One Star Trek Episode Almost Featured An Unthinkable Kirk & McCoy Romance
One of the franchise's campiest offerings, the Season 3 "Star Trek: The Original Series" episode "The Way to Eden" has aged pretty terribly — at least aesthetically speaking. The story finds the Enterprise crew with their hands full after rescuing a group of space hippies that includes one of Chekov's old flames from his Starfleet days. But before Chekov got his girl, the originally Bones-centric story was drastically changed to omit a questionable romance between Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and the daughter of his friend and ship's doctor, Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley).
Like all good iconic franchises, the Star Trek universe is loaded with romances of varying quality from Imzadis William Riker and Deanna Troi to the cringe-inducing Keslex (Kes and Neelix). There are epic canon romances like the heartbreaking unrequited love Chapel feels for Spock in "Star Trek: The Original Series." There are those romances that might have been but never were — at least in the Prime universe — like Worf and Troi and the many love pretzels that emerge in the unquenchably thirsty mirror universe. And that's to say nothing of the fanfic ships Trekkies have dreamed up over the decades like Garashir (Bashir and Garak) or the ship to end all ships: Spirk (Spock and Kirk).
Because the creativity of Trekkies seems to know no bounds, even the briny Enterprise doctor Bones (DeForest Kelley) has his share of fanfiction pairings — most notably, Spones (Spock and McCoy), Sybones (Sybok and McCoy), and McKirk (Bones and Kirk). While the good doctor never had the chance to play doctor with his good buddy and boss Jim in the franchise, an alternate version of McKirk very nearly came to fruition between Captain Kirk and McCoy's daughter, Joanna, in the episode "The Way to Eden."
Joanna was McCoy's estranged space hippie daughter
According to D.C. Fontana's account in Paula M. Block's "Star Trek: The Original Series 365," "The Way to Eden" underwent a handful of changes during development. Instead of Chekov's girlfriend, the young lady was meant to be Bones' 21-year-old daughter, Joanna, whom the writer envisioned as played by Nancy Sinatra or Bobbie Gentry. In the original plot, Dr. McCoy would have learned the hard way that instead of studying at nursing school, she's bumming around with the space Mansons. Far from a happy reunion, Joanna would harbor serious resentment over the fact that her father had abandoned her and her mother, only seeing his daughter thrice in her lifetime.
As if that wasn't enough to overload her dad's tricorder, Joanna would have been pretty taken with Kirk, who everyone knows rarely turns down an intergalactic booty call. Things get even more toxic when Bones tells Kirk his daughter is a witch, just like her old lady. Despite their problems, father and daughter would have eventually come to an understanding by the end of the episode.
Joanna came from Bones' canonical back story
D.C. Fontana didn't pull the story out of nowhere. Originally conceived as part of a conversation between the writer and DeForest Kelley after the show's first season, the character was soon added to the first official Star Trek book, written by Stephen E. Whitfield and published in 1968 — a year before "The Way to Eden" aired. Incorporated throughout the book are quotations from Gene Roddenberry, denoted with all caps. As the show's first fan guide, it includes many additional details that Roddenberry considered canon but had not yet made it into episodes.
Included in the chapter titled "Chief Medical Officer" is a lengthy discussion of Dr. "Bones" McCoy. Describing Bones as a 45-year-old Georgia native and a Southern gentleman, Whitfield explains that Bones' single status is partly because he never completely got over a bad breakup.
In a Roddenberry-penned paragraph, the Star Trek creator clearly states that he plans to include a future episode dedicated to McCoy's daughter, Joanna. The passage reads, "She will be a lovely girl, and Captain Kirk, of course, is going to be involved with her." The original plans imagined Bones discovering he is a father during the series, and that revelation was meant to profoundly change the nature of his relationship with Kirk, leading to a more paternal — and occasionally angry — dynamic.
How McKirk got canceled
Despite D.C. Fontana's faithful adherence to Gene Roddenberry's plan and much to the writer's chagrin, poor Joanna would get retconned — at least partially — because a producer knew less about Star Trek than she did. When the writer turned in her script, the producer nixed the Joanna story, arguing that as Kirk's contemporary, Bones would not be old enough to have a 21-year-old daughter (even though DeForest Kelley was in his late 40s at the time). Although incensed that the producer didn't even know the canon, Fontana complied with the suggested changes, replacing Joanna with Chekov's old Starfleet girlfriend, Irina.
Fortunately, this wouldn't be the end of Joanna, who was eventually recognized throughout the franchise. In the 1983 Pocket TOS novel "Star Trek II: Biographies," the character's full name is listed as Joanna Lee McCoy, with her story further developed throughout other novelizations. The junior McCoy finishes her education, ultimately working as a nurse on the Verillian homeworld and in Centaurus' capital city. She has a son named Conner, later becoming a grandmother and great-grandmother. Unlike Fontana's original story, Joanna has a healthier relationship with her father, with "The Star Trek Concordance" confirming that they maintain regular correspondence despite their busy work schedules.
Since this version of Joanna McCoy never joins a troupe of space Burning Man rejects, we can only hope this means she stays away from the 23rd century's most notorious, and lovable, gigolo, Captain James T. Kirk.