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Mudd's women

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Mudd's women

A photograph of the three women

Mudd's women were three adult females whose marriages were arranged by Harcourt Fenton Mudd . The group consisted of the following:

  • Ruth Bonaventure
  • Magda Kovacs
  • Eve McHuron

All three women came from backgrounds where there were no men available as spouses to them. They were manipulated by Mudd into consuming the Venus drug , which seemed to make them more attractive in appearance.

In 2266 , the women were being ferried to Ophiucus III by Mudd when they were intercepted by the USS Enterprise . The trio of females had a mysterious magnetic effect on the male members of the starship 's crew . Ultimately, however, they were married to lithium miners on Rigel XII , where Mudd and the Enterprise left the women. ( TOS : " Mudd's Women ")

A photograph of the three women was later displayed on the wall of a bar on Starbase 25 in 2381 . ( LD : " An Embarrassment Of Dooplers ")

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‘madame web’ director on why spider-women weren’t given origin stories in new film, maggie thrett dies: actress and singer most famous for “mudd’s women” episode of ‘star trek’ was 76.

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Maggie Thrett Leonard Nemoy

Maggie Thrett, the actress and singer who most memorably played Ruth in the “Mudd’s Women” episode of the original Star Trek , died December 18, her family announced. She was 76.

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“Mudd’s Women” is one of the most memorable episodes of the 1960s Star Trek , in no small part because it featured three stunningly beautiful women (Thrett, Karen Steele and Susan Denberg) who seem to have strange powers over the male members of the Enterprise crew — except Spock, of course.

Ironically, though Carmel was her neighbor, Thrett had to audition for the role. She had no idea what the show actually was.

“I am shocked that years later I am best known for doing this episode,” she told author Tom Lisanti in 2017. “I am forever in TV history. At least it was not bad so I am not embarrassed by it. Some company contacted me to sell my autograph on these Star Trek cards. They pay me to and they resell at these Star Trek conventions. I was invited once but it didn’t work out.”

Speaking of pay, Thrett told Lisanti she had to fight for her pay from the show.

“I remember we hit Golden Overtime that day [of filming]. We were there from about 4 in the morning to about 9 or 10 at night. You are passed regular overtime and are into triple overtime. They didn’t want to pay,” said Thrett. “I had to fight for it through the Screen Actors Guild. They don’t like when you do that and hurts your chances to be on the show again. I got my money and no surprise was never invited back. Years later I got a letter from Gene Roddenberry to forfeit my residuals and to donate them to his charity. I declined.”

As a singer, she had a minor hit with her single “Soupy,” which was produced by Bob Crewe, who was the one who convinced her to change her name. The song is an appropriately — for 1965 — groovy and high-energy arrangement with lots of horns. You can listen to it below.

In May 1970, Thrett was involved in a road accident while a passenger on Gram Parsons’ motorcycle. Although she was apparently unharmed (Parsons suffered significant injuries), soon after this, Thrett turned her back on the entertainment business.

Her nephew, ironically named Chris Pine, wrote earlier this week, “She left Hollywood, and originally I was told it was because “she didn’t make it” but later, I learned that she had become disenchanted by the industry and how it treated women. She kept a lot of that to herself, only opening up about her own experiences when she was much older and finally able to enjoy some of the perks that came with being on Star Trek .”

She even changed her mind about conventions, according to signing convention agent Scott Ray.

“In the last five years of her life, Maggie did two convention appearances,” Ray wrote . “She was amazed seeing how her career had endured…and making new fans that weren’t even alive when she did it [Star Trek].”

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Star Trek – Mudd’s Women (Review)

To celebrate the release of Star Trek: Into Darkness this month, we’ll be running through the first season of the classic Star Trek all this month. Check back daily to get ready to boldly go. It’s only logical.

I think it’s fair to say that Star Trek had some gender issues. I say that as a fan of the show, and as a person with an immense fondness for the ensemble. It’s tempting to write off those sexist moments and decisions as attitudes that were socially acceptable at the time. After all, the sixties are almost half a lifetime away at this point. However, that doesn’t account for the fact that many of the same gender issues plagued Star Trek: The Next Generation in the late eighties, which lost two of its three female leads in its first season, and opened its second year by subjecting the remaining female lead to The Child .

Even disregarding that, though, there comes a point where even the time when a work was produced can’t excuse certain attitudes or approaches. Star Trek doesn’t feature too many strong female characters, relegating recurring female characters like Uhura and Janice Rand to the background. This is dodgy enough, but the show’s problems with gender become a lot more obvious when a show throws sexuality into focus. Mudd’s Women is such a show. It famously introduced one of the few recurring non-crewmember characters, and it plays into the “Star Trek as space western” theme, but it is also very sexist. Very, very sexist.

Mudd-ying the waters...

Mudd-ying the waters…

Mudd’s Women plays up the notion that Star Trek is really just a western set in outer space. Indeed, it’s one of the episodes listed in Gene Roddenberry’s original “Star Trek is…” pitch, albeit under a slightly different title :

THE WOMEN. Duplicating a page from the “Old West”; hanky-panky aboard with a cargo of women destined for a far-off colony.

This was one of the episodes listed near the top of the pitch, along with the story that would become The Cage . When the network demanded a second pilot, Mudd’s Women was on the shortlist. Apparently the network thought that an episode about space-age prostitution was probably not the best episode to open their first season. Roddenberry dutifully made it the second episode produced after the second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before .

And the crew are suddenly energised...

And the crew are suddenly energised…

And make no mistake, Mudd’s Women is about prostitution, as painfully as the script might contort to avoid the word of the implication. “I recruit wives for settlers,” Mudd boasts, “a difficult but satisfying task.” Mudd might try to disguise what is that he’s talking about, but the implication is clear. “Three lovely ladies destined for frontier planets to be the companions of lonely men, to supply that warmth of a human touch that’s so desperately needed,” he explains.

Sure, he qualifies it. He is talking about wholesome stuff, not just sex. “A wife, a home, a family. Gentlemen, I look upon this work as a sacred public trust.” And the girls talk about being sold as if it’s the best thing in the world. “We’ve got men willing to be our husbands waiting for us, and you’re taking us in the opposite direction!” Eve protests. Never mind that it seems like Mudd sold them to the highest bidder, even if that’s not explicitly stated. You could at least argue at this point that it’s something approaching cultural relativism in effect. Mudd is really only organising a space-aged arranged marriage.

Playing the hand you're dealt...

Playing the hand you’re dealt…

That’s not quite it, though. When the Enterprise changes course, he doesn’t care about the “men willing to be husbands” on another world. He’s just desperate to sell off his inventory. “Well, girls, lithium miners,” he explains. “Don’t you understand? Lonely, isolated, overworked, rich lithium miners! Girls, do you still want husbands, hmm?” He doesn’t care who he sells them to, as long as he can turn a profit.

Indeed, he even explicitly tries to pimps out eve to Kirk, sending her to seduce him for leverage. She almost succeeds, hesitating at the last minute. “Oh, I just can’t do it. I don’t care what Harry Mudd says. I do like you, but I just can’t go through with it. I hate this whole thing!” When Kirk asks if the ladies are Mudd’s crew, Mudd replies, “Well, no, Captain. This is me cargo.” It’s clear that Mudd thinks of the women as commodities.

A miner dilemma...

A miner dilemma…

In fact, he controls them through a drug that very clearly has addictive properties, and which gives him considerable sway over them. They freak out when he can’t find the drug. “Why did you hide them, Harry?” Ruth asks. “Don’t you trust us?” Mudd responds by stating he was hiding it from the Enterprise crew, but it seems more likely that he recognises the control that the Venus drug gives him over the ladies. It is a very disturbing sequence, but one that is all the stranger because Mudd’s Women doesn’t treat Harry Mudd as a drug-dealing pimp, instead presenting him as a loveable rogue.

You could argue that Mudd is meant to be sexist, and that the episode is a condemnation of prostitution and exploitation, but I’m not convinced. For one thing, the episode never stops treating Mudd as a charming snake oil salesman. For another, it isn’t just Harry’s behaviour towards the women that suggests sexism, but everybody’s conduct towards them. When the women arrive on the Enterprise, they are treated as objects for the crew to gawk at.

It all becomes crystal clear...

It all becomes crystal clear…

“Ah, sure, these starships are really something marvellous, but men will always be men no matter where they are,” Mudd observes. “Eh, mister? You’ll never take that out of them.” It’s hardly the most flattering portrayal of men. If Uhura and Rand weren’t around, you’d be forgiven for assuming the crew hadn’t seen a woman in years. And, even then, their reactions are very creepy. Kirk and Spock are the only male crew members to emerge from Mudd’s Women looking like anything other than perverts.

And then there’s the women themselves, and the moral. Eve throws a hissy-fit when none of the miners want to party with her. “Why don’t you run a raffle and the loser gets me?” Eve dramatically protests before storming out. It kinda misses the point about why this is so offensive. It’s the “raffle” itself that’s the problem – the fact that the women are treated as commodities to be bought and sold and awarded as prizes in the first place. The fact she’s a third-place prize is incidental. And Kirk doesn’t come out of the scene that much better. Following her, he demands, “Just have those crystals here when I get back!” It’s as if he is chasing lost cattle.

A communication problem...

A communication problem…

But that all leads to the ending, which is especially frustrating. When the miners discover her true form, Eve teases them. “Is this the kind of wife you want, Ben? Not someone to help you, not a wife to cook and sew and cry and need, but this kind? Selfish, vain, useless. Is this what you really want?” That kind of implies that there are only two types of wives: the ones who do the housework ( and, er, cry? ), or selfish and useless ones.

And then the script tries to put a nice happy moral on the end of it, as if to suggest that this is wholesome fun. “There’s only one kind of woman,” Kirk comments. “You either believe in yourself, or you don’t.” So the message is clear: believe in yourself… and then some strange moustached man can pimp out to people you’ve never met, including miners and starship captains. To suggest that this is a wee bit… offensive feels like an understatement.

Mudd is a dirty dealer...

Mudd is a dirty dealer…

Which is a shame, because there’s some interesting stuff going on behind the scenes. For one thing, there’s Mudd himself. If you can get past the fact that he’s a drug-dealing pimp, he’s actually quite charismatic. Roger C. Carmel is a large part of that charm, playing a larger-than-life swindler and hustler who is very hard to dislike, even if you can’t trust him as far as you can throw him. It’s easy to see how Mudd became one of the few recurring characters outside the crew of the Enterprise.

As writer Stephan Kandel noted in an interviewed in Starlog , part of the appeal of Mudd is that he’s an easily-recognisable archetype:

I said, ‘What if we start with a character who isn’t alien or highly technologized, but rather somebody with whom the audience would easily identify?’ What we came up with was a roofing salesman, a con man.

There’s a reason that Mudd works a lot better here than similar roguish characters work in later spin-offs like Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Voyager . Compare Mudd to the eponymous smuggler in The Outrageous Okona . Okona seems a tad dull, dry and antiseptic, while Mudd is energetic and charming.

Love isn't the drug...

Love isn’t the drug…

There’s a reason for that. The original Star Trek was a lot dirtier and a lot messier than The Next Generation and Voyager . Indeed, I’d argue that Star Trek presented a more hostile and threatening universe than even Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . After all, Mudd’s Women hinges on Kirk encouraging prostitution in exchange for vital fuel. The episode might bungle the execution, but the concept is pretty heavy, and plays into the idea that space is an untamed wilderness – even for human settlers.

We haven’t quite reached Roddenberry’s aspirational socialist future yet. For one thing, it’s immediately clear that the Federation has a pretty severe mineral dependency. “But it’s frustrating,” Scott protests. “Almost a million gross tons of vessel depending on a hunk of crystal the size of my fist.” It’s clear that mankind isn’t entirely free of wants and needs, and that some measure or scarcity and economy must exist. That doesn’t devalue the ideals of the Federation as a peaceful alliance built on the promise of exploration and development, but it makes it clear that the universe itself isn’t tamed or managed.

A rocky episode...

A rocky episode…

In fact, the script acknowledges that the Federation can’t be entirely kind-hearted and socialist. Items must have a cost. Kirk offers to pay an “equitable price” when buying Lithium. Apparently it isn’t sold on good will. When the miners refuse, Kirk attempts to gain leverage. His implicit threats are forced by desperation, but they acknowledge that the Federation can’t operate purely on the best intentions, and that membership and alliances are built on material exchange as well as exchange of knowledge. “You’re a long way out in space, gentlemen. You’ll need medical help, cargo runs, starship protection. You want to consider those facts too?”

All of this is interesting, but it’s hard to get past the unpleasant sexist undertones of Mudd’s Women . It might be easier to forgive if it weren’t indicative of the show’s general sexual politics, but it just feels like the most blatant expression of them. It’s a shame, because there are some good ideas here – it’s just a shame about the sexism.

You might be interested in our other reviews from the first season of the classic Star Tre k :

  • Supplemental: Vulcan’s Glory by D.C. Fontana
  • Supplemental: Early Voyages #1 – Flesh of my Flesh
  • Supplemental: Crew by John Byrne
  • Where No Man Has Gone Before
  • The Corbomite Manoeuvre
  • Mudd’s Women
  • The Enemy Within
  • The Man Trap
  • The Naked Time
  • Supplemental: My Enemy, My Ally by Diane Duane
  • Supplemental: Romulans: Pawns of War by John Byrne
  • Supplemental: Errand of Vengeance: The Edge of the Sword by Kevin Ryan
  • Dagger of the Mind
  • The Conscience of a King
  • The Galileo Seven
  • Court Martial
  • Supplemental: Early Voyages #12-15 – Futures
  • Supplemental: Burning Dreams by Margaret Wander Bonanno
  • Shore Leave
  • The Squire of Gothos
  • Supplemental: Requiem by Michael Jan Friedman & Kevin Ryan
  • Supplemental: The Fantastic Four #108 – The Monstrous Mystery of the Nega-Man
  • Tomorrow is Yesterday
  • The Return of the Archon
  • A Taste of Armageddon
  • Supplemental: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volumes I & II by Greg Cox
  • This Side of Paradise
  • The Devil in the Dark
  • Supplemental: Spock Must Die! by James Blish
  • Supplemental: The Final Reflection by John M. Ford
  • Supplemental: The City on the Edge of Forever by Harlan Ellison/Cordwainer Bird
  • Supplemental: Crucible: McCoy – Provenance of Shadows by David R. George III
  • Supplemental: Star Trek (Gold Key) #56 – No Time Like the Past
  • Operation — Annihilate!

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Recap / Star Trek S1 E6 "Mudd's Women"

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Original air date: October 13, 1966

The Enterprise is in pursuit of a small vessel. The vessel is destroyed but Scotty manages to beam off the "crew," which consists of "entrepreneur" Harry Mudd and three captivatingly beautiful women. It turns out the three women are not so much crew as cargo; they were going to be wives for settlers. But the Enterprise sustained damage during their pursuit of Mudd's ship, forcing Kirk to head for a mining colony for more lithium crystals.

Mudd's Tropes

  • Artistic License – Space : Based on the Solar System's own Belt, asteroids of that size are not going to come at a speeding ship with that frequency.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness : Another episode with references to "lithium," which would later be called " di lithium," and Spock being referred to as "Vulcanian." Uhura is seen in the gold command uniform.
  • Emergency Refuelling : Rescuing Harry Mudd's ship destroys three of the Enterprise's four dilithium crystals and damages the fourth, so they have to travel to a lithium mining operation on Rigel 12 to get more.
  • Feminine Women Can Cook : Even in the future women are expected to be good cooks!
  • Gaussian Girl : The titular "Mudd's Women" are shot this way when they're supposed to be attractive. "Old-age makeup" is applied when they are supposed to be unattractive.
  • Childress apparently just wanted a woman to hang around and be pretty, but starts to look at Eve in a new light as she reveals herself to be more clever than he expected.
  • Mudd at first appears to be some kind of pimp or even slave trader when he insists on calling the women "cargo", but he's basically the only one who consistently treats them with any kind of respect.
  • Human Outside, Alien Inside : It's mentioned in passing that Spock's heart is over to one side and further down than a human's heart would be.
  • Large Ham : Ladies and gentlemen, Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd. Quite possibly the thickest, juiciest slice of ham in the Galaxy of Ham that is Star Trek . Somehow Carmel is able to top himself (and brings everyone else up to his level) when he returns the following year for "I, Mudd".
  • Lie Detector : During the hearing, the computer constantly replies "Incorrect!" when Mudd is lying. Mudd mutters about the "blasted tin pot" when it pulls up his criminal record.
  • Magic Feather : During the reveal that Mudd was using the Venus Drug to enhance the women's beauty, Eve takes the pill. At first the drug seems to work. Then Kirk reveals that the pill she ate was just colored gelatin, the real drug confiscated. It turns out Eve didn't need the drug, just her self-confidence — to instantly restore her eye makeup and lip gloss and fix her hair.
  • Mail-Order Bride : The three women are essentially this. Mudd's not selling them as slaves, but rather facilitating their transport to where they can marry hardworking men of means living in places where prospects are slim-to-nonexistent.
  • Male Gaze : Often... the beauty of the women combined with what would quickly be established a Star Trek 's default mode for female civilian attire means much attention is directed to the women's assets, by both Enterprise crew and camera.
  • Ms. Fanservice : Invoked by Mudd for Eve, Magda, and Ruth. The Venus Drug is supposed to "give you more" of whatever you already have, so average looks become Playboy pinup looks. Harry's basically running a variation of a "good-enough goods" scam... sell the client something that works just well enough that by the time it breaks and they realize they've been hustled, you're far enough away to avoid the wrath of the angry customer. In this case, the women are women... just not as drop-dead gorgeous as they are under the effects of the drug. Except the drug is just a Magic Feather .
  • My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That : During the hearing into Mudd's reckless piloting, Kirk initiates a computer scan of all present intended to discover if Mudd or his passengers are showing physiological reactions indicative of dishonesty. The computer reports negative, then volunteers that most of the male crew present are showing physiological reactions indicative of attraction to the women. However, McCoy's sickbay instruments go haywire whenever one of the women walk past.
  • Not Distracted by the Sexy : Of the men on the ship, Spock isn't fixated on the women due to him being a Vulcan, and even though Kirk does notice, he's more interested in duty than their attractiveness.
  • Running Away to Cry : Eve tearfully screams that they should have a lottery with her as the loser's prize and darts outside. Kirk tries to follow her, but gets hampered by the sandstorm in progress.
  • Space Western : The episode uses several well-worn tropes of the genre. Mudd is essentially a hustler selling women to settlers out on the frontier , although the implications of this are not explored in any detail.
  • Sherlock Scan : Mudd apparently can do this, correctly noting that Spock is part Vulcan despite him looking like pretty much every other full-blooded Vulcan. However, this could also be yet another case of Early-Installment Weirdness - both of the previous episodes to be filmed ("Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "The Corbomite Maneuver") are explicit in establishing Spock as half-Vulcan; the writers may have originally intended for full-blooded Vulcans to look considerably less human than Spock does.
  • Smart Ball : As in " The Man Trap ", when someone goes missing on-planet, the crew returns to the ship and uses its powerful sensors to search for them instead of bumbling around on foot. (It doesn't work as well, though, because of the constant foul weather.)
  • Stock Footage : A closeup of Kirk in the Teaser is a recycled shot from " The Man Trap ".
  • Star Trek S1 E5 "The Enemy Within"
  • Recap/Star Trek: The Original Series
  • Star Trek S1 E7 "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"

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Mudd’s Women after 56 years: How well does it hold up?

By mike poteet | dec 28, 2022.

LAS VEGAS, NV - AUGUST 03: (L-R) Models Alicia Marie of California, dressed as the character Eve McHuron, Joanie Brosas of Utah, dressed as the character Ruth Bonaventure, Alkali Layke of Idaho, dressed as the character Harry Mudd, and Stefany Torres of Texas, dressed as the character Magda Kovacs from the "Star Trek" television franchise, attend the 17th annual official Star Trek convention at the Rio Hotel & Casino on August 3, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images)

Mudd’s Women is a more nuanced episode than it seems.

Writing recently in this space about the death of Maggie Thrett , who played Rose in the original Star Trek episode Mudd’s Women , I noted the irony that the episode is “centered around, if not the outright mistreatment of women, at least the overt objectification of women.”

After making this statement, I realized it had been several years since I’d watched Mudd’s Women in its entirety. I began to wonder how well or poorly this early Star Trek episode actually held up.

