Female command officers in TOS

[WendellM]

Just to clarify, I didn't mean to suggest that Barbara Bain was in the running for the role of Number One. I was pulling Majel Barrett quotes from the book and Barbara just happened to be part of one. In context:

I'd made a decision never to involve Lucy in the casting of our television pilots. In fact, the only actor Lucy would ever meet before we hired her was Barbara Bain of Mission: Impossible. Possibly because Barbara was to be the female lead - probably because Barbara was married to Martin Landau, star of Mission - Lucy suspected a little favoritism. Favoritism in casting would eventually cause a "Lucy problem" for me because of Gene and his "Number One," actress Majel Barrett.

That said, I enjoyed her in Mission: Impossible and Space: 1999 and think that she could have done well in Star Trek (but since there's no colon in the title, that was never to be ).

 

[Zameaze]

Barbara Bain as Number One could have rocked!

In one way, I'm rather pleased that things occured as they did with respect to Barbara Bain as Number One; otherwise, Vulcans may have never been brought into being by the writers.

 

[Vance]

I think the best way to interpret Lester's remarks is that there were female starship captains but that Lester believed that the majority male captains didn't welcome them into their social circle, something like a fraternity of captains. This would be easy for her to think if she read people's rejection of her as based on her sex rather than her flawed personality.

I always assumed that 'your world' specifically referred to Kirk's life, which is actually something the character wrestles with (inablity to have a relationship) since early TOS all the way to his death in Generations. She was resentful of Kirk 'casting her aside' after all...

 

[cbp44189]

I think Lauren Becall would have made a good flag officer.