining planet Motherlode , where he also tried to sell the love potion drug. Once again, however, he encountered the crew of the Enterprise and was captured by Captain Kirk and Spock .

Mudd was incarcerated in the brig , where he gave the love potion to Nurse Chapel as a gift. She then took the potion to Spock, but found that it did not take effect immediately; as a Vulcan, the effects of the drug took longer. Later, the drug did affect him, and Spock fell in love with Chapel. Fortunately, the drug only had temporary main effects – and a rebound aftereffect. After yet another escape, Harry Mudd was again captured and sentenced to an indefinite period of rehabilitation therapy, without guarantee that it would be effective. ( TAS : " Mudd's Passion ")

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Ouch! " " Who are you? " " The name is Mudd. Harcourt Fenton Mudd, Harry for short. I reiterate – ouch. "

" You can't walk away from me, Lorca. I'm coming for you. You hear? You haven't seen the last of Harcourt Fenton Mudd! "

" You are mad! " " No. I'm Mudd. "

" But men will always be men no matter where they are. "

" You see, gentlemen, behind every great man there is a woman urging him on. And so it was with my Stella. She urged me on into outer space. Not that she meant to, but with her continual, eternal, confounded nagging. Well, I think of her constantly, and every time I do, I go further out into space. "

Appendices [ ]

See also [ ].

• Mudd Incident

Appearances [ ]

• " Mudd's Women "
• " I, Mudd "
• TAS : " Mudd's Passion "
• TNG : " The Big Goodbye " (sketch)
• " Choose Your Pain "
• " Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad "
• ST : " The Escape Artist "

Background information [ ]

Harcourt Fenton Mudd was performed by actor Roger C. Carmel in the three episodes he appeared in for TOS and TAS. With the exception of the Enterprise crewmembers, Mudd was the only character to be played by the same actor in more than one episode of Star Trek: The Original Series . He was later played by Rainn Wilson for his appearances in DIS and ST.

The character of Harry Mudd, as devised by writer Stephen Kandel , was inspired by the fact that NBC had announced fears that the first Star Trek pilot episode, " The Cage " (with its alien Talosians ), would not be understood by its audience. Kandel later recounted, " I said, 'What if we start with a character who isn't alien or highly technologized, but rather somebody with whom the audience would easily identify?' What we came up with was a roofing salesman, a con man. " ( Starlog issue #117, p. 44) Kandel also stated, " I originally had the idea of a kind of a traveling salesman and con man – the medicine salesman in The Wizard of Oz , that ends up as the Wizard , an interstellar con man hustling whatever he can hustle; a lighthearted, cheerful, song-and-dance man version of a pimp. "

Stephen Kandel was given the chance to develop one of Gene Roddenberry 's story outlines, "The Women", which was basically about "space hookers" bound to be sold as wives on a distant planet by an "intergalactic pimp", named "Harry Patton". Kandel felt the story lacked a focal point character, and merged it with his idea of the charismatic con man. ( These Are the Voyages: TOS Season One , pp. 43 & 133)

In a revised draft of the story outline for " Mudd's Women " (dated 23 July 1964 ), Mudd was described as " an old reprobate named Harry Mudd who has a colorful reputation in space for fly-by-night schemes, grandiose promotions, and suspected smuggling. And yet it is impossible not to like Mudd. "

In the final draft script of "Mudd's Women" (dated 26 May 1966 ), Mudd was initially described thus; " HARCOURT FENTON MUDD… Harry Mudd… scoundrel… delight… conniver… hustler… and much, much more… half the classic Scaramouche… half the classic almost everything else. Harry Mudd, in a word, is style… and all his own kind. " Later in the script, Mudd was referred to as having a "razzle dazzle, extra-legal kind of approach to life," and the teleplay continued, " His instinct is to scratch, scramble and con… his nature is precisely what he says it is and nobody believes. "

Stephen Kandel was highly proud of having conceived the character: " Harry Mudd was a marvelous character because of the highly recognizable Human quality set against the alien-in-time or alien-in-space activity that evolved, " Kandel remarked. " That's what made it amusing, and it's also hard to do because you had stern-jawed Kirk who would meet an eight-foot intelligent reptile and deal with him as any astronaut would. Then, the reptile would meet Harry Mudd, whose first impulse would be to run and hide, and second impulse would be to sell it scale enhancer. " ( Starlog issue #117, p. 44)

Stephen Kandel was also impressed with Roger C. Carmel's performances of the role, enthusing, " Roger C. Carmel was wonderful as Harry. He inhabited the character and expanded it [....] He developed the character physically as an actor [....] He WAS the character to such a large degree that no one else could possibly play the part. " ( Starlog issue #117, p. 44) " It was an ideal part for him, " Kandel also commented, and related that he believed the role fit Carmel to such a degree that the actor was slightly frustrated that the other roles of his career failed to measure up to it. ( The Star Trek Interview Book , p. 134)

Along with Khan Noonien Singh , Mudd was one of only two opponents to face Kirk more than once in live-action Star Trek productions. Mark A. Altman observed that the repeated appearances of Mudd served as a precedent for crossover appearances later in the history of Star Trek , such as the initially TNG characters of Q and the Duras sisters reappearing on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . ( Trek: Deepspace Nine , p. 70)

Plans for a third TOS episode featuring Harry Mudd, entitled " Deep Mudd ", were scrapped when Carmel became unavailable. ( Starlog issue #117, p. 44)

In " The Big Goodbye ", an illustration of Harcourt Fenton Mudd was seen when Data was assimilating the Dixon Hill novels . This illustration was from the FASA RPG module The Federation .

The Art of Star Trek contained a photo of a raktajino bottle from Quark 's Bar which bore a label stating: "100% Colombian," "Made from the Green Hills of Earth" (a title of a short story by Robert Heinlein ), and "Imported by Harcourt Mudd." If this was canonical and referred to the same Harcourt Mudd, it would indicate that Mudd entered into this business sometime after the First Khitomer Accords and his original misadventures with the crew of the Enterprise , because raktajino was unknown to the Federation in the 2260s , as documented in DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ".

During pre-production on DS9 : " One Little Ship ", Ira Steven Behr voiced regret that the episode's villain wasn't "someone like Harry Mudd." Behr went on to say, " He's a real villain, but essentially a comic character, and that would make the two sides of the story match up. " Because it was too late in the process of the episode's creation for such a drastic change, however, the concept of using Mudd was largely forgotten by the DS9 writing staff. The only exception was in the mind of Hans Beimler , who imagined an ending to "One Little Ship" if Mudd had indeed appeared therein. Relaying the conclusion, René Echevarria said, " Once Harry realizes he's been foiled, he steals a runabout and tries to make his escape from the Defiant [...] He gets pulled into the [episode's] anomaly and it's about to close up forever when we beam him onto the ship, and he's only [a fraction of an inch in size] [...] And Odo says, 'Well, at least we won't have to feed him very much!' " ( Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion , p. 531)

Before actor Greg Grunberg portrayed Commander Finnegan in Star Trek Beyond , multiple individuals suggested to him that he should play Harry Mudd in the alternate reality films . " I would absolutely love to play Harry Mudd, that would be incredible, " Grunberg enthused. " I would have to redefine the character and do it the way I see doing it, but that character to me has comedy and brings levity and I would be able to work with robotic chicks. How fun would that be? " Regarding Mudd's appearance, Grunberg reckoned, laughing, " I would go with the big mustache and an earring, why not? " [2]

The casting of Rainn Wilson as Mudd followed a general meeting he had with the newly formed DIS writing staff, the actor having asked his agents, as soon as he had heard about the new series, if they could set up the meeting. During the conversation, he remarked to the DIS staffers that he would "love it" if there was a role in the series for him to play. Although the writing staffers were unsure if there was anything suitable yet, they promised to keep him in mind. [3] " We said, 'Well, we'll keep in touch,' " continued Executive Producer/Writer Aaron Harberts . " He left, and we got into thinking about these little Easter eggs and someone said, 'Oh, Harry Mudd has to make an appearance.' That's when we said, 'Oh my God, that's Rainn.' " [4] Approximately six months after the initial meeting, Wilson received a phone call asking him if he would like to portray Mudd, an offer he enthusiastically accepted. [5]

