- Written by Stephen Kandel
- Directed by Harvey Hart
- October 13, 1966
- NBC
Episode Cast
- Captain James T. Kirk-William Shatner
- First Officer and Science Officer Commander Spock-Leonard Nimoy
- Chief Medical Officer Lt. Commander Leonard “Bones” McCoy-DeForest Kelley
- Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott–James Doohan
- Communications Officer Lt. Nyota Uhura-Nichelle Nichols
- Helmsman Lt. Hikaru Sulu-George Takei
- Harry ‘Leo Walsh’ Mudd-Roger C. Carmel
- Eve McHuron-Karen Steele
- Magda Kovacs-Susan Denberg
- Ruth Bonaventure-Maggie Thrett
- Ben Childress-Gene Dynarski
- Herm Gossett-John Kowal
- Benton-Seamon Glass
- Farrell-Jim Goodwin
- Guard-Jerry Foxworth
The Enterprise pursues a vessel and rescues its occupants, three of whom are being transported to become the wives of settlers.
Mudd’s Women is an early episode and so in those times on any series there are people behind a show playing around with mythology before they settle down on things. Nothing jarring but one thing you’ll notice is that Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) is not in her better-known red uniform, but rather in a gold uniform. Then again in the comics of the 70s she was a blonde white woman…
This is the first appearance of Harcourt ‘Harry’ Fenton Mudd (Roger C. Carmel), a character which would appear in the later episode titled I, Mudd and in the animated series episode Mudd’s Passion before the advent of Discovery. A rogue and a criminal but not necessarily an outright threat. It are his mechanizations that create bigger problems.
Here his unregistered ship fleeing from the Enterprise damages their dilithium circuits forcing them to not only take his cargo to miners but puts the ship itself in danger. For the uninitiated dilithium (referred to in this episode as ‘lithium’) crystals are important for channeling the power created to make a starship go.
Roger C. Carmel was ideal for the part. Equal parts charming and slimy. He brought a playful nature to Mudd with a slightly dangerous edge. Not necessarily a threat, but a threat if you prevented him from making the buck as he saw fit. He may have been mostly adverse to hurting people but unlike most of humanity he had not overcome basic greed.
Mudd isn’t a threat that Kirk (William Shatner) could deal with on any level with his fists or with weapons. There’s a sense that the character Kirk finds that frustrating. Because of his nature Mudd is a purely intellectual threat. Mudd is no criminal genius but the skills he uses are not normally employed by the crew of the enterprise, or by Captain Kirk. Harry Mudd is a problem because he is not the usual thing that the crew faces off against. He’s not a military figure or a leader of any type. Just a con artist and a general criminal.
I have heard some call the episode creepy or certain elements thereof creepy. Star Trek: TOS was sold to the network as a Wagon Train to the stars. What could be the best described as mail order brides were not exactly uncommon for settlers in the West. Women seeking a better life and men seeking companionship came together. Mudd with his three women were the science-fiction equivalent of that.
If you view it as an episode featuring a drug pushing pimp you might be offended but you are not understanding what is going on at all. You do not see what Mudd is analogous to here. This was the age where the TV Western dominated networks and this was to emulate that while doing something deeper in a science fiction setting to get it past TV sensors.
Of the three brides-to-be, Eve (Karen Steele) is the most defined of the group. The others are just there with no depth given to their existence. Eve given her stated history is just a woman desperate to escape from the crappy life on her home planet. She’s kind of a sad character but not pathetically sad. Just broken. I am guessing she was to explain all three.
TOS episodes were often (though not 100% of the time) about more than the surface presented. There are themes of honesty and how that is better than a façade or a lie. Harry’s multiple lies cause problems. The women are pretending to be something they’re not and using a special drug to be that. Don’t ask me to understand the science behind a drug that makes them just more beautiful simply by taking it but you could take it as a metaphor for using a drug to cover your personal issues rather than working through them without chemical assistance. This episode has a lot going on. Drug addiction. Frontier wives. Being yourself and not hiding behind an illusion or facade. It’s an episode that packs so much into an adventure story.
Our female trio goes through withdrawal and when they are withdrawing from the drug they are at their worst. Not only do they lose their beauty but they become angry. They are disheveled and homely. Harry keeps them in line with the drug though what happens when he leaves them wherever and they no longer have access to that rare substance I do not know.
There’s a lot more seduction (at least as far as the 60s TV could push it) than there is action in this. The women are using their feminine wiles on the crew at the behest of Harry Mudd to get to a much richer clientele than they originally were being sent for to marry. They woo and distract the crew to gather info or get what they need to give Harry leverage.
Kirk is certainly a factor in this, and I think what saves him from being blinded by the trio’s use of sexuality is the often implied if not outright demonstrated sense of duty before his sense of getting booty. Kirk may have loved women, but he was first and foremost married to the service and the ship.
The Venus Drug gives whoever takes it more of whatever they already have. Men become more muscular. Women become, in Harry’s words, rounder. The ultimate lesson is though that the women don’t need it. Just be yourself. In the climax in place of guns and fistfights Kirk shows Eve that she doesn’t need a drug to be attractive or personable or anything when he slips her a placebo and she is like what she was on the drug. Confidence was what she needed.
Mudd’s Women is an excellent episode that looks at the masks we put on and how drugs can be a crutch. It’s intriguing and engaging and even humorous. One more in a long line of classic track episodes from the original series.
Warren Watched A Movie 