Mudd's Women

The Enterprise is playing space traffic cop when they stop a ship being driven by one Harry Mudd, an outrageous man in an outrageous pirate like costume. Roger C. Carmel plays Mudd in the first of two Star Trek appearances.

Basically Mudd is charged with some space traffic violations. But it's his cargo that has the crew buzzing. Three gorgeous women who look like they stepped off a Las Vegas chorus line.

But these women take an aphrodisiac concoction that makes them appear as they do and get the men thinking from below decks.

The Enterprise also is in sad need of dilithium crystals to make it go and they've got them on a nearby mining planet. They also have some very antsy minors who haven't had feminine companionship either.

I think you can see where this is going. This episode is highlighted by Roger C. Carmel as the great Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

I am thrilled that they made this average episode because without it they probably never would have made the wonderful follow-up episode, I, MUDD--one of the very best Star Trek episodes ever made.

Harry Mudd is the commander of a craft that is ordered to stop and be boarded. Instead, he over-taxes the engines and he and his "cargo" are nearly killed. The cargo turns out to be three very ordinary-looking women who are supposed to be über-sexy (you can tell because of the sexy jazz riffs that follow them as they slink about the ship).

The episode is pretty good because Roger Carmel was wonderful as Harry Mudd--he was funny and sleazy and just a lot of fun to watch. Aside from his performance, though, the rest of it all just seemed ordinary. No magic--just an ordinary show with nothing to especially recommend it.

By the way, for Star Trek purists, they keep referring to Lithium Crystals. Later, they changed it to Dilithium Crystals that powered the ship.

FYI--The first few episodes were shown in a completely convoluted manner. This is why Uhuru is wearing yellow instead of the familiar ref (which she wore in the first episode aired). This one was filmed BEFORE the first aired episode ("The Man Trap").

This is a parable about rich frustrated males who've worked their entire lives to pay for top of the line mail order brides; an ages old scam. And once they get their prizes, they find that they're unattractive. The unattractive part comes from real world parallels where former prostitutes from one nation seek a new life in another by offering themselves for marriage. Again, a scam. That's not to say that there aren't honest women in the trade, but, well, if you're going to "pay for romance" as it were, then buyer beware.

The story shows men desiring love and sex, and when they see what they've paid for, they go ballistic. They fall for the facade, the fantasy, not the real person inside. And therein lies the parable. What is is that determines mating compatibility, and are there degrees of such coupling, or is there a real binary on-off determinant that will decide whether a couple will stay together or part? The episode doesn't address that, but says that if you look into a person's heart, you'll fall in love with whoever you please.

Not so.

Attraction is only a small component. Physical attraction is a fraction of that component. Real attraction supersedes and transcends all levels, from skin to soul. It's uncovering those layers that the episode suggests that will win the day. That's true, but if you know what you want, and it isn't available, then don't settle for less, or you'll never be happy.

One of the three miners lucks out. How? Because his affection, unknown to him, was genuine in the first place, although he did not know it at the time.

There's a plot device involved. One that actually may become a reality at some point in the near future. It suggests that sensuality is a character trait and not a mere manifestation of physical makeup. Very true. Yet the episode suggests that everyone can potentially be for everyone else. Not so, for this is actually a clinical solution to settling a male whose own robust testosterone levels have placed him on an uneven keel, and the agent for bringing him back to norm is a female companion. Again, Jarvis finds fortune has smiled on him.

But it is not so for others in the real world, for which this particular installment of Trek was meant. And, regrettably, men in the real world who are coupled with women they would not have normally considered for all sorts of reasons, find themselves divorced and financially ruined, or just plain unhappy in a marriage they were maneuvered into with a woman they did not want in the first place. That's the aspect, the honest and real world aspect, that this episode does not address.

The episode's profundity is in that we should all look beyond skin and other physical traits. No argument there. But the episode also suggests that if you find something inside a person that you don't like, something deeply repugnant to you, something you never wanted, that you should put up with that quality or trait regardless. That may be a bit of a stretch, but it is a qualifier for this particular installment.

Fortunately Kirk and Spock are here to solve things, as the U.S.S. Enterprise again totters on the precipice of disaster. The ship is imperiled, and trading in flesh seems to be the only solution. Things happen, and the most famous starship captain since Tom Swift takes action.

Things work out, all thanks to Starfleet Academy training, and the inner story that takes place is actually kind of a lovely one when all is said and done.

This is a romance with some plot overtones coupled with some adventure. Take it for what it is. Something tells me the ladies will probably like this episode a bit more than the men.

Watch it once.

I somehow watched 4 Star Trek movies before watching this show; and I was worried how I might be "too dumb" to enjoy this show due to my dislike for the movies. However, after finishing the first few episodes and getting to this one, I now realize why this show is such a cult classic. This is such a delightfully dumb episode that raises so many questions. Why is there a ye olde pirate in space? Why did the writers decide to make him a pimp? Why isn't he the main villain of the episode? But all that doesn't matter, what does matter is that this is a very entertaining episode that made me realize this show isn't as pretentious as I thought it'd be.

"Mudd's Women" (Oct. 13, 1966) Old TV Guide synopsis: 'Kirk encounters Harry Mudd, a convicted smuggler who is traveling through space with three stunning women.' Roger C. Carmel's Harry Mudd is one of the show's most renowned rogues (returning in the second season's "I, Mudd"), but this Gene Roddenberry original storyline generally focuses on his 'cargo,' three lovely young ladies who have an exaggerated effect on the male members of the Enterprise crew. Drug addiction also finds its way into the final script, as Mudd's steady supply keeps the girls presentable for prospective husbands. Karen Steele enjoyed a lengthy career on the small screen, while that of Maggie Thrett and Susan Denberg concluded by the mid 70s. Susan played five roles during the course of one year before vanishing from show business, best remembered for her starring opposite Peter Cushing in "Frankenstein Created Woman."