Janice Rand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Janice Rand | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Species: | Human |
| Gender: | Female |
| Affiliation: | Starfleet |
| Posting: | USS Enterprise yeoman Starfleet Command USS Excelsior communications officer |
| Rank: | Enlisted (exact rank unknown) Commander |
| Portrayed by: | Grace Lee Whitney |
Janice Rand is a fictional character in the television series Star Trek, played by Grace Lee Whitney.
Contents |
[edit] Original series
In the original series, Rand serves as yeoman to Captain James T. Kirk aboard the USS Enterprise.
The character was introduced when the show went into regular production. In the pilot episodes "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before", the role of yeoman to the Captain had been taken by Yeoman Colt and Yeoman Smith respectively.
Rand appears in eight episodes, at the start of the first season:
- "The Corbomite Maneuver"
- "The Man Trap"
- "Charlie X"
- "Balance of Terror"
- "The Enemy Within"
- "The Naked Time"
- "Miri"
- "The Conscience of the King"
[edit] Departure
Whitney was fired during the filming of the first season.[1] The last show she filmed was "The Conscience of the King", in which Rand makes a brief appearance. The position of Captain's Yeoman was subsequently filled by various non-recurring actresses.
The reasons for Whitney's departure from the show are unclear, especially given Rand's billing (as an example, she appeared with Shatner (Kirk) and Nimoy (Spock) alone in early publicity photos). Whitney was, at the time, suffering from alcoholism, and some sources have suggested she was fired for this reason. Whitney identified this as a possible cause in the 1980s, after her recovery,[2] but in her autobiography, Whitney claims she never let this interfere with her work.
The official reason given to Whitney was that the character limited romantic possibilities for Captain Kirk. Gene Roddenberry's official biography suggests that it was simply a budget cutback. In Whitney's autobiography, she alleges that an unnamed TV executive made a sexual assault against her, and draws a link between this and her sacking a few days later.[3][4][5]
[edit] Subsequent appearances
Gene Roddenberry later is said to have regretted Whitney's departure from the show. Rand appeared in the 1979 Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as a transporter operator and non-commissioned officer,[6] and is seen as an officer in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
In the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Rand is depicted as the Communications Officer for the USS Excelsior, under Captain Sulu. The events of this film are revisited in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Flashback", in which Whitney reprised the role.
[edit] Spin-off fiction
Vonda N. McIntyre's non-canon novel Enterprise: The First Adventure suggests that Rand lied about her age in order to enlist in Starfleet and was only 17 or 18 at the start of Kirk's five-year mission. In Peter David's non-canon novel The Captain's Daughter, Rand, while serving as communications officer aboard the Excelsior, intimates to Captain Sulu that she left Starfleet for a period of time to raise a daughter, Annie. The child's father was a "Starfleet officer on the fast track to greatness" who was never informed of the child's existence. Annie became ill and died at the age of 2; after this traumatic event, Rand rejoined Starfleet.
[edit] Trivia
- Rand was lampooned by Victoria Jackson when William Shatner guest hosted Saturday Night Live.
[edit] References
- ^ Anthony Wynn (2007). Talkin' Trek and Other Stories. BearManor Media. ISBN 1593930747.
- ^ Allan Asherman (1988). The Star Trek Interview Book. Titan Books. ISBN 1852861045.
- ^ Grace Lee Whitney and Jim Denney. The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy. Quill Driver Books. ISBN 1884956033.
- ^ Alexander, David (1994). Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry. Roc. ISBN 0-451-45440-5.
- ^ Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman (1996). Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-00974-5.
- ^ Roddenberry, Gene and Sackett, Susan (1980). The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Pocket Books.
[edit] External links
- Janice Rand article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
| Regular characters on Star Trek | |||
| The Original Series | Kirk | Spock | McCoy | Scott | Uhura | Sulu | Chekov | Chapel | Rand | ||
| Animated Series | Arex | M'Ress | ||
| The Next Generation | Picard | Riker | Data | La Forge | Worf | B. Crusher | Troi | W. Crusher | Yar | O'Brien | Guinan | Pulaski | ||
| Deep Space Nine | B. Sisko | Kira | J. Dax | Odo | Bashir | O'Brien | Worf | J. Sisko | Quark | Rom | Nog | E. Dax | Garak | Martok | Damar | Dukat | Weyoun | Winn | ||
| Voyager | Janeway | Chakotay | Tuvok | Paris | Torres | Kim | Doctor | Neelix | Seven | Kes | ||
| Enterprise | Archer | T'Pol | Tucker | Reed | Phlox | Sato | Mayweather | ||
