Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Random thoughts of a Tennessee fan on life, sports and more TV shows than any one person should be allowed to watch.
About me
Name: Michael
Location: Nashville, TN
E-mail me!

View My Complete Profile
100 Things About Me
My Facebook Profile
My Wish List
Syndicate Big Orange Michael


Also For Your Reading Pleasure For Your Listening Pleasure (Podcasts)
Slice of SciFi
PodCulture
Two Insane Fans: The Statler and Waldorf of Doctor Who commentaries

Archives
04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004
05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004
06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004
07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004
08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004
09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004
10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004
11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004
12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005
01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005
02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005
03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005
04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005
05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005
06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005
07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005
08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005
09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005
10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005
11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005
12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006
01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006
02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006
03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006
04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006
05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006
06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006
07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006
08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006
09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006
10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006
11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006
12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007
02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007
03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007
04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007
05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007
06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007
07/01/2007 - 08/01/2007
08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007
09/01/2007 - 10/01/2007
10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007
11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007
12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008
01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008
02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008
03/01/2008 - 04/01/2008
04/01/2008 - 05/01/2008
05/01/2008 - 06/01/2008
06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008
07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008
08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008
09/01/2008 - 10/01/2008
10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008
11/01/2008 - 12/01/2008
12/01/2008 - 01/01/2009
01/01/2009 - 02/01/2009
02/01/2009 - 03/01/2009
03/01/2009 - 04/01/2009
04/01/2009 - 05/01/2009
05/01/2009 - 06/01/2009
06/01/2009 - 07/01/2009
07/01/2009 - 08/01/2009
08/01/2009 - 09/01/2009
09/01/2009 - 10/01/2009
10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009
11/01/2009 - 12/01/2009
12/01/2009 - 01/01/2010
01/01/2010 - 02/01/2010
02/01/2010 - 03/01/2010
03/01/2010 - 04/01/2010
04/01/2010 - 05/01/2010
05/01/2010 - 06/01/2010
06/01/2010 - 07/01/2010
07/01/2010 - 08/01/2010
08/01/2010 - 09/01/2010
09/01/2010 - 10/01/2010
10/01/2010 - 11/01/2010
11/01/2010 - 12/01/2010
12/01/2010 - 01/01/2011
01/01/2011 - 02/01/2011
02/01/2011 - 03/01/2011
03/01/2011 - 04/01/2011
04/01/2011 - 05/01/2011
05/01/2011 - 06/01/2011
06/01/2011 - 07/01/2011
07/01/2011 - 08/01/2011
08/01/2011 - 09/01/2011
09/01/2011 - 10/01/2011
10/01/2011 - 11/01/2011
11/01/2011 - 12/01/2011
12/01/2011 - 01/01/2012
01/01/2012 - 02/01/2012
02/01/2012 - 03/01/2012
03/01/2012 - 04/01/2012
04/01/2012 - 05/01/2012
05/01/2012 - 06/01/2012
06/01/2012 - 07/01/2012
07/01/2012 - 08/01/2012
08/01/2012 - 09/01/2012
09/01/2012 - 10/01/2012
08/01/2013 - 09/01/2013
10/01/2017 - 11/01/2017
11/01/2017 - 12/01/2017
09/01/2022 - 10/01/2022
10/01/2022 - 11/01/2022
11/01/2022 - 12/01/2022


Thursday, May 31, 2012
Star Trek: "Mudd's Women"
It's been a while since I delved into the world of classic Star Trek.  But now with most of the shows I keep up with winding down their seasons and a bit of a lull before the summer series really kick it into high gear, I thought it'd be a good time to revisit one of my favorite TV shows and it's first season.  And next on the list is "Mudd's Women."

Classic Star Trek has often been described as "Wagon Train to the stars" and no where is that more evident than in "Mudd's Women."  Originally conceived as one of the three scripts for the second Trek pilot, "Mudd's Women" is extremely close to an episode of Bonanza in outer space.  Just substitute the Enterprise for a caravan headed into the frontier.

In this case, it's the story of Leo Walsh, aka Harry Mudd.  A wanted criminal, Mudd's a con-man who has a cargo of three beautiful women* that he's arranged to be wives for colonists on an outlying colony.  But when the Enterprise burns out some of its lithium crystals in their pursuit and capture of Mudd, the ship is forced to head for an outlying mining colony with (coincidentally enough) three lonely miners.  Exposed as a wanted fugitive, Mudd schemes on how he can elude justice and possibly make a tidy profit for himself.  Of course, this involves negotiating with the miners to trade the crystals for the three brides-to-be.

* A bit of research (how did we live before Wikipedia?!?) tells me one of the women was played by a former Playmate.  Of the three, only one of the women is given any significant lines and for a good reason.  The other two were clearly cast for their other attributes besides acting ability 

Oh but the brides to be hold a secret.  It's here that the episode tries to give a sci-fi twist to the Western in space tale, though whether it success or not is up for debate.  Seems the ladies in questions aren't really as lovely as advertising.  Instead, they're dependent on a drug that helps them become more beautiful and more desirable to men.   Of course, this leads to all kinds of gawking on the ship (apparently despite the fact that there are women on board the ship, every male on the Enterprise can't pick his jaw up off the floor fast enough every time one of the women goes by.  Their beauty is even enough to blind the normally professional crew from doing their jobs correctly, as we see when McCoy is willing to overlook some strange readings on his medical instruments just because Magda is so darn hot).  

