Mudd's Women

"Mudd's Women"
Star Trek: The Original Series episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 6
Directed by Harvey Hart
Story by Gene Roddenberry
Teleplay by Stephen Kandel
Featured music Fred Steiner
Cinematography by Jerry Finnerman
Production code 4
Original air date October 13, 1966 (1966-10-13)
Guest appearance(s)

"Mudd's Women" is an episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek that was first broadcast on October 13, 1966, and then repeated on 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. It is the first of two episodes to feature Harcourt Fenton Mudd, an interstellar con man, who is transporting a cargo of female humans, i.e. Mudd's Women.

Plot

On stardate 1329.1, the Federation starship USS Enterprise, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk, is in pursuit of a J-class cargo spaceship. The ship overloads its engines in an escape attempt through an asteroid field. Kirk orders the Enterprise's shields extended around the other spacecraft to protect it until the cargo ship's occupants can be transported aboard the Enterprise. This action destroys all but one of the lithium crystal circuits in the Enterprise's warp engines.[note 1]

The Enterprise beams the cargo ship's passengers - three women - and its captain aboard, just as an asteroid impact destroys their spaceship. In the transporter room, the man gives his name as Leo Walsh. The three women who accompany him are stunningly beautiful, and they distract many of the male crew members of the Enterprise, including ship's surgeon Dr. McCoy and Chief Engineer Scott. The women are destined to be wives for settlers on the planet Ophiuchus III and are introduced as Ruth Bonaventure, Eve McHuron, and Magda Kovacs.

Kirk convenes a hearing, during which the computer contradicts Walsh's testimony, forcing him to reveal his true name, Harcourt Fenton Mudd, a criminal with an extensive record. The hearing ends as the final lithium crystal fails.

Without lithium crystals, the Enterprise must limp on reserve power to the storm-plagued planet Rigel XII to obtain new crystals from the miners there. Childress, the chief miner, and his associate Gosset, having been in contact with Mudd, demand his release along with the women in exchange for the crystals. Kirk refuses, but the Enterprise's remaining power is insufficient to maintain the ship's orbit for more than a few days, threatening a fiery reentry into the planet's atmosphere. Mudd points out that sooner or later Kirk will have to bargain for the crystals the ship needs. Kirk is forced to allow Mudd and the women to beam down to the planet.

At an impromptu party with the miners, Eve becomes angry when they begin fighting over the other two women, and runs away into a magnetic dust storm, with Childress in pursuit. Kirk beams back to the Enterprise to try to locate them from orbit. Eventually, Childress finds Eve, brings her to his quarters, and falls asleep. On waking, he is confronted with a much plainer Eve.

Kirk and Mudd beam back down to the planet to deal with Childress. The captain reveals that Mudd has been giving the women the so-called Venus drug, which creates a transient, illusory beauty. As Childress confronts Mudd over the deception, Eve snatches a dose of what appears to be the Venus drug, but is in fact a placebo. This restores her self-confidence to the point that Childress finds her as attractive as before. Kirk finally gets his replacement crystals.

Mudd tries to persuade Kirk to leave him behind on Rigel XII as punishment. Kirk refuses, but promises to appear as a character witness at his trial, which Mudd does not find reassuring.

Reception

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an '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]

Notes

  1. ↑ The term dilithium was not yet in the Star Trek vernacular during this episode.

References

  1. ↑ Handlen, Zack (January 22, 2009). ""The Enemy Within"/"Mudd's Women"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
  2. ↑ Whitfield, Stephen E & Roddenberry, Gene (1968). The Making of Star Trek. Ballantine Books.
  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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