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List Price: $19.99 | | Label: CBS Paramount International Television
Salesrank: 80304
Released: August 17, 1999 |
| Our Price: $11.99 |
| Used Price: $0.79 |
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MPAA Rating:
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
"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.
Description of Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 2, Episodes 4 & 5: Mudd's Women/The Enemy Within:
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
Star Trek - The Original Series, Vol. 2, Episodes 4 & 5: Mudd's Women/The Enemy Within Reviews:
Spock observes, ladies seem to like the 'evil-Kirk' 
2007-02-06 -
'The Enemy Within', escapes when Kirk beams back to the Enterprise and two Kirks materialize, one after the other. One a good-Kirk, the other, an evil-Kirk.
Not to be confused with the episode where Janet Lester takes over Kirks mind by replacing it with her own (where was Shatners Emmy!), or the episode where Kirk is replaced by a mechanical Kirk as part of a plot where humans will be replaced by more perfect machines, or the episode where disembodies aliens, who have their minds stored in mechanical spheres, take over the minds of the crew as part of a mercy mission, or the episode where the crew transports to an alternate universe - where the federation is an 'empire' that rules by maintaining terror, and their counterparts from the evil universe, beam aboard the Enterprise (a fan favorite).
As The Enemy Within unfolds, the evil-Kirk becomes more aggressive, and the good-Kirk more indecisive. Each apparently needs the other. In the end they both go back thru the transporter and become one. Spock observing that ladies seem to like the evil-Kirk.
Early Trek Finds Its Feet 
2007-02-05 - To all of you detractors, after watching Mudd's Women for the second time, I found that I liked it much more than I had previously. Sure, it's sexist. But let's delve into that - is it the show that is sexist, or the society itself? When Eve murmurs childishly, "I've never met a paragon before", we are met with an indulgent Shatner smile. And the miners themselves, with their expectations of what a woman should be -- and they are proven wrong in the end. Yes, it is disgusting to watch the crewmembers oggle such women promoting themselves as sex objects, but this issue is addressed, and I felt that in total the episode promoted women (or at those with integrity). Today, it seems sexist since the way we see it, women should really never have had to stoop to that position in the first place - for her time, Eve was positively heroic.
As for other pros, there is minimal overacting from the regular crew, especially Shatner - very nice - for the most part they just seem to oscillate between amused and frustrated in their dealings with Harry Mudd. Mudd, however, comes off overdone, which we sense is less the actor and more the crappy costume and the silly stereotypical role he was supposed to fill -- his character jives better in his second season sequel "I Mudd" (possibly because he's more a sidethought than the obstacle itself).
I admit it; not the best Trek has to offer, even for this early in the series. The next episode, the Kirk-centric "Enemy Within" is an improvement, managing to provide some character development while keeping in high drama. The message that a man needs both his good and evil side to function effectively as a human is a little cliche, but it may have been fresh back then. More important on the decisons being made on the characters -- Spock is slowly staking his claim to logical, emotionless Vulcan territory, while the doctor opts for the other end of the spectrum -- indeed, we even get to see them go at it for a brief scene; the first of many as we all know. Looking back to the ambiguity of "Where No Man Has Gone Before", it's shocking that they've fallen into their roles as quickly as they have - this episode could have been anywhere else in the first half of Season One and I wouldn't have known otherwise. It's nice to watch Spock act concerned in the background; we kind of lose this as the show goes on...
By the way, I still think that Shatner can't act. But it's good fun all the same.
Self-Confidence the Best Drug/Accepting Yourself for What You Are
2006-03-12 - Gene Roddenberry's moralising continues on Vol 2 with 2 more great episodes. In "Mudd's Women" we are introduced to the likeable villain Harry Mudd who tries to sell wives to lonely miners except that the women only keep their beauty with regular intake of pills. Why Harry doesn't get normal girls to begin with isn't explained but I suppose we'll give them poetic license and get on to the overall moral which is to not judge a book by its cover and to seek out the beauty within. On "The Enemy Within", the moral seems to be to accept that we all have good and bad parts of our personality but the secret to success and happiness is to control both impulses for good and evil to hopefully end up with a synergistic, "whole greater than the sum of its parts" situation. Not among the stronger episodes in the entire series but not among the worse either and so recommended.
Not the best Trek--but still fun
2005-02-25 - "Mudd's Women" presents the first of two appearances by the space rogue Harcourt Fenton Mudd (Roger C. Carmel). In this episode, he is pimping for a trio of artificially enhanced women who owe their beauty to a drug. Classic Trek episodes always tend to be moralistic (in fact, that was a point of pride for Gene Roddenberry), but when Kirk (William Shatner) actually delivers a sermon, as he does at the end of this episode, you know they've gone too far. A slow episode, but occasionally fun.
In "The Enemy Within," a transporter accident splits Kirk into his evil half and good half. The premise is weak, because it gives up any pretense of scientific plausibility and drops the show squarely into the middle of magic fantasy land. The only thing missing is a yellow brick road. This episode also features some stunningly egregious overacting by Shatner. This is not as damaging as it sounds. There is something invulnerable about William Shatner as a performer; the worse he gets, the more cheesy fun it is to watch him. Writer Richard Matheson does manage to slip in some interesting stuff about the necessity of a dark side for a successful leader.
Three babes and a psychological study.
2003-11-23 - Star Trek: The Original Series Volume 2 presents two episodes aired in 1966:
"Mudd's Women:" In this segment we are introduced to the galaxy's most likeable adversary, Harry Mudd. Mudd brings aboard the Enterprise his "cargo" -- three beautiful women. There's a surprising drug angle to the story regarding the illegal Venus drug which supposedly enhances the beauty of Mudd's gals (uh, I don't think the need any help -- especially Ruth and Magda). It's interesting to note that this story was one of the three candidates for the (second) pilot; the two others being "The Omega Glory" and the accepted "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Good choice because otherwise Star Trek wouldn't exist. Anyway, the episode starts to drag a bit in the third act, but other than that it's a fun, enjoyable outing. GRADE: B
"The Enemy Within:" Kirk gets split into two separate versions of himself a la "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Watch out for the dark Kirk's bestial expression at the end of the teaser -- it's great! Note the top two items on the dark Kirk's 'things-to-do' list: 1.) Get some booze off of Dr. McCoy and 2.) Go after sexy Yeoman Janice Rand in her red miniskirt. It is revealed that Kirk's command abilities and decisiveness stem from his carnal side, not his spiritual side. Spock theorizes that the 'evil' side of the human psyche, properly controlled and disciplined, is vital to our strength. Thus with Kirk's negative side removed from him, the power of command starts to elude him. (Though McCoy rightly points out later that a human being's essential courage stems from his/her 'good' side). Bottom Line: A brilliant and captivating psychological exploration; fails to achieve "A+" status only because it starts to plod a bit in the second half. GRADE: A
