I've often wondered why Rand was at the Transporter in TMP since during the days of TOS her assignment was as a Yeoman, possibly 2nd or 3rd class Petty Officer, which is in the Command section and is an Admin/Assistant role. We must assume that she started taking Officer training after TMP but still serving as an NCO, as we've seen her as this until TUC, until we see her as a Lt Commander on the Excelsior but there she was in the Science division(?). During her enlisted days did she also specialise in Transporter operations as well or was this something the Producers decided to do with her just to give her some screen time?
Chief Rand in TMP
- Thread starter Crewman47
- Start date
Well, she wore red in TOS, so that's Ship's Services.
She was Communications Officer, same as Uhura, so same colour division. (In fact, in "In Thy Image", which morphed into TMP, she was Uhura's relief at communications, taking a stint on the bridge as part of her training.)
Gene Roddenberry never worried about ranks too much. He often said that rank in Starfleet was "more of a job description".
There's a memo in "The Making of ST:TMP" about working out Rand's rank. Originally, they just put metal trapezoidal insignia on her uniform's epaulets, rather than diagonal rank stripes, and called her a transporter chief without giving any thought as to how one becomes a transporter chief. Presumably, after she left the ship in Season One and retrained.
Similarly, when Grace Lee Whitney made a cameo in ST III ("Woman in Cafeteria", but playing Rand at Nimoy's invitation), they gave her a uniform top that happened to have commander rank pins on it, and command white undershirt. No one thought we'd be making freeze frames to study her rank pins decades later. It was a throw-away cameo, filmed at ILM, after the principal photography was long completed.
There's an interview in Starlog where Grace Lee Whitney discusses how they gave her a uniform for ST IV (modified from a ST II cadet uniform) and asked her what rank she wanted to be. She said, "Well, I was a Chief in TMP, so maybe I'm now a Chief Petty Officer." (Which, IIRC, is a demotion to a non-comm rank, isn't it?)
And, of course, she then had officer rank, again, in ST VI (after winning a ST convention audience poll over Bruce Hyde and John Winston!) and "Flashback".
There was no one sitting down working out Rand's career path ahead of time.
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Nimoy was wise to drop a recognizable face in there...there is a long-standing naval tradition that you rise when a ship you've served on enters port...especially if she's been battle damaged.
An unknown, faceless character wouldn't have pulled that off...you can see the concern in her eyes (was Spock's demise even public knowledge at that point? ... Seems that ANY reference to the events at Genesis were considered off-limits. I imagine only those who were there, Starfleet Command, and his family were made aware of it).
Well, even if no one had radioed ahead, she'd know that this was the Enterprise returning from a cadet training cruise, and it was looking pretty trashed.
Novelization-wise, Rand and Dr Chapel were aboard the ship for the events of ST II, so there's a few mental leaps needed to retcon the ST III cafeteria scene. But ST II's novelization also happens to mention a ship, Firenze, which would be taking home the severely injured cadets while Enterprise rescued Kyle et al (the Reliant's surviving crew) from Ceti Alpha V.
So Chapel and Rand were part of the experienced contingent that returned to Spacedock on Firenze with Chapel's patients.
I always figured Rand completed Officer Candidate School somewhere along the line.
There's, what, 15 years between TMP and TWOK? Lots of time for her to make full Commander by the time TSFS rolls around.
There's, what, 15 years between TMP and TWOK? Lots of time for her to make full Commander by the time TSFS rolls around.
Sure. And since she'd already made CPO before going to OCS, she probabyl wouldn't have been commissioned as an Ensign (O-1), but more likely as a Lieutenant (O-3).
She needs to keep away from the transporter room.
Could she have gotten a field promotion?
I remember seeing her in TUC and thinking initially that she would be Sulu's first officer. 'Flashback' seems to make her more of the second officer. (Then I wonder who would be the XO? Not Lt. Valtane, for sure.)
But, ranks aside, at the time I also thought perhaps the cadet jumpsuit was interchangeable with the monster maroon jacket for officers, similar to how the TNG and DS9 uniforms seemed interchangeable later on for a while.
Since she has officer's pins more often than not, and Transporter Chiefs usually have been at least an ensign, why should we not assume her to have been on an officer's path all along, ignoring the Chief Petty Officer rank in TVH?
And Therin, thanks for that TWOK novelization tidbit. Is the novelization pretty good? It certainly sounds interesting.
But, ranks aside, at the time I also thought perhaps the cadet jumpsuit was interchangeable with the monster maroon jacket for officers, similar to how the TNG and DS9 uniforms seemed interchangeable later on for a while.
Since she has officer's pins more often than not, and Transporter Chiefs usually have been at least an ensign, why should we not assume her to have been on an officer's path all along, ignoring the Chief Petty Officer rank in TVH?
