Production Order Group Viewing 2018
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Used in films perhaps, but network television?
Mind you, these cartoons were shown on TV in the 60s.
Well, I cannot speak authoritatively, on it, but I've never seen "jackass" on any network or FCC no-no lists. And the word was common vernacular for a male ass or donkey, meaning stubborn, stupid or foolish, and I'm pretty sure I heard it on other 60s shows. Mind you, "ass" by itself was often problematic, as the Smothers Brothers encountered in their Bonanzarosa sketch when their Hoss parody "Haas" was the subject of a bunch of wordplay like "real smart Haas", which went through (link), but the network censor muted "don't grab
As to "Mudd's Women", NBC's S&P memos that I see make no mention of it. But there is this...
Page 9 - scene 16: Please delete the underlined in Kirk's speech,
and replace with a word denoting a silly, extreme or foolish man:
and replace with a word denoting a silly, extreme or foolish man:
"That idiot could kill us all."
And while scenes 13–16 were OMITTED, "jackass" certainly fits the bill of what is being requested.
Speaking of censorship and that Smothers Brothers sketch...
Daily Variety, Sept. 20, 1968
GOOD MORNING: CBS censors nixed the Smothers Bros.’ attempts to include footage of the Democonvention in their currently taping show. The boys planned to back the Chi-nannigans musicked with “Don’t Stop the Carnival” … However, the web OK’d a takeoff by the Smothers of NBC’s “Bonanza” in a skit titled “Bonanza-rosa” with Harry Belafonte playing “Little Jerk,” Mama Cass as “Haas,” Pat Paulsen, “Paw,” and Tom and Dick as “The Smut Brothers” working on the kidnapping of the “Nielsen Family.” … Belafonte also chirps the what’s happening tune “I Wish I Knew” with the freres joining in …
GOOD MORNING: CBS censors nixed the Smothers Bros.’ attempts to include footage of the Democonvention in their currently taping show. The boys planned to back the Chi-nannigans musicked with “Don’t Stop the Carnival” … However, the web OK’d a takeoff by the Smothers of NBC’s “Bonanza” in a skit titled “Bonanza-rosa” with Harry Belafonte playing “Little Jerk,” Mama Cass as “Haas,” Pat Paulsen, “Paw,” and Tom and Dick as “The Smut Brothers” working on the kidnapping of the “Nielsen Family.” … Belafonte also chirps the what’s happening tune “I Wish I Knew” with the freres joining in …
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Jackass is not a swear word. It is a perfectly acceptable word for donkey.
I've never heard of idiot being censored before. But I know it was once a medical term, along with imbecile and moron.
I believe precisely because it was a medical term they didn't want to use it in that manner.
In that case, there was an extremely dirty line in Time After Time (Nicholas Meyer, 1979):
"Look, you cretinous idiot. This is tomorrow's bloody paper!"
I'm supposing that NBC would also have censored cretin.
Yeah, I do like that. Also cool when he takes the helm in . . .WELL an episode or two we'll get to shortly
Gah! Spoilers!
I was just joking of course. Kirk never goes anywhere near the helm. In fact, he studiously avoids it!
I love that we're watching like we don't know what's coming next. In a way I don't, because I've never watched in this order before.
A little behind on the rewatch, so just my barest thoughts on the first 4 episodes:
The Cage: You can definitely feel the influence of Forbidden Planet, but it's also a well produced piece of television in its own right. Takes itself seriously too. A real period piece in Trek history.
WNMHGB: The change in colour pallet leaps off the screen! The chemistry between Kirk & Spock is miles ahead of their predecessors and their relationship serves as a constant thread throughout the episode. Pike had Dr Boyce but for the most part was a “man alone”. Kirk is a leader but also a part of the crew too.
Corbomite Maneuver: This is really Bailey's story; he gets a proper arc and everything. However, Kirk still gets to establish a fantastic relationship with McCoy, more informal than the one with Spock but no less strong.
The reporting and working procedures really sell the idea of a functional ship; Spock spends a significant amount of time in command with his own unique style. Kirk can confidently leave Spock to run the ship while he goes off to pontificate in his cabin.
Mudd’s Women: Wiving settlers is a concept more at home in the old West than the far future, surely. At least we get the first Spock/McCoy banter at the end of the episode.
Kirk really has a thing about saving lives at the risk of his whole ship, doesn't he? Do you suppose he'll extend such empathy to salt sucking aliens?
As with Bailey, it is guest star Eve who has the character arc this week. I wonder how long this pattern of storytelling will last...
Rigel-12 is a horrible planet! Why would Eve want to settle there??? What good is wealth when you have to live in a cave?
Like The Cage, it seems that physical ugliness is still something to be avoided at all costs. Ruth spits out her line with especial bile: “I'm going back to what I was. Ugly!”
The Cage: You can definitely feel the influence of Forbidden Planet, but it's also a well produced piece of television in its own right. Takes itself seriously too. A real period piece in Trek history.
WNMHGB: The change in colour pallet leaps off the screen! The chemistry between Kirk & Spock is miles ahead of their predecessors and their relationship serves as a constant thread throughout the episode. Pike had Dr Boyce but for the most part was a “man alone”. Kirk is a leader but also a part of the crew too.
Corbomite Maneuver: This is really Bailey's story; he gets a proper arc and everything. However, Kirk still gets to establish a fantastic relationship with McCoy, more informal than the one with Spock but no less strong.
The reporting and working procedures really sell the idea of a functional ship; Spock spends a significant amount of time in command with his own unique style. Kirk can confidently leave Spock to run the ship while he goes off to pontificate in his cabin.
Mudd’s Women: Wiving settlers is a concept more at home in the old West than the far future, surely. At least we get the first Spock/McCoy banter at the end of the episode.
Kirk really has a thing about saving lives at the risk of his whole ship, doesn't he? Do you suppose he'll extend such empathy to salt sucking aliens?
As with Bailey, it is guest star Eve who has the character arc this week. I wonder how long this pattern of storytelling will last...
Rigel-12 is a horrible planet! Why would Eve want to settle there??? What good is wealth when you have to live in a cave?
Like The Cage, it seems that physical ugliness is still something to be avoided at all costs. Ruth spits out her line with especial bile: “I'm going back to what I was. Ugly!”
These are interesting observations.
Well, this is not one of my favorites. I like Harry Mudd, but it seems like the story is predicated on several weird premises that really don't make for a good episode.
He stole the ship, but why are they (Enterprise) following in the first place? That leads to the asteroids, the only way was to extend the deflectors, really? No tractor beams til Tuesday? They also couldn't use phasers to maybe shoot some of those asteroids?
Ok so they need the crystals, bad. They head over to Rigel, the most popular system in the galaxy.
There's a planet with three(!) guys on it. Three! A whole planet. And just because the one guy says You'll never find any, they take his word for it and don't look?
Kirk alludes to the planet needing services and not getting them if they don't cooperate but it's strange that the miners even seem to be able to do that. I don't mean they can just take the crystals, but how can they deny a request to purchase them?
Who the heck else are buying these expensive crystals if not the government in charge of the ship?
Then the premise of taking wives to settlers seems dated even in the 60s. So they have 3 people waiting on Ophiuchus 3, what about them?
Eve dosesn't seem so bad, but Ruth and Magda seem like they just want to get their claws into someone. They, Ruth especially, also seem to have suffered more from the effects of the drug, maybe they've been using longer than Eve?
And these miners, putting aside the way they brush off the Enterprise, what about how they treat these women? When he says swap it about says it all, they treat them like property.
Maybe these three guys didn't come to this planet voluntarily and were banished there, they sure act like uncouth borderline criminals.
I also am ambivalent about how the crew acts towards the women, Kirk seems to hold it in very well but Bones and Scotty seemed like their minds just went away, Spock even seems affected although not in exactly the same way. I mean, is the drug affecting their minds or is it just stupid, Bones tries to address it, I don't know if it was sufficiently done or just a handwave. We never really find out why the scanner gives those weird readings.
And isn't this the first time we get the name and confirmation that Spock isn't a human. Yes it's mentioned that his people don't feel and his ancestor married an Earth woman but he wasn't as specifically spelled out as an alien in previous epidsodes. In The Cage, the illusion of the survivors say, "they're men!" not they're men with a Vulcan. Dr. Dehner mentions "I know those from your planet aren't suppose to have feelings like we do," but there are Humans on other planets in these shows, like those miners, so that's not definitive. Corbomite isn't definitive either, it's Harry Mudd of all people that talks about Spock's ancestry and what it entails. We also get our first Mr. Spock vs. Dr. McCoy barbs this episode with the location of Spock's heart being in a different place. For all we know, he could just be from a human colony where things are harsh and he was disfigured by a mechanical rice picker in his youth.
Now I'd like to talk about Harry Mudd. I don't know if it's Roger Carmel showing through but I don't dislike Harry even though he doesn't seem to act any better than those miners. He just seems like a blowhard that doesn't mind bending the law to suit him. He certainly seems concerned about the women's safety and I don't think it's only for business purposes. He's very concerned looking at the "dance" and when Eve runs out he seems to very disgusted with the miner's behavior, even though he's facilitated it. And he get's his little part in the final moral speech, too, it seems a little contrived that Kirk pauses for his interjection but his attitude seems consistent with how he was before. He's not a really compelling character but his portrayal elevates him to something more and I see why he's popular enough for more appearances, if there are more in future seasons.
And where was Rand in this episode? I'm not buying she's supposed to be the 4th main character, I hope she sticks around. If I can be permitted an observation, I always thought she was much more attractive than the 3 guest stars, maybe they didn't want her around to make everyone look even more stupid than they did drooling over the women.
Final thoughts, sorry I was so wordy with this one but I had a lot to wonder about. I still like the episode, almost any episode of Star Trek is better than no episode. There's a few that don't even make that bar, but I'll leave that to when they might happen.
He stole the ship, but why are they (Enterprise) following in the first place? That leads to the asteroids, the only way was to extend the deflectors, really? No tractor beams til Tuesday? They also couldn't use phasers to maybe shoot some of those asteroids?
Ok so they need the crystals, bad. They head over to Rigel, the most popular system in the galaxy.
There's a planet with three(!) guys on it. Three! A whole planet. And just because the one guy says You'll never find any, they take his word for it and don't look?
Kirk alludes to the planet needing services and not getting them if they don't cooperate but it's strange that the miners even seem to be able to do that. I don't mean they can just take the crystals, but how can they deny a request to purchase them?
Who the heck else are buying these expensive crystals if not the government in charge of the ship?
Then the premise of taking wives to settlers seems dated even in the 60s. So they have 3 people waiting on Ophiuchus 3, what about them?
Eve dosesn't seem so bad, but Ruth and Magda seem like they just want to get their claws into someone. They, Ruth especially, also seem to have suffered more from the effects of the drug, maybe they've been using longer than Eve?
And these miners, putting aside the way they brush off the Enterprise, what about how they treat these women? When he says swap it about says it all, they treat them like property.
Maybe these three guys didn't come to this planet voluntarily and were banished there, they sure act like uncouth borderline criminals.
I also am ambivalent about how the crew acts towards the women, Kirk seems to hold it in very well but Bones and Scotty seemed like their minds just went away, Spock even seems affected although not in exactly the same way. I mean, is the drug affecting their minds or is it just stupid, Bones tries to address it, I don't know if it was sufficiently done or just a handwave. We never really find out why the scanner gives those weird readings.
And isn't this the first time we get the name and confirmation that Spock isn't a human. Yes it's mentioned that his people don't feel and his ancestor married an Earth woman but he wasn't as specifically spelled out as an alien in previous epidsodes. In The Cage, the illusion of the survivors say, "they're men!" not they're men with a Vulcan. Dr. Dehner mentions "I know those from your planet aren't suppose to have feelings like we do," but there are Humans on other planets in these shows, like those miners, so that's not definitive. Corbomite isn't definitive either, it's Harry Mudd of all people that talks about Spock's ancestry and what it entails. We also get our first Mr. Spock vs. Dr. McCoy barbs this episode with the location of Spock's heart being in a different place. For all we know, he could just be from a human colony where things are harsh and he was disfigured by a mechanical rice picker in his youth.