The late Herb Solow, the Desilu executive who sold Star Trek to NBC , seems to have remembered Mudd’s Women fondly, if inaccurately. In the behind-the-scenes book he co-wrote with Robert H. Justman, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (Pocket Books, 1996), Solow describes the network’s reaction to the script (by Stephen Kandel, from a story by Gene Roddenberry) when it was a candidate for the series’ second pilot episode:

"“Mudd’s Women,” the story of a[n] intergalactic trader-pimp, was just what NBC didn’t want for their new pilot. It was very well written, it was fun, and it featured three beautiful women-hookers selling their bodies throughout the galaxy (pp. 65-66)."

Whether Harry Mudd is a “pimp” is debatable. But Ruth, Eve, and Magda are definitely not “hookers.” While they have, at Harry’s instigation, gone to extreme and illegal means to make themselves sexually alluring, they don’t want customers. They want husbands.

Mudd’s Women objectifies women but also advocates for real relationships.

Not having seen Mudd’s Women when it first aired (October 13, 1966), I can’t pretend to know how it played originally. But I do know it shows its age 56 years later.

This is an episode filmed from and for the heterosexual male gaze. Almost every production choice in its first half—cinematographer Jerry Finnerman’s soft focus lens on the women and close-ups of their come-hither stares; composer Fred Steiner’s score that alternates between ethereal romance and bumping-and-grinding stripper music; costume designer William Ware Theiss’ broadcast-friendly yet provocatively skin-baring gowns—is intended to titillate and arouse.

The episode strives to have it both ways. As Eve ( Karen Steele ) complains to Kirk, “all your men were looking at me, following me with their eyes.” Kirk says, “I’ll have to talk to them about that. They don’t do that ordinarily.” Kirk’s comment suggests ogling women is neither standard nor acceptable behavior on a starship, yet the episode puts forth the three women as eye candy at turn after turn.

The edited version I watched in syndicated reruns as a teen in the late 1980s snipped the Act II scene in which a crewman starts up a ladder, then comes back down in order to stare at Eve, Magda ( Susan Denberg ), and Ruth as they saunter past. The camera even lingers for an uncomfortable second on the women’s sequined derrieres. Perhaps my syndicated market cut the scene for more than just time.

Yet even though the camera frequently objectifies the women, the script does make clear they aren’t sex workers. Harry Mudd says he is “wiving settlers,” and that Ruth, Magda, and Eve all came with him voluntarily. Eve does tell Spock that Mudd is “used to buying and selling people,” so it’s difficult to trust him on the women’s willingness. Yet however they came to be with Harry, the women do at this point want marriages.

Today’s viewers might find it hard to consider the fact that Magda, Ruth, and Eve seem to only want husbands a point in this episode’s favor. On the other hand—assuming the women did travel with Mudd of their own accord—the episode gives the women that agency. Were these character written today, they would have even more. But I don’t believe we are meant to think Eve, Ruth, and Magda are any kind of slave to Mudd—even though he has addicted them to the glamor-giving Venus drug (which, at any rate, the episode’s confusing final scene suggests may be more akin to Dumbo’s feather than anything else).

As the woman at the story’s heart, Eve speaks some of its most meaningful words. She says to Ben Childress:

"Is this the kind of wife you want, Ben? Not someone to help you, not a wife to cook and sew and cry and need, but this kind. Selfish, vain, useless. Is this what you really want?"

Eve’s talk of domestic chores and crying and needing might set off some 21st-century hackles, but I think we should stress her first description: “someone to help you.” I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to suggest Eve wants a marriage of equals, a relationship in which both husband and wife turn to and cry with and rely on each other.

Mudd’s Women still isn’t a Star Trek episode I’ll choose to watch very often. I don’t think it represents the franchise’s ideals about sexual equality at their best. But neither do I think it’s devoid of any positive qualities. Yes, it spends a lot of time objectifying women—but in the end, it advocates real relationships in which people are the best, most authentic versions of themselves they can be.

Next. Why the Star Trek spin-off featuring Harry Mudd never happened. dark

Mudd's Women Stardate: 1329.8 Original Airdate: 13 Oct, 1966

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Published Sep 27, 2015

Everything You Wanted to Know About Harry Mudd... and More

His name is Mudd... Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

star trek mudd woman

His name is Mudd... Harcourt Fenton Mudd. He's been labeled a scoundrel, reprobate, con-man, forger, thief, sociopath and much worse. To know him isn't so much to love him as it is to be swindled at every available chance. Conceived by screenwriter Steven Kandel as a comic foil to the ultra-serious James T. Kirk, Harry Mudd immediately charmed fans thanks to the wonderfully campy performance of the late Roger C. Carmel.

star trek mudd woman

Mudd's three televised appearances, two in The Original Series (" Mudd's Women " and " I, Mudd ") and a third in The Animated Series (" Mudd's Passion "), often rank among the classic years' most popular tales, but his story didn't end there. The decades since have seen the release of numerous novel, comic book and video game sequels that are well worth reading for the sheer lunacy that inevitably results whenever Mudd is around.

Star Trek - Mudd and Kirk Meet Again

Harry was slated to return in a third TOS episode titled "Deep Mudd," which sadly never came to pass. Reportedly, Gene Roddenberry later considered bringing the character into the 24th century by having him among those revived from cryogenic suspension in " The Neutral Zone ," and there was also talk of his appearing as a character witness at Kirk's trial in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . However, Carmel's tragic death in 1986 prevented his return. He would have turned 83 today, September 27.Saying Mudd has committed a few crimes is like saying Tribbles have had a few babies. His conviction record is a legend among criminologists, matched only by his ability to avoid facing the consequences. The following file represents a mere sampling of Mudd's infractions as depicted on television, as well as in the books, comics and games, from which a solid picture of the walking shenanigan that is Harry Mudd begins to emerge.

A Timeline Through the Star Trek Universe

  • Name: Harcourt Fenton "Harry" Mudd • Future Police Record-Code: X731248
  • Height: 6 feet, 1 inch • Weight: 240 pounds (fluctuating with age)
  • Eyes: Brown • Hair: Brown • Complexion: Fair
  • Identifying Details: Receding hairline, handlebar mustache, jowls, pendulous abdomen
  • Aliases: H.F. Mudd, Harcourt Fenton, Leo Francis Walsh, Blackbeard Teach, Socrates, Grand Qaal of Eulus, Emperor Mudd the First, Harry Patton
  • Personality: Jovial, hedonistic, dishonest, cunning, cowardly, charismatic and manipulative, with an almost sociopathic inability to discern right from wrong
  • Criminal Profile: Shows a penchant for ventures involving mining colonies or alcoholic beverages

PERSONAL LIFE Mudd was born in 2219 on Antares Pi Four. He married a woman named Stella, whom he considered the love of his life, but abandoned her two months later to escape her incessant nagging, by stowing away aboard a freighter. The two eventually divorced, with no children. Stella's mother, a thin, ornery hillbilly, openly detested Harry and was skilled with a shotgun, which scared him. ["Mudd's Women" (early script draft), Mudd in Your Eye, Mudd's Angels ]In his later years, with no children to carry on his legacy, Mudd took under his wing a young thief named Shilo. Despite both being unscrupulous criminals, the two formed a genuinely close father-daughter bond. ["The Sky Above, The Mudd Below"]In at least one reality, Mudd may not have been childless. In an alternate universe resulting from the Romulan Nero's temporal incursion, Mudd is believed to have fathered a half-Bajoran daughter, first name unknown, who worked as a trader. In 2259, she helped Robert April and Section 31 provide Starfleet weaponry to one side of a civil war on Phaedus IV, in violation of the Prime Directive. That timeline's James Kirk impounded her K'normian trading ship, which he and his crew used a month later for a mission to arrest John Harrison (Khan Noonien Singh) on Qo'noS. [ Countdown to Darkness, Star Trek Into Darkness ] RECORD OF OFFENSES

star trek mudd woman

Mudd has been convicted of smuggling (sentence suspended), transport of stolen goods and the purchase of a space vessel with counterfeit currency. He received psychiatric treatment, the effectiveness of which was disputed, and his Master's License was revoked on Stardate 1116.4. In addition, he sold the natives of Omega Cygni their own oceans, conned two miners on Ophiucus VI out of a year's supply of dilithium crystals using fake Federation vouchers, and figured out how to break the gambling machines on Curalon IV. ["Mudd's Women," "Mudd's Passion," "Another Fine Mess"]In 2266, at age 47, Harry Mudd stole a class-J cargo ship. When the vessel exploded, Captain James T. Kirk beamed Mudd to safety aboard the Enterprise, along with his "cargo" of seductive women: Ruth Bonaventure, Magda Kavacs and Eve McHuron. Posing as Captain Leo Francis Walsh (the cargo ship's late owner), Mudd had planned to sell the women to settlers on Ophiucus III. Kirk arrested him for galaxy travel without a flight plan or identification, failure to respond to a starship signal and causing a menace to navigation. When the starship visited Rigel XII to obtain lithium crystals, Mudd contacted miners Ben Childress, Herm Gossett and Benton, offering the women as payment if the men arranged for his freedom. The miners gladly accepted, leaving Kirk no choice but to release Mudd and his cargo, but when the women turned plain and non-glamorous after a night spent on the planet, Kirk arrested Mudd for fraudulently enhancing their beauty with illegal Venus drugs. Kirk promised to testify at Harry's trial, much to the latter's displeasure. ["Mudd's Women"]

star trek mudd woman

Mudd bought his freedom and organized a technical information service, selling modern industrial methods to backwater planets without paying patent royalties. When he sold Deneb V the rights to a Vulcan fuel synthesizer, the Denebians convicted him of fraud and sentenced him to death. He escaped aboard a stolen starship but a shot damaged his controls, forcing him to land on Galor IV, which he christened Mudd's Planet (Mudd for short). The planet was inhabited by more than 207,000 Andromedan androids, who made Harry their leader, Emperor Mudd the First, granting his every wish but refusing to let him leave.Mudd sent an android named Norman to hijack the Enterprise, hoping to exchange the crew for his freedom, but the androids instead decided that all of humanity needed their guidance. Kirk, Spock and Mudd overwhelmed the mechanicals with illogic, re-programming them to resume their original task of adapting the planet's surface for productive use. Kirk then left the scoundrel in their protective custody, guarded by 500 android replicas of Stella Mudd. ["I, Mudd"]The details of Harry's inevitable escape from the android planet are muddled (pun intended), as he has offered at least five conflicting accounts. Given Mudd's gift for gab, any, all or none might be accurate. Among his claims:

  • He mimicked Spock's demeanor to make the androids think him rehabilitated, then stole technology and weapons left behind by their Makers and escaped aboard a stolen space yacht that he called the Jolly Roger. ["Deep Mudd"]
  • He taught the androids organized sports and gambling, then fled in a stolen spacecraft when they caught him cheating. [ Star Trek Log Three ]
  • He re-formed android society around the concepts of legality and justice, used their technology to terraform the planet and build himself an empire, turned the Stellas into a starship fleet (including ships called Evening Stella, Dark Stella, Stella Sapphire, Interstella and Superstella) and traveled the galaxy trading android wives to miners. [ Mudd's Angels ]
  • He feigned an interest in ending a war in the Nevis System, fooled the androids into letting him leave with a single Stella escort, and then made a run for it. [ Mudd in Your Eye ]
  • He helped the androids terraform the planet, losing much weight in the process, until former starship captain Ronald Tracey abducted him for his own purposes. ["Made Out of Mudd"]

In 2269, Mudd sold Starfleet Academy to Ilyria VI and peddled a love potion on Sirius IX that sickened thousands. When the Sirian bank impounded his funds, he fled to Motherlode (Arcadia III), where the Enterprise crew found him using a Rigellian hypnoid to project an illusion of a beautiful woman to con miners into buying love crystals. When the miners resorted to violence, Kirk took Mudd into protective custody in the ship's brig.Mudd preyed upon Christine Chapel's attraction to Spock, convincing her to use a love crystal to make the Vulcan return her affections. Stealing her phaser and ID, he escaped to the shuttle bay, holding the nurse as his hostage. Kirk and Spock pursued the craft, saving Chapel and Mudd from an alien predator by feeding it the crystals. Harry—who, when Spock pronounced his love for Chapel, was stunned to find that the love crystals actually worked—was remanded to the Peaceforcer court on the planet Darius. ["Mudd's Passion", Star Trek Log Three ]

star trek mudd woman

Mudd once posed as the pirate Blackbeard Teach. Hiring a ragtag crew and a Klingon first mate named Tarsh, he used the Jolly Roger to loot the starship Dauntless of its star-charts. Kirk pursued him to Spica III (Mudball), but he captured the crew and demanded they help him fleece the natives of their gems. Lieutenant Nyota Uhura seduced Mudd with a confiscated love crystal, while Tarsh tried to kill Harry and use the Andromedan weapons to sieze the Klingon throne. Harry gave Kirk the weapons to halt the renegade's plans, but evaded capture thanks to an Andromedan device implanted in his system, enabling him to bypass electronic security systems. ["Deep Mudd"]

