Janice Rand
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| Janice Rand | |
 Yeoman Janice Rand |
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| Species | Human |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Affiliation | Starfleet |
| Posting | USS Enterprise yeoman Starfleet Command USS Excelsior communications officer |
| Rank | unspecified, Commander |
| Portrayed by | Grace Lee Whitney |
Yeoman Janice Rand, played by Grace Lee Whitney, is a character in the Star Trek: The Original Series. The character subsequently appears in several Star Trek films and in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.
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[edit] Depiction
Rand serves as yeoman to Captain James T. Kirk aboard the USS Enterprise in the first half of the first season of The Original Series. A mutual attraction is suggested between her and Captain Kirk in episodes such as "The Naked Time", "The Enemy Within", and "Miri". Rand's character disappeared halfway into the first season, appearing in eight episodes altogether.
Rand next appeared in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture as a transporter operator and non-commissioned officer,[1]. Her next appearance was in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home where she has been promoted to Chief Petty Officer and was stationed in San Francisco along with Christine Chapel. She served as the communications officer aboard the USS Excelsior in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and in the Voyager episode "Flashback".
Whitney had a cameo in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and was identified by fans as portraying Janice Rand, although the credits listed her as "woman in cafeteria". Whitney, in her autobiography, maintained that she was not playing Rand in the movie.
[edit] Departure
Grace Lee Whitney was released during the filming of the first season.[2] The last episode she filmed was "The Conscience of the King", in which Rand makes a brief appearance.
The reasons for Whitney's departure from the show are unclear, although the most commonly cited cause was that her character limits romantic possibilities for Captain Kirk.[3] Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's biography suggests that it was simply a budget cutback.[4]
Whitney was, at the time, suffering from alcoholism and sexual addiction, and according to some sources, this affected her performance and as a result, Rand's character was written out of certain episodes, which ultimately led to Rand being written out of the show altogether. Whitney in the 1980s identified these as possible causes for her dismissal,[5] but in her autobiography, she steadfastly refuted these claims.
According to Whitney, in the first season, only William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were guaranteed to appear in every episode. Of the three episodes that Rand's character did not appear, two of which (Mudd's Women and What Are Little Girls Made Of?) never did have her character written in. The only episode that Rand was deliberately written out of was Dagger of the Mind, which Whitney said was a creative decision made because the episode's storyline put the mutual and yet repressed attraction between Kirk and Rand too much out in the open.
In her autobiography, Whitney 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.[6]
[edit] Star Trek novels
Vonda N. McIntyre's novel Enterprise: The First Adventure suggests that Rand lied about her age in order to enlist in Starfleet and was only 17 at the start of Kirk's five-year mission. In Peter David's novel The Captain's Daughter, Rand tells 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 never knew about the child. Annie became ill and died at the age of two; after this traumatic event, Rand rejoined Starfleet.
[edit] Cultural impact
Rand was lampooned by Victoria Jackson when William Shatner guest hosted Saturday Night Live. In the skit, the Enterprise had been converted into a rotating space-restaurant and Rand was one of the crew who now worked on the ship as a waitress.
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[edit] References
- ^ Roddenberry, Gene and Sackett, Susan (1980). The Making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Pocket Books.
- ^ Anthony Wynn (2007). Talkin' Trek and Other Stories. BearManor Media. ISBN 1593930747.
- ^ Herbert F. Solow and Robert H. Justman (1996). Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-00974-5.
- ^ Alexander, David (1994). Star Trek Creator: The Authorized Biography of Gene Roddenberry. Roc. ISBN 0-451-45440-5.
- ^ 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.
[edit] External links
- Janice Rand article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
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