90. Mudd's PassionFORMULA: Mudd's Women + The Naked Time
WHY WE LIKE IT: Nurse Chapel gets one last chance at Spock.
WHY WE DON'T: M'Ress. I really haven't taken a liking to her at all.
REVIEW: Harry Mudd is back (so is actor Roger C. Carmel) and he's got a scheme more or less like that of his first appearance. Instead of the venus drug, we have love crystals that make the first person you touch fall in love with you. The scheme doesn't work because of a final irony, simple but well done. Mudd is in good form here, and much less annoying than in previous appearances.
The episode gives Nurse Chapel the chance to put a love spell on Spock, but the lovin' gets into the Enterprise's pipes and affects everyone else too. We get to see McCoy flirt, and there's a somewhat strange sequence where Kirk and Spock are enjoying their friendship a little too much (they are normally so fiercely loyal to one another, I can only surmise the drug also makes you sappy). Much worse is when the feline M'Ress puts the moves on Scotty. Not because I've got something against inter-species romance, but just because the character is so lame and boring. Less of her, please!
Though this attempts to be rather adult with its talk of romance and hangovers, there are still big monsters for the kiddies. The rocky Godzillas have an interesting look, as far as these things go, even if they are highly improbable. Overall, I'd say Mudd's Passion was a little dull despite the elements involved.
LESSON: What works in live action (like forced, unlikely romances) might not in a Saturday morning cartoon.
REWATCHABILITY - Medium: It's not bad or anything, but I have trouble summoning up enthusiasm for Mudd's Passion. Maybe it's the fact I never really liked Harry Mudd. Maybe it's the Chapel/Spock romance that's been overdone... At least Nurse Chapel gets something to do here.
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