What year did Kelley see her? She is already mentioned in Letters to Star Trek (published in 1977, and probably written the previous year). Someone must have been thinking about he around '76 or so.
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What year did Kelley see her? She is already mentioned in Letters to Star Trek (published in 1977, and probably written the previous year). Someone must have been thinking about he around '76 or so.
IDK wghat year as that's from a couple of reviews from her Autobiography "The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy" where the reviewer writes that she learned of the Star Trek convention circuit and fans interest in her when Deforest Kelly ran into her on the unemployment line, and that also lead to her cameo scene in ST:TMP. The reviewer doesn't mention anything about whether she said she knew about ST:Phase II; or if she was told she'd have any sort of part in it.
Phase II Bible mentions the Yeoman character as a series of beautiful actresses, including Grace, so, even though she was named in several scripts, it is entirely possible that another actress might have ended up in that role, much like Shore Leave, Galileo 7, and City on the Edge of Forever.
I think a big part of the difference we see in TWOK is it's a movie and not a show. When Star Trek got forced into the movie world they lost the ability to a lot of things you can do with a show.
So you have a really interesting premise and really want to make it a show but can't quite get all of the problems out of it and it's mess, you've got another episode next week and the world isn't over.
You make a movie like that... The world may very well be over.
Imagine if Star Trek got some kind of green light to make a feature and they used The Alternative Factor?
So they needed to make good movies that unfortunately lost a lot of what made Star Trek Star Trek.
In 6 movies, how many new worlds did we see? How many new civilizations?
And 2, 3, 4 really were a self absorbed little trilogy that started somewhat ok with TWOK, not an exploration but it was something a Starship would certainly be expected to do, stop a rogue Starship, but then it's the "let's resurrect Spock show" next movie and then the "let's get the gang back and in the clear with a lot of silliness" 4 is one in particular a good "movie" but it's terrible Star Trek. No where near as bad as Insurrection but
And 4 or 5 or all 6 (depending on how you define the expression) have a "bad guy". There were plenty of good antagonists in Star Trek episodes but many had none, just circumstances resulting from exploring new things and leading into action that wasn't necessarily "action" in the movie sense of the word. It's very arguable if the whale turd/dingleberry and V'ger were bad guys, I think the turd does, but only because of it's callous disregard for sentient/sapient life as it turds across the galaxy and almost destroys Terra because it didn't get the hear the end of the last episode of "Single Femaie Whale Lawyer".
Interesting points.
Certainly the 'domestication' of Star Trek in those 6 movies* is kind of interesting, in complete contrast to the whole premise of the show being this lone ship out there on the frontier. All 6 movies use Earth as a 'home base', with Enterprise either departing from Earth at the start of each movie, or returning there at some point. This is in contrast with the show where showing 23rd Century Earth was specifically forbidden to writers in the series bible. This change of focus gives the movie series the sense of being anchored, as it were, which had both positive and negative repurcussions.
* Heck, even movies 7, 8 and 10 feature Earth prominently, the Enterprise B being launched there, and the Enterprise E returning to fight the Borg there and ending up back in orbit at the end of 10. On reflection, only Insurrection shows us anything close to the Enterprise being out in the boondocks like it frequently was on TV.
Well, it's described in the official biography of Deforest Kelly. Google Books has the page with this particular anecdote: https://books.google.com/books?id=5JUOIKG2XcwC&lpg=PA218&dq=trekkie 1975&pg=PA218#v=onepage&q=trekkie 1975&f=false
Kor
https://books.google.com/books?newb...to+star+trek&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=grace
Sorry I could only get snippets. Apparently, by late 1976, someone had already set up a fan club for her (c/o Richard Arnold!) and was supposedly doing nightclub work.
Sorry I could only get snippets. Apparently, by late 1976, someone had already set up a fan club for her (c/o Richard Arnold!) and was supposedly doing nightclub work.
I'm sure it was her popularity on the convention circuit that led to her being asked back for TMP by Gene. The timing looks about right. She was fired before any of her episodes had aired so fans didn't have the chance to voice their views about her as a character before she was gone.
It's very probable that she was in some way 'blacklisted' and denied the opportunity to return as a guest star, probably partly because of her weight issues, partly the sexual assault, and partly cost. Gene tried to lay on a thick layer of hindsight when he said he wished he'd fought harder to keep her, I think.
I think Harlan Ellison included Rand deliberately in his first draft of City on the Edge of Forever, because they were friends, and he was trying to force them to put there money where their mouth was and invite her back as a guest star. The role he gave her had nothing to do with mooning over Kirk but taking charge of a security team and fixing the transporter. It could have revitalised her character and led to some appearances in season two. I do wonder if one of the reasons he fell out with them was because they excised Grace from his script.
In her autobiography she freely admitted that her drinking later on led to her getting a bad reputation on her acting gigs which meant she gave up acting to focus on her singing. That's probably why her eventual return was fairly limited as well.
It's very probable that she was in some way 'blacklisted' and denied the opportunity to return as a guest star, probably partly because of her weight issues, partly the sexual assault, and partly cost. Gene tried to lay on a thick layer of hindsight when he said he wished he'd fought harder to keep her, I think.