And Therin, thanks for that TWOK novelization tidbit. Is the novelization pretty good? It certainly sounds interesting.
Well, keep in mind, the rationalization of Rand and Chapel coming to Earth on Firenze is mine, but certainly the ship and its mission are mentioned.
If you've never read McIntyre's ST II and ST III novelizations, they are marvellous. ST IV doesn't have much new material, but the others are rich with bonus Saavik/Peter, a hint of a Chekov/McGivers friendship, some great Saavik/David scenes, Carol, and even Amanda stuff.
I seem to remember back around the time TMP was released there was talk about the Rand character being back on the Enterprise after leaving to go to the Academy/advanced training. Hence are departure in the series after a few episodes of season 1.
I can't tell you where I got that from it just sort of stuck in my head from back then and may have even been conjecture back then.
I can't tell you where I got that from it just sort of stuck in my head from back then and may have even been conjecture back then.
Definitely the media releases put out at the time, but also the Rand biography section of the "Phase II" writers' bible, IIRC, mentioned Rand's retraining.
Well, it was always part of the movie's original script, too - the scenes with this dialogue were even filmed IIRC. Several novels subsequently tackled this story twist, including the novelizations and the separate novel The Pandora Principle.
Personally, I don't like the idea that the person in STIII was Janice Rand, as the career development of the character would almost make sense if we ignored that cameo.
Also, it doesn't make much sense to think that this person had been aboard the Enterprise in STII and then boarded the Firenze for a ride home. The sorry state of the ship wouldn't come as such a shock to her, then. Sure, there was some extra damage there vs. what we saw in STII - but the scene tries to show her shocked over very fact that the ship is damaged in the first place.
"Flashback" inexplicably promotes her by three steps vs. what was shown in ST6:TUC. If we say that this promotion was all in Tuvok's feverish mind, then Rand's promotions are pretty logical: from noncom yeoman to noncom transporter specialist to noncom SF HQ specialist, she'd gather experience and brownie points, and eventually jump to "mustang", i.e. get her officer commission to Ensign and then a quick promotion to Lt (jg) as shown in ST:TUC, without Academy attendance. Now that would show her annoying big sister who always had to brag about being a full Commander!
Could well be. The original ideas on the use of those uniforms have been contradicted by later movies and episodes, and it's entirely possible that the jumpsuit could be decorated with the proper colors and pins and whatnot to denote that an officer is wearing it.
Timo Saloniemi
Personally, I don't like the idea that the person in STIII was Janice Rand, as the career development of the character would almost make sense if we ignored that cameo.
Also, it doesn't make much sense to think that this person had been aboard the Enterprise in STII and then boarded the Firenze for a ride home. The sorry state of the ship wouldn't come as such a shock to her, then. Sure, there was some extra damage there vs. what we saw in STII - but the scene tries to show her shocked over very fact that the ship is damaged in the first place.
"Flashback" inexplicably promotes her by three steps vs. what was shown in ST6:TUC. If we say that this promotion was all in Tuvok's feverish mind, then Rand's promotions are pretty logical: from noncom yeoman to noncom transporter specialist to noncom SF HQ specialist, she'd gather experience and brownie points, and eventually jump to "mustang", i.e. get her officer commission to Ensign and then a quick promotion to Lt (jg) as shown in ST:TUC, without Academy attendance. Now that would show her annoying big sister who always had to brag about being a full Commander!
Could well be. The original ideas on the use of those uniforms have been contradicted by later movies and episodes, and it's entirely possible that the jumpsuit could be decorated with the proper colors and pins and whatnot to denote that an officer is wearing it.
Timo Saloniemi
In an early draft of the script, Kirk mentions that she's been playing "hide the photon torpedo" with Admiral Nogura.
Joe, noted Trek historian
Wow, I'll have to try to find copies of those two. They sound good. Thanks.
ST II, III and IV are also available as a "Signature Edition" trade paperback omnibus called "Duty, Honor, Redemption".
"Duty, Honor, Redemption" (Oct 2004) reprints the novelizations of "ST II: The Wrath of Khan", "ST III: The Search for Spock" and "ST IV: The Voyage Home" by Vonda N McIntyre and features a new introduction by Terry J Erdmann interviewing Harve Bennett, "the man behind the movies". The book has had minor errors corrected, such as "McGivers" for "McGiver". Sulu's promotion to captain (in ST II) is removed, since the line was dropped from ST II and then ignored by the other movies.
If memory serves, in the DC Comics Star Trek story arc that dealt with Sulu's assuming command of the Excelsior, it was established that Janice Rand was indeed Sulu's first officer. Obviously, that's non-canonical, but the story was very good....
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