Mudds Women : TOS Episode 4 Original Air Date 10/13/1966 Stardate 1329.1

Mudd's Women - Star Trek TV Episode [ Synopsis | Editorial Reviews ]
Production # 5
Air Date: 9/29/1966
Stardate: 1704.2

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.

Upon reaching the planet, Eve tries to escape, having fallen for Kirk and not wanting to marry one of the miners, but Ben Childress brings her back. They discover that the women are using an extremely illegal Venus drug to make them beautiful and without which they become quite plain. By the time the fraud is discovered, Magda and Ruth are already married to the miners, to the satisfaction of all parties involved. Eve, who realizes that Kirk is married to his career and to his starship, settles for marrying Ben. Kirk gets the lithium crystals he needs for the U.S.S. Enterprise and Harry Mudd, on whom he has filed criminal charges.

This second volume of episodes on DVD from the original Star Trek includes the popular and sexy "Mudd's Women," which introduces the character of interstellar huckster and fugitive Harry Mudd (Roger C. Carmel, later to return in another classic episode, "I, Mudd"). The Enterprise beams aboard Harry and three beautiful and scantily clad women whom the con man is carrying as cargo. The transport damages the starship, forcing Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to take a detour to a mining world for a supply of dilithium crystals. Harry uses the women as bait to get the miners to help him flee from the authorities--but a revelation about his liberal use of an attraction-enhancement drug adds a twist to things. This clever and novel installment in the series grafted the unlikely element of a petty, colorful crook onto a science fiction show, an obvious forerunner of Deep Space Nine's inclusion of Quark among its own major characters.

Also in this volume is another outstanding episode, "The Enemy Within." Written by renowned novelist-screenwriter Richard Matheson (The Incredible Shrinking Man), the story proposes a transporter malfunction that results in Captain Kirk being divided into two versions of himself, one aggressive and brutal, the other sensitive and good. Essentially, the personality mix that makes Kirk an effective leader and balanced man is scattered like so many marbles, and the result is one captain running around mauling women and wreaking havoc while the other is frightened and indecisive. The production is very effectively done, and Shatner's performance is among his most interesting. --Tom Keogh

Product Description:
"Mudd's Women" (Ep.4): Conman Harry Mudd brokers the marriage of three beautiful women to a mining colony to escape Kirk. "The Enemy Within" (Ep.5): A transporter malfunction splits Kirk into good and evil entities.