Episode Title: Mudd’s Women
Air Date: 10/13/1966
Written by Gene
Roddenberry
Directed by Harvey
Hart
Cast: William
Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Lieutenant Commander Spock DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H.
McCoy AKA "Bones" James Doohan as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA
“Scotty” George Takei as Lieutenant
Hikaru Sulu Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura Jim Goodwin as Lieutenant Farrell Eddie Paskey as Crewman Connors Jerry Foxworth as Unnamed Guard Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd Karen Steele as Eve McHuron Susan Denberg as Magda Kovacs Maggie Thrett as Ruth
Bonaventure Gene Dynarski as Ben
Childress John Kowal as Herm
Gossett Seamon Glass as Benton Majel Barrett as Enterprise Computer
Ships: USS
Enterprise NCC-1701, unnamed J-class cargo spaceship
Planets: Rigel XII
My Spoiler filled
summary and review: The story begins
with Captain Kirk leading the Enterprise
on a chase of an unlawful J – class cargo spaceship. The little ship tries to
evade them by heading into a meteor shower.
It however cannot take the strain and its engine start
overload and shields go down making it vulnerable to any meteorite that comes
close to it. Regardless of what they
done Captain Kirk will not allow that little ship to die so he takes an
incredible risk and extends the Enterprise’s
shields around it. Because of
the distance between the cargo ship and the Enterprise
the use of extending their shields causes their own engines to overheat and
wrecks all but one of their dilithium crystals and that one remaining crystal is
cracked.
 |
| Are we the prettiest young ladies you ever saw? |
In the transporter room, Scotty is
with Dr. McCoy ready to receive the occupants of the other ship. They manage to get the first person aboard, a
tall plump man who introduces himself as Captain Leo Walsh. They ask him if there’s anyone else and he
says three more he came over by himself because he wasn’t sure if they were a friendly
ship. Here McCoy should’ve smacked him
and pointed out is about that everyone on his ship was about to die and the fact that they are trying to rescue them should alone
automatically make them a friendly ship. However, seeing as time was of the
essence, they just quickly worked to be the other three people aboard. When they do successfully get the other three
people onboard, just in the nick of time as their space ship is destroyed by a
meteor, it is revealed that the other three members of the ship’s crew are all
beautiful women.
 |
| Beauty, only Mr. Spock is immune. |
Captain Kirk orders that the captain of the
transport ship be brought to his cabin “whether he can walk or not.” When there
Captain Walsh explains to Captain Kirk that the three women are not part of his
crew but rather they’re his cargo. The women
are to be wives for settlers on the frontier.
Walsh blames Kirk for wrecking his ship and Kirk doesn’t care for
anything Walsh says just takes down his name and information in calm
and detached manner tells Walsh he will hold a hearing on his actions and
basically he’s in a lot of trouble.
 |
| Kike meets Mudd's Women |
With Walsh confined quarters it
seems there won’t be any trouble however the women are having a strange effect
on the ship. The men of the Enterprise, despite having amongst their
crew beautiful young women who are in the prime of their life and in excellent
physical condition who walk around the ship wearing tight one piece miniskirts
for uniforms, suddenly find themselves dazed and confused at the sheer beauty
of the three new arrivals. The intoxication of these beautiful women on the men
is so severe that often interferes with their ability to even think straight.
Due to their dilithium crystal
situation the Enterprise changes
course and heads to a planet named Rigel XII, which is a dilithium mining
facility. Soon the last crystal cracks
and is destroyed causing the Enterprise to have to
limp there on impulse power. By the time
the ship gets to the planet they will have barely enough power to maintain a
good orbit.
