‘MUDD’S WOMEN’ (TOS)
Please feel free to comment on my review.
This episode introduces the character of Harry Mudd, who is an intergalactic smuggler and criminal. This is where Harry brings his ‘cargo’ of incredibly beautiful women with him aboard the Enterprise.
These three ladies in this episode are Eve, Magda and Ruth. They are beautiful and attractive, even for the male members on the Enterprise when they set their eyes on them and they get distracted.
But the beauty of these three ladies is all a fake, as they get their beauty through the use of an alien drug. I found this an interesting concept whilst I was watching the episode for the first time on DVD.
However, I don’t regard this as a personal favourite episode of mine. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very enjoyable and I found it interesting. But it is one of these average episodes to feature in the series.
Roger C. Carmel makes his first appearance as the treacherous Harry Mudd. I found Harry an interesting character since he was a con artist and tended to be a comic relief figure from this series.
Harry Mudd is also someone that Captain Kirk doesn’t take a liking to and quickly distrusts him, since he’s a liar and cheat. Harry is of course an intergalactic con artist and will do anything to get his way.
Karen Steele guest stars as Eve with Susan Denberg as Magda and Maggie Thrett as Ruth, the three ladies. Eve is the one who is the most interesting and likeable of the three ladies from this episode.
Eve is rather dismayed about being used a sex object for the male eye. Meanwhile Magda and Ruth are very dependent on the drug and want to have men as their husbands and be selfish all the time.
I enjoyed Eve’s journey as a character in this episode, as she’s the one who wants to be a good and honest and dislikes Harry Mudd very much. She likes Captain Kirk a lot and sees him as a good man.
In the episode, Harry Mudd with the ladies is put under interrogation by Captain Kirk and the crew. Kirk uses the computer on Harry to give him answers and it’s funny when he keeps lying all the time.
The computer immediately picks up on Harry’s lies and Harry gets annoyed by it. It’s interesting to see how Harry can be manipulative and egotistical when he’s trying to get his way on the Enterprise.
It’s funny when Bones, Scotty and other male members are easily taken in by the ladies’ good looks. Only Spock seems able to resist the ladies, since he isn’t human and he finds the situation annoying.
It was quite shocking when it turns out that the ladies are ‘ugly’ looking when the drug begins to wear off them. It’s something they try to hide whenever they use the alien drug to impress the men.
In the episode, the Enterprise visits the planet Ophiuchus III to collect some lithium crystals for their ship. Harry Mudd takes an opportunity to sell the three ladies to the miners who work on the planet.
The miners on Ophiuchus III are led by Gene Dynarski as Ben Childress. Childress becomes distacted by Eve, seeing her as a sex object, and it jeopardises the Enterprise’s urgency for the lithium crystals.
‘Mudd’s Women’ has been an enjoyable ‘Star Trek’ episode to watch on DVD. It’s not a favourite of mine, but I have enjoyed it. The idea of three beautiful women dependant on a drug was interesting.
The DVD special features for this episode are as follows. On Disc 2 of both the original and re-mastered DVDs of ‘Star Trek: The Original Series – Season 1’, there is a preview trailer for this episode.
‘Mudd’s Women’ (TOS) rating – 7/10
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