STAR TREK
MUDD'S WOMEN

From Wikipedia:

"Mudd's Women" is an episode of Star Trek: The Original Series first broadcast October 13, 1966 and repeated May 4, 1967. It is a first season episode #6, production #4, and was written by Stephen Kandel, based on a story by Gene Roddenberry and directed by Harvey Hart. The episode introduces the recurring character Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

Overview: The Enterprise picks up a galactic conman and his beautiful female "cargo".

More here.

Like last week's "The Corbomite Maneuver," this is not among my favorites. Really, several of these early episodes just don't feel like Star Trek. I mean, yeah sure, they're definitely Star Trek, but the pacing is a bit slower than later episodes, and the writers and actors still haven't quite figured out the characters and their relationships yet. On the other hand, what amazes me is how quickly the show caught its stride: about a third of the way into the first season, they had it all figured out; the show felt like Trek from that point on. Compare that to how the Simpsons didn't get it together until the third or fourth season, or how Seinfeld took at least a year to really get it going.

Don't get me wrong. Even though I greatly prefer the second season's sequel, which is much more fun, and much more Trek-like, I do indeed like "Mudd's Women." And just because I criticize early episodes doesn't mean there aren't some standouts: "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the second pilot posted here a couple of weeks ago, is as good as anything produced later.

Anyway, check it out. In spite of everything I've just said, it's a good watch:



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