In adopting the Mudd role for DIS, Rainn Wilson was pleased with the amount of creative leeway he was given with the part. " I got to take what Roger Carmel did with the original character and then add my own, special sauce, " Wilson commented. " He created a fantastic, flamboyant, over-the-top, mischievous but kind of dangerous character. I get to bring a little more to it. " ( Star Trek Magazine Discovery Collector's Edition , p. 40) He also stated, " To get to go back and do a classic character from TOS... [....] It really was a dream come true for me. " One of the factors Rainn "really loved" about Mudd was that he had a backstory which preceded even his earliest appearances in DIS. However, Wilson was also of the opinion that his presentment of the Mudd character was in sync with how Carmel had previously played the role. " He was always deadly. Remember, in 'I, Mudd,' he's going to trap them on a planet with androids and take the ship and leave them to die. Mudd has always had a dark edge. He's a con-man and a merchant and a trickster, but he's always had a deadly edge. So, I think they're continuing in that tradition. " [6]

Mudd's outfit in "Choose Your Pain" was designed by Gersha Phillips , mostly cut from leather, and fabricated by the show's costume department. The outfit was inspired by the stage costumes worn by English musician Adam Ant . After being used in the series, it was displayed as part of an exhibition at San Diego Comic-Con in 2017 . ( Star Trek Magazine Discovery Collector's Edition , p. 41)

Ultimately, Aaron Harberts and the rest of the creative team have been pleased with the depictions of Mudd in DIS. Harberts consequently referred to the character as a "huge throwback, but one that reaped huge dividends." [7]

Apocrypha [ ]

FASA 's RPG sourcebook The Federation claims that Mudd was born in St. Louis.

In the video game Star Trek: 25th Anniversary , Mudd encountered Kirk again in 2268 , between the events of " I, Mudd " and " Mudd's Passion ". He was discovered on a salvage mission of a derelict ship of unknown alien origin. While aboard, he managed to accidentally sell weapon components to pirates , become infected with unknown alien drugs, nearly kill an Enterprise landing party with faulty equipment, and destroy a priceless archive of computer records. Following the conclusion of his investigation, Captain Kirk ordered Mudd to donate five of every artifact he found to research. Also, Lt. Uhura arranged for Mudd to meet his "long-lost wife" at a nearby starbase . In the game, Mudd's voice was provided by Tom Wyner.

In the video game Star Trek: Starfleet Academy , Mudd's notoriety had reached every known sector to such extent that by 2288 , his escapades were required study material at Starfleet Academy . One of the sophomore-junior year simulations was that of a mock rescue attempt which cadets were required to pass. In the simulation, the classroom/bridge was to protect his small freighter, the Stella , while also negotiate with a hostile Romulan warbird .

In US comic strip " It's a Living ", Mudd later purchased a planet for its rare ores, but found, to his dismay, that the planet was actually a large egg for a space-faring creature. After it hatched, Mudd sold the planet back to its original owner (who was unaware of the creature), but he still ended up losing out, as the ores were then floating in space and were actually easier to mine.

Other appearances of Mudd include Where Sea Meets Sky , Mudd in Your Eye , " The Business, As Usual, During Altercations " (from Mudd's Angels ), " The Light Fantastic ", " Operation Con Game ", " When You Wish Upon a Star...! ", " Mudd's Magic! ", " Mission: Muddled ", " The Sky Above... The Mudd Below ", " Target: Mudd! ", " Made Out of Mudd ", and " The Survival Equation ".

Harry Mudd of the mirror universe

Harry Mudd's mirror universe counterpart appears in issues 1 and 2 of the comic series Star Trek: Discovery - Succession . He is known to be more of a humanitarian concerned with helping the refugees of Risa , although he has a prior relationship with the mirror universe counterpart of Michael Burnham . He has also smuggled weapons in the past, indicating a shady background.

Harry Mudd of the alternate reality's mirror universe

Harry Mudd's alternate reality mirror universe counterpart appears in the fiftieth and fifty-first issues of the Star Trek: Ongoing comic series, where he has been doing business with the mirror universe counterpart of James T. Kirk on the planet Arronia II. When he attempts to re-negotiate his terms with mirror Kirk, the deposed captain shoots and kills Mudd and leaves the planet on his ship.

External links [ ]

• Harcourt Fenton Mudd at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• 2 Daniels (Crewman)
• 3 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)

Den of Geek

Star Trek: Discovery – The Secrets of the Harry Mudd Short Trek

Rainn Wilson talks Harry Mudd in new Star Trek short: Why he's like Lex Luthor and brings a little Star Wars to Starfleet.

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This article contains spoilers for the Star Trek: Discovery “Short Treks” episode, “The Escape Artist.”

His name is Mudd. And while we already knew he was a bad, bad man in the  Star Trek  universe, it turns out in the new  Star Trek: Discovery  “Short Treks” episode “The Escape Artist,” there may be multiple Harcourt Fenton “Harry” Mudds running around – most of them androids, and with the simple goal of “sipping Jippers on a beach.”

Starring, and directed by Rainn Wilson – who appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery ‘s first season, in the role originated by Roger C. Carmel of  Star Trek: The Original Series  – “The Escape Artist” picks up with several bounties on Mudd’s head for crimes, (including that of penetrating a goramander). One Tellarite thinks he’s clever, and lucky, enough to capture the galactic con-man, but it turns out there is a twist: The real Harry has been spreading around android dupes of himself to collect on his own bounty, and escape capture.

“There is a long rich history between Harry Mudd, and androids,” Wilson says, referencing  The Original Series  episode “I, Mudd.” “Harry uses people, and androids are a very easy way to pull one over; it is slave labor, and you can fool people.”

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“With Harry, nothing is as it seems,” said the actor, known for his work as Dwight Schrute on  The Office , the James Gunn flick  Super , and  The Meg . Wilson shared he had been trying to bring Mudd back for some time after his initial Discovery  episodes. Wilson says the talks involved the hows, and whys of story, and scheduling, when the script by Michael McMahan ( Rick and Morty ) fell into his lap out of blue, along with the opportunity to direct the short.

Whereas he had directed three episodes of  The Office , Wilson says he had never directed anything as complicated, and demanding, as “The Escape Artist,” which heavily involves special effects. However, he added that the character of Mudd himself presented a challenge.

“The trick with Harry Mudd is how you balance the comedy with taking him very seriously,” he says, adding that the short is more comedic than his two outings on  Discovery , and he sought to combine the humor with the dastardly of Mudd.

read more – Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 and the Reintroduction of Captain Pike

“You have to believe the stakes are life and death. Lives are in the balance,” he said. “It is an interesting challenge as a director, and as an actor, to make all of that sing.”

And have no doubt, Wilson views Mudd as a self-serving, threatening villain. He noted that people think of Carmel’s performance as comedic from Mudd’s initial encounters with Captain Kirk’s Enterprise, “but when you really look at what Mudd is doing, he is selling sex slaves to mining colonies, and in the second one, he is stealing the Enterprise, and going to trap the crew on a planet with these androids.”

This makes a character such as Mudd refreshing in a universe such as  Discovery , where people are typically earnest. Wilson observes that while it can be a dark and serious show, “Other than Captain Lorca, people are who they say they are…So Harry Mudd turns that on his head; whatever he is presenting, things are very, very different.”

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By flashing back to previous encounters – what are initially presented as Mudd’s memories, rather than androids accessing data – “The Escape Artist” hints at the “multi-varied rich backstory” of other Mudd adventures. Interestingly, the short also reveals that Mudd is pretty good at being bad. Although he does get caught a few times in the short, he always manages to get himself out of certain death, through conversation, scheming, and maybe even occasional seduction. And, at least with his android doppelgangers, things seem to be working out for the incredibly smart character.

read more: Michael Chabon’s Short Trek is a Thing of Optimistic Beauty

In this, Wilson compares Mudd to Lex Luthor – a character he has voiced in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies  The Death of Superman  and Reign of the Supermen , to be released this month. He says, similar to Lex, he could be pretty successful in his supervillainy, if not for his own ego. “Harry is going to be the smartest person in the room, but his hubris is going to be his undoing. I hate to compare Harry Mudd to Lex Luthor, but while in the Den of Geek , why not go for it?”

Wilson also channels the ultimate fan debate of  Star Trek  vs.  Star Wars  by saying Mudd’s character opens up an opportunity to explore the civilians living under the auspices of the Federation, outside of official delegates or Starfleet personnel.

“You get to see a different side of what humanity is [with Mudd]; it is an opportunity where the Star Trek world can have more of that fun Star Wars feel of the Han Solo, of the smugglers, merchants, traders, and people living on the fringes of the Federation,” he says, observing that, “Perhaps people feel the Federation is more like the Empire.”

“I have always enjoyed the Star Trek universe more than the Star Wars universe, and love the intellectual rigor — exploring big, human ideas while Star Wars is ultimately fun gun fights in space,” Wilson added. “Star Trek is more about big ideas, but Mudd opens the door to an exploration of people living in the Federation.”

Calling Harry Mudd one of the most enjoyable characters he has played, Wilson said he hopes to appear in more Discovery adventures, “or other series,” but that he doesn’t know about the character’s involvement in Star Trek: Discovery season 2 . Given the chance, he said he would like to find out how Mudd met his wife Stella, and his relationship with her, and her family.

Meanwhile, Rainn Wilson seems to enjoy delivering Harry Mudd’s new catchphrase that, if he were rich, “I’d be sipping Jippers on a beach,” which closes out “The Escape Artist.” Saying it a few times for this interviewer, he joked it’d be a great idea for a Harry Mudd T-shirt: “Let’s get on that!”

Aaron Sagers | @aaronsagers

Aaron Sagers is a New York City-based journalist, author, and researcher of the weird, pursuing the cross-cultural connections of the paranormal across the globe for more…

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‘star trek: short treks’ star rainn wilson on rebuilding a classic character.

Rainn Wilson discusses his dual role as actor and director in the 'Star Trek' spin-off, and why 'Discovery' characters and audience alike need to take his comic role seriously as a threat to galactic peace.

By Mike Bloom

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• Entertainment

Star Trek: Short Treks on CBS All Access to start this fall

Discovery's Harry Mudd, Saru and Tilly will star in Star Trek short films set to delve into their backstories.

Not every voyage needs to be a full episode long. CBS's  streaming show  Star Trek: Discovery will explore some strange new backstories with a series of four shorts called Star Trek: Short Treks. (Disclosure: CBS is CNET's parent company.)

The standalone Short Treks, each running 10 to 15 minutes long, will debut on the streaming service starting on Oct. 4,  CBS announced  on Thursday. 

While Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) is the star of the main show, the shorts will focus on members of the supporting cast. Rainn Wilson will return as space-faring conman Harry Mudd and will also direct the short. 

Wilson teased Thursday's announcement over the weekend by tweeting a photo of himself with two green-skinned Orion aliens.

Guess who’s back!? (Ok, I’ll tell you.) #HarryMudd Big announcement on Thursday from @StarTrekCBS ! pic.twitter.com/snqpAfxE3o — RainnWilson (@rainnwilson) September 16, 2018

Another short will feature Saru (Doug Jones). He plays the first Kelpien in Starfleet and we can expect to learn more about how an alien who was a prey species on his home planet came to be on a spaceship. CBS All Access also teased a dive into Cadet Sylvia Tilly's (Mary Wiseman) life and her "journey aboard the USS Discovery and her friendship with an unlikely partner."

A fourth short will introduce a man named Craft (Aldis Hodge) who's the only human on a deserted ship.

The Tilly short, titled Runaway, will debut on Oct. 4. It will be followed by Calypso (featuring Craft) on Nov. 8, The Brightest Star (with Saru) on Dec. 6, and The Escape Artist (with Harry Mudd) on Jan. 3.

The original announcement of the shorts came during a Star Trek: Discovery panel at  Comic-Con  International in San Diego earlier this year.   

Alex Kurtzman, Discovery co-creator and executive producer, said the shorts will have closed-ended stories, but will reveal clues about what's to come in future episodes of the main show. So far, we have confirmation that Spock, originally played by Leonard Nimoy, will appear in the new season .

Season 2 of Star Trek: Discovery is scheduled to stream on CBS All Access in 2019.

First published July 20. Update, Sept. 20, 12:02 p.m. PT: Adds Oct. 4 debut date. 

Every Star Trek: Discovery season 2 photo so far

Legendary Scoundrel Harry Mudd Returns In Final 'Star Trek: Short Trek' Trailer: 'The Escape Artist'

Save the best for last. Clearly that's what CBS has done with its four-part "Short Trek" mini-series. 

The "Short Treks" have got consistently better each month with "The Brightest Star" that aired just two weeks ago being the best yet — and we're shaking with excitement for the final episode. Called "The Escape Artist," it stars the one and only Harcourt Fenton Mudd, played by Rainn Wilson — who also directed the episode — and airs on Jan. 3. 

"Wanted for 30 counts of smuggling…" A Tellarite law enforcement agent says. Mudd scoffs at him.

"Twenty counts of homicide…" The Tellarite continues. "Transportation of stolen goods. And you slept with my sister..."

"Oh…" Mudd murmurs, sheepishly.

Mudd is magnetic. Mudd is mesmerizing. He is enigmatic, charismatic and just plain mischievous. 

"Short Treks" is being shown in the U.S. on CBS All Access . In Canada they're available on the channel Space and the online service CraveTV as well as the Snackable TV app. Sadly, fans in the UK and Europe will miss out as there's no plans for Netflix to show them as yet. Consequently, you'll need a VPN to watch this trailer.

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The first season of "Star Trek: Discovery" is available to stream in its entirety on CBS All Access in the US and Netflix in the UK. "Star Trek: Discovery" Season 1 on Blu-ray and DVD can be ordered now , making it the perfect gift to ask Santa for.

The second season of "Star Trek: Discovery" will consist of 13 episodes with no mid-season break. It will premiere on Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019 in the US and Canada, and it will be released in the rest of the world on Friday, Jan. 18, 2019.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook . Original article on Space.com .

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Published Sep 27, 2015

Everything You Wanted to Know About Harry Mudd... and More

His name is Mudd... Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

His name is Mudd... Harcourt Fenton Mudd. He's been labeled a scoundrel, reprobate, con-man, forger, thief, sociopath and much worse. To know him isn't so much to love him as it is to be swindled at every available chance. Conceived by screenwriter Steven Kandel as a comic foil to the ultra-serious James T. Kirk, Harry Mudd immediately charmed fans thanks to the wonderfully campy performance of the late Roger C. Carmel.

Mudd's three televised appearances, two in The Original Series (" Mudd's Women " and " I, Mudd ") and a third in The Animated Series (" Mudd's Passion "), often rank among the classic years' most popular tales, but his story didn't end there. The decades since have seen the release of numerous novel, comic book and video game sequels that are well worth reading for the sheer lunacy that inevitably results whenever Mudd is around.

Star Trek - Mudd and Kirk Meet Again

Harry was slated to return in a third TOS episode titled "Deep Mudd," which sadly never came to pass. Reportedly, Gene Roddenberry later considered bringing the character into the 24th century by having him among those revived from cryogenic suspension in " The Neutral Zone ," and there was also talk of his appearing as a character witness at Kirk's trial in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . However, Carmel's tragic death in 1986 prevented his return. He would have turned 83 today, September 27.Saying Mudd has committed a few crimes is like saying Tribbles have had a few babies. His conviction record is a legend among criminologists, matched only by his ability to avoid facing the consequences. The following file represents a mere sampling of Mudd's infractions as depicted on television, as well as in the books, comics and games, from which a solid picture of the walking shenanigan that is Harry Mudd begins to emerge.

A Timeline Through the Star Trek Universe

• Name: Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd • Future Police Record-Code: X731248
• Height: 6 feet, 1 inch • Weight: 240 pounds (fluctuating with age)
• Eyes: Brown • Hair: Brown • Complexion: Fair
• Identifying Details: Receding hairline, handlebar mustache, jowls, pendulous abdomen
• Aliases: H.F. Mudd, Harcourt Fenton, Leo Francis Walsh, Blackbeard Teach, Socrates, Grand Qaal of Eulus, Emperor Mudd the First, Harry Patton
• Personality: Jovial, hedonistic, dishonest, cunning, cowardly, charismatic and manipulative, with an almost sociopathic inability to discern right from wrong
• Criminal Profile: Shows a penchant for ventures involving mining colonies or alcoholic beverages

PERSONAL LIFE Mudd was born in 2219 on Antares Pi Four. He married a woman named Stella, whom he considered the love of his life, but abandoned her two months later to escape her incessant nagging, by stowing away aboard a freighter. The two eventually divorced, with no children. Stella's mother, a thin, ornery hillbilly, openly detested Harry and was skilled with a shotgun, which scared him. ["Mudd's Women" (early script draft), Mudd in Your Eye, Mudd's Angels ]In his later years, with no children to carry on his legacy, Mudd took under his wing a young thief named Shilo. Despite both being unscrupulous criminals, the two formed a genuinely close father-daughter bond. ["The Sky Above, The Mudd Below"]In at least one reality, Mudd may not have been childless. In an alternate universe resulting from the Romulan Nero's temporal incursion, Mudd is believed to have fathered a half-Bajoran daughter, first name unknown, who worked as a trader. In 2259, she helped Robert April and Section 31 provide Starfleet weaponry to one side of a civil war on Phaedus IV, in violation of the Prime Directive. That timeline's James Kirk impounded her K'normian trading ship, which he and his crew used a month later for a mission to arrest John Harrison (Khan Noonien Singh) on Qo'noS. [ Countdown to Darkness, Star Trek Into Darkness ] RECORD OF OFFENSES

Mudd has been convicted of smuggling (sentence suspended), transport of stolen goods and the purchase of a space vessel with counterfeit currency. He received psychiatric treatment, the effectiveness of which was disputed, and his Master's License was revoked on Stardate 1116.4. In addition, he sold the natives of Omega Cygni their own oceans, conned two miners on Ophiucus VI out of a year's supply of dilithium crystals using fake Federation vouchers, and figured out how to break the gambling machines on Curalon IV. ["Mudd's Women," "Mudd's Passion," "Another Fine Mess"]In 2266, at age 47, Harry Mudd stole a class-J cargo ship. When the vessel exploded, Captain James T. Kirk beamed Mudd to safety aboard the Enterprise, along with his "cargo" of seductive women: Ruth Bonaventure, Magda Kavacs and Eve McHuron. Posing as Captain Leo Francis Walsh (the cargo ship's late owner), Mudd had planned to sell the women to settlers on Ophiucus III. Kirk arrested him for galaxy travel without a flight plan or identification, failure to respond to a starship signal and causing a menace to navigation. When the starship visited Rigel XII to obtain lithium crystals, Mudd contacted miners Ben Childress, Herm Gossett and Benton, offering the women as payment if the men arranged for his freedom. The miners gladly accepted, leaving Kirk no choice but to release Mudd and his cargo, but when the women turned plain and non-glamorous after a night spent on the planet, Kirk arrested Mudd for fraudulently enhancing their beauty with illegal Venus drugs. Kirk promised to testify at Harry's trial, much to the latter's displeasure. ["Mudd's Women"]

Mudd bought his freedom and organized a technical information service, selling modern industrial methods to backwater planets without paying patent royalties. When he sold Deneb V the rights to a Vulcan fuel synthesizer, the Denebians convicted him of fraud and sentenced him to death. He escaped aboard a stolen starship but a shot damaged his controls, forcing him to land on Galor IV, which he christened Mudd's Planet (Mudd for short). The planet was inhabited by more than 207,000 Andromedan androids, who made Harry their leader, Emperor Mudd the First, granting his every wish but refusing to let him leave.Mudd sent an android named Norman to hijack the Enterprise, hoping to exchange the crew for his freedom, but the androids instead decided that all of humanity needed their guidance. Kirk, Spock and Mudd overwhelmed the mechanicals with illogic, re-programming them to resume their original task of adapting the planet's surface for productive use. Kirk then left the scoundrel in their protective custody, guarded by 500 android replicas of Stella Mudd. ["I, Mudd"]The details of Harry's inevitable escape from the android planet are muddled (pun intended), as he has offered at least five conflicting accounts. Given Mudd's gift for gab, any, all or none might be accurate. Among his claims:

• He mimicked Spock's demeanor to make the androids think him rehabilitated, then stole technology and weapons left behind by their Makers and escaped aboard a stolen space yacht that he called the Jolly Roger. ["Deep Mudd"]
• He taught the androids organized sports and gambling, then fled in a stolen spacecraft when they caught him cheating. [ Star Trek Log Three ]
• He re-formed android society around the concepts of legality and justice, used their technology to terraform the planet and build himself an empire, turned the Stellas into a starship fleet (including ships called Evening Stella, Dark Stella, Stella Sapphire, Interstella and Superstella) and traveled the galaxy trading android wives to miners. [ Mudd's Angels ]
• He feigned an interest in ending a war in the Nevis System, fooled the androids into letting him leave with a single Stella escort, and then made a run for it. [ Mudd in Your Eye ]
• He helped the androids terraform the planet, losing much weight in the process, until former starship captain Ronald Tracey abducted him for his own purposes. ["Made Out of Mudd"]

In 2269, Mudd sold Starfleet Academy to Ilyria VI and peddled a love potion on Sirius IX that sickened thousands. When the Sirian bank impounded his funds, he fled to Motherlode (Arcadia III), where the Enterprise crew found him using a Rigellian hypnoid to project an illusion of a beautiful woman to con miners into buying love crystals. When the miners resorted to violence, Kirk took Mudd into protective custody in the ship's brig.Mudd preyed upon Christine Chapel's attraction to Spock, convincing her to use a love crystal to make the Vulcan return her affections. Stealing her phaser and ID, he escaped to the shuttle bay, holding the nurse as his hostage. Kirk and Spock pursued the craft, saving Chapel and Mudd from an alien predator by feeding it the crystals. Harry—who, when Spock pronounced his love for Chapel, was stunned to find that the love crystals actually worked—was remanded to the Peaceforcer court on the planet Darius. ["Mudd's Passion", Star Trek Log Three ]

Mudd once posed as the pirate Blackbeard Teach. Hiring a ragtag crew and a Klingon first mate named Tarsh, he used the Jolly Roger to loot the starship Dauntless of its star-charts. Kirk pursued him to Spica III (Mudball), but he captured the crew and demanded they help him fleece the natives of their gems. Lieutenant Nyota Uhura seduced Mudd with a confiscated love crystal, while Tarsh tried to kill Harry and use the Andromedan weapons to sieze the Klingon throne. Harry gave Kirk the weapons to halt the renegade's plans, but evaded capture thanks to an Andromedan device implanted in his system, enabling him to bypass electronic security systems. ["Deep Mudd"]

Mudd salvaged a derelict extraterrestrial spaceship in the Harrapan System, then peddled items from the vessel as Mudd's Miracle De-grimer, Mudd's Limited Coffee Substitute, build-your-own telescope kit lenses, novelty paints and more, with which he conned (and angered) a band of Elasi pirates. After issuing a distress call (which the Enterprise answered), the con-man become infected with mysterious alien drugs and inadvertently erased a priceless archive of computer records. As penance, Kirk forced him to donate five of every artifact he found to research, while Uhura informed Stella of her deadbeat husband's whereabouts. ["Another Fine Mess"]At around this time, Mudd launched a company called HFM Enterprises, hired a buxom Orion receptionist named Verlida and began altering the habitat of the Saganicus giganticus in order to draw in tourists on Tttnicktttnor. Although the Federation had no jurisdiction on that world, he agreed to cease such activities, in exchange for assistance from Uhura and Spock in creating a "Ride on the Enterprise" holodiorama as a replacement attraction. ["A Sucker Born"]During a galactic dilithium shortage, Kirk met with miners on Muldoon, Coridan and Akladi, who sold their dilithium rights to the Galactic Trading Company after Starfleet failed to renew contracts. Based on Liticia, Galactic operated subsidiaries named after the British East India Co., Yukon Fur Trading Co., Muscovy Trading Co., South Sea Bubble Co., Great Western Railway Co., Vocational Trading Institute, and Governors and Company of the Merchants of the Levant, all dubious traders of the 18th century.In actuality, Liticia was Mudd's Planet. Mudd had bought out Starfleet's contracts by trading android wives to the miners, until eventually cornering the market. He loaded the crystals aboard his cargo ship, the Superstella, to auction on the open market, but when his ship entered the galactic energy barrier, the crystals started to expand. The vessel exploded, destroying the Large Magellanic Cloud and causing a time-loop that erased these events from happening.The androids charged Mudd with first-degree androlepsy, charlatanry, barratry, multiple civil rights violations, crossing planetary boundaries for immoral purposes, embezzling, pandering, malversation, privateering, tax evasion, piloting without a license, speculation and solicitation, but Mudd argued that since the time-loop prevented his crimes from occurring, he couldn't be tried for them. Though granting him that point, the androids nonetheless deemed him a menace and exiled him from the galaxy on a ship designed to self-destruct if he ever re-entered the barrier. [ Mudd's Angels ]Mudd apparently circumvented this restriction and returned to Federation space. Paying the Denebians to clear his name, he avoided further charges for years. During this time, Vulcan hired him as a consultant to learn how he had managed to breach the planet's computer network and steal the fuel synthesizer. Harry eventually re-surfaced in the Nevis System, ending a 12,000-year war between the planets Prastor and Distrel by forging a deal to distribute palko fruits throughout the galaxy. He had come to Nevis to steal a long-range transporter allowing instantaneous galactic travel without a starship, which he had learned about while scouring the androids' archives for a way to escape. But the peace talks stalled when Prastor invaded its neighbor.Mudd was killed in the conflict, but was rejuvenated by a computer designed to circumvent death on both worlds by reincarnating all casualties of war. The system then malfunctioned while trying to revive the non-living form of Mudd's android escort, Stella. Showing uncharacteristic courage, Mudd challenged the Grand General of Distrel to a duel, volunteering to temporarily die in order to restart the computer. This restored normalcy to the system—though Mudd, once rejuvenated, absconded with the Nevisians' technological secrets. [ Mudd in Your Eye ]Mudd became a pawn of Ron Tracey when the disgraced officer plotted revenge on Kirk for getting him drummed out of the Service. Tracey forced Harry to enter an alien mechanism on Triangularis III that altered his form, down to his DNA, to be a perfect replica of James Kirk. He then blackmailed Mudd into infiltrating a Starfleet base on Tau Delta IX and stealing computer data so Tracey could betray the Federation to a Klingon invasion armada led by Captain Koloth.

Mudd outsmarted Tracey by purposely being caught so he could alert Starfleet. Since Harry risked his life to help thwart Tracey's plans (even if only to get his own body back), Kirk convinced Starfleet to reduce all outstanding charges and let him return to Earth a free man (albeit with Stella as his parole officer). With no way to reverse the transformation, Mudd was stuck in his new Kirk-like body, much to his outrage. As a consolation, Doctor Leonard McCoy used a cellular growth accelerator to regrow Harry's handlebar mustache. ["Made Out of Mudd"]At some point, however, Mudd apparently regained his original form.

Sometime later, the Enterprise crew discovered dilithium on the planet Eulus while exploring a neutral sector near Klingon space. The Klingon cruiser Ectacus had formed a mining treaty with the Grand Qaal of Eulus, who was really Mudd in disguise. In return for a cargo of gold, Mudd had sold the Klingons cheap synthetic dilithium, which proved unstable and exploded easily. Kirk rushed to warn the Klingons of the deception, leaving McCoy to guard Mudd. Using sign language, Harry summoned local primitives who had come to worship him. Fleeing in a space-buggy, he planned to strand the physician on a backwater asteroid, but Kirk captured him and returned the stolen gold to the Ectacus. Charged with jeopardizing two starship personnel and kidnapping a third, Mudd received a long sentence for these crimes. ["Operation Con Game"]On one occasion, Mudd pickpocketed McCoy's communicator at a bar, which ended up saving the con-man's life. After being caught up in a Neutral Zone dispute on Shroud IV, Harry was captured while trying to swindle a Romulan with forged Starfleet encryption codes purchased from Orion pirates. However, he managed to contact Kirk for assistance using the stolen communicator. [25th Anniversary game]In 2271, when the Enterprise was assigned to study seismic disturbances plaguing a thermium mining colony on Argus IV, Kirk learned that owner Max Vargas had sold the planet to Mudd. Spock detected life-readings in the planet's core, and when the quakes became deadly, the starship evacuated the colonists. The world broke apart, giving birth to a vast creature incubating in its core. Argus IV was an egg, Spock realized, placed in orbit to grow in the sun's warmth. To cut his losses, Mudd quickly sold Argus IV back to Vargas, forgetting that the planet could now be towed away in chunks without the expense of mining. Realizing the enormous wealth he'd just given up, Mudd was horrified at having this time scammed himself out of profit. ["It's a Living"]At some point, Mudd stole sacred artifacts from the Venturi. The furious aliens tracked him down to Newton II and fired on his independent freighter, the Stella. A Starfleet vessel intervened on Mudd's behalf, securing the thief's release by forcing Harry to return the items, then towed Mudd's damaged vessel to the planet Mocra. Starfleet later recreated these events for use in a simulator to train cadets. [ Bridge Simulator game]Mudd maintained a low profile for years. He claimed to have retired to a villa on Cygnus, but was actually homeless, selling "used tribbles" to passersby. Eventually, he and a young thug named Albert (possibly his nephew) released a pack of Taurian rodents at a farm colony on Caniga VII, then sold the colonists a robotic pest-control system to catch the vermin. When the malfunctioning robots destroyed the farms, Mudd abandoned Albert and fled to space. Unfortunately, the rodents had overrun his ship, forcing Harry to jettison in a lifepod. Crashing on an uncharted world, he found among ancient ruins a nanny robot that lovingly granted his every wish—except his desire to leave. When Harry wished for help so he could escape, the artifact obligingly forced the Enterprise to change course for that world. ["Mudd's Magic"]A riddle-speaking alien led the Enterprise's officers on a journey through recreations of Wrigley's Pleasure Planet and other locations, culminating in a stroll down the yellow-brick road of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Waiting for them in the Wizard's palace was Mudd. McCoy realized the nanny robot had mistaken them for infants in its care. After Spock mind-melded with the artifact to convince it they were adults, Kirk called the Final Wish Upon a Star Foundation and offered the planet as a resource to make terminally ill patients happy during their final days. Though Mudd had committed no recorded crimes this time, Kirk took him into custody anyway, figuring he must have been wanted somewhere. ["When You Wish Upon a Star," "Mudd's Magic"]Mudd first met Shilo during a speculative venture in the Timonium System. So impressed was he when she successfully swindled him that he took her in as his ward. He began operating under the alias "Socrates," and the two struggled to survive, using electronic wizardry to con tourists with a bogus snake-charming act on Skellen III. Looking to retire, Harry hired an alien named Vashi to steal the Sacred Jaheelah from Domine Ravia of the Nasgul, so that Mudd could sell it to her insane half-brother, Salla Vlagro. Ravia and Vlagro both threatened war over its return, and Mudd tried to double his profit by selling it back to her instead. Furious at his treachery, she tortured him until the Enterprise crew intervened. Kirk returned the Jaheelah to the rightful leader, Salla Watan, restoring order to the Nasgul—but thereby forcing Mudd to continue his life of crime. ["Mission: Muddled," "The Sky Above, The Mudd Below," "Target: Mudd"]

After repeated prison terms and intensive psychiatric treatments, Mudd's rehabilitation remained inconclusive. His ultimate fate is unknown, but the existence of at least one grandson indicates he may have finally retired, settled down with a second wife and started a family. Anyone with information pertaining to Mudd should notify authorities immediately. LEGITIMATE BUSINESS VENTURE In 2256, Mudd helped the Arronians distribute distilled liquor to the Alpha Quadrant. Years later, he entered the business of importing "100% Columbian Raktajino" (Klingon coffee). By the 24th century, this brand of raktajino was widely distributed, and was even sold on the space station Deep Space Nine. [ Where Sea Meets Sky, Art of Star Trek ] APPENDED FILE: HORACE TIBERIUS MUDD (Grandson) In 2371, Horace T. Mudd violated the quarantine rules of Starfleet Directive D72, regarding the transportation of dangerous animals and contravention of Customs Articles 25 to 36. Horace had smuggled four meeps from the Gamma Quadrant's Rahkar V to Deep Space Nine, hiding them in a false-bottomed sarcophagus. He and a Ferengi named Quark plotted to infest Bajor's Southern Continent with the voracious meeps during harvest season, and to then sell System-K Pest Control Robots to address the problem.The meeps ate through the box and began devouring power cables, and the rapidly reproducing vermin soon overran the station. Horace's grandfather, Harcourt Fenton Mudd (Horace's middle name had been chosen to honor Harry's long-time nemesis, James Tiberius Kirk), had perpetrated a comparable scam on Caniga VII a century prior.When the System-Ks failed to stop the meeps, Doctor Julian Bashir created a gas to alter their body chemistry, causing them to dissolve in their own corrosive saliva. Mudd stood trial in Bajor's Third Federation Court, presided over by Judge Sdred. Already sought by authorities for bribing the senior magister of Ventax II, perpetrating twelve cases of serious fraud on Aldebaran III, embezzling the Delbian Widows and Orphans Fund, fixing Antidean mud-wrestling fights, managing a tribble-torturing farm on Largo V and feeding explosives to Endicorian hedgehogs (a protected species) to sell the bits as Klingon chewbones, Horace was convicted and sentenced to clean up the meeps' fetid remains throughout the station. ["Mudd's Pets"] Author Bio: Rich Handley is the author and editor of numerous science fiction reference books, and the editor of Hasslein Books (hassleinbooks.com). He has contributed to IDW's two Star Trek newspaper strip reprint books (with two more to come), Sequart's New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics anthology, Star Trek Communicator and Star Trek magazines, and GIT Corp's Star Trek: The Complete Comic Book Collection . His resemblance to Harry Mudd is only superficial, dear boy.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews
• Episode aired Nov 3, 1967

Harry Mudd returns with a plot to take over the Enterprise by stranding the crew on a planet populated by androids under his command. Harry Mudd returns with a plot to take over the Enterprise by stranding the crew on a planet populated by androids under his command. Harry Mudd returns with a plot to take over the Enterprise by stranding the crew on a planet populated by androids under his command.

• Marc Daniels
• Gene Roddenberry
• Stephen Kandel
• David Gerrold
• William Shatner
• Leonard Nimoy
• DeForest Kelley
• 31 User reviews
• 12 Critic reviews

Top cast 27

• Captain James T. Kirk

• Alice #1 through 250
• Alice #251 through 500

• Stella Mudd

• (uncredited)
• Female Android
• David Gerrold (uncredited)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia A third-season appearance of Harry Mudd was planned but axed due to the producers' desire to move away from comedy episodes. However, Roger C. Carmel would reprise the role of Mudd as a cartoon voice in Mudd's Passion (1973) . Mudd was considered for a return during the Star Trek movies in the 1980s, but Carmel's failing health nixed that.
• Goofs The color shirt of the android who takes over the ship is blue. He keeps skipping medical appointments and Bones is concerned. However, the blue shirt is Science and Medical, which means that if anyone is transferred to the ship, both Spock and Bones would have received paperwork on the individual. They both should have known who the person was and what their purpose was on the ship. Yet, in the opening scene, Spock doesn't know him at all and Bones can't get him to keep a medical appointment.

Captain Kirk : Well, opinions?

Chekov : I think we're in a lot of trouble.

Captain Kirk : That's a great help, Mr. Chekov. Bones?

McCoy : I think Chekov's right, we are in a lot of trouble.

Captain Kirk : Spock, and if you say we're in a lot of trouble...

Spock : We are.

• Alternate versions Special Enhanced version Digitally Remastered with new exterior shots and remade opening theme song. Highlights include a more detailed look at Norman's "innards."
• Connections Featured in Star Trek Logs: An MTV Big Picture Special Edition (1991)
• Soundtracks Theme Music credited to Alexander Courage . Sung by Loulie Jean Norman

User reviews 31

• Dec 18, 2018
• November 3, 1967 (United States)
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
• Desilu Productions
• Norway Corporation
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 50 minutes

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Star Trek: Short Treks

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NEARLY THREE HOURS OF CONTENT

INCLUDES OVER 50 MINUTES OF SPECIAL FEATURES

Star Trek: Short Treks brings fans of the Star Trek universe together on a thrilling exploration of the themes and characters we’ve already come to love. Witness the Star Trek: Discovery story line expand with episodes featuring fan-favorites Rainn Wilson (Harry Mudd), Ethan Peck (Spock), Anson Mount (Captain Christopher Pike), Rebecca Romijn (Number One) and more. Experience nine thrilling shorts which deliver nearly two hours of live-action and animated adventures never-before-seen in Star Trek’s history. Special features include a making-of featurette, in-depth cast interviews and exclusive series commentaries. This must-own addition to the Star Trek franchise is guaranteed to take you further into the galaxy than ever before.

The Shorts:

Product description.

Originally airing as a web anthology series that debuted in 2018, seven live-action and two animated shorts tell brief-yet no less exciting-stories that help broaden the ongoing "Star Trek" universe. Set primarily during the "Star Trek: Discovery" era, the shorts feature appearances by Doug Jones, Michelle Yeoh, Rainn Wilson, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, and Anson Mount. Includes "Runaway," "The Brightest Star," "Q&A," "The Trouble with Edward," and more. 118 min. Total. Widescreen; Soundtrack: English DTS HD 5.1 Master Audio; Subtitles: English (SDH); featurette; interviews; audio commentary on selected shorts.

Product details

• MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
• Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.4 ounces
• Item model number ‏ : ‎ BR59210515
• Media Format ‏ : ‎ Subtitled, Widescreen
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 58 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ June 2, 2020
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Mary Wiseman, Aldis Hodge, Doug Jones, Ethan Peck, Anson Mount
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B085RRZM4J
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
• Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
• #1,745 in Blu-ray

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Short Treks: A Rundown of Discovery’s Mini-Missions

By: Author Diana Keng

• X (Twitter)

To keep the Star Trek flame lit during the hiatus, Star Trek: Discovery created four standalone shorts which were released on a monthly basis starting in October.

Diverse in scope, style, and character focus, they provided a tantalizing peek at the past, present, and future of the crew and ship we have gotten to know and look forward to seeing again very soon.

Related: Get CBS All Access via Prime Video Channels for Hit Shows, Exclusive Originals & Live TV!

WARNING: SPOILERS

“Runaway” stars Ensign Sylvia Tilly as she problem-solves a stowaway situation with her usual grace under fire.

“Calypso” mashes up elements of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale and Homer’s Odyssey to tell the story of healing, friendship, and love.

“The Brightest Star” is Saru’s origin story, showing us how he came to be the first Kelpian to join the Federation.

“The Escape Artist” brings back the infamous Harry Mudd in all his wheeling and dealing glory to cement his place as the Federation’s Most Wanted.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 returns on CBS All Access on January 17.

The Runaway — USS Discovery

The first of the Short Treks takes place before the events of Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 as Tilly has no roommate yet and is still in the early stages of considering the Command program. This makes sense for introducing the idea of these tangential tales, giving us a familiar face in a familiar setting.

