WARNING: The following article contains mentions of sexual assault.
Yeoman Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney) appeared in eight episodes ofStar Trek: The Original Seriesas the personal yeoman of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) on the USS Enterprise. Yeoman Rand was initially meant to be an integral part ofStar Trek: The Original Series,and was featured as a main character in early promotional material for the show. AsKirk’s yeoman, Rand developed feelings for the captain, but she maintained a professional distance from him. As her captain and superior officer, Kirk could not reciprocate her feelings, regardless of what he truly felt for her.
Unfortunately,Rand’s time onStar Trekwas cut tragically shortdue in part to a horrifying assault an executive committed against actress Grace Lee Whitney in August of 1966. In her autobiography,The Longest Trek: My Tour of the Galaxy,Whitney speaks about her assault and how she was subsequently written out of the show, although she does not name her attacker.Star Treklater brought Whitney back to appear as Rand in three feature films and an episode ofStar Trek: Voyager,but she never became the main character the actress was originally promised.
12"The Corbomite Maneuver"
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1, Episode 10
In “The Corbomite Maneuver,” Captain Kirk bluffs his way out of a tense situation with Commander Balok and the First Federation bythreatening the strange alien with an invented substance called corbomite.In the end, Balok turns out to be an ally despite his threats, revealing he was simply testing Kirk and his crew. The frightening Balok the crew first encountered was merely a puppet disguising thereal Balok (Clint Howard)and his childlike appearance.
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Yeoman Rand only plays a small role in the episode, delivering Captain Kirk’s meals and using her phaser to heat coffee for the crew. Kirk remains annoyed by the fact that he has an apparently distracting female yeoman, and the way Kirk speaks about Rand is an unfortunate reflection of 1960s thinking. Still,Rand proves herself to be a competent and friendly yeoman,who genuinely enjoys the company of her crew.
11"The Enemy Within"
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1, Episode 5
When a transporter accident splits Kirk into two halves — a “good” Kirk and an “evil” one —the evil Kirk wreaks havoc aboard the Enterprise.Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) eventually figure out how to restore Kirk, and the good Kirk convinces his evil counterpart that they need each other to survive. Before the crew fully knows what has taken place, the evil Kirk wanders around on the Enterprise, getting drunk and lashing out at his crew members.
“The Enemy Within” has a compelling premise, but the story’s treatment of Yeoman Rand leaves a lot to be desired.
In a particularly upsetting scene, evil Kirk corners Yeoman Rand in her quarters, forcibly kissing her and attempting to rape her.Yeoman fights him off, leaving large scratch marks on his facethat ultimately help the crew distinguish between the two versions of Kirk. Unfortunately, the episode ends with Spock making an uncharacteristic and inappropriate “joke” suggesting Rand found something appealing about evil Kirk and his attack.
10"The Man Trap"
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1, Episode 1
In the first episode ofStar Trek: The Original Seriesto air, Captain Kirk and his crew encounter a shapeshifting alien that extracts all the salt from the human body. At one point,the creature takes on the appearance of Crewman Green (Bruce Watson)and transports back up the Enterprise. Once there, it stalks several crew members, including Janice Rand, until Dr. McCoy eventually kills it.
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“The Man Trap” shows Rand interacting more with her friends aboard the Enterprise, includingLt. Hikaru Sulu (George Takei)and Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols).The creature disguised as Green follows Rand into a plant-filled laboratory,where she delivers a meal to Sulu. Sulu and Rand later leave the lab together, saving Lt. Uhura from being attacked by the creature.
9"The Naked Time"
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1, Episode 4
AfterCaptain Kirk and his Enterprise crewvisit the planet Psi 2000, they find an entire research team mysteriously dead. Soon after the landing party returns to the ship,several crew members begin behaving strangely,as though they are drunk. Dr. McCoy eventually determines the infection came from the planet’s water, and he creates an antidote, allowing the senior officers to get the Enterprise back under control.
“The Naked Time” is the only episode ofStar Trek: The Original Seriesin which Yeoman Rand, Lt. Uhura, and Nurse Christine Chapel (Majel Barrett) all appear together.
Several earlyStar Trekepisodes hint at the romantic feelings between Captain Kirk and Yeoman Rand, and the inebriated Kirk confesses his attraction in “The Naked Time.“Kirk laments that his position as the captain means that he is"not permitted"to notice his"beautiful yeoman,“insinuating that he would have pursued her romantically in other circumstances. At one point, he reaches out his hand to Rand, but ultimately drops it before touching her.
8"Charlie X”
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1, Episode 2
In “Charlie X,” the Enterprise picks up a teenage boy named Charlie Evans (Robert Walker), who possesses powerful abilities like telepathy. Having spent fourteen years alone on the planet Thasus,Charlie has no understanding of how to behave around other people.When someone upsets him, for example, he causes them to vanish, and he eventually takes control ofthe Starship Enterpriseitself.
