Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (1932 - 2008)

I can remember first seeing Majel Barrett-Roddenberry only in a vague sense. The year was 1993 or 1994 and I was about 5 or 6 years old. My family and I sat down to watch the newest episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was during its final season, and I had very vague memories of previous series (we had a few VHS but nowhere near the complete set). Then Lwaxana Troi appeared.

I had absolutely no idea who she was. 

I asked my source of Star Trek knowledge in those days who she was, and Dad smiled at me and said "She's the computer." Naturally, this confused me even more, and it wasn't until a few years later that I realised he thought I was talking about Majel Barrett, not the character. 

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was known as the first lady of Star Trek, and for a very good reason. She was involved right from the very beginning, appearing in the pilot episode "The Cage" as the unnamed Number One, first officer of the USS Enterprise. Although the option for a second pilot was picked up, the network told Gene Roddenberry to drop the Devil alien and the woman from the bridge. Roddenberry kept Mr Spock and, after the series ended, married the woman.

This was far from Majel's role on Star Trek, however, as she later came back with dyed blonde hair as Nurse Chapel, a regular fixture opposite DeForest Kelley as Doctor Leonard H McCoy, appearing in 25 episodes of the series, 9 of the animated series and two movies. When The Next Generation came along. Majel protrayed the character of Lwaxana Troi, mother of regular Deanna Troi, in 6 episodes of the series, as well as 3 appearances on Deep Space 9. She also wrote the final episode in which Mrs Troi appeared. 

But this is was not the end of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry's involvement with Star Trek. As I said earlier, my father informed me that she was the Computer. What I didn't understand at the time was that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry also voiced the ship's computer. Thanks to voicing the Computer, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry has been a part of every single Star Trek series produced, as well as the last five films, as well as a voice role on Family Guy. In an episode of The Next Generation, there is a scene in which she acted alongside herself, protraying Lwaxana Troi interacting with the Enterprise's computer.

Thanks to her marriage to Gene Roddenberry, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry became known as "The First Lady of Star Trek".

After the death of her husband, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry helped two other series he had written be produced, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda and Earth: Final Conflict. Her final role was, perhaps predictably, voicing the Computer on Star Trek, J.J. Abrams reboot of the Trek Universe. Her part in the film was announced just 8 days before her death.

Four years ago yesterday, the news broke that she had passed away following a short battle with Leukemia.  She was surrounded with friends and family, including her son Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry Jr. 

Rest in Peace
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry