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Majel Roddenberry Dies At 76
unassimilatible writes "If there was ever a sad day for nerds, it's today, as Majel Barrett-Rodenberry has passed away. The widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is best remembered as the gorgeous Nurse Christine Chapel from the original series, the pesky and officious Lwaxana Troi from The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and of course the ubiquitous voice of Star Trek computers in movies, TV, and animated films (who hasn't used her voice as a system sound on their PC?). Majel also attended Star Trek conventions yearly and was a producer of Andromeda. Fortunately, Majel just finished her voice over work for the computers in J.J. Abrams' latest Trek movie. I have to admit, this made me sad, just having caught up on the entire TNG and DS9 series on DVD."
Her voice was unique - ironically I don't think a digital voice would do the computer justice, and posers ain't cool. :(
...the one watching as the damaged Enterprise pulls into Stardock in Star Trek III...
So many roles, both on and off the camera. She will be missed.
Big! Strong! Wow! Tada-O!
Computer...
End program.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
Out of respect for Majel Roddenberry, her family, friends, Gene Roddenberry's legacy and Star Trek itself *please* save your jokes for another day.
My condolences to her Son, the rest of her family, friends and all who loved her.
May she rest in peace.
Thank you
Turn in your card.
in which one exists only in the memory of others." - Natasha Yar
Thankfully we have DVDs.
God speed Majel. Say hi to Gene for us.
But I was trying to be concise in my submission, and I did say, "best known as." Besides, I knew all you nerds would fill in the blanks.
We'll miss you, Majel. - Submitter.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
My wife and I were just discussing her the other evening; while watching WALL-E. Feeling sad that pixar didn't cast her as the voice of the ship's computer. Instead we got a vague homage to Alien in Sigourney Weaver.
What I am now coming to realize by digesting this sad news; is that playing the voice of such a seemingly mundane role -of a starship's computer, Has become an icon of the Sci-Fi genre. While certainly not the first to play such a role. She certainly changed the entire paradigm of how the role was portrayed.
Her efforts to continue her husbands work and support of the genre will be sorely missed.
Thank you for your humor, your kindness and quirky insights into life.
No shit.
The best way to memorialize someone isn't to cry boo-hoo over the fact that they died... but to celebrate what they gave us in their life. I'm sure there are an absolute ton of wonderful stories about her, and if you feel the need to make a joke related to her career... you validate her career and life by doing so.
"She's dead, Jim." But at the same time the memories of her live on, and all she contributed to our lives will not be soon forgotten.
Raise a glass and make a toast: to Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who Boldly Went Where No Woman Had Gone Before starting at the very beginning.
If you can read this sig, congratulations, you have your glasses on!
I agree with the reasoning, but I still can't manage it. The news does fill me with sadness and makes me feel quite old, too. Shatner/Kirk is relatively well preserved--and sometimes he looks ancient.
I regard TOS as a great epoch and a total fluke that it was associated with NBC. The production of TOS was practically a war with their ostensible sponsors, and now they great people of those days are leaving us. Meanwhile, NBC staggers on with such brilliant strategies as dumping prime time on Jay Leno. Hey, if you can't win, you might as well get out of the game, eh?
Anyway, I want to be optimistic about the future. I actually think part of the optimism of TOS was related to the idealism that ran amok during the Kennedy period. Now I wonder if Obama can create such an atmosphere on the wreckage that Dubya is leaving behind? The wild oscillations of America's political system seem to be completely out of control these days...
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
A Kirk/Spock comparision would have been more appropiate
Actually, a Spock/Bones comparison would have been better.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
...make you realize just what you take for granted. That voice was the same from day one. Yet it never dawned on me there was a person (and, it turns out, a relatively prominent one) behind that sound. Another talent gone. Another memory created. Another ubiquitous item in our lives that will have to be replaced. The voice will never be the same. Godspeed, Majel.
We shall honor the dead how we wish.
Perhaps you need to lighten the fuck up.
Lame and rude? Like she cares now.
Do you seriously think she wouldn't laugh at these jokes, if she were here?
If that is the case, then I am glad she is gone. Those that can't laugh at themselves are the poorest souls, and life in it's wonder is lost on them; death is better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlBiLNN1NhQ&feature=channel
She probably didn't back in the day when "beaves" were fashionable, but later on when she became the sexy ol' cougar Lwaxana, she seduced the oedupus in all of us. I might even say that she was a prototype of Samantha from Sex and the City.
Later, in an unexpected departure for her, it was revealed that she lost a child and almost died of her own guilt and sorrow.
Later in DS9 she was seen as the MILFy chick who always tried to seduce the lovable, virginal social retard in all of us: Odo.
It's OK if you can't manage it. I remember when Dad passed, some folks had funny stories about Dad (including a time he was arrested that I didn't know about!! - and I was in my 30s when it happened - charges dismissed). I was unable to make the jokes Dad would have appreciated, but I myself appreciated hearing them
-- 73 de KG2V For the Children - RKBA! "You are what you do when it counts" - the Masso
Because none of us were bangin her and she wasn't any of our mother (with the exception of Insensitive Clod).
We really didn't know her, just the character she played to entertain us, so realisticly, it would be rather inappropriate to react to this news without some form of entertainment value.
Maybe it's just me.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Guys, we all need to stop eating and switch to IV-delivered glucose. Poop is gross, and your digestive tract is mostly unnecessary with modern technology.
I'm not against a hair styling -- be it head, face, or otherwise -- but to suggest that a standard bit of anatomy is "gross" and must be entirely removed is absurd.
Anyone up for a good car analogy?
It's like Michael Knight explaining respect for peoples' passing to KITT.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
I've seen this news and reaction on many different sites, and I can't even count on one human hand the number of snotty or snarky responses. She was loved and admired by many, many different people, from all walks of life.
Why? do you not knowwho she really was?
she was someone who loved laughter and jokes. to suppress laughter would be an outright insult to her.
What is it with people obsessing over being solemn over death. Many cultures use a persons passing to celebrate that persons life.
Only wierd people want to be quiet and sad over a persons passing.
Celebrate her life, celebrate what she gave to the world. and if you have a tasteful joke TELL IT! And drink a toast with friends over her life.
Dont have a quiet moment of reflection. tell a good joke or story, make someone laugh, smile and rejoice.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
You know, that was written in 1996, and yet JMS was almost a visionary for the things that were to come. And had a such deep understand of politics that is incredible. I quote from that page and emphasis are mine.
As for the USA-western perspective...during WW II we saw Japanese civilians interned in camps along the West Coast...afterward we saw people prosecuted for being Reds, saw careers and lives destroyed by even the hint of "commie" influence. If you look at newsreels and documentary footage from the time, you see a populace, fresh out of a war, who survived by focusing on the Enemy, given a new enemy. Might they have gone along with some kind fo martial law if they thought that if they *didn't* cooperate, the nation might be vulnerable to Russian nukes or invasion? I think the climate was perfect for it.
Could it happen right here, right now? No, because the surrounding climate isn't right. Could it happen if the conditions *were* right? Of course it could. We're not genetically or evolutionarily different from the Germans or the Russians or the Cubans or the Iraquis. If we think we'd never fall for that, we place ourselves in *exactly* the position of guaranteeing that we *will* fall for it. Because we won't recognize it when it happens. We can justify and rationalize it as something else.
Here's the number one rule: a population will always stay passive for as long as they perceive that they stand to lose more by opposing the government than by staying quiet. It's when they have little or nothing left to lose that they rise up; the politicos first, then, more reluctantly, the general population.
--- "When you gotta do something wrong. You gotta do it right. (Fighter)"