In the end, the Thasians take Charlie back to their planet, despite his desire to remain with other humans. “Charlie X” gives Yeoman Rand more to do, as Charlie develops a bit of an obsession with her when he arrives on the Enterprise.Rand tries to help Charlie adapt to his new life,but the boy later makes her disappear when she rejects his advances. The Thasians eventually bring Rand back, and she is saddened by Charlie’s fate.
7"Balance of Terror”
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1, Episode 14
When the Enterprise investigates a series of attacks on Earth outposts near the Romulan Neutral Zone,Kirk and his crew get caught in a cat-and-mouse game with a Romulan Bird-of-Prey.“Balance of Terror” perfectly introduces the Romulans, establishing them as conniving and formidable villains, thanks largely to the performance of Mark Lenard as the Romulan Commander. In the end, the Enterprise emerges as the victor, but it’s a dangerously close call.
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During a break in the fighting,Yeoman Rand visits Kirk’s quarters to check on him,as he mulls the possibility of another Romulan War. Rand clearly cares about Kirk’s well-being, and she comforts him the only way she can, by offering to bring him something from the galley, in this case, coffee. When the Romulans fire a torpedo at the Enterprise, Rand approaches the captain on the bridge, resting her head on his shoulder and falling into his arms as the torpedo approaches.
6"Miri”
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1, Episode 8
Yeoman Rand finally gets to go on an away mission in “Miri,” as she accompanies Kirk Spock, and McCoy to answer a distress call from an Earth-like planet.The landing party soon discovers that a group of children are the only survivors of a plaguethat ravaged the planet centuries before. Before long, Kirk, McCoy, and Rand become infected with the disease, but McCoy eventually finds a cure for them and the children.
Grace Lee Whitney’s assault took place during the filming of “Miri,” and she was fired after production on the episode wrapped.
When Rand first discovers signs of the plague, she goes to Kirk for confirmation and comfort. One of the children, a teenage girl named Miri (Kim Darby), sees this and grows jealous of Rand.The children kidnap Rand,and Kirk grows desperate as he searches for her. Kirk eventually convinces Miri that he and McCoy can help the children, and she takes him to where they have taken Rand.
5"The Conscience of the King"
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1, Episode 13
In “The Conscience of the King,” a friend of Captain Kirk calls him to Planet Q to investigate whether the leader of a Shakespearean troupe is actuallyan infamous executioner named Kodos (Arnold Moss).Kirk arranges for the Enterprise to transport the acting troupe to continue his own investigation, eventually realizing that the troupe leader is, in fact. Kodos.
Star Trek: The Original Series
Cast
Star Trek follows the U.S.S. Enterprise on its five-year mission to explore the galaxy, led by Captain James T. Kirk and First Officer Mr. Spock. The crew confronts a variety of challenges, including Klingons, Romulans, and genetic supermen, as they search for new life and civilizations.
In the end, it comes out that Kodos' daughter, Lenore (Barbara Anderson), who is also part of the acting troupe, has been killing all the eyewitnesses to her father’s crimes.Yeoman Rand has no lines “The Conscience of the King,“only appearing briefly in one scene to glare jealously at Lenore, whom Kirk is obviously attracted to.In production order, this was the last appearance of Rand untilStar Trek: The Motion Picturein 1979.
4Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Directed by Robert Wise, Premiered July 03, 2025
In James T. Kirk’s first big-screen adventure,the newly refitted USS Enterprise must intercept a powerful entity called V’gerthat’s on a course toward Earth. Now a Starfleet admiral, Kirk takes over command of the Enterprise fromCaptain Will Decker (Stephen Collins), and intercepts V’ger. A living machine, V’ger turns out to be an old Voyager NASA probe that had been altered by a race of advanced aliens.
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By the mid-2270s whenThe Motion Picturetakes place, Janice Rand had been promoted to chief petty officer and was serving as transporter chief aboard the Enterprise.Rand is acting as the transporter chief when the transporter malfunctionsjust as two officers are beaming over to the Enterprise. Rand tries to tell Starfleet to abort the transport, but her warning comes too late and the officers are killed.
3Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Directed by Leonard Nimoy, Premiered July 18, 2025
In one ofStar Trek’smost celebrated films,the Starship Enterprise travels back in time to retrieve two humpback whalesin order to save the future. The film follows Kirk and his crew as they take a commandeered Klingon Bird-of-Prey back in time to 1980s San Francisco. These 23rd-century explorers struggle to navigate 20th-century Earth, as they do their best to blend in with the locals while searching for the tools they need to return home.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home finds the crew of the Starship Enterprise traveling back in time to 20th-century Earth in a desperate attempt to save humanity. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, the film features William Shatner as Captain Kirk and the returning cast, who must navigate the challenges of a different era while seeking to communicate with an endangered species crucial to Earth’s survival.
Grace Lee Whitney only appears briefly as Janice Rand,who is now serving as a communications officer at Starfleet Command.When the whale probe approaching Earth begins to negatively affect the planet’s weather, Rand announces that Juneau, Alaska was reporting 95% cloud cover. Rand also attends the trial at the end of the film, in which Kirk and his senior officers face charges for the various crimes they committed in the previousStar Trekfilms.
