RIP, Leonard Nimoy, 1931-2015

[Ben]

As soon as I read about Bennett's passing, the stirring strings of that theme tune began swirling in my head. I'm going to have that in my head all day now, and probably go running around bionic-jumping everywhere.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-h-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch.......!

[GeorgeC]

Ya know, I DID have the Major Steve Austin (in a track suit) and Big Foot action figures when I was kid...

Unfortunately, that's about all I remember from the original runs of the Six-Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman besides those eerie fembots that always lost their faces!

There's not much else scarier to a kid than seeing two electronic eyes and not much more than bolts in the face when the mask falls off.

(Actually, that's not as scary to me today. Thank Austin Powers for getting rid of that childhood phobia! I think I'm more creeped out by the sound and look of the original Cylon Warriors. That voice and those zig-zagging laser eyes are still eerie. I was way, way less afraid and frankly let down by what was done with the Cylons in the re-imagined Galactica series.)

[Dacey]

Just gonna pop in and say that I very much love The Bionic Woman. In fact, I think it was much more fun as a show than what I've seen of The Six Million Dollar Man. (odd that "Big Foot" found his way onto both shows somehow).

[GeorgeC]

Funny thing that "Big Foot" made a much bigger splash as the kind giant Fezzik in "The Princess Bride."

Yep, beneath that fur in The Six Million Dollar Man was Andre the Giant!

[droosan]

In addition to Shatner, there are only three other surviving Trek TOS members -- George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig.

Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Rand) is also still kickin'.

This (sadly) is now no longer true. Ms. Whitney has just passed, at age 85.

Godspeed, Yeoman Rand. And thanks for the mini-skirts -- er, memories.

[Randall]

Too bad she proved too much of a distraction, and Captain Kirk had her transferred after Season One.

85 is a good age, but it's still sad to hear of her passing.

[GeorgeC]

Yeah,

I just read she passed away.

She had a bit of a hard time in life.

She was involved with addiction recovery groups for about half her life... That was something she got very involved with after the Star Trek TV series.

She was in at least four of the Star Trek movies in her supporting role. ST: TMP as a transporter operator, ST III -- she's the officer that sees the Enterprise enter spacedock and shakes her head at the heavy damage to the Ship, ST IV -- she was involved with emergency operations and can be seen in the command center, and ST VI as an officer on the Excelsior. The Rand character was last seen in a major way in Star Trek VI as the Excelsior's communications officer. She was also in the 30th Anniversary ST episode of Voyager that was a partial flashback to ST VI.

The real reason she was let go from Star Trek was supposedly her alcoholism... The 'yellow' version of the story is that the Star Trek executives (people above Roddenberry) were afraid that the presence of Rand was, how shall we say it, unseemly? They felt having a Captain's woman would make her seem like a prostitute to put it bluntly. That WASN'T the point of the character but it was a potential inference they didn't care for. Also, since the executive producer seemed to be content to let Captain Kirk have a new girlfriend every week Rand was kind of redundant in that sense!

Nice lady from all I've heard. She was popular at the cons... Definitely one of the better-known -- if not THE best-known -- recurring characters in the original Star Trek series. It's a shame they didn't really revive the character for the recent movies but that's to be expected because Star Trek IS only about Kirk and Spock, right? (At least according to JJ Abrams...!)

I don't even want to consider who will be next on the death rolls of Trek.
Geesh, we've had Nimoy, Harve Bennet, and now Grace Lee Whitney! What a sad year to be a fan of the original Star Trek...

[ohmahaaha]

Just re-watched "Charlie X" one night last week ... how weird. I always wondered why she did so few episodes, yet ended up coming back for the movies.

[droosan]

I think it's a testament to how much of an impression Ms. Whitney had made .. her red mini-skirt uniform and complicated hairstyle were iconic. "Charlie X", in particular, gave her a moment in the spotlight apart from the main crew.

Many fans likely assume Yeoman Rand was in more episodes than she'd actually appeared within. Though, she was fortunate in that most of the episodes she did appear in were really good episodes..!

I, myself, prefer to think that Rand was along for the entire five-year mission .. and simply had a duty station elsewhere on the Enterprise after the first season.

[ShyViolet]

Yeah Yeoman Rand was pretty cool. Loved her in "The Enemy Within." (Probably my fave ep next to "City on the Edge of Forever.")

[GeorgeC]

"The Enemy Within," while a very-written episode and dramatically great, is also a creepy episode to watch.

That's the darkest Kirk was ever presented in Star Trek (aside from "Mirror, Mirror" where his counterpart murdered his predecessor to gain command of the Enterprise AND was known to annihilate entire population centers with the Ship's weapons when they didn't heel to the Empire). It says a lot about what people would be like if their morality and sense of compassion were ripped out. On the other hand, I have to agree that you can't have a decent leader without SOME tempered 'meanness'.

The situations Whitney had to act through in that episode... There's darn-near close to sexual assault! Sure, it's not that, but, sheesh!, that has to be one of the hardest things aside they have to ask anybody to act!


FYI, my favorite episode is "Where No Man Has Gone Before." It's also the best pilot episode I've seen of all the Star Trek series. "The Cage" was an excellent presentation film BUT I can see why the second pilot sold Star Trek... The core characters and character relationships were NOT in the first episode. They could have done a show with Pike but it would NOT have been the Star Trek are familiar with...

[Dacey]

The Enemy Within isn't creepy. The Enemy Within is freaking hilarious. Love the episode, but Shatner is "Shatning" it up big time there (which is why it's so fun).

And I'm gonna hafta say that Mirror, Mirror is ultimately my favorite Star Trek.