Mudd's Women (13 Oct. 1966)

The Enterprise picks up untrustworthy entrepreneur Harry Mudd accompanied by three beautiful women who immediately put a spell on all the male crew members.

Director:

Harvey Hart

Writers:

Stephen Kandel (teleplay), Gene Roddenberry (story),

Stars:

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Roger C. Carmel

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
William Shatner	...	Captain James T. Kirk
Leonard Nimoy	...	Mr. Spock
Roger C. Carmel	...	Harry Mudd
Karen Steele	...	Eve McHuron
DeForest Kelley	...	Dr. McCoy
Maggie Thrett	...	Ruth
Susan Denberg	...	Magda
James Doohan	...	Scott
George Takei	...	Sulu
Jim Goodwin	...	Lt. John Farrell
Nichelle Nichols	...	Uhura
Gene Dynarski	...	Ben Childress
Jon Kowal	...	Herm Gossett
Seamon Glass	...	Benton
Jerry Foxworth	...	Guard

Storyline

After stopping a vessel in space, Kirk and the crew find a very odd captain with a very strange cargo. The captain of the vessel is Harcourt Fenton Mudd - known as Harry to his friends - and the cargo are three lovely women he is transporting as brides for lonely men on distant planets. Kirk has a major problem: while trying to rescue Mudd and his women from his disintegrating ship, the Enterprise's lithium crystals used to power the engines were destroyed. They travel to a nearby mining colony where Mudd sets about to arrange marriages for the women, interfering with Kirk's plan to buy the crystals. All the time, the ship's orbit is deteriorating and risks burning up in the atmosphere.

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Plot Keywords:

planet | 23rd century | orbiting planet | asteroid | computer | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 1966 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Desilu Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Desilu Productions, Norway Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

50 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Susan Denberg (playing Magda Kovacs) appeared in this episode two months after revealing herself as the Miss August 1966 centerfold in Playboy.

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Goofs

When McCoy, Spock, and Scotty seem to be mesmerized by the women after they are beamed aboard, a close-up of McCoy shows him wearing his medical smock. All other shots of this scene show him without the smock.

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Quotes

Captain James T. Kirk: Bridge to transporter room. How many did we get off?
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott: [staring at Mudd's women] Oh. Erm... Four in all, sir.
Captain James T. Kirk: If the captain that vessel can walk, I want him in my cabin immediately. Correction, I want him there whether he can walk or not. Kirk out.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd aka Leo Walsh: That fellow sounded a mite upset, didn't he?
Lt. Cmdr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D.: [staring at Mudd's women] Yes... yes they are.

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Connections

Spoofed in Sex Trek: Where No Man Has Cum B4 (2007)

User Reviews

Settling for less.

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.