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Mudd's Women

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"Mudd's Women"

"Mudd's Women" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series first broadcast October 13, 1966 and repeated May 4, 1967. It is the sixth episode of the first season, and was written by Stephen Kandel, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Harvey Hart. The episode introduces the recurring character Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

Overview: The Enterprise picks up a galactic conman and his beautiful female "cargo".

Plot

On stardate 1329.1, the USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is in pursuit of a stolen J-class cargo ship. Overloading its engines to avoid capture, the ship tries to make a daring run for an asteroid field. Kirk orders the Enterprise's shields cast around the craft to avert its imminent demise until the ship's occupants can be beamed aboard. This action, however, blows out the lithium crystal circuits in the Enterprise's engine core.

The Enterprise manages to beam aboard the cargo ship's passengers (three women) and captain (one man) at about the same time as an asteroid impact destroys their vessel. In the transporter room, the man steps forward and introduces himself as Leo Francis Walsh. The three women who accompany him are stunningly beautiful, causing double-takes from the male crew members. The women are introduced as Ruth Bonaventure, Magda Kovacs and Eve McHuron.

Walsh explains that his human "cargo" are destined to be wives for settlers on Ophiuchus III. Dr. McCoy notices a strange reading on his Sickbay medical panel when Ruth walks in front of it. He has her walk past it again and asks whether she's wearing some exotic perfume or something radioactive. Ruth innocently replies, "No, I'm just me," and leaves Sickbay while McCoy remains baffled by his medical panel.

Meanwhile, Kirk has Walsh taken into custody and convenes a ship's hearing. With Walsh in the spotlight, he's forced to reveal his real name, Harcourt Fenton Mudd, a criminal wanted in several star systems and with a long rap sheet of crimes. Kirk doesn't charge Mudd's women with anything at the moment. For now, he has a bigger concern: the welfare of his ship.

As a result of the lithium burnout, the Enterprise must limp on reserve power to Rigel XII, a planet plagued by constant storms, for new crystals. Mudd, however, obtains unauthorized use of a communicator, radios ahead and makes his own deal with Rigel XII's lithium mining chief, Ben Childress. Mudd's deal is for Childress to give lithium crystals to Kirk in exchange for Mudd's women, and to have Mudd released. Taking one look at the women's stunning beauty, Childress and his fellow miners (Herm Gossett and Benton) excitedly agree.

Kirk flatly refuses this deal. Time, however, is running out for the Enterprise, whose orbit now begins to decay, threatening an eventual burnup in the planet's atmosphere. Kirk is forced to give in and allows Mudd and the women to beam down to the planet. Childress instantly becomes so involved with Eve that he forgets all about the plight of the Enterprise. Annoyed and wondering what's taking so long, Kirk nervously watches the last bit of reserve energy dwindle down.

Eve becomes dissatisfied with being treated as a sex object. She runs away in anguish, enduring harsh dust storms, and Childress pursues her. Using ship's sensors, Kirk tracks down Eve and discovers the secret to the women's startling beauty. Mudd has been giving the women the illegal "Venus drug", which makes them appear much lovelier and more exciting than they really are. Without the drug, the women appear to be plain. Once the discovery is made, the angry Childress confronts Mudd for pulling a fast one.

Kirk gives Eve a placebo of the Venus drug, which she believes to be authentic, and she unknowingly begins to reveal her natural inner beauty, impressing Childress. In the end, Mudd's women decide to marry the miners, Mudd is handed over and faces charges, and Kirk gets his lithium.

40th Anniversary remastering

This episode was remastered in 2006 and aired on April 26, 2008 as part of the remastered Original Series. It was preceded two weeks earlier by the remastered "Obsession" and followed a week later by the remastered "Assignment: Earth". Aside from remastered video and audio, and the all-CGI animations of the USS Enterprise that is standard among the revisions, specific changes to this episode also include:

  • Mudd's stolen J-class ship has been redesigned in CGI.
  • The two ships enter a more realistic-looking asteroid field.
  • A more dramatic scene of Mudd's ship as it is destroyed by an asteroid collision.
  • The planet Rigel XII has been given a more realistic appearance.
  • The establishing scene of the mining colony has been changed, now several of the dome buildings appear together on a more detailed surface of the planet.

Reception

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a 'A' rating, describing the character of Harry Mudd in particular as "a familiar character type, but an enjoyable one".[1]

Production

The story was one of three submitted for production as the second pilot of Star Trek: the others being "The Omega Glory" and the selected episode, "Where No Man Has Gone Before".[2] It was filmed as the second episode of the first season, after "The Corbomite Maneuver".[3]

References

  1. ^ Handlen, Zack (22 January 2009). ""The Enemy Within"/"Mudd's Women"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  2. ^ Whitfield, Stephen E and Roddenberry, Gene (1968). The Making of Star Trek. Ballatine Books.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman (1996). Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-00974-5.


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