The Runaway — A Stowaway

I loved the initial element of creepiness as we only glimpse Discovery’s newest and unexpected visitor. Great atmosphere.

The Runaway — Tilly

Ah, Tilly. So sweet. So awkward. So caffeinated. Her conversation with her mother’s hologram illuminates a lot about her insecurities. (I also get the sense that the Mirror Universe’s Captain Killy probably offed her mom early in her career.)

The Runaway — Me Hana Ika Hani Ka Po

“The Runaway” in the title has a double meaning here as Tilly’s oh-so-supportive mother reminds her of a humiliating childhood episode where she ran away from a class activity she couldn’t do. Of course, the main reference is the prickly young Xahean who has run away after her invention causes huge turmoil on her newly-warp-capable planet. Po’s speech about her connection with her planet is simultaneously poignantly poetic and completely nonsensical but succeeds in quickly establishing the sense of Xahea’s chaotic environment.

The Runaway — Dilithium

At the center of the story is quite literally a power struggle. Po’s invention, a dilithium incubator which can regrow the essential fuel for warp engines, makes Xahea (in Tilly’s words) “the most politically relevant planet in the galaxy.” (I’m a little confused how a planet that has been mining dilithium for generations only just established warp technology.)

The Runaway — New Friends

The Bottom Line: This was a lovely little Tilly tale with a positive message about the how insecurities plague individuals of all walks of life whether they are royal or regular, brave or brilliant. (Also, the Discovery apparently has some sort of ridonkulous transporter tech since Tilly’s able to send Po home without the ship being in orbit above her Xahea.)

Calypso — The Rescue

The second Short Trek is an intense retelling of the Greek myth of Calypso, the nymph who fell in love with Odysseus after finding him washed ashore her island. In “Calypso” the U.S.S. Discovery finds a damaged escape pod floating in space and brings it aboard.

Calypso — Zora

With a thousand years to itself, the Discovery evolves itself into a female-voiced personality with a love of [REALLY] old musical films. The A.I. is so natural in its speech that the rescued Craft mistakes it for a real person. By the way, the cleverness of this script is almost smug — naming the Odysseus character “Craft” because he is “crafty” which was Odysseus’ defining trait.

Calypso — Taco Tuesday

Like the empty castle from the fairytale,”Beauty and the Beast,” which caters to the lost girl’s needs, Zora/Discovery not only clothes and feeds Craft, it educates and entertains him with a variety of cuisines and cultural curriculum. Craft’s hesitancy feels natural, the reticence of a career soldier as well as the caution of a survivor.

Calypso — Movie Night

With only a selection of Zora and Craft’s interactions shown, the passage of time is still conveyed elegantly with overlayed shots of his daily activities. The production value on this episode is powerfully wielded. Still, we have no idea how long he actually bides with Zora. (In The Odyssey, Calypso keeps Odysseus with her for seven years, enchanted by her singing and dancing.)

Calypso — S’Wonderful

It speaks to Craft’s (ie. humanity’s) need to interact that he looks for a way to do “something nice” for Zora, who is essentially a machine despite the complexity of its A.I. Their dance has all the glamorous romance of the era it evokes so when Craft pulls back from the expected kiss with the memory of his actual wife and child, it is quite jarring. The tear that falls from the holo-Zora is touching (if improbable).

Calypso — True Names

Bottom line: This is a highly speculative, Homer-homage piece that is only tied to the Star Trek: Discovery ‘verse by the ship’s name. It could’ve been set in any A.I.-run environment, even a Google smart home a thousand years in our future. That being said, it’s well-told with some fantastic visual elements and the intellectual conceit of its Odyssey source material is actualized with great skill.

The Brightest Star — Young Saru

The third installment of Short Treks explores the culture and lives of Saru’s species, the Kelpians. To discover they quite literally gather kelp as a past-time, is somewhat reductive but the rest of their reality is actually quite interesting.

The Brightest Star — The Harvest

The literary allusion here would be to H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” with the Kelpians playing the Eloi to the Ba’uls’ Morlocks. The details of the annual culling of the population are left largely ambiguous, a necessity considering the abbreviative nature of Short Treks, and left me with a LOT of questions.

The Brightest Star — At Prayer

Saru’s youthful rebellion against his father’s dogmatic faith in the name of scientific knowledge is a revelation and yet makes so much sense. The Saru we have come to know is incredibly by-the-book but capable of innovative thought when the book goes out the window… err, porthole. The major point of fact we come to understand here is that every moment Saru wears his Starfleet uniform, he is in a fight against his Kelpian nature.

The Brightest Star — The Federation’s Hello

A lot of questions regarding the communication device Saru creates. Is he able to read the messages? Are we seeing a translated text? Was it a communication device to begin with? If not, how could he have turned it into one? Since his family seems to live in one dwelling, how did his father not notice that Saru didn’t dispose of the Ba’ul ship piece like he was supposed to? Further on that, how was Saru meant to dispose of it in the first place? An electronics recycling site seems unlikely in the Kelpian settlement.

The Brightest Star — Siranna

The most meaningful part of this narrative is seeing Saru in his familial context, deferential to his father and affectionate towards his sister, Siranna. Onboard Discovery, Saru is a solitary soul, isolated by nature as well as by choice. Among his people, he is one of many and yet is still set apart by his intellectual curiosity.

The Brightest Star — Georgiou

The Bottom Line: This could easily be expanded to a full episode of Star Trek: Discovery. I wouldn’t mind a mission that takes them back to Saru’s homeworld and seeing how he explains he disappearance to his family and community. Furthermore, I kind of want to know about the Ba’ul and what they do with the sacrificed Kelpians. Unless they eat them because then I don’t want to know.

The Escape Artist — Harcourt Mudd

Harry Mudd’s appearances on Star Trek: Discovery Season 1 (Episodes 5 and 7) were arguably some of the most crowd-pleasing elements of the inaugural season. His presence lent canonical weight to this very different take on the franchise. Rainn Wilson, in the role, really seemed to embrace the character and it’s not surprising that he jumped at the chance to star and direct in his own Short Trek.

The Escape Artist — Tevran Krit

One thing (of many, MANY things) that can be said of Mudd: he is, and always has been, an equally-opportunity con-man. We first see him here being bought by a tusked Tellarite of a masked and curvaceous bounty hunter. Almost immediately, the bluster and cajoling and pleading begins. Mudd is, above all, a TALKER.

The Escape Artist — Bounty Hunter

This teleplay uses the television medium well, interspersing his journey with the Tellarite with a variety of flashbacks to other captivities, introducing us to shorter, angrier bounty hunters as well as the sorts of captors who would rather knock Mudd into unconsciousness than listen to his playlist of scams.

The Escape Artist — Caught On Camera

The best captivity scenario was definitely the green-skinned guards. Not sure if they were meant to evoke Orions but, if it was, it was nice twist to have the human all chained up. Loved that the dumb male guard was enamoured with the idea of wearing a cape and unaware that his interest in being bribed was all on surveillance camera. His female counterpart is clearly of the “Shut up, Mudd” camp.

The Escape Artist — So Much Mudd

Like bacon, some would contend that more Mudd can only improve a situation. The reveal aboard the U.S.S. De Milo that Mudd has been seeding the galaxy with android versions of himself, monetizing his own notoriety as it were, is exactly the sort of shenanigan Mudd would concoct. It simultaneously makes him money, grows his reputation, and pisses off the Federation. The perfect scam.

The Escape Artist — Wielding the Cudgel

The Bottom Line: Where the other Short Treks left me with many questions and the potential for so much more narrative, “The Escape Artist” is the ideal length and depth for its star. After all, Mudd stories have always been the stuff of stand-alone episodes. Whether on Classic Trek or Star Trek: Discovery, he, like Star Trek: the Next Generation’s Q, doesn’t fit in as a long-arc or regular character. Harcourt Fenton Mudd is very much the ripest cheese in the Trek palate — powerful in small bites but stinks up the place if around for too long.