 |
| Maybe she's born with it maybe it Venus drug? |
At the hearing is uncovered that
the so-called Leo Walsh isn’t Leo Walsh at all but a con man named Harry Mudd. Despite his crimes and history being exposed
before the committee he still insists that his present mission is completely
valid. Mudd is helped by the fact that the women introduced
as Ruth Bonaventure, Eve McHuron, and Magda Kovacs, back his story that they
are wives for settlers on the planet Ophiuchus III. Of the women, Eve becomes their greatest
advocate and a greater help to Mudd as he tries to clear himself with the
Captain. Eve explains that she and the
two other women come from places in low population devoid of eligible men to
marry. So instead of moving to Earth,
which in the universe of Star Trek is a paradise with plenty of resources and
lots of eligible men to marry, they decide to have further out in space to the
rugged frontier where there are fewer women and more desperate men. Eve expresses genuine anger that they have
opportunity to meet men who are willing to be their husbands in the Enterprise is bringing them in the wrong
direction.
 |
| A game Harry Mudd is determined to win! |
Eve’s passion for herself and the
two other women’s undertaking helps convince Captain Kirk that there want is
genuine and they are not being forced against their own will. Eve shows herself to be very differently from
her two counterparts, where the other two go along with Mudd’s plans without
question Eve often shows her independence by standing up to Mudd and even
questioning him in front of others.
Nevertheless she and the others continue to be a mystery for the Enterprise.
 |
| "Where's the drug Harry? I may be as sexy as ever but my make up is now messed up and my hair is out of place." |
That mystery could be solved if
they could peek into Mudd’s quarters at one point. The women seem to head into a form of
withdrawal. In their view they return to
being ugly, however it really just looks like their makeup is a little messed
up because they are actually still as attractive as ever. Messed up makeup is supposed to make women
ugly? I suppose we can blame that on the
limited graphics that 1960s television could produce. (More on that thought
later.) Fortunately for the women Harry
Mudd finds what he is looking for. What
he was looking for is what gives the women there fix, it is a little drug
called Venus. The Venus drug is the
source of their beauty and power. As
soon as they take it Ruth and Magda are as beautiful and stunning as ever. Eve who is angry at the fakeness of it all
has to be more persuaded ultimately she is and he hands her the little red
glowing pill.
So Harry Mudd is not only engaged
in the ancient practice of mail order brides he is involving another ancient practice called catfishing. He wishes to
set men up with women who appear more beautiful than they really are. When Harry Mudd learns that they’re going to
a planet that has a mining operation for dilithium crystals the most valuable
item in the galaxy, he decides to match the women not up with some other
farming colonists but with these great and wealthy miners. According to Mudd the dilithium crystals,
which we’re still nicknaming “lithium” crystals for now, are worth thousands of
their weight in gold and hundreds of their weight in diamonds. This makes them the con artist’s most likely
target.
Since Harry’s confined quarters it
is up to the women to carry out the mission.
Although she nearly gives them out by accidentally walking in front of
his medical scanner, Magda learned from Dr. McCoy that there are three miners who
are all healthy men, are single, and haven’t seen a woman in quite a
while. Ruth manages to swipe a
communicator and this will allow Mudd to directly communicate with the
miners. Eve was assigned to seduce
Captain Kirk but failed when she had an attack of conscience.
 |
| Too beautiful can't focus. |
It did not matter Mudd got his
message through. When Captain Kirk met
with the miners it came time to discuss price, Kirk was all set having the
authority to pay any reasonable amount.
However the lead a miner, whose name was Ben Childress, told Captain
Kirk that their price was they wanted the women and Mudd too. Childress explains that he was going to
arrange for him to go free. Now at this
point I think Captain Kirk’s getting a hell of a deal he can get free dilithium
crystals and the only thing he has to pay is to allow four people to go where
they already want to go. If I was Kirk I
think I could try to swing for couple extra dilithium crystals for spares,
considering this is only Kirk’s third appearance yet second time we see him
wreck his ship’s engines he could use the spares. However Captain Kirk is not like me, Kirk is
a man of high ideals and the idea of letting a criminal free just to get
dilithium crystals is a thought that is disgusting to him. However just as
Kirk has high ideals, Harry Mudd did not get to be the con artist he is without
planning ahead having a few aces up his sleeve.
He exposes Kirk’s hand to the miners pointing out that they only have a half
a day before their ship crashes and burns.
Kirk is forced to go along and allow the women and Mudd to travel to the
planet Rigel XII.
Now don’t you think that allowing a
Federation starship and its crew to die a horrible death burning up in a
planet’s atmosphere should be illegal in the Federation? It seems to me like that would be some sort
of crime. Kirk does try to threaten them
with some consequences but prison never seems to be one of them. Maybe it is just that dilithium crystal
miners are so rich and powerful, even in a society like the Federation that
supposedly doesn’t use money at least in the same way that we do, they can
threaten starships with little or no repercussions. I don’t know why Kirk doesn’t just arrest
them right there and throw them in the brig.
I mean how did Childress plan to get off the ship? Did he want to use the transporter or a shuttle-craft? The Captain can just say
no. They can be forced to stay up there
to burn the rest of them unless he hands over a crystal. What will the miners
to do about it? Will they complain to a
Federation court? They would then have
to explain why they would allow a starship die in the first place. In our last great adventure Captain Kirk out
bluffed a powerful alien holding only a pair of twos and in this adventure
he’s convinced the fold with a full house to a man who can’t even clean a dish. But what do I know? I thought he should just taken their first
offer.
 |
| Aren't we worth a bucket of dilithium crystals? |
Down the planet with the crystals
get to be delivered the miners are enjoying dancing with the women. Everyone is having fun except for Kirk who is
still waiting for his dilithium crystals and Eve for some strange reason no one
knows why. Eve has a temper tantrum
because is not getting the same attention as her two companions who were
dancing while she is looking out at the sand storm with a frown on her face. She then opens and runs out the door into the
very storm. Childress goes out and finds
her and rescues her from certain death.
The next morning he wakes up to
find Eve cooking for him. For some
reason this annoys him but he accepts her meal anyway. While giving her a backhanded compliment by
saying her food is good but not as his leading her to point out he can probably still
taste this food because additions are so damn dirty. He defends himself by blaming the type of
water that he has. She says he should
take them outside and put them in the desert winds and have the sand blast them
clean. He tries this and is surprised
when actually works. When he comes back
however the Venus drug has worn off and his companion is back to plain old Eve.
This makes him angry when he
realizes he’s been catfished. Childress
yells at her he demands to know what happened to her good looks. She doesn’t
really respond but what she should say is “it is in the same places all your
money. I was going marry you for
your money as you were to marry me for my looks and I come down here and I find
your entire place looks like crap! I
mean you’re supposed to be like a super billionaire and you’re in horrendous
living conditions. Don’t blame this on
the environment Kirk and Spock fly through the depths of space which is a lot
worse than being in the desert planet and their dishes aren’t dirty!”
 |
| Hair and make up done in seconds! Who wouldn't want Venus drugs? |
At this point Captain Kirk, who off
screen got the ugly truth out of Mudd about the women in the Venus drug,
arrives and forces Mudd to tell the truth to Childress. Mudd explains that the
Venus drug gives you more of what you already have. It makes women pretty and desirable and it
makes men strong and aggressive. This
makes Childress very angry he goes on a rant about how he and his friends
worked very hard in the almost died, in fact they should’ve died, but they
preserved and now they’re rich and are billionaires they expect to have very
good looking women for what they went through and that Mudd delivers average homily women.
At this point Eve grabs the Venus
drug out of Mudd’s hand, which for some strange reason is no longer glowing,
and it consumes it transforming herself back into sexy Eve once more. Before and after taking the drug she lectures
Childress on the way in which he values women, criticizing him for valuing sex
over companionship. Her speech could
have been a great moral moment but it was sort of undermined by three
things. The first issue is she herself
is targeting Childress for his money not simply companionship, the second is
she forgets that sex and sexual attraction is somewhat important, and the third
is she and the other two women attempted to win over Childress and his friends with
what they themselves viewed as a lie.
However Kirk reveals to Eve that
she hasn’t taken the drug what he gave her was a placebo. (Notice it didn’t glow.) Eve really is beautiful the only thing she was
lacking before was confidence and nothing says confidence like a mysterious
drug that will generate pheromones. Eve revealed to be the true beauty that she
is, Childress asks that she stay so they can talk. I assume by “talk” he means he wants to show
her his bank account so he can prove he’s truly a billionaire like she’s truly
a beautiful woman, despite the fact it was a crappy house and that if she
marries him he’ll buy her a much better house.
