Mudd's Passion (episode)
Harry Mudd is back, this time swindling miners with a love potion.

Summary 
"Captain's log, stardate 4978.5. We are approaching the Arcadian star system on a mission to locate an old friend."

Upon the 's arrival at the planet Motherlode, Captain Kirk asks Spock what the odds are of Harry Mudd's presence on the planet. Spock tells the captain that the odds of him being on the surface are approximately eighty-one percent, plus or minus .53. "Why can't you just say "Mudd's probably there?"," Dr. McCoy asks. "I just did, doctor," Spock replies. Lieutenant Arex reports that the Enterprise has entered parking orbit of the planet. Kirk beams down to Motherlode with Spock, and after locating Mudd, Kirk tells him that he's wanted for fraud, illegal drug manufacturing and swindling. For proof Mudd demonstrates the potion on a woman who Spock discovers to actually be a reptilian illusion created by a Rigellian hypnoid. Angered by this, the miners begin to attack Mudd, but he is once again rescued by the Enterprise crew, apprehended and incarcerated. 

Aboard the ship, Spock requests a medical report from Nurse Chapel. Mudd, imprisioned in the brig, sees that she is enamored of him but he is "a trifle lacking in the warmer emotions." He then proceeds to convince Chapel to try the potion on Spock. When Chapel thinks that the potion doesn't actually work, she becomes bitter and seeks out Mudd. Without warning, the potion begins to take an effect on Spock. He wasn't immune to it, it just took a little longer for a Vulcan, and as he hands over his report with her summary appended he says, "Ahh. Nurse Chapel's sweet summary. Dear, lovely, Christine." During a fight between Mudd and Chapel, love crystals are broken near an air vent in the Enterprises shuttlebay and permeate throughout the ship. It begins to affect the entire crew. Mudd captures Chapel and escapes to a rocky planet in a stolen shuttlecraft. The love-stricken Spock becomes so enamored with his beloved Nurse Chapel that he will do anything to rescue her. Spock wants to lead a landing party and he tells Kirk, "Captain, I insist upon going. Christine, I can't stand the thought of any danger to her. The woman I love." Kirk exclaims, "Love, Spock?" Spock replies, "Yes, captain. I want to protect her. Hold her in my arms." Spock seems to be utterly unstoppable.

"Captain's log, supplemental. Harry Mudd has escaped from the Enterprise taking Head Nurse Chapel with him, apparently as a hostage. Meanwhile, Mr. Spock is acting very strange."

Spock says, "Come on, hurry. If he's harmed one hair on her pretty head..." Kirk accompanies Spock but they are attacked on the planet by rock beasts. Spock asks Chapel, "Darling. Are you all right?" Chapel questions, "Darling? How wonderful." Unable to transport to the vessel because of the potion's affect on the crew, Kirk asks Spock, "Can't you take your hands off her?" Spock replies, "That's my affair. Jim. No, captain. We're both reacting to the drug. The love potion." 

On the ship in sickbay, McCoy is flirting with a crew woman and says, "Did I ever tell you about the time I saved Captain Kirk's life? Or Spock's? And my dear friend Scotty? And that pretty little Lieutenant Uhura. I've saved just about everybody on this here ship. If the Enterprise had a heart, I'd save her too. Oh, let's talk about your heart, my dear."

When Kirk thinks he can distract the beasts Spock tells him, "That is an outstandingly stupid idea! Ah, I'm sorry. The drug. I simply doubt that we can appeal to their better nature, if they have one." Kirk, though, uses the crystals to make the beasts become docile and loving. Eventually the potion wears off and the crew beams everyone back to the ship, but then the potions after effects cause hatred and animosity among the crew. 

Mudd is placed back in the brig, where he confesses to other con jobs. When Spock then asks Chapel if he can help her to record Harry Mudd's confession, she adamantly repulses him. Spock comments, "A few moments of love paid for with several hours of hatred. Your potion is scarcely a bargain, Harry." Spock then assures Mudd he will get rehabilitation therapy for his crimes. Mudd laughingly answers, "I just hate to leave you all, all my loved ones."

Log entries 
 Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), 2269

Memorable quotes 
"The probability of his presence on Motherlode is eight-one percent, plus or minus .53."
"Why can't you just say, 'Mudd's probably there?"
"I just did, Doctor."
 - Spock and McCoy

"Ah, that was a miching trick, Kirk. You've cost me me ship, everything I own. Even the love crystals. I may just sue you."
"Fine. I'll see you in court, Harry."
 - Harry Mudd filing a lawsuit against Captain Kirk

"They'll find you soon enough my little poppet. You'll be safe and I'll be long gone."
"Gone where? The planet's a desert."
"There's always a market for an ingenious man."
 - Mudd and Nurse Chapel

"Captain, Doctor... I... uh, wish to report a number of strange... emotions."
"What?"
"What?"
 - Spock, McCoy, and Kirk

"You're funny and very attractive for a Human."
 - Lieutenant M'Ress, to Scotty

"By the way, anybody keeping a trace on the captain and Mr. Spock?"
"Sure, Arex."
 - Arex and M'Ress, on the bridge and affected by Mudd's love crystals

"Thanks, Jim, it's good to have a friend like you."
"Strange, that's how I feel about you, too. My dear friend Spock."
 - Spock and Kirk

"Jim. No, captain. We're both reacting to the drug. The love potion."
(Surprised) "It worked?"
 - Spock and Mudd

"I've saved just about everybody on this here ship. If the Enterprise had a heart, I'd save her, too. Now, let's talk about your heart, my dear."
 - Bones, to a lovely young Lieutenant

"That is an outstandingly stupid idea!"
 - Spock - 

"I've got a hangover to shame all previous hangovers, but I didn't touch a drop of scotch."
"Not so loud, you fool."
"Yeah! Well, all of a sudden, I don't like you much, either!"
 - Scotty and M'Ress

"May I help you record his confession, nurse?"
"YOU? You'd be the last person I choose."
"A few moments in love, paid for with several hours of hatred. Your potion is scarcely a bargain, Harry."
 - Spock and Chapel

Background information

Story, script, and cast 

 This is a sequel to the  episodes  and , both of which also feature the character of Harry Mudd and were written by Stephen Kandel, who additionally wrote the story for an ultimately undeveloped third Harry Mudd installment for TOS, entitled "Deep Mudd". He found the process of arranging to write this episode for  was fairly easy. "Dorothy Fontana just called me for a script," he said. "It was as simple as that." (Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, p. 98)
 The first draft script of this episode was submitted on . The installment's final draft script was submitted on 24 May 1973.
 Along with Mark Lenard (Sarek) and Stanley Adams (Cyrano Jones), Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd) is one of only three actors, besides the regulars, to play the same character on both this series and Star Trek: The Original Series.
 In a production inconsistency, Kirk is seen wearing a red-shirt at 21:45.

Reception 
 The unofficial reference book The Trek 25th Anniversary Celebration (p. 47), by James Van Hise, cites this episode – due to Roger C. Carmel reprising the character of Harry Mudd herein – as one of three installments that, collectively, the book regards as "the plus side" of Star Trek: The Animated Series (the other such outings being  and ).
 The editors of Trek magazine collectively scored this episode 3 out of 5 stars (a rating that they termed "good"). (The Best of Trek #1, p. 110)
 In the book Trek Navigator: The Ultimate Guide to the Entire Trek Saga (p. 150), co-writers Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross both individually rate this episode 3 out of 4 stars (which they also define as "good").
 In 's "Ultimate Guide" (), this episode was rated 3 out of 5 Starfleet arrowhead insignia.

Continuity 
 This episode would represent Harry Mudd's final canonical appearance for almost 44 years until the release of the  episode  in October of .
 This is also the last episode to feature the Chapel-Spock relationship previously seen in several TOS episodes, notably  and .