Now I'd like to talk about Harry Mudd. I don't know if it's Roger Carmel showing through but I don't dislike Harry even though he doesn't seem to act any better than those miners. He just seems like a blowhard that doesn't mind bending the law to suit him. He certainly seems concerned about the women's safety and I don't think it's only for business purposes. He's very concerned looking at the "dance" and when Eve runs out he seems to very disgusted with the miner's behavior, even though he's facilitated it. And he get's his little part in the final moral speech, too, it seems a little contrived that Kirk pauses for his interjection but his attitude seems consistent with how he was before. He's not a really compelling character but his portrayal elevates him to something more and I see why he's popular enough for more appearances, if there are more in future seasons.
And where was Rand in this episode? I'm not buying she's supposed to be the 4th main character, I hope she sticks around. If I can be permitted an observation, I always thought she was much more attractive than the 3 guest stars, maybe they didn't want her around to make everyone look even more stupid than they did drooling over the women.
Final thoughts, sorry I was so wordy with this one but I had a lot to wonder about. I still like the episode, almost any episode of Star Trek is better than no episode. There's a few that don't even make that bar, but I'll leave that to when they might happen.
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Your observations about Mudd are excellent! He often gets a bad rap (and his murderous personna in DSC doesn't help) but you're absolutely right; he really does seem to care about the women's welfare (to an extent). He beamed over to the Enterprise ahead of all of them after all, to ensure it was safe for the ladies.
As for why the Enterprise was chasing his ship in the first place, Kirk states in the hearing:
We can suppose the Enterprise either detected this un-logged vessel or was responding to reports of it from others.
The lack of a tractor beam is very curious, especially as the concept existed only last week with Balok's ship! Perhaps there are two many asteroids (made from plot-onium) flying around for them to get a sound lock?
So, the deflectors can be extended to such a huge range at the push of a button (maybe for short term emergencies only?) but it's not the deflector screen generators which blow but the lithium crystals! Those deflectors are certainly built to last
As regards Spock's ancestry, you missed out last week's episode; just after Kirk tries his bluff with Balok, Spock makes this observation:
So, no mention of "Vulcan" yet, but I think definite confirmation that Spock has non-human ancestry as "Earth Man" and "from Earth" are shorthand for "human" in a lot of SciFi of the time.
Finally, my thoughts about "Rigel-12". We've already seen "Rigel-7" in The Cage and no indicTion that these are supposed to be the same star systems. Spock speaks of "Rigel-12" as if it's a remote planet they just happen to be passing near.
A thought occured to me watching this episode, especially considering the naming convention that Earth men use for their own star system (the "Terran" system). Is it possible that the Rigellians were ancient colonisers? Their home world was Rigel, their first colony world (in an adjacent system) was "Rigel-2" and so on? These worlds have long since been ceded to later powers or just fallen into ruin, but the names still remain.
Does this seem feasible?
Mudd was a comical rogue in TOS. His intention didn't seem to kill anyone but I don't think he would be put out if anyone died.
I also don't think he was that concerned about the ladies. Again I don't think he wanted anything bad to happen to them but better them than him. His apparent concern for the ladies was just to make sure they didn't say or do anything to get Mudd or the plan in trouble.
Yeah, I think Mudd's status as a somewhat harmless rogue also robs this episode of tension. I like Harry and find "I, Mudd" hilarious, but here his general approach just doesn't mesh with the more serious aspects of the plot. Add in all of the other problems with the episode and this one is bottom 5 for me, down there with "The Alternative Factor" and even the nonsensical, overrated "The Enterprise Incident." This episode for me is a just a misfire by the production team when they were still very much finding their footing.
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