IDW's comics restored Janice's role in their "Galileo Seven" JJverse comic, and to Harlan Ellison's original "City on the Edge" script comic adaptation.
Janice Rand Seasons 1-3
- Thread starter Pauln6
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That's what I keep hearing ...
You know, I watched The Corbomite Manoeuvre, recently and forgot Rand was even in it. Then "they" trotted her out with this exaggerated make-up that was way over-the-top ... it could've stopped a bullet. It was not flattering and I don't know what the intent was, there, but it failed. Fortunately ... somebody recongised this, of course and started putting make-up on her more naturalistically, giving us The Look we associate her with. The one where she looks great, but it's the beehive that's the problem, now. But I have to wonder how that thick, caked-on make-up ever seemed like a good idea. I kind of felt bad for her, really. But she didn't let it affect her performance, she was her lovely self, same as always.
Celebrity Death Match. Yeoman Rand versus Dr. Noel. Two women enter the ring; only one leaves. I'm betting on Dr. Noel. She kicked that security guard's butt in DOTM.
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I liked Rand and would have been happy to have seen her more.
But I like Helen Noel.
I love Noel too. Let's keep them both. Never mind celebrity death match, we could have had them fighting over the dial as to which one of them Kirk thinks he shagged on the photocopier in the stationery cupboard. They could compromise with both of them - Helen first, since she outranks Rand.
Rand appeared in a few issues of IDW ongoing but my hopes that they might build her up as a semi-regular support character came to nothing. Yeoman Zahra (now Lt Zahra) took over as recurring security support, although oddly she has morphed from the North African version from Operation Annihilate to a blonde Caucasian woman. In one of the few issues in which Rand appears, we have an all-girl security team as Rand and Zahra beam in, guns blazing. You go girls!
It was nice to see Rand though. Her last appearance was as a male version in an alternate 'Worm that Turned' style universe. You get a real sense of the gender inequality when you see how hard they work to make the numbers up in a sex swap universe. I assumed they phased her out as the writers had still not decided whether they might use the character in the movies. Until they sign off on that possibility the comic writers can't develop her and so much time has passed without her making an appearance that I can't see them going back to her unless they bump off Zahra.
Her Ellison story was her most versatile, blasting a door with a phaser rifle, using the scientific tricorder to locate the city, escaping a villain's clutches, using the tricroder to create feedback, knocking out a space pirate, jerry-rigging a transporter console, and taking charge of a security team. This version of Rand is awesome! I think that's why I get so frustrated that she isn't featured more. She seems quite versatile and interesting to me, even if you just focus on her 'official' skill set. I must confess that in my little fan comic i have found it quite easy to write for the character. I just wish I had more varied TMP stills to work with.
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Let's not be too quick to give up on a Rand-Noel smackdown. I'm thinking it should involve bikinis and jello.
The thing I like most about bikinis is how quickly they come off during a cat fight.
It's not an either-or thing, between Rand and Noel, for me, at all. In fact, the only woman on TOS that I thought really compared with, or was in the same league as, Grace Lee Whitney in terms of overall coolness was the slave woman given to Kirk in Bread & Circuses. That actress just seemed a little "big" for that part, like she might've been somebody, back in the day. But I can't know that, for certain. She just had that Alpha Babe quality about her that Grace Lee Whitney had.
Unfortunately, Rand had been completely unable to fend off the evil captain Kirk, when he attacked her, but I'll still say that she could've held her own against anybody else. If she could've just kneed Kirk in the balls and contained the situation, right away, the whole point of that scene would've disappeared. On the other hand, she was still the kind of woman who loved flowers and would "awww ..." at puppies and shit like that. That's what I love best about her. She didn't have to be all butch, just to stand her ground, when she had to.
Unfortunately, Rand had been completely unable to fend off the evil captain Kirk, when he attacked her, but I'll still say that she could've held her own against anybody else. If she could've just kneed Kirk in the balls and contained the situation, right away, the whole point of that scene would've disappeared. On the other hand, she was still the kind of woman who loved flowers and would "awww ..." at puppies and shit like that. That's what I love best about her. She didn't have to be all butch, just to stand her ground, when she had to.
As to your first point, not really as it turns out. But an extremely attractive woman, no doubt.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Lois_Jewell
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Lois_Jewell
Oh, no! Drusilla's dead, too! That's not right ...
I guess that's it. The March of Time has been too great to expect anyone to still be around from TOS. If there are any left, just take it as a nice surprise, that's all. But what a shame ... and she bailed out of Hollywood! Wow ... was I ever wrong about her star power. I always thought it kind of like some cameo they were lucky to have, as they seemed to kind of make a little bit of a fuss over her. That's interesting ...
I guess that's it. The March of Time has been too great to expect anyone to still be around from TOS. If there are any left, just take it as a nice surprise, that's all. But what a shame ... and she bailed out of Hollywood! Wow ... was I ever wrong about her star power. I always thought it kind of like some cameo they were lucky to have, as they seemed to kind of make a little bit of a fuss over her. That's interesting ...
Yea, but during a power failure, Janice heated up coffee with a phaser ... that's frickin' brilliant!
Absolutely no bikinis. Only space bikinis are allowed in TOS. Health and safety.
Helen wouldn't have needed a phaser. The reaction to her mere presence would have heated the coffee.
The thing I like most about bikinis is how quickly they come off during a cat fight.
What a lovely thought!
JB
Is this the problem with the women of TOS do you think? We're so obsessed with the mini skirts that even with our 21st century sensibilities, we don't give a damn if Rand can jerry-rig a transporter as long as she bends from the waist while doing it?
I thought that Harlan Ellison's version of Rand in the graphic novel had several coats of 21st century gloss on. He went out of his way to underscore that Rand has a higher rank than the enlisted crewman and that she had a wide variety of Starfleet training.
I have absolutely no doubt that if his version of the story had been told in the sixties, Kirk would have blasted the door, Spock would have found the city, Spock would have jerry-rigged the transporter, and Lt Johnny rip van One-week-to-retirement, would have been in charge of the security team, although on that last point I do have to concede that it was nice to see Uhura lead the security search party, even if she missed McCoy when he was like 5 feet away.
TOS trope: women are rubbish but that's ok if they're hot.
I thought that Harlan Ellison's version of Rand in the graphic novel had several coats of 21st century gloss on. He went out of his way to underscore that Rand has a higher rank than the enlisted crewman and that she had a wide variety of Starfleet training.
I have absolutely no doubt that if his version of the story had been told in the sixties, Kirk would have blasted the door, Spock would have found the city, Spock would have jerry-rigged the transporter, and Lt Johnny rip van One-week-to-retirement, would have been in charge of the security team, although on that last point I do have to concede that it was nice to see Uhura lead the security search party, even if she missed McCoy when he was like 5 feet away.
TOS trope: women are rubbish but that's ok if they're hot.
Twenty first century sensibilities? Are you referring to that PC rubbish there, Paul? To me a TOS crew woman is as sexy today as she was back in the sixties! 
JB
JB
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