Apocrypha 
 An adaptation of "Mudd's Passion" can be found in Star Trek Log 3 by Alan Dean Foster, along with similar short-story adaptations of  and . As such, this story is set up by the prose version of "Once Upon a Planet", which ends with the Enterprise set on a course for the Arcadian system, and depicts events after the conclusion of this episode itself, including Kirk delivering Harry Mudd into Starfleet custody, shortly before the adaptation of "The Magicks of Megas-Tu" begins. This sequence of narratives is not, however, in keeping with that of the episodes themselves.
 Harry Mudd was subsequently featured in various Star Trek video games. Mudd was also considered for appearances in  (appearing as a character witness at the trial of James Kirk, echoing Kirk's promise to appear as one for Harry's trial in "Mudd's Women") and during the first season of  (however, Roger C. Carmel passed away eleven months before The Next Generation debuted).
 This episode was the first of three mutually exclusive sequels to "Mudd's Women" and "I, Mudd". The second was J.A. Lawrence's novella "The Business, as Usual, During Altercations", published in Mudd's Angels in . The third was Jerry Oltion's  novel Mudd in Your Eye. J.A. Lawrence's introduction to Mudd's Angels (dated ) specifically states that, due to a problem regarding rights and agreements, she was forced to disregard this episode upon writing her novella from that book.

Video and DVD releases 
 UK VHS release (CIC Video): Volume 3, catalog number VHR 2537, 
 As part of the The Animated Series DVD collection
 As part of the The Animated Series Blu-ray collection

Links and references

Starring 
 William Shatner as James T. Kirk
 Leonard Nimoy as Spock
And
 DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy

Also starring 
 George Takei as Hikaru Sulu
 Nichelle Nichols as a female Ursinoid miner
 Majel Barrett as 
 Lora
 Christine Chapel
 M'Ress
 James Doohan as 
 Arex
 Montgomery Scott
 Human miner
 Male Ursinoid miner

Guest star 
 Roger C. Carmel as Harcourt Mudd

Background characters 
 Kyle
 Nyota Uhura
 Numerous Motherlode miners
 Alien miner
 Operations division officers
 Operations crewman
 Operations lieutenant
 Transporter room attendants
 Sciences lieutenant
 Command lieutenant

References 
air system grill; analysis; Arcadian system; arm; arrest; arrest report; atmosphere; bargain; binary sun; biochemistry; "Bones"; brig; bruise; capsule; class M; confession; contact; coordinates; court; creature; credit; danger; deal; desert; dilithium crystal; drug; Edosian; emergency; emotion; emotional reaction; ; Enterprise shuttle; Enterprise shuttle 3; Enterprise shuttle 4; Enterprise shuttle 9; Enterprise shuttle 12; evidence; experiment; Federation; Federation law; Federation shuttlecraft; fool; fraud; free will; friend; friendship; gift; gratitude; gravity; hair; hand; hangover; hate; head; Head Nurse; heart; heavy metal; hostage; hour; Human; humanoid; hybrid; idea; identification card; illegal drug manufacture; illusion; Ilyra VI; inhabitant; intelligent life; intercom; internal security; investigation; laboratory test; landing party; liquid; logic; love; love potion; love potion crystal; lute (double guitar); market; medical report (medical summary); mercy; millibar; miner; mission; Motherlode; ; native; ocean; Omega Cygni; Omega Cygni natives; Ophiucus VI; opposite sex; parking orbit; percent; person; phaser; "plus or minus"; price; prisoner; probability; profit; proof; quality; red alert; rehabilitation; report; result; Rigellian hypnoid; robot planet; rock beasts; rock creature planet; rock creature planet system; scientist; scotch; screen; search party; shuttlecraft bay; Sirius IX; Sirius IX inhabitants; Sirius IX love potion victims; skin; spirit; Starfleet Space Academy; sue; surface; surrender; swindling; temperature; thief; thing; thought; touch; trick; universe; Ursinoid; value; voucher; Vulcan; weapons system; year

External links 
 
 
 
 

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TAS episodes