Enterprise encounters Harry Mudd looking to sell three women as wives to colonists.
This is a difficult episode to review because I think it contains some good intentions, but the way some of it is done has the opposite effect of what was probably intended.
The story did not grip me. As soon as I saw Harry Mudd appear on the transporter in his pirate costume, I rolled my eyes and thought 'Really?' Stick with it though, it was made in the 60s. As soon we find out his intention is to pimp out three drug addicted women my interest piqued slightly as it is a relatively daring topic for the time.
Witnessing the affects of Mudd's drug-enhanced women on the men of Enterprise was done in a fairly bawdy style which requires an appreciation of that type of humour. I imagine this was considered funny at the time, but today laughing at men as they drool over women is a different story. I didn't have a massive issue with this because it is the men who are being ridiculed in these scenes. It does drag on for too long though and if it was even remotely funny at first, it soon gets tedious and comes across as objectification.
Roger C. Carmel excellently plays the role of a highly annoying Harry Mudd and you kind of sympathise with Kirk and Spock with their annoyance not just with him but with the other Enterprise males falling under the spell of his three sirens. What's frustrating is seeing the Enterprise hampered by this type of villain, but I suppose the plot needs something drive it forwards as it gets its points across.
What happens on Rigel XII for me is well intentioned but I think the resolution shows up some outdated thinking and the visuals don't help. I like the rejection by the character Eve of being a trophy wife (i.e. prostitute herself) for a rich husband, but the alternative of being a dutiful wife lets the character down by today's standards. However, when I keep in mind this was written the 60s the fact that the writers are even dealing with this type of subject makes it feel progressive to me.
The theme of beauty coming from within for me is hit and miss. I like the transition between the Venus Drug in Eve's hand to Spock holding the lithium crystal and his comment about beauty. However, the scene where Eve takes a placebo and then the soft focus, glamorous hair and perfect make-up appears again doesn't work at all. Presenting cosmetics as a way of showing a person's new found inner confidence makes no sense to me.
I don't think this episode is really any worse than any other example of sexism and exploitation of female characters in Hollywood. The Trek franchise is particularly contradictory in how they show female characters as either equals or in some cases superior to males in a variety of professions, but in the same breath they put the actresses in mini-skirts, catsuits and plunging necklines. Sex sells, so they cater to the tastes of viewers with the same mentality as those Enterprise crew members who drooled over Karen Steele, Susan Denberg and Maggie Thrett.
Are things really any different now? Only slightly. Hollywood appears to be more progressive by marketing stronger female characters, but this is primarily to adjust the content of movies/TV to suit a more well informed audience. You still only see glamorous faces in female starring roles and I'd be interested to know where all the actresses with incredible inner confidence/beauty are in the pecking order compared to those with symmetrical faces and hourglass figures.
For me Mudd's Women was summed up by Spock in his final observation just before the end of the episode.
This is a difficult episode to review because I think it contains some good intentions, but the way some of it is done has the opposite effect of what was probably intended.
The story did not grip me. As soon as I saw Harry Mudd appear on the transporter in his pirate costume, I rolled my eyes and thought 'Really?' Stick with it though, it was made in the 60s. As soon we find out his intention is to pimp out three drug addicted women my interest piqued slightly as it is a relatively daring topic for the time.
Witnessing the affects of Mudd's drug-enhanced women on the men of Enterprise was done in a fairly bawdy style which requires an appreciation of that type of humour. I imagine this was considered funny at the time, but today laughing at men as they drool over women is a different story. I didn't have a massive issue with this because it is the men who are being ridiculed in these scenes. It does drag on for too long though and if it was even remotely funny at first, it soon gets tedious and comes across as objectification.
Roger C. Carmel excellently plays the role of a highly annoying Harry Mudd and you kind of sympathise with Kirk and Spock with their annoyance not just with him but with the other Enterprise males falling under the spell of his three sirens. What's frustrating is seeing the Enterprise hampered by this type of villain, but I suppose the plot needs something drive it forwards as it gets its points across.
What happens on Rigel XII for me is well intentioned but I think the resolution shows up some outdated thinking and the visuals don't help. I like the rejection by the character Eve of being a trophy wife (i.e. prostitute herself) for a rich husband, but the alternative of being a dutiful wife lets the character down by today's standards. However, when I keep in mind this was written the 60s the fact that the writers are even dealing with this type of subject makes it feel progressive to me.
The theme of beauty coming from within for me is hit and miss. I like the transition between the Venus Drug in Eve's hand to Spock holding the lithium crystal and his comment about beauty. However, the scene where Eve takes a placebo and then the soft focus, glamorous hair and perfect make-up appears again doesn't work at all. Presenting cosmetics as a way of showing a person's new found inner confidence makes no sense to me.
I don't think this episode is really any worse than any other example of sexism and exploitation of female characters in Hollywood. The Trek franchise is particularly contradictory in how they show female characters as either equals or in some cases superior to males in a variety of professions, but in the same breath they put the actresses in mini-skirts, catsuits and plunging necklines. Sex sells, so they cater to the tastes of viewers with the same mentality as those Enterprise crew members who drooled over Karen Steele, Susan Denberg and Maggie Thrett.
Are things really any different now? Only slightly. Hollywood appears to be more progressive by marketing stronger female characters, but this is primarily to adjust the content of movies/TV to suit a more well informed audience. You still only see glamorous faces in female starring roles and I'd be interested to know where all the actresses with incredible inner confidence/beauty are in the pecking order compared to those with symmetrical faces and hourglass figures.
For me Mudd's Women was summed up by Spock in his final observation just before the end of the episode.