Musical Monday - I, Mudd by Five Year Mission

For Labor Day, I'm going with a song about the hardest working man in the Star Trek universe. Granted, his hard work is all dedicated to conning other people out of their possessions, including the Enterprise, but that's just details.

Although he only appeared in two episodes of the original series and one more episode of the animated version, Harcourt Fenton Mudd is one of the most memorable characters in all of Star Trek. In a setting full of aliens impersonating Greek gods, intrigues involving dueling space empires, mad scientists manufacturing alien androids, guardians manning portals through time, and alternate realities, a portly guy who is little more than a fairly incompetent grifter stands out as one of the high points of the series. Perhaps this was due to the fact that Mudd was the only character who wasn't a member of the Enterprise crew who appeared in multiple episodes of the original series and was portrayed by the same actor each time. Perhaps this was due to Roger C. Carmel's strong portrayal of the character. Or perhaps it was because the iconoclastic, irresponsible, and ethically challenged character served as such a clear counterpoint to the mostly straight-laced characters that made up the crew of the Enterprise.

As to the song: This is a love song of sorts, so long as you define "love song" in a very loose manner. Written by P.J. O'Connor, this song was the result of his adorable wife Savannah asking him to write a love song out of one of his chosen episodes for the band's Year Three album. Because P.J. simply cannot do anything that is completely normal, he wrote this song about the love affair between galactic scoundrel Harcourt Fenton Mudd and his lovely and not-nagging-at-all spouse Stella. In it, he recounts the couple's beautiful and touching relationship in which they certainly didn't despise, loathe, or even hate one another.

Previous Musical Monday: The Doomsday Machine by Five Year Mission

Subsequent Musical Monday: The Corbomite Maneuver by Five Year Mission

Dream Five Year Mission Set

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