Sunday, August 18, 2019

CAPTAIN KIRK MEETS A SPACE PIMP!


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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