But *were* they fake? Also, one of the ladies tells Spock that “Leo Walsh is very used to buying and selling people”. That sounds like some form of trade involving alien people, no?
Should Harry Mudd actor Rainn Wilson return for Strange New Worlds?
- Thread starter Kristine
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Yes, the Venus drug was completely fake. It was a placebo, nothing more.
Yeah, I think the Venus drug being a scam is one of those fandom memes that came from people misremembering the episode prior to home video, like Scotty('s possessed body) being the one doing the actual murders in "Wolf in the Fold" when it's pretty strongly implied that it was Hengist the whole time. Eve did get her mojo back after taking the placebo, but McCoy also gets odd medical readings from Ruth, suggesting the Venus drugs do something.
But, "buying and selling people" seems to be more of an indictment of Mudd as a capitalist than a specific accusation about slave-trading, based on the context of him rudely writing off Spock because he's not a potential customer.
^ Yes, McCoy's medical scanner beeped unusually when he scanned the women, unusual enough that he surmised they might be wearing something radioactive. That type of physical/physiological anomaly couldn't be explained by inert placebo pills.
Kirk switched in a fake pill made of colored gelatin in place of Harry's actual pills, for that "demonstration" toward the end of the episode. So that specific pill was certainly a placebo, but it wasn't the same as what Harry actually had in his possession. Kirk did say that the Venus Drug actually exists illegally, and that Mudd had given it to the women before introducing them to the miners.
And whether Mudd was technically "trafficking" or not, he considered the women to be more of a commodity for sale than people, as he described them as "me cargo." I wonder if he was planning on something like "marrying" the Venus-enhanced women to settlers, but then when the settlers see what they are like after the drug wears off, they no longer want to be married to them anymore, so Harry takes them back but refuses to refund the settlers, and then go to a different settlement world somewhere else and do the same thing all over again.
Kor
Kirk switched in a fake pill made of colored gelatin in place of Harry's actual pills, for that "demonstration" toward the end of the episode. So that specific pill was certainly a placebo, but it wasn't the same as what Harry actually had in his possession. Kirk did say that the Venus Drug actually exists illegally, and that Mudd had given it to the women before introducing them to the miners.
And whether Mudd was technically "trafficking" or not, he considered the women to be more of a commodity for sale than people, as he described them as "me cargo." I wonder if he was planning on something like "marrying" the Venus-enhanced women to settlers, but then when the settlers see what they are like after the drug wears off, they no longer want to be married to them anymore, so Harry takes them back but refuses to refund the settlers, and then go to a different settlement world somewhere else and do the same thing all over again.
Kor
Then how do you interpret the scene 29 minutes and 50 seconds in to the episode Mudd’s Women? Why did the drug wear off if it was not real? Why did it make the ladies ‘high’? If what you say is correct and the Venus drug was completely fake/a placebo then these women were being psychologically manipulated none the less. They were lonely, vulnerable and being taken advantage of. It is clearly stated in the episode that the Venus drug is a real prohibited drug, said to make women more ‘beautiful and alluring’, and men more ‘muscular and aggressive’?
Honestly, the less SNW connects with DSC the better, in my opinion. As for Mudd himself, even in TOS there was a lot about him that, if you actually think about it, is really messed up and comes off worse now then in the 60s. I like that TOS had a character that showed up more then once, but I don't think he needs to show up again at this point.
My interpretation was that the drugs given to the women by Mudd were *real* and Kirk’s ‘boiled bones’ gelatin pill was a placebo to prove that the women did not need the actual drug and could live without it. I wonder if they eventually went ‘cold turkey? Mudd did want to stay behind on the planet with the women… perhaps he wanted to ‘manage’ them or establish ‘supply routes’.
But this now raises another ethical question; what if the women were Vegetarian or Vegan? If they were, Kirk would have spiked them with an animal product.
Btw, didn’t Kirk himself agree to exchange the women… for Lithium crystals….?
Once you have someone hooked on a drug they are no longer in a position to make rational choices. Mudd was a drug peddler and human trafficker.
I presume it was synthesized gelatin, perhaps akin to those colored food cubes that were so popular and ubiquitous, rather than real gelatin.My interpretation was that the drugs given to the women by Mudd were *real* and Kirk’s ‘boiled bones’ gelatin pill was a placebo to prove that the women did not need the actual drug and could live without it. I wonder if they eventually went ‘cold turkey? Mudd did want to stay behind on the planet with the women… perhaps he wanted to ‘manage’ them or establish ‘supply routes’.
But this now raises another ethical question; what if the women were Vegetarian or Vegan? If they were, Kirk would have spiked them with an animal product.
Btw, didn’t Kirk himself agree to exchange the women… for Lithium crystals….?
Kor
Did the coloured food cubes look anything like this?
If so, then it means that they are more than likely this:
I conclude that Kirk accurately described his placebo and that it was indeed an animal product, therefore neither vegan nor vegetarian.
In the previous episode (in production order) ‘The Corbomite Manoeuvre’ Kirk was given a bowl of salad by Yeoman Rand as a part of his healthy diet plan. Kirk turned his nose up at this salad as he wanted a beef steak at the time - I think that in this episode he is taking his vengeance! Raaaaaaaaaaaaand!!!!!!!
If so, then it means that they are more than likely this:
I conclude that Kirk accurately described his placebo and that it was indeed an animal product, therefore neither vegan nor vegetarian.
In the previous episode (in production order) ‘The Corbomite Manoeuvre’ Kirk was given a bowl of salad by Yeoman Rand as a part of his healthy diet plan. Kirk turned his nose up at this salad as he wanted a beef steak at the time - I think that in this episode he is taking his vengeance! Raaaaaaaaaaaaand!!!!!!!
They looked more like lumps of clay.
Go to TrekCore and look up images for "Journey to Babel".
Haha you just put me in a time machine, blast from the past. Someone needs to update that ancient website and make it look like that trekmovie.com instead of a 1990’s website… but with more high res graphics
Is that ‘Trekweb’ still going too?
Double post I know…Haha you just put me in a time machine, blast from the past. Someone needs to update that ancient website and make it look like that trekmovie.com instead of a 1990’s website… but with more high res graphics
Is that ‘Trekweb’ still going too?
I have checked and trekweb is no more.. it is now.. a casino! Domain sold to the highest bidder?
I'm all for more Harry Mudd, but would prefer him in a new Short Trek than adding yet another legacy character to Strange New Worlds.
While I liked Rainn Wilson as Mudd, I wouldn't mind seeing the role recast with Brett Gelman. The guy is a spitting image of Roger C. Carmel.
It would explain why the Enterprise crew in the future under Kirk’s command have no idea who Harry Mudd is. Spock would need to go to Vulcan to meet T’Pring in a B plot in such an episode though so that they don’t physically meet.
Starfleet and the Federation must wipe their database of criminal offenders once a year, too. Nah.
Mudd would have to be dumb or sloppy to use the same alias after getting caught, and he's neither.
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