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‘Rick And Morty’ Writer Revealed For Harry Mudd Episode Of ‘Star Trek: Short Treks’…And More?

| September 15, 2018 | By: Matt Wright 16 comments so far

At San Diego Comic-Con In July,  CBS announced  they will begin releasing four monthly Star Trek: Short Treks mini-episodes tied into Star Trek: Discovery  this fall, including one featuring the return of Rainn Wilson as Harry Mudd, which Wilson will also direct. Last month at STLV,  Wilson revealed  his Short Treks episode was written by an unnamed writer of Cartoon Network’s hit sci-fi animated show  Rick and Morty . Now it appears that the writer has been revealed, and he should be familiar to some Trek fans.

Mike McMahan goes from TNG S8 to Rick and Morty  to Short Treks

We had a hunch that the  Rick and Morty writer Rainn Wilson was talking about was Mike McMahan, who’s known to be a big Star Trek fan. McMahan seems to have confirmed our hunch this weekend, posting some tweets that show he is in Toronto on the  Star Trek: Discovery sets, which is where the  Short Treks  are also shot.

Dude I’m up and it’s 3am and we film tomorrow 😐 — Mike McMahan (@MikeMcMahanTM) September 14, 2018

Beaming up… pic.twitter.com/YvWLlBdpmu — Mike McMahan (@MikeMcMahanTM) September 15, 2018

Not much is known about the Short Treks episode featuring Harry Mudd, but last month Rainn Wilson revealed:

It is very funny and weird. You see some alien situations you have never seen before in the Star Trek canon, and I am thrilled.

One thing we do know for sure is that McMahan is a serious Trekkie. Before becoming a writer and producer for Rick and Morty , he was the mind behind @TNG_S8 , the popular Twitter parody account about a hypothetical eighth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation . The account became so popular that it landed him a book deal, and in 2015 he published the officially licensed  Warped: An Engaging Guide to the Never-Aired 8th Season.

Showing even more of his Trek cred, way back in 2013 McMahan announced the launch of Rick and Morty via his @TNG_S8 account with a mash-up of TNG and Rick and Morty, created by Rick and Morty  art department staffer Steven Chunn. McMahan started as writer’s assistant and story editor for Rick and Morty , eventually rising to writer and supervising producer. Just last weekend  he won an Emmy for his work on the show, which won for Outstanding Animated Program.

RED ALERT: watch @danharmon & @JustinRoiland 's new show RICK AND MORTY – starting 12/2 on #adultswim . I wrote on it! pic.twitter.com/TmCgIi7CYt — TNG Season 8 (@TNG_S8) November 27, 2013

Is McMahan the man for the possible Star Trek animated series?

It’s possible that writing for Short Treks isn’t McMahan’s only connection to future work for Star Trek. It has been reported  that one of the new shows in the expanded TV universe of Trek is an animated series. In their exclusive interview  at San Diego Comic-Con with TrekMovie, Alex Kurtzman and Heather Kadin, who are overseeing the expansion of Trek on TV, confirmed there were “conversations” about an animated Trek series. It makes sense that someone like McMahan would be recruited to help oversee an animated Star Trek show. Remember, we first learned of Michael Chabon’s involvement with CBS Trek productions through his Short Treks episode, and then found out in Las Vegas that he was a writer/producer for the new Picard series.

In our SDCC interview with executive producer Heather Kadin, she touched on how they are open to different formats and styles, and that people from all kinds of creative avenues have been asking to get involved in Trek. She also specifically mentioned animation writers:

Well I also think it’s important to say that it’s not just one-hour drama. I mean, there’s so much opportunity to “bend not break” the franchise in formats we haven’t seen in a while, different tones. And what’s amazing about Star Trek is that it’s such a beloved franchise that we have writers calling – I mean, Michael Chabon, who wrote one of the shorts that Aldis Hodge is starring in – Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, is like “Hey, I want to write a short for you for $2.55”. So we get people from all different tones – comedy writers, animation writers, who just want so desperately to be a part of Trek.

McMahan would be a natural fit for an animated Trek show, but he’s already pretty busy. He’s currently the co-creator/executive producer and writer for the new Hulu animated sci-fi comedy  Solar Opposites , which has already scored a two-season order .

Writer/producer Mike McMahan was immortalized in the third season finale of Rick and Morty as a janitor

More Short Treks

We do know a little bit about the other Star Trek: Short Treks  mini-episodes that are coming sometime this fall. In addition to the one featuring Harry Mudd, another was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon starring actor Aldis Hodge as a character who finds himself as the only human on board a deserted ship. The third episode will feature Doug Jones and explore Saru’s backstory as the first Kelpien to join Starfleet. The last episode features Mary Wiseman and will focus on Tilly’s journey aboard the USS Discovery and her friendship with an unlikely partner.

Official logo for Star Trek: Short Treks

Keep up with all upcoming Star Trek TV shows here at TrekMovie.com .

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Bring these short eps on. When will they air?

“Fall” is all CBS will say for now :(

Kurtzman said December at Comic-Con, but he may have been wrong.

The official press release sent out the same day as the Comic-Con panel says “fall”. As far we know, Kurtzman misspoke.

Link to CBS press release: https://www.cbspressexpress.com/cbs-all-access/releases/view?id=50603

The four SHORT TREKS episodes will roll out monthly beginning this fall, and will be stand-alone stories, each running approximately 10-15 minutes.

I won’t be renewing my subscription for these, even if I do finally get another job. I will wait until the 2nd season of STD to start, and expect all four of these shorts to still be streaming.

If I did become a sucker and tune back in early to watch one of these, it would be the Mary Wiseman episode. But mostly I refuse to go along with the cynicism of putting these up just to make streamers renew their subscriptions early.

It’s not “cynicism” to make these episodes so people subscribe. It the business that pays for Trek to be made. Pretty simple. It’s like saying, “I’m not going to go see the new Star Trek film at the cinema because they cynically made it just to make money.” Or like saying, “I think they made TNG just to cynically make something advertisers would pay to air commercials on.” Star Trek is not a charity. It’s a business. It’s art. It’s expensive. If you can’t afford it right now, that’s ok. But no need to ascribe negative motives to the people who make it.

I can easily afford to pay. A few minutes of short clips? Lousy value proposition. Hope that word resonates more than “cynicism.”

Same here. Sure, I could pay to see them when they come out, but why? I’ll just binge them when I sign up (briefly) for Season 2.

Here too. I could pay the money for the month but $10 for just one hour of TV trek? Even without considering STD’s track record of being awful it’s a bad value. I’ll check them out when I subscribe for S2.

Robot: “What is my propose?” Rick: “To make Star Trek shorts” Robot: “Oh my God!”

Really stoked for the Mudd short. I was worried in the beginning when they were reintroducing Mudd but so far it looks like its been paying dividends.

Oh I would watch THE HELL out of a McMahan animated Star Trek series!

If Kurtzman can be a creator/executive producer on multiple series, why not McMahan too?

I’m literally too lazy to unsubscribe from CBSAA so I’ve been paying 6 bucks a month times this whole year for almost no reason lol not even these short treks. At this point it’s like should I cancel or should I just stick it out

LOL we’re in the same boat! ;D

But last month or so I have finally been rewatching a few DIS episodes at least. But yes at this point its not a real need to cancel unless Discovery doesn’t show up until March or April.

I canceled right after the season one finale. If I’d kept it (I chose the commercial-free $10 version), that would have me spending about $120 for no reason until Season 2 starts, since I have no desire to see Season 1 again and have no problem waiting to see the ‘shorts’ until later. And they’re going to wind up on YouTube anyway. In my financial world, $120 is nothing to sneeze at. No way I pay for channels I’m not consistently watching.

Seriously same here. I’m not missing the $5.99 and I don’t have to go through the hassle of re-subscribing when season 2 drops. I really just don’t get all the hand-wringing over money most people spend at lunch and never think of again.

That said, I think many of the hand-wringers will be more apt to keep their subscriptions when CBSAA has 3 or 4 shows filling a year-round schedule on the service. Disco, the Picard show, the animated series, the Starfleet Academy series, and whatever else they come up with can easily fill 52 weeks.