hey i have no idea if this will work this is just wat maya 7 say in script editor
polyHelix -c 3 -h 5 -w 5 -r 0.4 -sa 8 -sco 50 -sc 0 -d 1 -ax 0 1 0 -tx 2 -ch 1;
copy paste it into script editor and do ctrl+enter to try it
i have no ideea about mel so it may work or may not (probly not)
ne way try if not soz for wasting ur time