50th Anniversary Rewatch Thread

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

^He's asking her if she knows. If she doesn't, he'll check the reading and find out. If she does, he'll check it anyway. But he'd like to hear it from her. I don't think he was standing right by the display, just able to see it.

The bizarre thing about this ep is how the men all go va va va voom in a very old fashioned way about the women, like sailors who haven't been on shore leave for months... when the corridors are teeming with beautiful women in micro minis.... It always seems as if the writer thought it was all men on the ship, and no one noticed the incongruity. I know the drug is supposed to make the three women seem extraordinary, but this is ridiculous...

They're not bound by rank/chain of command as the female crew are - no fraternization kerfluffles. Nor do the women in the halls wear glamorous evening gowns and unbound hair on duty.

 

[dahj]

They're not bound by rank/chain of command as the female crew are - no fraternization kerfluffles.

Considering we already saw Uhura nearly making out with the sexy swahili crewman(actually monster in disguise), some crewmembers who were catcalling Rand in the hallway, and the upcoming Balance of Terror even starts with a wedding it would seem there were no strict rules on fraternization.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Even if there's no strict rules, some people would feel it would be wrong/taking advantage of someone/awkward, depending on the situation.

 

[UnknownSample]

I don't think the Ent men were actually thinking about the realistic consequences of dating the visitors vs. dating female crewmembers. Nothing that calculated. I was talking about this intense visceral reaction the men had, as if not having seen any woman for forever in those deep stretches of space, as if the male crew was almost in the same spot as the miners.

Just me for all I know, but the get-ups of the visiting women seem dull and forced and a bit silly.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Yeah, that's enough, computer.

All glittery and sparkly.

 

[Ssosmcin]

This episode is interesting at best. It has some weirdness not seen in later episodes, like the sine wave for the computer, and a glimpse of Early Concept Kirk, where he's flustered and taken aback by a hot chick in his quarters. Later series Kirk would have been all over that, at the very least, smoother.

The sickbay scene actually used to creep me out as a kid with the strange sound effect and nearly black panel display.

I get a chuckle at all of the badly dubbed in dialog in the teaser.

Spock: "[way over dubbed]Sensor reading on the vessel. I make it out as a small class J cargo ship[/end dubbing],and his engines arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre super-heating."

Spock is actually damned boring in the opening. FAR too calm. This is the era of SHOUTING Spock, one production episode after "she'll BLOW SOOOOOON!" But here, he's a somnambulist.

Why does Ben Childress have the upper hand at all? Kirk can't just hold the guy in the brig until the ship's orbit starts to decay? You think the miners would keep being dicks about it then? And how does he have the authority to have the charges against Mudd dropped? Kirk capitulates far too easily. And the security on Mudd is laughable. How does he go from being under guard to barging into Kirk's cabin? The girls have free run of the ship?

Annoying: Eve is playing cold fish to Ben, coughing when he wants to dance, rejecting him and everyone. Then a fight breaks out over one of the other girlsm and Eve has a problem, crying out, "Why don't you run a raffle and the loser gets me?" What's with the pity party? All of those guys want her!

Honestly, this episode is in the bottom rung. The only things to redeem it are the fabulous Fred Steiner score and Roger C.'s performance. "They'll throw away the keeeey," is still a great laugh line.

 

[wayne66]

This is one of the weaker episodes. Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd is great of course. Interesting to see Kirk blow up a couple of times. First at Spock and then Scotty. Of course, it is nice to see him apologize to Scotty for blowing up at him. He is such a good captain.

 

[UnknownSample]

The good part is Eve and the miner on the planet, getting by, an extended period just of basic real life, dealing with mundane survival in a weird place, alone. I like her tip on the sandy wind blasting the pots and pans clean. That's who he needs, not a fashion model.
------------------------
I've thought about this lately... how often do we get entire scenes with no regulars, just the characters for that episode? Hardly ever, I'd guess. I thought of this watching the Sickbay scene with Gary Mitchell, E Dehner, Kelso, and a brief moment of Dr. Piper. A lot of talk and comings and goings, with not one regular involved. Maybe it was a sort of dramatic fake out. We start to get used to Mitchell and Kelso as core members of the team, then they kill them off. They'd only have that one opportunity to pull that one... For years, I had it in my head that Kelso had been a regular for a short time... then oops, he's dead...

 

[plynch]

I used to fall asleep during this one as a kid. Extended periods of nothing-going-on iirc. I won't watch it now, because of its awfulness, so I have to go on memory. It also seems the ep can't make up its mind on Mudd: cute rapscallion or darker underneath? That's all cleared up by I, Mudd which I suspect colors people's understandings of Harry in sort of a retrograde fashion. We know he gets funnier, so we elide his darker aspects in this ep?

 

[The Old Mixer]

I recall reading a quote by Roger C. Carmel in which he said that Harry Mudd would pick your pocket, but he wouldn't put a knife in your back.

 

[scotpens]

. . . Bones being bewildered by the machine that goes ping was kinda weird. Presumably that machine does something or measures something, it is in sickbay, so maybe the chief medical officer should read it out instead of wondering "why is it doing that?"

That device is a diagnostic scanner that gives a constant real-time display of the patient's vital signs, only it wasn't displaying anything. A couple of lights were randomly flashing and the thing was going pocketa-pocketa-pocketa.

. . . Just me for all I know, but the get-ups of the visiting women seem dull and forced and a bit silly.

If you mean their costumes, Susan Denberg (Magda) fared the worst. Her outfit looked like it was hastily made from a fringed bedspread.

 

[Tallguy]

I recall reading a quote by Roger C. Carmel in which he said that Harry Mudd would pick your pocket, but he wouldn't put a knife in your back.

One of the (many) things that makes this episode difficult to watch is that I think Mudd would indeed put a knife in your back. He's not a lovable rogue. He's a pretty nasty customer.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I don't know...he's certainly vying to control the situation for much of the episode, but look how he and Kirk wind up working together at the end...they actually make a pretty good team.

 

[scotpens]

Harry Mudd is a liar, a thief, a con artist, and a space pimp -- but I don't think he'd ever do anything violent. I've always thought of him as your classic "likeable rogue"-type character. But, WTF is with that phony accent?

 

[Tallguy]

Do you think when the Enterprise started to burn he'd have stepped in and said "Just fooling, here's the crystals?"

He's a much lighter character in I, Mudd.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Mudd didn't have the crystals, the miners did...and Mudd ultimately helped resolve that situation.

 

[UnknownSample]

He's a different character in the 2 episodes. In the darker season 1, that version of him could do real damage.

 

[dahj]

Harry Mudd would pick your pocket, but he wouldn't put a knife in your back.

I think Mudd would indeed put a knife in your back.

How bout we split the difference, he would stab you in the back, but would also sell you the address and number of a good doctor who can patch you up...

 

[Tallguy]

How bout we split the difference, he would stab you in the back, but would also sell you the address and number of a good doctor who can patch you up...

For a price, Ugarte, for a price. But yeah, that sounds about right.

And I'll revise my assessment. Mudd would never stab you in the back. He'd let someone else do it. To quote Captain Reynolds: "No. Don't reckon there's many you killed. No. Just put 'em in a position to die easy."

 

[NickintheATL]

Looking ahead to our first androids of the series, I find it interesting in the preview for "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" how keenly they avoid revealing 100% that they are androids.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies