"Here I am with a cargo of young lovelys..."
-- Harcourt Fenton Mudd

Synopsis

The Enterprise encounters an unidentified ship which fails to respond to hails. Captain Kirk decides to chase the vessel, but as the tiny craft tries to escape, it overloads its engines and drifts towards an oncoming asteriod belt.

Captain Kirk orders a rescue operation, but the ship splinters its lithium crystals, and the best hope for replacements are the lithium mines on Rigel XII. The rescued crew consists a fast-talknig captain and three seductive women. During questioning, the captain is discovered to be a con-man and a criminal, by the name of Harcourt Fenton Mudd, who claims he is transporting wives for settlers.

Captain Kirk confines Mudd to quarters, but Mudd thinks of an escape plan. When he learns the planet is inhabited by three lonely lithium miners. Mudd's women steal a communicator, and he makes contact with the miners before the Enterprise reaches the planet. As the ship approaches the planet, the three women suddenly revert to their true appearence; the once three beautiful women are now much less. Mudd gives them special pills to restore their looks. The miners arrive aboard the Enterprise and tell Kirk he can have his crystals, IF he hands over Mudd and the women, but Kirk refuses. On the planet, one of the women, Eve, runs off into a fierce dust storm. Kirk takes Mudd back to the Enterprise, and Eve is rescued, and her pills wear off, but Childress, one of the miners, is displeased. Kirk and Mudd arrive with the women's beauty secret - The illegal "Venus Drug". Eve grabs a pill and is transformed once more, but Kirk reveals to her that she swallowed not a Venus Drug pill, but a simple gelatin pill - it was her own self that transformed her.

With Eve and Childress united, Kirk gets his crystals and offers to testify as Mudd's character witness, but an unhappy Mudd says: "They'll throw away the key!".

Captain's Log

"The U.S.S. Enterprise in pursuit of an unidentified vessel."

Writer, Director, Crew

Directed By: Harvey Hart
Teleplay By: Stephen Kandel
Story By: Gene Roddenberry

Guest Stars

Roger Carmel as Harry Mudd
Karen Steele as Eve McHuron
Susan Denberg as Magda Kovas
Maggie Thrett as Ruth Bonaventure
Gene Dynarski as Ben Childress
Jim Goodwin as Lt Farrell
Jon Kowal as Gossett
Seamon Glass as Benton

Episode Info

Production Number: 4
Stardate: 1329.8
First Aired In USA: 13th October, 1966
First Aired In Australia: 19th December, 1967

Episode Media

Preview - TOS00401.AVI
Image - Mudd & The Computer

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