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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."
Let's not forget that she was cast as the first officer in the original Star Trek pilot episode too.
Out of respect for the dearly departed, please... DO MAKE ALL THE JOKES YOU CAN THINK OF. Only a self important sourpuss would want people crying over their passing.
I'm going to do what Scotty would have done: Drink a bottle of something good and bask in the fond memories.
The couple married in Japan in 1969 after "Star Trek" was canceled.
The wedding party was naked.
Are you sure? I remember that being Grace Lee Whitney, Ensign Rand from the original series. She was definitely in ST:TMP as none other than Dr.Chapel
I know Mrs. