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Mudds Angels: A Star Trek Adventure
- GenresStar Trek
Paperback
Published January 1, 1978
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 8, 2026
**NOTE: THIS IS A RE-CATALOGING OF ALL THE BOOKS IVE READ AND HAVE DOCUMENTED ELSEWHERE FOR PERSONAL HISTORICAL RECORD PURPOSES. THE FOLLOWING REVIEW WAS WRITTEN IN 2025.
*additionally, I have a question mark beside the start date in my original Google doc for my book reviews, so I'm not confident I actually started on that date. Not that this is important to anyone but myself but...! 𝓲𝓭𝓬<3
This book is mostly recaps of the two episodes Mudd’s in, but there is a third, original story, which I will solely focus on here, as the two adaptations are generally irrelevant in terms of new content. I took decent gaps between reading this one, so my review will probably be shallow and simple, but that is sort of what this story was in itself, to be fair. It’s just a classic Mudd shenanigans story. Key notes that I thought were enjoyable enough to have remembered include Chekov being hypnotized and subsequently having outbursts from it, the scene when Kirk was realizing his temper was a cause for their mess, the scene when Kirk thinks he’s dead and in hell (only to realize he isn't when he sees Spock and McCoy—”Was there to be one mercy in Hell, that he could hear distantly the voice of Spock? Had They, Whoever They might be, been magnanimous enough to read the loyalty of his inward heart…” followed by, upon hearing McCoy’s voice, “Two mercies?”—pg. 150), and lastly, although there are surely more scenes that I would consider noteworthy had I read this in a shorter time span, Spock “turning pale green” when the androids ask if he has a soul.
Overall, an enjoyable enough read, but I’m not sure if this author is the best with their use of language. I won’t deny that it could easily just be me having trouble with reading comprehension, but there were sentences I genuinely couldn’t understand simply because the wording was confusing. Regardless, a fascinating book to have started with as my very first Star Trek book, but out of all the ones I currently own, I (likely correctly) figured this would be the least exciting, mostly due to it being primarily adapted stories I have already seen. The original story was a fun read however, and I am endlessly endeared by the Star Trek universe regardless of the quality of the story.
*additionally, I have a question mark beside the start date in my original Google doc for my book reviews, so I'm not confident I actually started on that date. Not that this is important to anyone but myself but...! 𝓲𝓭𝓬<3
This book is mostly recaps of the two episodes Mudd’s in, but there is a third, original story, which I will solely focus on here, as the two adaptations are generally irrelevant in terms of new content. I took decent gaps between reading this one, so my review will probably be shallow and simple, but that is sort of what this story was in itself, to be fair. It’s just a classic Mudd shenanigans story. Key notes that I thought were enjoyable enough to have remembered include Chekov being hypnotized and subsequently having outbursts from it, the scene when Kirk was realizing his temper was a cause for their mess, the scene when Kirk thinks he’s dead and in hell (only to realize he isn't when he sees Spock and McCoy—”Was there to be one mercy in Hell, that he could hear distantly the voice of Spock? Had They, Whoever They might be, been magnanimous enough to read the loyalty of his inward heart…” followed by, upon hearing McCoy’s voice, “Two mercies?”—pg. 150), and lastly, although there are surely more scenes that I would consider noteworthy had I read this in a shorter time span, Spock “turning pale green” when the androids ask if he has a soul.
Overall, an enjoyable enough read, but I’m not sure if this author is the best with their use of language. I won’t deny that it could easily just be me having trouble with reading comprehension, but there were sentences I genuinely couldn’t understand simply because the wording was confusing. Regardless, a fascinating book to have started with as my very first Star Trek book, but out of all the ones I currently own, I (likely correctly) figured this would be the least exciting, mostly due to it being primarily adapted stories I have already seen. The original story was a fun read however, and I am endlessly endeared by the Star Trek universe regardless of the quality of the story.
April 28, 2025
Was going to skip the adaptations and just read the new story since I had recently watched the show, but I wanted to get a taste of the novelized episodes that were crucial to the show growing popularity in its early days. The two Mudd novelizations were perfectly readable, not that long and felt like a reasonable replacement for not being able to make or buy a video tape of an episode in the 70s. The biggest issue with these two specifically is that they are Mudd stories that could fit into any series, so you don't really get any notable character moments from the big favorites like Spock and Bones.