Childress also promises Kirk that he can have his dilithium crystals.
As Kirk and Mudd prepare to leave
Mudd asks if he can stay on this planet as his punishment. Kirk says no but if
he wants he will appear as a character witness at Mudd’s trial if Mudd thinks
that will help. Mudd responds by saying
he thinks they’ll throw away the key.
Additional thoughts: I
think we can assume the by the way everything works out at the end of this
episode that Eve and Childress were the last couple that were visited by the
duo of Kirk and Mudd. The way Kirk and
Mudd speak of the other two makes me think this is the case.
Now
I can understand Kirk having the authority to arrest Mudd, Starfleet is the
primary law enforcement for the Federation.
But should he be allowed to hold the hearing on Mudd with his own senior
staff? Shouldn’t this be someone a
little more impartial? I mean the Enterprise crew are still mad they had to
blow their engines just to save them.
That was good trick that never see again although when we see the
consequences that makes some sense.
Also the mining operation on Rigel
XII if the Enterprise wished they
could go a few planets closer to the star to Rigel VII where Captain Pike had
his little misadventure right before the events in the “The Cage.”
“Mudd’s Women” is one of those
episodes that are made on the format that Roddenberry sold to the television
producers. With westerns being the king
of the day Roddenberry sold his Star Trek project as a “wagon train the stars.”
Often with the original series there would be these Western themes. “Go west young man” was a common statement in
early America. Europeans moved to the
United States and stopped in the east coast and then Americans living on the east coast started to move to the old northwest then people there moved even
further west. If you want to make your
fortune you had to go where the opportunity was there was the most opportunity
in the areas where the country was developing.
Many people moved west to mine gold, to start farms, and look for any
opportunities available.
Since men in our society had
greater access to the money and power they had more freedom of movement. Often however as the dove into the wilderness
they would find themselves in places short on women. As time went on women would arrive but only in small numbers and so began the process of the mail order
bride. The way for women to escape their
lives east and go west to live with a man who was already there. Mail order brides continue to this day and surprising enough is not bad as you might think either now or historically.
So we have this as a theme in a
Star Trek episode. In colonizing other
worlds the humans who do most of colonizing are seemingly men just like in the
old West and women are not as available so they have their own their own mail
order bride service. Although how
legitimate this is in the Federation is somewhat questionable considering it is
run by the con artist Harry Mudd.
Episodes like this fly in the face
of later Star Trek which would try to promote a philosophy that presented human
society as one where no one uses money.
The economics of Star Trek can cause quite a debate among Star Trek
fans. If money is not important why do
men like Childress risk their lives in order to become billionaires?
On a side note what do the Venus drugs
actually do? Mudd describes is a type of
steroid where gives people more of what they already have. Yet the crew the Enterprise will lose their heads around these women despite the
fact that they see beautiful women all the time. So I assume it must’ve had some sort of
biochemical effect in order to get the men of the Enterprise to notice them like that. However it only gives them what they already
have so in order for the women to appear so unworldly beautiful they have to be
beautiful to begin with.
I noted in the summary that when
the women went to the ugly phase they weren’t even really ugly; it was just like
their makeup seemed messed up. When it
is revealed at the end that the women were naturally beautiful just needed a
confidence boost their ugly scene when they were not really ugly made a lot
more sense. This is a case of bad
graphics telling a better story than good graphics would. If they were to do a modern telling of they
would have CGI effects in order to alter the women’s appearances to make them
unnaturally ugly. This would then
undermine the main point that all they had to be was confident. The point that they look normal when not on
the drugs reinforces the story’s conclusion.
“Mudd’s Women” is not the greatest
of Star Trek stories. It is however
entertaining tale in an interesting early look into their universe and what the
United Federation of Planets may be like outside the corridors of the Enterprise.
FINAL GRADE 3 of 5
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