Mudd's Women (TOS episode)
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| Star Trek: TOS episode | |
| "Mudd's Women" | |
 Ruth Bonaventure, Eve McHuron and Magda Kovacs, Mudd's Women |
|
| Episode no. | 6 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 004 |
| Airdate | October 13, 1966 |
| Writer(s) | Stephen Kandel story by Gene Roddenberry |
| Director | Harvey Hart |
| Guest star(s) | Roger C. Carmel Karen Steele Susan Denberg Maggie Thrett Gene Dynarski John Kowal Seamon Glass Jim Goodwin Jerry Foxworth Eddie Paskey Frank da Vinci |
| Year | 2266 |
| Stardate | 1329.1 |
| Episode chronology | |
| Previous | "The Enemy Within" |
| Next | "What are Little Girls Made Of?" |
"Mudd's Women" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series first broadcast October 13, 1966 and repeated May 4, 1967. It is a first season episode #6, production #4, 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.
Contents |
[edit] 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 (later dilithium) crystal circuits in the Enterprise's engine core.
The Enterprise manages to beam aboard the cargo ship's passengers (three women and one man) seconds before an asteroid 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, especially Lt. Sulu and Navigator John Farrell. 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, of course, flatly refuses. 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 turned into a housewife. 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 stay with the miners, Mudd is handed over and faces charges, and Kirk gets his lithium.
Mudd returns again in The Original Series episode "I, Mudd".
[edit] 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".[1]
It was the filmed as the second episode of the first season, after "The Corbomite Maneuver".[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Whitfield, Stephen E and Roddenberry, Gene (1968). The Making of Star Trek. Ballatine Books.
- ^ Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman (1996). Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-00974-5.
[edit] External links
- Mudd's Women article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
| Last produced: "The Corbomite Maneuver" |
Star Trek: TOS episodes Season 1 |
Next produced: "The Enemy Within" |
| Last transmitted: "The Enemy Within" |
Next transmitted: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" |