I think Harlan Ellison included Rand deliberately in his first draft of City on the Edge of Forever, because they were friends, and he was trying to force them to put there money where their mouth was and invite her back as a guest star. The role he gave her had nothing to do with mooning over Kirk but taking charge of a security team and fixing the transporter. It could have revitalised her character and led to some appearances in season two. I do wonder if one of the reasons he fell out with them was because they excised Grace from his script.
In her autobiography she freely admitted that her drinking later on led to her getting a bad reputation on her acting gigs which meant she gave up acting to focus on her singing. That's probably why her eventual return was fairly limited as well.
Another factor that I didn't see mentioned but might not be as important is Toys.
Do you want to sell 3 action figures or 8? I know a lot of Star Trek toys barely had anything to do with Star Trek but the Mego figures were based on the characters. But now I see that there was no Sulu or Chekov Maybe that's why no one's mentioned it. But there was a Klingon in the first run.
I think that no small amount of guilt was also in the mix.
I'd say that's the typical self-serving Roddenberry BS, as it was in all likelihood his decision to fire her.
The timeline of the production of COTEOF doesn't bear that out. According to Memory Alpha, Ellison turned in his story outline on COTEOF on March 21, 1966, his first draft teleplay on June 3, 1966, a revised first draft on June 13, 1966, and a final draft on August 12, 1966. According to Grace Lee Whitney's book The Longest Trek, her assault by the individual she only identifies as "The Executive" happened on Friday, August 26, 1966. She was written out of the show on or about the following Thursday, September 1, 1966, as per her best guess (You can read Whitney's full account of the assault in the book excerpt I linked to above, but be warned, it's disturbing reading).
So at the time that Ellison wrote his version of COTEOF, Yeoman Rand was still a regular part of the Star Trek ensemble, and Ellison gave her a part matching the import she had in the initial format of the show. By the time Whitney left Star Trek, Ellison's script was being rewritten by ST's staffers and story editors (In turn, Steven Carabatsos, Gene Coon, Dorothy Fontana, and Gene Roddenberry himself). Since they'd just dropped Yeoman Rand from the show, I doubt that anyone was looking to find a way to bring her back for a guest shot.
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Do we know who attacked her? Pretty clear it wasn't Roddenberry.
Oh? What makes you say that?
Enh, just supposition because he invited her back, seemed to mend fences, etc., and because she and Majel seemed to get along well. But I don't know. Do you have evidence pointing one way or another?
She very deliberately never named her attacker publicly. He was deceased by the time she wrote her autobiography. She does make mention that they had a girlfriend and that they gave her a polished stone as a gift afterwards, which leads some to speculate on their identity but her story should come as no surprise given the way actresses have been treated very recently. I admit that part of the reason I champion Rand is the injustice surrounding Grace's departure, as well as the fact that we were robbed of the female lead too early in the show's run before the audience ad been able to pass judgement.
She accepted that her alcoholism had its roots in her childhood and bouts of drinking had various triggers in her personal life. In fact she was so upset when she thought she looked old in her close up in TMP (Wise refused to even allow her to wear eyeliner) that it triggered more drinking.
Fortunately, she was sober by the time of TWOK and used her platform to help others. I think she learned to make peace with her past and saw nothing to be gained from opening a Pandora's Box that could have negative consequences for her.
She accepted that her alcoholism had its roots in her childhood and bouts of drinking had various triggers in her personal life. In fact she was so upset when she thought she looked old in her close up in TMP (Wise refused to even allow her to wear eyeliner) that it triggered more drinking.
Fortunately, she was sober by the time of TWOK and used her platform to help others. I think she learned to make peace with her past and saw nothing to be gained from opening a Pandora's Box that could have negative consequences for her.
I have to say - after reading the passage from the Google links in this thread; I assume the "Executive mentioned was probably often referred to as "Great Bird".
AS to why she would then come back and greet him the way she relates she did later in the book - in her mind, as a Christian, I'm sure she saw forgiveness as a virtue - and time heals all wounds, plus (rightly or wrongly) she still did accept partial responsibility for allowing herself to be put in that situation; AND she even said she had done some stuff like this in her career to get jobs, etc.
As to why Nimoy wouldn't do anything further outside of moral support - He was a working actor who'd driven a cab and taken any acting job he could get (including a low budget 1950ies film serial) to just support his family. Star Trek was a BIG paycheck and he wasn't going to jeopardize that due to something that MANY a Producer did in the industry of that time.
AS to why she would then come back and greet him the way she relates she did later in the book - in her mind, as a Christian, I'm sure she saw forgiveness as a virtue - and time heals all wounds, plus (rightly or wrongly) she still did accept partial responsibility for allowing herself to be put in that situation; AND she even said she had done some stuff like this in her career to get jobs, etc.
As to why Nimoy wouldn't do anything further outside of moral support - He was a working actor who'd driven a cab and taken any acting job he could get (including a low budget 1950ies film serial) to just support his family. Star Trek was a BIG paycheck and he wasn't going to jeopardize that due to something that MANY a Producer did in the industry of that time.
In her autobiography, Grace said that Doohan was shocked that she had been let go. It's clear that none of the actors felt secure. Even the rivalry between the lead actors was probably down to insecurity about the future. None of them could have known that Star Trek would become such a cultural icon.
Nothing concrete. Grace never named her assailant. But what she did reveal about him in her memoirs and other interviews certainly doesn't rule out Roddenberry.
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