Fictional character in Star Trek
Janice Rand is a fictional character in the American science fiction television series "" during its , as well as three of the "Star Trek" films. She is the Captain's yeoman on board the USS "Enterprise" (NCC-1701), and first appeared in the episode "The Man Trap". She had significant roles in the episodes "", where she fights off an evil version of Captain James T. Kirk; "Charlie X" where a young man with god-like powers falls in love with her; and "" where she is infected with a deadly disease while on an away mission and is kidnapped by jealous children.
Rand was portrayed by American actress Grace Lee Whitney, who had previously worked with "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry in a pilot for a show he created called "Police Story".
Whitney as Rand was involved in promoting "Star Trek" before it aired, but did not appear in the first two pilots. Roddenberry set out the role of Rand to Whitney, saying that she and Kirk were meant to have feelings for one another but should never act on them. Part way through the first season, Whitney was released from her contract. The official explanation was that the production team wanted to free up Kirk to have relationships with other women, but it was necessitated because of her substance abuse. It is unclear who suggested that her contract should be terminated or who made the final decision. Roddenberry later blamed NBC for her release and said he regretted it.
After Whitney was reintroduced to "Star Trek" through conventions, she came back into contact with Roddenberry, who wanted to include her in the new series in development at the time, '. This was subsequently cancelled, but Rand did reappear in '. Whitney made further appearances as Rand in ' and ', as well as scenes in the ' episode " set during the events of the latter film. Whitney made further appearances as Rand in the fan series ' and ", and Rand was also portrayed by Meghan King Johnson in "New Voyages".
Prior to the start of "The Original Series", Whitney promoted the series and was popular with the media. Critics later called the character a stereotype in her initial appearances, but the expansion of the role in "Flashback" was praised.
Concept and development.
Gene Roddenberry's original pitch for "" featured a female Captain's Yeoman named "Colt". She was described as "blonde and with a shape that even a uniform could not hide." In this first version of "Star Trek", she worked as Captain Robert April's "secretary, reporter, bookkeeper, and undoubtedly wishes she could serve him in more personal departments." Roddenberry's description of her ended with "She is not dumb; she is very female, disturbingly so." This character was cast for the first pilot of the series, "", with Laurel Goodwin cast in that role. A similar character was created for the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", this time called "Smith", and she was played by model Andrea Dromm.
However, during discussions with the casting director on "Star Trek", Roddenberry stood up in the casting process for three women he had worked with before – Majel Barrett, Nichelle Nichols and Grace Lee Whitney. Whitney had previously appeared in Roddenberry's unsold pilot "Police Story" where she played Police Lieutenant Lily Monroe. She was available to appear in the series and was promptly cast in the role, being paid $750 per episode and being guaranteed to appear in seven episodes out of the first thirteen. The casting led to rumours that she and Roddenberry had been previously involved romantically, something she strenuously denied later saying that "I never had a romantic relationship with Gene Roddenberry before "Star Trek", during "Star Trek", or after "Star Trek"." She admitted that he had made numerous passes at her, but she wanted their relationship to remain professional only.
Roddenberry explained to Whitney that he wanted Rand to be Captain Kirk's confidante but never wanted them to express their affection for one another; instead he wanted it to be played as an ongoing undercurrent. In the early publicity photos, Whitney was dressed in the same manner that the women had been in the two pilots – a loose gold colored tunic and black trousers. She complained to Roddenberry about them hiding her "dancer's legs", so he had William Ware Theiss design a short skirt and tunic for her to wear, a uniform which was adopted by the other female characters on the series. She said the outfit was "sensational" and that "it stopped traffic". Despite the outfit being designed specifically for Whitney, Theiss was concerned and would tell her to lose weight. She was subsequently prescribed amphetamines by her doctor for the purpose of weight loss. Whitney stated that this was the start of her addiction to them, and in order to come down off them at night, she began drinking in the evening to take away the "edginess".
He also developed her hair styles for the series, which Roddenberry insisted must be unique and futuristic so that the viewers could believe they were seeing the future on television. She originally appeared with straight hair in promotion photos, but this was changed to a beehive, which was so solid looking that Bob Justman joked that "You could hit it with a sledgehammer and never make a dent." It was created by weaving two Max Factor wigs into a mesh cone. Whitney described the application of the wig, saying "they nailed it to my head every morning." It was created by placing a cone on her head and then weaving the blonde hair from two separate wigs together resulting in such an unusual look that Whitney said she was unrecognizable without it. In the press, she explained that on the show, Rand would have stuck her head in a machine which would have made up her hair instantly. The wig was later stolen from the Desilu lot after Whitney was no longer on the series; it was never recovered.
