Mudd's Angels

Mudd's Angels (later reprinted as Mudd's Enterprise) is a collection of adaptations of episodes by J.A. Lawrence. First published in , it forms the thirteenth and final collection of Original Series novelizations published by Bantam Books, and also included an original novella which follows on from the events of .
== Summary ==
;From the book jacket (1994 Spectra reprint)
:Kirk and his crew match wits with menacing con man Harcourt Fenton Mudd. Previously published under the title Mudd's Angels, this novelization of two classic Star Trek episodes also includes original material by the author, who collaborated with her husband, James Blish, on earlier Star Trek compilations.
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=== Contents ===
;Introduction: Lawrence discusses James Blish's death and her decision to finish the series.
;Prologue: Captain Kirk explains how Mudd's Angels came to be written.
;Mudd's Women: A 35 page adaptation of .
;I, Mudd: A 37 page adaptation of .
;The Business, as Usual, During Altercations: A 98 page novella in 8 chapters.
=== "The Business, as Usual, During Altercations" ===
On stardate 6273.6, the is ordered to discover the reason for a sudden shortage of dilithium. The crew discovers that all the dilithium has been bought from its suppliers by a variety of companies, all headquartered on the planet Liticia. Trouble looms when Chekov realizes that Liticia is actually Mudd, the android planet where they left Harry Mudd. They arrive at Liticia to find that Mudd has been trading female androids to the miners for their dilithium. When he learns that Mudd has just fled Liticia with the dilithium, Kirk orders the Enterprise in pursuit. Mudd's ship and the Enterprise both pass through the galactic barrier, which throws them both 165,000 light years away to the neighborhood of a variable star in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud. The energy output from the star interacts with the dilithium in both ships, causing it to expand in time with the star's energy cycle. Kirk orders the Enterprises dilithium jettisoned, but Mudd's has to abandon his ship before it is consumed by its dilithium cargo. The expansion of Mudd's dilithium causes the stars in the Lesser Cloud to explode, sending the Enterprise back into the Milky Way Galaxy several weeks in the past, on stardate 6013.0. Instead of being duplicated, both Mudd and the Enterprise vanish from their former locations at that time, leaving only the Enterprise from the future. After averting the impending dilithium shortage, the Enterprise returns to Liticia to find that, following Mudd's disappearance, the androids have formed their own government. The androids place Mudd on trial for a list of offenses that takes two days to recite. Mudd is found guilty of only one charge, operating a starship without a license, and is sentenced to exile from the galaxy.
== Background information ==
* The original intention for Mudd's Angels was for the two episodes to be combined into a single novel-length adaptation. Lawrence recalled the difficulties in doing so in , noting that, ultimately, "twisting them […] into a longer story would not do anything to improve them". (p.9)
* Lawrence's novella is one of three different, mutually exclusive sequels to the two TOS episodes above. The first was the episode which was adapted by Alan Dean Foster for Star Trek Log 3. The third was Jerry Oltion's novel Mudd in Your Eye.
* Bob Larkin did the artwork for the original Bantam release, Alister Pearson for the Titan Books reprint, and Kazuhiko Sano provided cover art for the Spectra reprint.
* With this publication, all 79 episodes of were now adapted in literary form. It is sometimes erroneously stated that TOS is the first TV series to have all of its episodes adapted, but that distinction actually belongs to , due to Star Trek Log 10 being published several months earlier than Mudd's Angels. To date, TOS and TAS remain the only Star Trek TV series to have been completely adapted in this way, as future novelizations would be restricted to premiere and special-event episodes.
=== Cover gallery ===
File:Mudd's Angels, Titan reprint.jpg|Titan Books reprint cover
File:Mudd's Enterprise cover.jpg|Spectra reprint, as Mudd's Enterprise
== References ==
Aruhu series; Coridanite; Galactic Trading Corporation; Interstella; Marilyn series; Mudd Mahal; Muldoon; Lieutenant Spxyx; Superstella; Yeoman Weinberg
== External link ==
* 
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Category:Novels
Category:Novelizations