Customer Reviews

Mudd in Your Eye

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The novel starts out promisingly enough, with Kirk and crew discovering that two planets have ended 12,000 years of war (over which side gets to eat the white half of a fruit!), then discovering that the man responsible for ending the piece is no less (or no more, as it were) than Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

Then the war starts up again, and the book falls apart.

The kitchen sink apparently wasn't enough for this author -- he had to throw in the whole subdivision. The plot quickly becomes a humorless mess, with most of the Enterprise crew dying and being resurrected in bath houses (my best guess is that the two planets are monitored by a supercomputer that controls the resurrections through a systemwide transporter system -- and therefore perpetuates the war -- in order to teach people to cherish life) and character consistency thrown to the solar winds. We even have Spock using phrases like "That's the beauty of it" and "I am willing to bet" -- when's the last time the author even watched the show??

A good idea executed badly. Even Harry Mudd deserves better than this.

ST: TOS - Mudd in Your EYE written by Jerry Oltion is a humorous story and it will keep you laughing through out the story.

A well written story that keeps your intrest, we get one of Capt. James T. Kirk's antagonists, Harcourt Fenton Mudd. The antipathical Mudd is thought to be the person that has brought peace to the planets of Pastor and Distrel who have been fighting an ongoing war for twelve hundred years.

Now, the Federation wants to find out if this war is over and sends the crew of the Enterprise to investigate. When Kirk begins to investigate he finds Mudd... now Kirk becomes suspicious and doubts that Mudd is telling the truth. Oh the humor... as Kirk et. al. get involved with Mudd and the inhabitants of these two planets.

You see, this interplanetary war is over who is going to eat the white half of a piece of fruit. Crazy, I know, but the author's imagination is running wild as people die, resurect, die, and resurect over and over just to be closer to their heaven. All along the antics of Mudd and the author has written Mudd's wife (Stella) into this story get more and more whimsical.

This is a well told light-hearted story with the clownish Mudd working his extravagace to the max by saying that he's a changed man. If you want a laugh... and like TREK... then read this story you will chuckle. I reread this story as I pulled it off the shelf of long ago read books and it was as funny now as it was then.

This book is a good time; it has excellent characterization, an intriguing plot, good pacing and action, and manages to be thought-provoking in spite of not taking itself overly seriously. The only thing keeping it from five stars is that it gets a bit silly at times, but not so much as to be a real distraction. Definitely recommended.

This had a TOS feel. The author really nailed down the character of Harry Mudd. The novel was a strange trip indeed. Ol' Harry has taken advantage of an alien race while making them feel he is working for them. Capt. Kirk & his crew are called in to monitor events of a 'Peace treaty' on a planet that wishes to join the Federation. They soon discover the whole thing was orchestrated by Harry Mudd.
Con: The story seems to borrow bits of ideas from familier TOS episodes, as the alien world they are on is run by a strange system of computers,they have a culture that is at war with another planet, abeit eccentric and bogged down in custom, and one of the Enterprise chars is newly married.

Pro: The book takes you on a few twists and turns, this story may have borrowed some ideas, but it is it's own mix. If you hang in there, all is fully explained. Author does a good job nailing down Mudd, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. The ending is in the perfect spirit of Harry Mudd, very fitting.

No starship battles,plaques,viruses, time travel or space monsters, this story is a 'swindle' typical of the man himself. If you are amused at those TOS episodes with Harry Mudd, then this book is for you.

In this book, Harry Mudd, Kirk's eternally annoying nemesis, AND Stella (robot and later, human)stop at two worlds who recently stopped fighting a stupid war over which planet's population should eat the white half of poisonous fruit. Kirk is bewilered at the population's low reguard for life and their strange theology. Suddenly, at the drop of a hat, the two worlds start bickering, then fighting, and crew members begin dropping like flies, only to be endlessly reincarnated. This book is very funny, and is only surpassed in funniness by John M. Ford's "How Much For Just the Planet?". A refreshingly funny romp, so if you like to be shocked by a major character's death and reincarnation, with ensueing laughs, read this book!

If you have, then you must read this book. Oltion has come up with an interesting concept of life after death by introducing the reader to Nevisian society made up of the planets Prastor and Distrel. Through all of this, Oltion resurrects the old Star Trek character Harry Mudd. Death comes to several critical crew members of the Enterprise, including Captain Kirk himeslf. Through their after death experiences, the reader learns of the Nevisian Gods and their beliefs regarding narvana. As Star Trek stories go, this is one of the better ones and this reader will but Jerry Oltion on his list to read again

If you wanted to die, you have your own thoughts about where you might be going. Most people don't want to die. But people in this book, relish it and feel the more times they die, the closer they will get to their sense of Heaven. Nobody really dies here, they just go through a computer and end up on a different planet with everyone else. The crew of the Enterprise, find this out slowly. They are also trying to save Mudd's butt from the people he was cheating. This is a funny, comical book and should be read by other people.