She had significant roles in the episodes "The Enemy Within", where she fights off an evil version of Captain James T. Kirk; "Charlie X" where a young man with god-like powers falls in love with her; and "Miri" where she is infected with a deadly disease while on an away mission and is kidnapped by jealous children.

Rand was portrayed by American actress Grace Lee Whitney, who had previously worked with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry in a pilot for a show he created called Police Story.

In this first version of Star Trek, she worked as Captain Robert April's "secretary, reporter, bookkeeper, and undoubtedly wishes she could serve him in more personal departments."

In the early publicity photos, Whitney was dressed in the same manner that the women had been in the two pilots – a loose gold colored tunic and black trousers.

She complained to Roddenberry about them hiding her "dancer's legs",[6] so he had William Ware Theiss design a short skirt and tunic for her to wear,[5] a uniform which was adopted by the other female characters on the series.

[11] She originally appeared with straight hair in promotion photos,[8] but this was changed to a beehive, which was so solid looking that Bob Justman joked that "You could hit it with a sledgehammer and never make a dent.

"[13] It was created by placing a cone on her head and then weaving the blonde hair from two separate wigs together resulting in such an unusual look that Whitney said she was unrecognizable without it.

"[16] At the time, the media described Rand's position on the Enterprise as "chief female executive officer"[16] and her image was used to promote the series before it began to air.

In order to provide support while part of an away team on a planet, Roddenberry suggested that she could wear a device on an over-the-shoulder strap which she could use as an electronic camera.

"[13] But the real reason was that the production had financial issues, with the acquisition of new crew members and the increase in popularity of Doctor Leonard McCoy meaning that those salaries needed to come out of the original budget.

[22] The decision was attributed elsewhere in David Alexander's 1995 authorized biography of Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek Creator, which said that during the first batch of episodes, casting director Joseph D'Agosta reviewed the contracts for the main actors due to rising costs.

However, she was used for nine additional days, leading D'Agosta to suggest to Roddenberry that if guest stars instead played the similar role but with different characters then they "would cost less and hold as much value".

[29] Writer Paul Schneider was not informed of Whitney's departure when he submitted his first draft of "The Squire of Gothos" in early October 1966, so another character, Yeoman Ross, was then subsequently created for that episode.

[31] In Solow and Justman's book, there was also a reference to a "rift" between Whitney and Roddenberry that occurred just prior to her departure and was expected to ensure that she never returned to the series.

[32] In her autobiography, Whitney states that an unnamed television executive sexually assaulted her on August 26, 1966, while working on the episode "Miri", and she draws a link between this and her sacking a few days later.

[39] Whitney had no further involvement with Star Trek until 1976, when she happened to meet DeForest Kelley at an unemployment office in Van Nuys, Los Angeles.

[40] In 1977, after reading the back cover of the book Letters to Star Trek by Susan Sackett and finding that "Whatever happened to Grace Lee Whitney?"

When he entered, he was happy and excited to see her and immediately offered to bring back Rand for the new television series Star Trek: Phase II.

[2] Whitney returned for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, with Roddenberry bringing her back as Rand who was now the transporter chief on board the Enterprise.

But for the latter film, Nimoy, who was directing the movie, gave Whitney a cameo as another character who was looking out of a window in spacedock watching the return of the damaged Enterprise at the start of the production.

[44] Following the relaunch of Star Trek in 2009 with a new cast playing those roles seen in The Original Series, there was commentary online about the lack of female characters and whether Rand might be appearing in future installments.

[45] While the sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, was in production, Rand was one of five characters who was stated not to be appearing in the film by writer Roberto Orci.

[49] Rand's first filmed appearance is in the episode "The Corbomite Maneuver", wherein Captain James T. Kirk is annoyed that he has been assigned a pretty female yeoman and discusses this with McCoy.

Crewman Fisher intervenes and fights him off – the duo later explain that it was Kirk who attacked her to a surprised good version of the Captain, along with Spock and Doctor McCoy.

She next appeared in the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture as the chief transporter operator and non-commissioned officer on board the Enterprise.

[57] During the events of The Voyage Home, Rand was stationed in San Francisco as a communications officer, but was reunited with the other former members of the Enterprise when they are court-martialed at the end of the film.

[64] In print media, Vonda N. McIntyre's non-canon novel Enterprise: The First Adventure expanded on Rand's early history saying that she was originally a refugee, before being sold into slavery and enlisting in Starfleet.

[34] During the production of The Original Series, Janice Rand still appeared in the first draft of the script for the episode "The Galileo Seven", but was replaced by Yeoman Mears in later versions.

[65] When the comic book series by IDW Publishing based on the 2009 film revisited the events of that episode, this was changed to allow Rand to appear.

[71] Rand's role is described within Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block's Star Trek 101 as attending to Kirk, and bringing him reports, meals and coffee as well as having developed a crush on him.