what if Janice Rand died during TOS's first season?

[Rush Limborg]

a travesty that she wasn't written into the new franchise!

I believe you mean that it is a travesty that she wasn't written into the new franchise YET!

Yeah...I seem to recall all the rumors that Jennifer Morrison was gonna play Rand, when it was revealed that she'd died her hair blond for the film.

And then, when that was debunked, people thought it was Rachel Nichols who'd be Rand.

Nope.

Here's hoping for next time....

 

[Pauln6]

If she does appear, I hope they give her at least two movie appearances before they off her!

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Hmm, interesting dilemma. It would have been nice to see more GLW, but if she had been around for the whole run of the show, we might never have gotten Helen Noel; Tonya Barrows; Yeomans Mears, Tamura, Jamal, Ross, etc., etc.

Heck, we might even have not gotten Marlena Moreau! (Although seeing Grace in that Mirror Universe outfit might have been worth it! )

 

[Pauln6]

Hmm, interesting dilemma. It would have been nice to see more GLW, but if she had been around for the whole run of the show, we might never have gotten Helen Noel; Tonya Barrows; Yeomans Mears, Tamura, Jamal, Ross, etc., etc.

Heck, we might even have not gotten Marlena Moreau! (Although seeing Grace in that Mirror Universe outfit might have been worth it! )

Well it's likely that we'd have got Noel (since Grace was specifically written out of that one to preserve the frisson between Kirk and Rand) and Barrows (since she was after McCoy) and Ross (who was after Chekov was it? And who appeared in TMP played by a different but similar actress)

 

[Jonas Grumby]

^ Really? I was sure I'd heard that "Dagger of the Mind" was originally intended to feature Rand. I'd also heard that the "frisson between Kirk and Rand" explanation was just a fig leaf for the real reason Whitney was not in this episode (and why she was subsequently fired from the show).

As for the random example yeomen I picked, who knows how those scripts might have been tweaked had Whitney been available for those episodes. Indeed, I suspect a number of them ended up having to be tweaked because she became unavailable.

My point is that had Whitney been around - and already on payroll - to fill those slots, the roster of lovely female TOS crewmembers we still enjoy to this day would likely be considerably smaller than it is.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Hmm, Rand never really made that much of an impression on me. Now Helen Noel, I'd have liked to have seen more of her.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

i feel like i should make an appearance, if for no other reason than my avatar.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Ross (who was after Chekov was it? And who appeared in TMP played by a different but similar actress)

Chief Ross (TMP) was not intended to be Yeoman Teresa Ross. The coincidence was that the TMP actress's first name was "Terrence", usually a male name.

 

[Therin of Andor]

^ Really? I was sure I'd heard that "Dagger of the Mind" was originally intended to feature Rand.

It was. GLW herself told me her "two least favourite episodes" are ones many fans love, but they carry only bad memories for her since she knew that Rand was originally a major part of both scripts.

I'd also heard that the "frisson between Kirk and Rand" explanation was just a fig leaf for the real reason Whitney was not in this episode (and why she was subsequently fired from the show).

It was still there as a contributing factor. The writers were concerned they'd gone a little overboard too early with "The Enemy Within" and "Miri", and it was getting harder from keeping Kirk and Rand from crossing the line as a couple.

My point is that had Whitney been around - and already on payroll - to fill those slots, the roster of lovely female TOS crewmembers we still enjoy to this day would likely be considerably smaller than it is.

Her lucrative contract was for 13 episodes. Had she been a day-player, like Uhura and Chapel, she might have lasted longer.

 

[Pauln6]

i feel like i should make an appearance, if for no other reason than my avatar.

Show us your legs!

 

[Yeoman Randi]

^ Here ya go!

I really am grateful for Charlie X. The Yeoman had a decent part in it.

 

[Pauln6]

^ Here ya go! I really am grateful for Charlie X. The Yeoman had a decent part in it.

Rand got a pretty good crack in the Man Trap, Charlie X, and the Enemy Within. I always thought that she was a bit pointless in Miri (even if it did give her one of her most classic lines) and it is true that had she remained, some of her appearances could have been equally decorative - I mean in how many episodes did any of those carbon copy yeomen do anything worthwhile?

I'm so gutted that the Rand action figure has been placed on hold with wave 5 of Art Asylums trek figures! The economic slow down hasn't helped pre-orders but I hope they don't keep them on hold for too long... I certainly pre-ordered mine - plus spares

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I dislike that Rand and GLW left the series. However, I like that Rand just vanished from the series without explanation or much pomp & circumstance. It makes Starfleet feel more like a "real" service, where people are transferred in and out of assignments and life goes on.

What was it that Picard told Wesley in "The Child"?

Picard: Moving from one assisgnment to another is part of the life you are chosing.

 

[Pauln6]

I like that Rand just vanished from the series without explanation or much pomp & circumstance. It makes Starfleet feel more like a "real" service, where people are transferred in and out of assignments and life goes on.

In a real service Chekov would never have been promoted beyond Lieutenant, Uhura would have taken a claim for direct sex discrimination in her career path, and NuKirk would not have been promoted to Captain after events that occurred just one day out of the Acadamy...

Assuming that Rand had stayed as a day player, which episodes would she likely have appeared in instead of random yeoman 6? From what I've read and seen I'd guess:

City on the Edge of Forever (her part was re-written for Uhura)
Galileo Seven (replaced by Mears)
The Trouble with Tribbles (She was edited out of an early draft)
Squire of Gothos (replaced by Ross)
Taste of Armageddon (replaced by Tamura)
Operation Annihilate (replaced by Jamal)

Plus she was written out of Dagger of the Mind for ongoing plot reasons. Any others?

Not every yeoman should be replaced by Rand one assumes, notably those that were the love interests for other characters and the one that died - although if it had been Rand that was crushed to powder, that would have been an awesomely cool, controversial death!