The original novella, "The Business, as Usual, During Altercations," is very good. It has good primary character moments, more great Mudd moments, and really spans a much wider set of themes than you'd expect based on the original Mudd stories, while not feeling out of place with them. It's worth your time as much as any of the better ones in the Bantam Star Trek series that I've read so far.
The original novella, "The Business, as Usual, During Altercations," is very good. It has good primary character moments, more great Mudd moments, and really spans a much wider set of themes than you'd expect based on the original Mudd stories, while not feeling out of place with them. It's worth your time as much as any of the better ones in the Bantam Star Trek series that I've read so far.
June 8, 2025
J.A. Lawrence's 1978 Mudd's Angels gives us the only two stories that James Blish's Star Trek 1 through Star Trek 12 did not adapt from the episodes of 1960s television series--the ones centering around jovially roguish interstellar con man Harry Mudd--along with a new third Mudd tale written specifically for this book.
In the Prologue, Captain Kirk writes in the first person about the inadequacy of the "wooden" just-the-facts report he must turn in on what he refers the "the Mudd affair" (1978 Bantam paperback, page ix), regretful that he "couldn't give it any of the flavor" (page x). Spock surprises the rest of the bridge crew, however, by suggesting that "A better account"--presumably flavored with human insight and impressions--"might be possible" and even "desirable" (page x). After all, although "[t]he Mudd business--or the series--occurred in a reasonably well-organized area of the galaxy...[,] an area where law and order either prevailed, or could be expected to prevail," Mudd himself "was a random factor, a human sport who misbehaved and upset all calculations" (page x).
Because it is "likely that he will not be the last" (page x), the Vulcan suggests that "[i]t would perhaps be well to make a closer record, in language that someone else might read, as a general warning that humans can be wildly erratic" (page ix). Kirk therefore determines that he will approach their "civilian passenger," someone named, ahem, "Lawrence," who as an "Integrator" must "weigh [events] for relative importance, draw inferences[,] and make interpretations" (page xi). Everyone "will draw up [their] individual accounts of [their] encounters with Mudd, including the computer," and Lawrence will "integrate [them] as a narrative" (pages xi-xii)...and there will come the book's three tales.
"Mudd's Women," originally written as a screenplay by Stephen Kandel and then adapted for print by Lawrence, introduces Harcourt Fenton Mudd when the Enterprise rescues the fleeing man and his "cargo" of three peculiarly beautiful and alluring women from a dangerous asteroid swarm, thereby overloading the starship's dilithium crystals and forcing it to limp to the nearest dilithium-mining planet in search of replacements. In "I, Mudd," again originally written by Kandel before Lawrence's adaptation, the ne'er-do-well returns as the hedonistic potentate of a world of ancient alien humanoid androids--mainly women, "lovely, compliant, obedient" (page 48), and, in case we missed the implication, "programmed to function as human females" (page 58)--who nevertheless wishes to steal a ship such as the Enterprise.
The reader, of course, already is familiar with both of these episodes. Both have some plot holes, as often happens in a Star Trek episode, and although "Mudd's Women" is the more serious one, even it has its points of nice amusement, while "I, Mudd" is more unremittingly humorous. It is the third tale of the book, which is almost half again as long as both other stories put together, that is the new one to us.
Lawrence's newly written "The Business, As Usual, During Altercations" starts with a "Top priority message from Star Fleet Command reporting abnormal shortfalls in deliveries of dilithium crystals to starbase fueling depots" and requiring that "All Class 1 Starships abort non-emergency missions and investigate. Possible Condition Red" (page 81). Now, when discussing the familiar television episodes, I don't actually need to touch any plot specifics, but in this new story I specifically do not want to, as I wish to avoid plot-spoiling. I will comment, of course, that upon a little reflection, the notion of further dilithium being completely unavailable in the entire Federation, not to mention the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Empire as well, with "[t]he whole galaxy at a standstill" and "only [the Enterprise] hav[ing] any chance of breaking it" (page 117), seems pretty damned hard to swallow. On the other hand, though, I must admit that Mudd's shenanigans are clever and enjoyable. Moreover, he actually ends up garnering some more sympathy here, and the text ends up touching upon some interesting issues humanity as well.
In any event, J.A. Lawrence's Mudd's Angels is not deeply probing or given to evocative or artistic turns of phrase, nor probably is it intended for an audience that has never heard of the starship Enterprise and its historic 5-year mission, but its adventures are swiftly moving and entertaining, with the type of humor we expect from tales of the incorrigible Harry Mudd, and for fans of the television series will be a 5-star read that is half pleasantly familiar and half new.
In the Prologue, Captain Kirk writes in the first person about the inadequacy of the "wooden" just-the-facts report he must turn in on what he refers the "the Mudd affair" (1978 Bantam paperback, page ix), regretful that he "couldn't give it any of the flavor" (page x). Spock surprises the rest of the bridge crew, however, by suggesting that "A better account"--presumably flavored with human insight and impressions--"might be possible" and even "desirable" (page x). After all, although "[t]he Mudd business--or the series--occurred in a reasonably well-organized area of the galaxy...[,] an area where law and order either prevailed, or could be expected to prevail," Mudd himself "was a random factor, a human sport who misbehaved and upset all calculations" (page x).
Because it is "likely that he will not be the last" (page x), the Vulcan suggests that "[i]t would perhaps be well to make a closer record, in language that someone else might read, as a general warning that humans can be wildly erratic" (page ix). Kirk therefore determines that he will approach their "civilian passenger," someone named, ahem, "Lawrence," who as an "Integrator" must "weigh [events] for relative importance, draw inferences[,] and make interpretations" (page xi). Everyone "will draw up [their] individual accounts of [their] encounters with Mudd, including the computer," and Lawrence will "integrate [them] as a narrative" (pages xi-xii)...and there will come the book's three tales.
"Mudd's Women," originally written as a screenplay by Stephen Kandel and then adapted for print by Lawrence, introduces Harcourt Fenton Mudd when the Enterprise rescues the fleeing man and his "cargo" of three peculiarly beautiful and alluring women from a dangerous asteroid swarm, thereby overloading the starship's dilithium crystals and forcing it to limp to the nearest dilithium-mining planet in search of replacements. In "I, Mudd," again originally written by Kandel before Lawrence's adaptation, the ne'er-do-well returns as the hedonistic potentate of a world of ancient alien humanoid androids--mainly women, "lovely, compliant, obedient" (page 48), and, in case we missed the implication, "programmed to function as human females" (page 58)--who nevertheless wishes to steal a ship such as the Enterprise.
The reader, of course, already is familiar with both of these episodes. Both have some plot holes, as often happens in a Star Trek episode, and although "Mudd's Women" is the more serious one, even it has its points of nice amusement, while "I, Mudd" is more unremittingly humorous. It is the third tale of the book, which is almost half again as long as both other stories put together, that is the new one to us.
Lawrence's newly written "The Business, As Usual, During Altercations" starts with a "Top priority message from Star Fleet Command reporting abnormal shortfalls in deliveries of dilithium crystals to starbase fueling depots" and requiring that "All Class 1 Starships abort non-emergency missions and investigate. Possible Condition Red" (page 81). Now, when discussing the familiar television episodes, I don't actually need to touch any plot specifics, but in this new story I specifically do not want to, as I wish to avoid plot-spoiling. I will comment, of course, that upon a little reflection, the notion of further dilithium being completely unavailable in the entire Federation, not to mention the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Empire as well, with "[t]he whole galaxy at a standstill" and "only [the Enterprise] hav[ing] any chance of breaking it" (page 117), seems pretty damned hard to swallow. On the other hand, though, I must admit that Mudd's shenanigans are clever and enjoyable. Moreover, he actually ends up garnering some more sympathy here, and the text ends up touching upon some interesting issues humanity as well.
In any event, J.A. Lawrence's Mudd's Angels is not deeply probing or given to evocative or artistic turns of phrase, nor probably is it intended for an audience that has never heard of the starship Enterprise and its historic 5-year mission, but its adventures are swiftly moving and entertaining, with the type of humor we expect from tales of the incorrigible Harry Mudd, and for fans of the television series will be a 5-star read that is half pleasantly familiar and half new.
January 26, 2025
Bought this used from Half Priced Books. It's in poor condition but I'd never seen one available before so I got it. Took me about an hour to read it. It's pretty bad but I'm betting the author was forced to rush it, hence the poor writing.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews