Episode Synopsis (from the official Star Trek website):
The U.S.S. Enterprise pursues an unknown ship into an asteroid belt to save its crew before it's destroyed. The four people aboard are beamed on to the U.S.S. Enterprise; former nemesis Harry Mudd and three beautiful, sultry women: Ruth Bonaventure, Eve McHuron and Magda Kovacs. Mudd was transporting the three women to Ophiuchus VI to marry settlers there.
The Enterprise computers reveal that Mudd has been charged with a number of infractions of the law. In pursuit of Mudd's ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise has burned out its lithium crystals, which power the starship's engines, and Kirk orders them to proceed as quickly as possible to the nearest lithium mining planet. That planet is Rigel XII, which is inhabited by only three lithium miners.
Mudd manages to contact Ben Childress, the head miner, and make a deal with him. Mudd promises to deliver the three beautiful women to the lonely miners in exchange for lithium crystals and their help in escaping Kirk.
Mudd's Women is one of the iconic Star Trek episodes. Chances are if you are at all a fan of Star Trek you have heard the name Harry Mudd and likely seen the episode. It is always interesting to watch the classic, famous, iconic Star Trek episodes, perhaps even more so than the filler episodes that most people don't remember. The best part of it is the opportunity to see what everyone has found so appealing for so many years and see how it has stood the test of time.
Mudd's Women is an interesting episode. It tries to have a point to the story, but its unfortunately as basic as "beauty is what you make it to be." Seriously, it is really no more sophisticated than that-and that is not necessarily a bad thing, because the episode is clever, well written, and funny. The problem is that it has so many logical loopholes and just makes so little sense at time that it drives me crazy.
Let's get the good out of the way first. It is still a good episode that has stood the test of time well. The general attitude towards women and the way Mudd's women were portrayed is chauvinistic at best-and you must accept it as a mark of the time and move on. The story was well written, the dialog was funny, and Roger Carmel is brilliant as Harcourt Fenton Mudd. I enjoyed watching the episode again even though I was picking it apart, and while I don't quite think of it as a true classic, it was a lot of fun.
Now for the inconsistencies, and god there are a lot of them. So first we have a magic Venus pill that makes you beautiful. It slowly transforms your facial features and in a few minutes you are a stunner. It isn't clear if this pill acts to actually physically transform your features or if it simply projects an illusion, but the distinction is irrelevant to the story. Eventually the story takes a turn where one of the lithium miners is unhappy with his purchased bride to be because her true features are shown and she is not as attractive as he wanted (because she now refuses to take the Venus pill). She eventually pretends to take the pill (or at least appears to pretend, its not clear if she does or does not) and she suddenly becomes beautiful again and the lonely miner is happy-before he finds out from Kirk that she didn't take the pill and he now sees her true beauty or some such groan-inducing explanation. Putting aside the appalling shallowness of the entire situation, this notable only because the writers don't actually end the story as a real beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to the effect of "an unattractive person can trick you into believe they are attractive and that should make you happy!" It's very odd and I still don't really understand why they chose to go this route.
The episode also features other huge inconsistencies. The Enterprise is almost out of lithium to power their engines, so they go to a planet to get more. The mining planet has all of three miners to produce this obviously valuable and rare element, which makes no sense to begin with. Secondly, they refuse to provide even though that it their stated purpose in mining it in the first place (and presumably compensation of some sort has been offered). To add insult to injury, Kirk, a man never shy about acting when necessary, makes no attempt with his starship or crew of 420 to simply take the lithium in order to prevent the Enterprise from spiralling into a decaying orbit and crashing into the planet. While such action might not be a first choice, it seems reasonable given the miners behavior.
Another minor thing is the rather amusingly primitive computer and voice stress recognition device used when Kirk convenes a hearing to determine if and what crimes Mudd might have commited. It is amusing more so because it is scripted in such a way that it sounds very fake, and also because the computer doing the "lie detecting" is as big as most modern televisions. This is obviously a product of the technology and effects of the 1960's, but that makes it no less funny to watch.
Continuity:
- The Enterprise is apparently fueled by "lithium" which will shortly become the accepted "dilithium crystals".
- The early and now non-canonical fuel source of lithium apparently was used up very quickly and the Federation apparently had little control of lithium miners to provide it to starships in need, which makes little logical sense.
- Enterprise retcons almost all of the fuel issues we see in this episode, providing some serious continuity issues with early canon.
Fun Facts:
- Uniform colors continue to be inconsistent, and some key cast members appear only very briefly or not at all.
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