Mudd salvaged a derelict extraterrestrial spaceship in the Harrapan System, then peddled items from the vessel as Mudd's Miracle De-grimer, Mudd's Limited Coffee Substitute, build-your-own telescope kit lenses, novelty paints and more, with which he conned (and angered) a band of Elasi pirates. After issuing a distress call (which the Enterprise answered), the con-man become infected with mysterious alien drugs and inadvertently erased a priceless archive of computer records. As penance, Kirk forced him to donate five of every artifact he found to research, while Uhura informed Stella of her deadbeat husband's whereabouts. ["Another Fine Mess"]At around this time, Mudd launched a company called HFM Enterprises, hired a buxom Orion receptionist named Verlida and began altering the habitat of the Saganicus giganticus in order to draw in tourists on Tttnicktttnor. Although the Federation had no jurisdiction on that world, he agreed to cease such activities, in exchange for assistance from Uhura and Spock in creating a "Ride on the Enterprise" holodiorama as a replacement attraction. ["A Sucker Born"]During a galactic dilithium shortage, Kirk met with miners on Muldoon, Coridan and Akladi, who sold their dilithium rights to the Galactic Trading Company after Starfleet failed to renew contracts. Based on Liticia, Galactic operated subsidiaries named after the British East India Co., Yukon Fur Trading Co., Muscovy Trading Co., South Sea Bubble Co., Great Western Railway Co., Vocational Trading Institute, and Governors and Company of the Merchants of the Levant, all dubious traders of the 18th century.In actuality, Liticia was Mudd's Planet. Mudd had bought out Starfleet's contracts by trading android wives to the miners, until eventually cornering the market. He loaded the crystals aboard his cargo ship, the Superstella, to auction on the open market, but when his ship entered the galactic energy barrier, the crystals started to expand. The vessel exploded, destroying the Large Magellanic Cloud and causing a time-loop that erased these events from happening.The androids charged Mudd with first-degree androlepsy, charlatanry, barratry, multiple civil rights violations, crossing planetary boundaries for immoral purposes, embezzling, pandering, malversation, privateering, tax evasion, piloting without a license, speculation and solicitation, but Mudd argued that since the time-loop prevented his crimes from occurring, he couldn't be tried for them. Though granting him that point, the androids nonetheless deemed him a menace and exiled him from the galaxy on a ship designed to self-destruct if he ever re-entered the barrier. [ Mudd's Angels ]Mudd apparently circumvented this restriction and returned to Federation space. Paying the Denebians to clear his name, he avoided further charges for years. During this time, Vulcan hired him as a consultant to learn how he had managed to breach the planet's computer network and steal the fuel synthesizer. Harry eventually re-surfaced in the Nevis System, ending a 12,000-year war between the planets Prastor and Distrel by forging a deal to distribute palko fruits throughout the galaxy. He had come to Nevis to steal a long-range transporter allowing instantaneous galactic travel without a starship, which he had learned about while scouring the androids' archives for a way to escape. But the peace talks stalled when Prastor invaded its neighbor.Mudd was killed in the conflict, but was rejuvenated by a computer designed to circumvent death on both worlds by reincarnating all casualties of war. The system then malfunctioned while trying to revive the non-living form of Mudd's android escort, Stella. Showing uncharacteristic courage, Mudd challenged the Grand General of Distrel to a duel, volunteering to temporarily die in order to restart the computer. This restored normalcy to the system—though Mudd, once rejuvenated, absconded with the Nevisians' technological secrets. [ Mudd in Your Eye ]Mudd became a pawn of Ron Tracey when the disgraced officer plotted revenge on Kirk for getting him drummed out of the Service. Tracey forced Harry to enter an alien mechanism on Triangularis III that altered his form, down to his DNA, to be a perfect replica of James Kirk. He then blackmailed Mudd into infiltrating a Starfleet base on Tau Delta IX and stealing computer data so Tracey could betray the Federation to a Klingon invasion armada led by Captain Koloth.

Mudd outsmarted Tracey by purposely being caught so he could alert Starfleet. Since Harry risked his life to help thwart Tracey's plans (even if only to get his own body back), Kirk convinced Starfleet to reduce all outstanding charges and let him return to Earth a free man (albeit with Stella as his parole officer). With no way to reverse the transformation, Mudd was stuck in his new Kirk-like body, much to his outrage. As a consolation, Doctor Leonard McCoy used a cellular growth accelerator to regrow Harry's handlebar mustache. ["Made Out of Mudd"]At some point, however, Mudd apparently regained his original form.

star trek mudd woman

Sometime later, the Enterprise crew discovered dilithium on the planet Eulus while exploring a neutral sector near Klingon space. The Klingon cruiser Ectacus had formed a mining treaty with the Grand Qaal of Eulus, who was really Mudd in disguise. In return for a cargo of gold, Mudd had sold the Klingons cheap synthetic dilithium, which proved unstable and exploded easily. Kirk rushed to warn the Klingons of the deception, leaving McCoy to guard Mudd. Using sign language, Harry summoned local primitives who had come to worship him. Fleeing in a space-buggy, he planned to strand the physician on a backwater asteroid, but Kirk captured him and returned the stolen gold to the Ectacus. Charged with jeopardizing two starship personnel and kidnapping a third, Mudd received a long sentence for these crimes. ["Operation Con Game"]On one occasion, Mudd pickpocketed McCoy's communicator at a bar, which ended up saving the con-man's life. After being caught up in a Neutral Zone dispute on Shroud IV, Harry was captured while trying to swindle a Romulan with forged Starfleet encryption codes purchased from Orion pirates. However, he managed to contact Kirk for assistance using the stolen communicator. [25th Anniversary game]In 2271, when the Enterprise was assigned to study seismic disturbances plaguing a thermium mining colony on Argus IV, Kirk learned that owner Max Vargas had sold the planet to Mudd. Spock detected life-readings in the planet's core, and when the quakes became deadly, the starship evacuated the colonists. The world broke apart, giving birth to a vast creature incubating in its core. Argus IV was an egg, Spock realized, placed in orbit to grow in the sun's warmth. To cut his losses, Mudd quickly sold Argus IV back to Vargas, forgetting that the planet could now be towed away in chunks without the expense of mining. Realizing the enormous wealth he'd just given up, Mudd was horrified at having this time scammed himself out of profit. ["It's a Living"]At some point, Mudd stole sacred artifacts from the Venturi. The furious aliens tracked him down to Newton II and fired on his independent freighter, the Stella. A Starfleet vessel intervened on Mudd's behalf, securing the thief's release by forcing Harry to return the items, then towed Mudd's damaged vessel to the planet Mocra. Starfleet later recreated these events for use in a simulator to train cadets. [ Bridge Simulator game]Mudd maintained a low profile for years. He claimed to have retired to a villa on Cygnus, but was actually homeless, selling "used tribbles" to passersby. Eventually, he and a young thug named Albert (possibly his nephew) released a pack of Taurian rodents at a farm colony on Caniga VII, then sold the colonists a robotic pest-control system to catch the vermin. When the malfunctioning robots destroyed the farms, Mudd abandoned Albert and fled to space. Unfortunately, the rodents had overrun his ship, forcing Harry to jettison in a lifepod. Crashing on an uncharted world, he found among ancient ruins a nanny robot that lovingly granted his every wish—except his desire to leave. When Harry wished for help so he could escape, the artifact obligingly forced the Enterprise to change course for that world. ["Mudd's Magic"]A riddle-speaking alien led the Enterprise's officers on a journey through recreations of Wrigley's Pleasure Planet and other locations, culminating in a stroll down the yellow-brick road of L. Frank Baum's Oz books. Waiting for them in the Wizard's palace was Mudd. McCoy realized the nanny robot had mistaken them for infants in its care. After Spock mind-melded with the artifact to convince it they were adults, Kirk called the Final Wish Upon a Star Foundation and offered the planet as a resource to make terminally ill patients happy during their final days. Though Mudd had committed no recorded crimes this time, Kirk took him into custody anyway, figuring he must have been wanted somewhere. ["When You Wish Upon a Star," "Mudd's Magic"]Mudd first met Shilo during a speculative venture in the Timonium System. So impressed was he when she successfully swindled him that he took her in as his ward. He began operating under the alias "Socrates," and the two struggled to survive, using electronic wizardry to con tourists with a bogus snake-charming act on Skellen III. Looking to retire, Harry hired an alien named Vashi to steal the Sacred Jaheelah from Domine Ravia of the Nasgul, so that Mudd could sell it to her insane half-brother, Salla Vlagro. Ravia and Vlagro both threatened war over its return, and Mudd tried to double his profit by selling it back to her instead. Furious at his treachery, she tortured him until the Enterprise crew intervened. Kirk returned the Jaheelah to the rightful leader, Salla Watan, restoring order to the Nasgul—but thereby forcing Mudd to continue his life of crime. ["Mission: Muddled," "The Sky Above, The Mudd Below," "Target: Mudd"]

star trek mudd woman

After repeated prison terms and intensive psychiatric treatments, Mudd's rehabilitation remained inconclusive. His ultimate fate is unknown, but the existence of at least one grandson indicates he may have finally retired, settled down with a second wife and started a family. Anyone with information pertaining to Mudd should notify authorities immediately. LEGITIMATE BUSINESS VENTURE In 2256, Mudd helped the Arronians distribute distilled liquor to the Alpha Quadrant. Years later, he entered the business of importing "100% Columbian Raktajino" (Klingon coffee). By the 24th century, this brand of raktajino was widely distributed, and was even sold on the space station Deep Space Nine. [ Where Sea Meets Sky, Art of Star Trek ] APPENDED FILE: HORACE TIBERIUS MUDD (Grandson) In 2371, Horace T. Mudd violated the quarantine rules of Starfleet Directive D72, regarding the transportation of dangerous animals and contravention of Customs Articles 25 to 36. Horace had smuggled four meeps from the Gamma Quadrant's Rahkar V to Deep Space Nine, hiding them in a false-bottomed sarcophagus. He and a Ferengi named Quark plotted to infest Bajor's Southern Continent with the voracious meeps during harvest season, and to then sell System-K Pest Control Robots to address the problem.The meeps ate through the box and began devouring power cables, and the rapidly reproducing vermin soon overran the station. Horace's grandfather, Harcourt Fenton Mudd (Horace's middle name had been chosen to honor Harry's long-time nemesis, James Tiberius Kirk), had perpetrated a comparable scam on Caniga VII a century prior.When the System-Ks failed to stop the meeps, Doctor Julian Bashir created a gas to alter their body chemistry, causing them to dissolve in their own corrosive saliva. Mudd stood trial in Bajor's Third Federation Court, presided over by Judge Sdred. Already sought by authorities for bribing the senior magister of Ventax II, perpetrating twelve cases of serious fraud on Aldebaran III, embezzling the Delbian Widows and Orphans Fund, fixing Antidean mud-wrestling fights, managing a tribble-torturing farm on Largo V and feeding explosives to Endicorian hedgehogs (a protected species) to sell the bits as Klingon chewbones, Horace was convicted and sentenced to clean up the meeps' fetid remains throughout the station. ["Mudd's Pets"] Author Bio: Rich Handley is the author and editor of numerous science fiction reference books, and the editor of Hasslein Books (hassleinbooks.com). He has contributed to IDW's two Star Trek newspaper strip reprint books (with two more to come), Sequart's New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics anthology, Star Trek Communicator and Star Trek magazines, and GIT Corp's Star Trek: The Complete Comic Book Collection . His resemblance to Harry Mudd is only superficial, dear boy.

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Mudd's Women

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"Mudd's Women" was the third episode of Star Trek: The Original Series produced in the show's first broadcast season , and the fourth overall produced, first aired on 13 October 1966 . The episode was written by Stephen Kandel MA , directed by Harvey Hart MA and novelized in Mudd's Angels by James Blish & J.A. Lawrence .

  • 2.1.1 Episode characters
  • 2.1.2 Novelization characters
  • 2.2 Starships and vehicles
  • 2.3 Locations
  • 2.4 Races and cultures
  • 2.5 Other references
  • 3.1.1 Video releases
  • 3.2 Background
  • 3.4.1 Timeline
  • 3.5 External links

Summary [ ]

  • Captain's log , stardate 1328.8. The USS Enterprise in pursuit of an unidentified vessel .
  • Captain 's log , stardate 1329.1. We've taken aboard from unregistered transport vessel its captain and... and three unusual females. These women have a mysterious magnetic effect on the male members of my crew including myself. Explanation unknown at present!
  • Captain's log, stardate 1329.2. On board the USS Enterprise , a ship's hearing is being convened against the transport vessel's captain. I becoming concerned about the almost hypnotic effect produced by the women.
  • Captain's log, stardate 1330.1. Position 14 hours out of Rigel XII . We're on auxiliary impulse engines , fuel low, barely sufficient to achieve orbit over the planet . Lithium replacements are now imperative! The effect of Mudd 's women on my crew continues to grow, still totally unexplained. Harry Mudd is confined to his quarters under guard.
  • Captain's log, transporting down to surface of planet Rigel XII to acquire replacement lithium crystals; expect further difficulty from miners .
  • Captain's log, have transported aboard the Enterprise to implement search with infrared scanners and sensing system . Magnetic storms on the planet's surface are cutting down speed and efficiency of our equipment. Search now in progress for three hours eighteen minutes.
  • Captain's log, I've expended all but 43 minutes of power; ship's condition critical. Search now in progress seven hours thirty one minutes. Magnetic storms are easing.

References [ ]

Characters [ ], episode characters [ ], novelization characters [ ], starships and vehicles [ ], locations [ ], races and cultures [ ], other references [ ], appendices [ ], related media [ ].

  • Harry Mudd later returned in the episodes " I, Mudd ", " Mudd's Passion ", " Choose Your Pain ", " Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad " and " The Escape Artist "
  • Mudd also appeared in the TOS novel Mudd in Your Eye and the Harry Mudd story arcs in DC and Malibu comics

Video releases [ ]

Collector's edition VHS release with "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

Background [ ]

  • ↑ The character of Clifford Brent was not named in the episode but the same actor, wearing an officer 's Starfleet uniform , was addressed as Brent in TOS episode : " The Naked Time ". The same actor also played the character of Vinci .
  • ↑ The character Vinci was not named in the episode but the same actor, wearing the same operations division Starfleet uniform , was addressed as Vinci in TOS episode : " The Devil in the Dark ". The same actor also played the character of Clifford Brent .

Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

Connections [ ]

Timeline [ ], external links [ ].

  • " Mudd's Women " article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
  • Mudd's Women article at Wikipedia , the free encyclopedia.
  • 1 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel
  • 2 United Earth
  • 3 Ferengi Rules of Acquisition

COMMENTS

  1. Mudd's Women

    "Mudd's Women" is the sixth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Stephen Kandel, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry, and directed by Harvey Hart, it first aired on October 13, 1966.. In the episode, the Enterprise pursues a vessel and rescues its occupants Harry Mudd, an interstellar con man, and the three mysteriously beautiful ...

  2. "Star Trek" Mudd's Women (TV Episode 1966)

    Mudd's Women: Directed by Harvey Hart. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Roger C. Carmel, Karen Steele. The Enterprise picks up untrustworthy entrepreneur Harry Mudd accompanied by three beautiful women who immediately put a spell on all the male crew members.

  3. "Star Trek" Mudd's Women (TV Episode 1966)

    "Star Trek" Mudd's Women (TV Episode 1966) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Menu. Movies. ... Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 | Episodes Ranked from Best to Worst a list of 29 titles created 18 Jan 2023 25 Best Star Trek TOS Episodes: Consensus-Classics Chronology ...

  4. Mudd's Women (episode)

    The Enterprise rescues con artist Harry Mudd and his "beautiful" female cargo. The USS Enterprise chases an unregistered starship, a small Class J cargo ship. Fleeing, the ship approaches an asteroid belt with a Shiller rating of three-five. The small ship's peril increases further when its desperate speed causes its engines to overheat. As the cargo ship drifts into the asteroid belt, the ...

  5. 53 Years of Mudd's Women

    By StarTrek.com Staff. "Mudd's Women" aired 49 years ago today, or on October 13, 1966. The episode — the third of Star Trek: The Original Series ' first season — marked the first appearance of Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd, the likeable conman who keeps the company of almost-too-perfect ladies. In honor of the episode's first airing 53 ...

  6. Mudd's women

    Star Trek. Mudd's women were three adult females whose marriages were arranged by Harcourt Fenton Mudd. The group consisted of the following: Ruth Bonaventure Magda Kovacs Eve McHuron All three women came from backgrounds where there were no men available as spouses to them. They were manipulated by Mudd...

  7. Mudd's women (Star Trek, 13 10 1966)

    Mudd's women is episode No. 6 of the first season of Star Trek series was produced from 1966 to 1969.The crew is composed mainly Captain James T. Kirk (Willi...

  8. "Star Trek: The Original Series" Mudd's Women (TV Episode 1966)

    After stopping a vessel in space, Kirk and the crew find a very odd captain with a very strange cargo. The captain of the vessel is Harcourt Fenton Mudd - known as Harry to his friends - and the cargo are three lovely women he is transporting as brides for lonely men on distant planets. Kirk has a major problem: while trying to rescue Mudd and ...

  9. Episode Preview: Mudd's Women

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  10. Mudd's Women

    episode / Mudd's Women Apply. Features. Star Trek: The Original Series. 53 Years of Mudd's Women. ×. Copy this URL to share: ... Star Trek Tumblr;

  11. Maggie Thrett Dead: Actress Was One Of "Mudd's Women" On 'Star Trek'

    Maggie Thrett, the actress and singer who most memorably played Ruth in the "Mudd's Women" episode of the original Star Trek, died December 18, her family announced.She was 76.

  12. Star Trek

    Mudd's Women plays up the notion that Star Trek is really just a western set in outer space. Indeed, it's one of the episodes listed in Gene Roddenberry's original "Star Trek is…" pitch, albeit under a slightly different title: THE WOMEN. Duplicating a page from the "Old West"; hanky-panky aboard with a cargo of women destined ...

  13. Star Trek S1 E6 "Mudd's Women" / Recap

    Original air date: October 13, 1966. The Enterprise is in pursuit of a small vessel. The vessel is destroyed but Scotty manages to beam off the "crew," which consists of "entrepreneur" Harry Mudd and three captivatingly beautiful women. It turns out the three women are not so much crew as cargo; they were going to be wives for settlers.

  14. Star Trek: The Original Series S1E6: Mudd's Women Review

    Kirk and the Enterprise contend with Harry Mudd, a scheming intergalactic outlaw, in Star Trek: The Original Series' first season sixth episode, Mudd's Women...

  15. Mudd's Women

    Star Trek: The Original Series Mudd's Women Sci-Fi Oct 13, 1966 48 min Paramount+ Available on Pluto TV, Paramount+, Prime Video, iTunes S1 E6: Just as his ship is destroyed by an asteroid field, conman Harry Mudd and his "cargo" of three beautiful wives for lonely miners are rescued by the Enterprise and arrested. The rescue burns out the big ...

  16. Star Trek: The Original Series on Pluto TV

    Pay never. Star Trek: The Original Series on Pluto TV | Mudd's Women | 1hr | The Enterprise picks up a intergalactic conman, Harry Mudd, and three incredibly beautiful women who harbor a dark secret.

  17. "Star Trek" I, Mudd (TV Episode 1967)

    "Star Trek" I, Mudd (TV Episode 1967) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. ... Oscars SXSW Film Festival Women's History Month STARmeter Awards Awards Central Festival Central All Events. ... Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 2 | Episodes Ranked from Best to Worst

  18. Revisiting 'I, Mudd'

    "I, Mudd," written by "Mudd's Women" scribe Stephen Kandel, is a fun and entertaining hour of Star Trek. It's got the second appearance of the gregarious Harcourt (Harry) Fenton Mudd, hundreds of duplicate androids, and a nice plot that involves our Enterprise crew — forced off their ship by the androids and held hostage on a planet — overloading a giant hive mind with illogic ...

  19. Mudd's Women after 56 years: How well does it hold up?

    The late Herb Solow, the Desilu executive who sold Star Trek to NBC, seems to have remembered Mudd's Women fondly, if inaccurately. In the behind-the-scenes book he co-wrote with Robert H. Justman, Inside Star Trek: The Real Story (Pocket Books, 1996), Solow describes the network's reaction to the script (by Stephen Kandel, from a story by ...

  20. The Star Trek Transcripts

    The Star Trek Transcripts - Mudd's Women. Mudd's Women Stardate: 1329.8 Original Airdate: 13 Oct, 1966. Captain's log, Stardate 1329.8. The U.S.S. Enterprise in pursuit of an unidentified vessel. [Bridge] SULU: There he is, sir. Centre screen. Still trying to run away from us, sir. KIRK: Don't lose him, Mister Sulu.

  21. Classic Star Trek: Mudd's Women

    Season One - Teaser Trailer #3"Mudd's Women"Stardate: 1329.1

  22. Everything You Wanted to Know About Harry Mudd... and More

    Mudd's three televised appearances, two in The Original Series ("Mudd's Women" and "I, Mudd") and a third in The Animated Series ("Mudd's Passion"), often rank among the classic years' most popular tales, but his story didn't end there. The decades since have seen the release of numerous novel, comic book and video game sequels that are well worth reading for the sheer lunacy that inevitably ...

  23. Mudd's Women

    "Mudd's Women" was the third episode of Star Trek: The Original Series produced in the show's first broadcast season, and the fourth overall produced, first aired on 13 October 1966. The episode was written by Stephen KandelMA, directed by Harvey HartMA and novelized in Mudd's Angels by James Blish & J.A. Lawrence. Captain's log, stardate 1328.8. The USS Enterprise in pursuit of an ...