When interviewed by the media at the time, Whitney expressed enthusiasm in the role and about science fiction in general. She described Rand's role on board the "Enterprise" as "She's in charge of the other women aboard the space ship. She's Miss Efficiency." She also added that the character did not go into space "to catch a man." At the time, the media described Rand's position on the "Enterprise" as "chief female executive officer" and her image was used to promote the series before it began to air. Whitney enjoyed several of the episodes she appeared in, and found it hard to choose between "", "Charlie X" and "".
She was particularly affectionate toward the latter because it allowed her to appear on camera with her two children, and said it was her favorite. Certain elements of Rand's characterization were developed by Whitney and Shatner; Whitney would go to Shatner's side when their characters were put in danger – in response, Shatner would put his arms around her, such as in "Balance of Terror". The character was written out of the episode "Dagger of the Mind", which Whitney attributed to the romantic liaison that Kirk has with the female lead in that episode being so overt that it would have caused issues for later plots. This was because the script had Kirk and the female lead sleep with each other. Although Whitney found it difficult to watch as her character had been removed from the episode, she understood why. Part of her outfit was dictated by attempting to increase the duties of the Captain's Yeoman on screen. In order to provide support while part of an away team on a planet, Roddenberry suggested that she could wear a device on an over-the-shoulder strap which she could use as an electronic camera. He also suggested immediately that it could be expanded in order to be sold as a toy for young girls. This was part of the development process that led to the creation of the tricorder.
Departure.
Grace Lee Whitney was released during the filming of the first season. The official reason given for Whitney's departure from the show was that her character limited romantic possibilities for Captain Kirk. This idea was supported by Whitney, saying: "They didn't want to give the fans the idea [Kirk] was in love with Janice Rand. That would limit him. They wanted him to go out and fool around. So, I was axed."
But the real reason was that the production had financial issues, with the acquisition of new crew members and the increase in popularity of Doctor Leonard McCoy meaning that those salaries needed to come out of the original budget. In Justman and Herb Solow's 1996 book "Inside Star Trek", they stated that following a discussion between Roddenberry, Solow and Bernie Weitzman in which they discussed her contract, they decided to terminate it because of Whitney's limited appearances and the financial issues that the series was having. The decision was attributed elsewhere in David Alexander's 1995 authorized biography of Gene Roddenberry, "Star Trek Creator", which said that during the first batch of episodes, casting director Joseph D'Agosta reviewed the contracts for the main actors due to rising costs.
At the time Whitney was guaranteed to appear in seven of the first 13 episodes, and contracted for four days work on each. However, she was used for nine additional days, leading D'Agosta to suggest to Roddenberry that if guest stars instead played the similar role but with different characters then they "would cost less and hold as much value". He added that they should instead look to using Whitney on a free-lance basis instead of under permanent contract. By September 8, 1966, Whitney's agent had been informed that her contract had been terminated, which was around a week prior to the shoot of her penultimate episode, "The Conscience of the King". Roddenberry told Whitney that he did not want to lose Rand as he wanted her relationship with Kirk to continue. In a memo to Gene Coon on October 27, 1966, Roddenberry suggested bringing Whitney back as Rand, albeit with a different hairstyle similar to the way she wore it in "Police Story" as this "made her look much younger and softer", but she was never invited back to the series.
Because of Whitney's termination, drafts of the episode "The Galileo Seven" were revised to replace Rand with a new yeoman, Mears. Writer Paul Schneider was not informed of Whitney's departure when he submitted his first draft of "The Squire of Gothos" in early October 1966, so another character, Yeoman Ross, was then subsequently created for that episode. And Robert Hamner's September 1966 outlines for "A Taste of Armageddon" also included Rand; that part was then given to another new character, Tamura.
In Solow and Justman's book, there was also a reference to a "rift" between Whitney and Roddenberry that occurred just prior to her departure and was expected to ensure that she never returned to the series. In her autobiography, Whitney states that an unnamed television executive sexually assaulted her on August 26, 1966, while working on the episode "Miri", and she draws a link between this and her sacking a few days later. Whitney's departure was around the time when she was an alcoholic. In an interview in 1988, Whitney blamed her alcoholism and anorexia at the time for being released by the series. She later explained in an interview with "Starlog" magazine to promote "", that due to being adopted, she had a fear of rejection when she was younger which stemmed from her mother giving her away, and linked this to "Star Trek" saying "when I was let go from "Star Trek", it was a psychic pain which pushed me into alcoholism. I couldn't stand the pain, so I drank to get away from it."
Return.
Whitney returned to the set on several occasions during the production of the series, and was also invited to come back for cast parties. But over time these visits decreased gradually as she found it painful to be on set with her friends, but not able to appear on the show. She was continuing to take amphetamines and had developed a drinking problem. Despite this, and despite Whitney being let go from the show, Harlan Ellison wrote the character into his original