RIP The First Lady of Star Trek

[shakatany]

I just read that Majel Barrett Roddenberry has passed on at age 76. She was with "Star Trek" for over 40 years beginning with "The Cage, the first "Star Trek" pilot, where she played Number One then continuing as Nurse Christine Chapel in TOS, Troi's mom Lwaxana in "ST: TNG" and was the voice of the various StarFleet computers including the reboot movie directed by J.J. Abrams coming out in May. One by one the original cast is dying off but as long as "Star Trek" exists (and it seems like it will continue far into the future unless this new movie delivers the coup de grace) they will live on in that 23rd century.

ETA: there's a sweet fan tribute to her on YouTube (where else?). It's funny but I can name every TOS ep shown but have forgotten how many ST:TNG eps she was in or that she even appeared in ST:DS9!

Comments

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

WTF! I was watching the Lady Morella episode of B5 today. At random. For some reason. After not watching B5 for months.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

That is a bit weird.

I'd forgotten that MBR had been on B5 which I honestly think was a better series than Trek but owed a lot to the path opened by Roddenberry.

Shakatany

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

She was a big fan of Babylon Five.
She specifically requested a guest spot on the show, and the part of Lady Morella was written just for her. It was the first thing she did after Roddenberry's death, and in that context, the lines written for her are profoundly moving.
(The Episode is Point Of No Return, episode nine of Season Three-also Point of No Return.)

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

I loved that Straczynski also gave Walter Koenig such a meaty role as Alfred Bester. Plus other Trek guest actors like Michael Ansara and Malachi Throne appeared there too.

I miss B5 *sigh*

Shakatany

[dolnmoon.livejournal.com]

That was a really sweet tribute. I loved seeing all those screen caps and photos as I remembered almost every episode from TOS and STNG.

Thanks for sharing.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

I'm good with TOS but not so much with TNG. There are times I can look at a pic in the end credits and I can immediately name the ep it's from - even after 40 years!

Shakatany

[stretfordditto.livejournal.com]

Very sad. I loved her as Deanna's mum.

[shakatany.livejournal.com]

The scary thing is that the only one left from the first pilot "The Cage" is Leonard Nimoy (excluding the extras). One day the actors will all be gone but their characters will survive well into the future maybe even until we're really going "where no one has gone before".

Shakatany