What if Harry Mudd was The Tribble dealer in TTWT?

[diankra]

Yes, I was just about to mention Gerrold's idea about a Karloff Cyrano Jones. That twould have been a very different character from a TOS Harry Mudd, let alone a DISC Harry Mudd.

IIRC, that was Gerrold thinking in hindsight in the 70s, something he wished he'd done.

 

[Poltargyst]

Harry Mudd never became interesting until "Discovery"
Nor was he edgy, dark or dangerous till then
He was a tiresome "comedy" baddy in TOS and the episodes he was in were cringefests

I disagree. TOS Mudd definitely had a sinster side.

Willing to maroon the crew on the android planet and steal the Enterprise? Jeopardizing the Enterprise by dealing with the miners behind Kirk's back for "lithium" crystals. Mudd is not a nice man. Cyrano Jones never would have done these things.

 

[Timo]

Agreed. Even in the introductory episode, and judging by crew reactions, it seemed it was Mudd giving a bad name to the as such reputable business of frontier wife trading... He just has the knack of making everybody dislike him at first sight. Which probably drives his character, into potentially dark depths that make him even less likable.

His gig seems to be trying to have control. It never fails to fail, though - even when he gets to hold the phaser, he's always just applying it for digging a deeper pit for himself. Betraying in order to take control is simply implicit in TOS while explicit in DSC.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[publiusr]

TOS Mudd definitely had a sinster side. Mudd is not a nice man. Cyrano

He is Trek’s version of Dengar from Star Wars

 

[arch101]

When I was a very small child, I had trouble telling Jones and Mudd apart.

 

[Qonundrum]

It would make it seem like there weren't really very many sketchy merchants in the galaxy.

^^this

And Mudd was already pegged with a list of nastier things right off the bat. It's comparatively small change in selling Tribbles as a 23rd century equivalent to ye olde comic books selling live monkeys for $20 each... plus S&H... guaranteed to be living upon arrival... if you don't believe me --> https://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/1fgiof/back_in_the_60s_you_could_order_a_live_monkey_in/
(note, don't try it. They've since closed down and it's a bit of a ghastly practice...)

Not to mention that having Harry and only Harry reappear would be "small universe syndrome". Harry is lovable and cuddly on the surface, that's true, but there's a sinister underside. Jones was just whimsical and an unwitting cavalier -- not really the type to steal starships, promote sex trafficking of people with low self-esteem issues that took drugs in a bizarre but not unworthy allegory considering mid-1960s standards, and so on. Plus, there's plenty of room in the galaxy for everyone - even if there are only 26 episodes per season.

 

[Qonundrum]

I disagree. TOS Mudd definitely had a sinster side.

Willing to maroon the crew on the android planet and steal the Enterprise? Jeopardizing the Enterprise by dealing with the miners behind Kirk's back for "lithium" crystals. Mudd is not a nice man. Cyrano Jones never would have done these things.

Just saw your post. To cut a long story short, I'll summarize with this:

"Bingo. "



Well, yeah, Mudd was a real nasty piece, and Jones was simply carefree. I might need to rewatch "The Trouble with Tribbles" again, since I'm been in TOS/s2 mode recently, but from what I recall Jones didn't realize the threat the Tribbles were and genuinely thought they were just cute things until he was told of their issue...

 

[kkt]

Jones wasn't an angel either. He knew that the tribbles breed like tribbles, but he never told anyone when he was selling them in a new market, because if he did the price would drop to nothing. Ships, space stations, and planets where he sold them probably became overrun.