In the end, Kirk is caught between his attraction to one of the women and his devotion to the ship.  Oddly enough, it's Kirk who acts the least like a horn-dog in the episode, able to put aside his attraction in order to negotiate for the crystals and uncovering Mudd's secret drug.  Turns out the women don't need it after all--they can just will themselves beautiful **

**The script doesn't really bother to try and delve deeply into this.  It could be the residual drug in the system or it could just be that, doggone, if only women would think themselves beautiful, they would be!   This is not classic Trek at it's most progressive by a long shot.

There is a lot that just doesn't work in this story and it's probably a good thing that it wasn't the second pilot for the show or we'd not have Trek as we know it today.   This one is cited as one of the most misogynistic episodes not only of classic Trek but of the entire Trek canon--and it's easy to see why.  It's an enormously flawed episode, though it's one where you can see the series figuring itself out and getting its footing.***

***As I've said before and will say again and again, Gene Roddenberry was great at creating shows, but not so good at the day to day running or writing of shows.  This one just screams out for Gene Coon to take another pass and do something more with it.  Thankfully, he'll arrive on the scene soon.

Beyond the "think yourself beautiful" element, there's a lot of other things about the episode that don't add up.  For example, when Mudd conspires against Kirk and the crew thanks to a stolen communicator, he does this openly within three feet of two redshirts, who unless they're deaf must hear every word he's speaking.  And yet, at no point do they apparently report to Kirk or anyone above them that, oh by the way, this guy is plotting to take over the ship.  Mudd even thinks that somehow he can leverage his position into not only getting paid for delivering the three brides, but that he will also be captain of the ship.  Again, one of the recurring themes of classic Trek is someone trying to wrestle away control of the ship from Kirk and how successful he or she is.  But this one really should have been shut down long before the Enterprise warps into orbit of the mining colony! 

And yet for all these flaws, I still have a soft spot in my heart for "Mudd's Women."  Part of this is the performance of Roger C. Carmel, who despite the script's flaws makes Mudd a memorable rogue and one who could be menacing or a danger in the right circumstances.  It's no wonder he comes back a season later in the far better, "I, Mudd."   

This episode was part of the reason I got into classic Trek.  For a cross-country move, my parents bought a copy of "Mudd's Angels," which featured a novelization of the two Mudd episodes and an original Mudd adventures.  These were the only episodes not adapted by James Blish, but instead by his widow based on notes he left.  I recall reading the adaptation of "Mudd's Women" and remarking to my dad as we drove along that it sure did seem like a lot of people tried to take control of the Enterprise in classic Star Trek.  And while I'd only seen a handful of episodes that I could recall titles for, I was fairly sure I'd not seen either of the Mudd installments.  After reading the novel, I was eager to do so and once we got moved into our new home, I sought out nightly Trek repeats and the rest is, as they say, history.

So for all it's flaws, I still find enough to enjoy about this one.  I don't recommend it as an example of why I love classic Trek so much.  But it still holds a lot of nostalgic value for me. 

Labels: ,



posted by Michael Hickerson at 5/31/2012 04:00:00 PM | |
Comments: Post a Comment


Follow me on Twitter!




    Follow me on Twitter!


    Recent Comments
    Awards


    Web Sites I Visit
    CrossWalk.com
    Daily News Journal
    Doctor Who News
    Go Vols
    Go Titans
    The Tennessean
    The Tennessean's Titans Coverage
    Trek Today
    TV Guide On-Line
    Washington Post Redskins Coverage
    USA Today


    Favorite Authors on the Web
    Orson Scott Card
    Peter David's Blog
    Keith R.A. DeCandido's Blog
    Neil Gaiman
    Elizabeth George
    Philip Gulley
    Stephen King
    Donald Miller
    Lisa Samson's Blog
    Robert Whitlow

    Musical Links
    Carolyn Arends
    Sherrie Austin
    Cherryholmes
    Lee Domann
    Fleming & John
    Sara Groves
    Jennifer Knapp
    Jars of Clay
    Carolyn Dawn Johnson
    Cindy Morgan
    The Monkees
    Nickel Creek
    Nothin' Fancy
    Rebecca St. JamesRay Stevens
    Steep Canyon Rangers
    Williams and Clark Expedition
    Rhonda Vincent and the Rage
    Jaci Velasquez

    Blogging Links

    Powered by Blogger Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com Listed on Blogwise
    << ? Blogaholics Anonymous # >>

    My Blog Chalk

    Michael/Male/31-35. Lives in United States/Tennessee/Smyrna, speaks English. Eye color is brown. I am in shape. I am also creative. My interests are Reading/Swimming laps.
    This is my blogchalk:
    United States, Tennessee, Smyrna, English, Michael, Male, 31-35, Reading, Swimming laps.



    You Are Visitor

    Free Web Counter


    Looking For Something Specific?
    Search this site or the web powered by FreeFind

    Site search Web search


    Blogskins
    Powered by Blogger