Story: The Escape Artist
Written By: Michael McMahan
Series: Star Trek: Short Treks
Year: 2019
The last of this first batch of "Short Treks" focuses in on Harry Mudd, played by Rainn Wilson. I wasn't particularly interested in this one. I have never liked Harry Mudd, it is among my least favorite of Trek characters. Why the Discovery folk felt the need to revive this horrible character I have no idea. That all said, I like Wilson's version of the character. He is very different in so many ways, that I don't know why they didn't just give him a new name and get credit for creating a fun new character. Linking him to the original character honestly just diminishes Wilson's interpretation and adds this major hurdle for me liking the guy. Because no matter what Wilson and co. do with the character, in the end I know he is just gonna end up as a creepy sex trafficker.
This short is okay, but I don't really regret holding off on watching it. It shows Mudd caught by a Tellarite bounty hunter and trying to work himself out of that jam. As he makes his pleas we get flashbacks of him in similar situations. Then in the end the Bounty Hunter takes him to a Starfleet ship, and there we find that this Mudd is actually a robot and that someone has been pawning off a ton of Mudd-Bots to this ship, they have a whole room full of these things. We then cut to find out the bounty hunter at the beginning was actually Mudd the whole time, and he is on a ship full of these bots.
While I suppose Mudd having a bunch of robots calls back to the TOS Second Season story that featured him - "I, Mudd" - I just don't care. If Mudd disappears from Trek forever and ever it wouldn't bug me at all. Wilson does his best to make the character a lovable rogue, but just the character being called Harry Mudd ruins it for me. And since I don't really feel like there is any need for the character in the Discovery story, it just makes it all seem so pointless. At least with the other Short Treks we got some more development for Saru and Tilly. Obviously "Calypso" didn't really have anything to do with Discovery beyond the sets, but I think I liked it's little sci-fi story and themes enough that it gets a pass for me. This one has nothing for me.
Time to launch into a brand new season of Discovery, and then it seems we will get a new batch of Short Treks in between the gap of Season 2's end, and the Picard show's launch. It seems 2019 shall be a busy year for Trek reviewing!
NEXT TIME: Pike Takes Command of Discovery
Written By: Michael McMahan
Series: Star Trek: Short Treks
Year: 2019
The last of this first batch of "Short Treks" focuses in on Harry Mudd, played by Rainn Wilson. I wasn't particularly interested in this one. I have never liked Harry Mudd, it is among my least favorite of Trek characters. Why the Discovery folk felt the need to revive this horrible character I have no idea. That all said, I like Wilson's version of the character. He is very different in so many ways, that I don't know why they didn't just give him a new name and get credit for creating a fun new character. Linking him to the original character honestly just diminishes Wilson's interpretation and adds this major hurdle for me liking the guy. Because no matter what Wilson and co. do with the character, in the end I know he is just gonna end up as a creepy sex trafficker.
While I suppose Mudd having a bunch of robots calls back to the TOS Second Season story that featured him - "I, Mudd" - I just don't care. If Mudd disappears from Trek forever and ever it wouldn't bug me at all. Wilson does his best to make the character a lovable rogue, but just the character being called Harry Mudd ruins it for me. And since I don't really feel like there is any need for the character in the Discovery story, it just makes it all seem so pointless. At least with the other Short Treks we got some more development for Saru and Tilly. Obviously "Calypso" didn't really have anything to do with Discovery beyond the sets, but I think I liked it's little sci-fi story and themes enough that it gets a pass for me. This one has nothing for me.
Time to launch into a brand new season of Discovery, and then it seems we will get a new batch of Short Treks in between the gap of Season 2's end, and the Picard show's launch. It seems 2019 shall be a busy year for Trek reviewing!
NEXT TIME: Pike Takes Command of Discovery
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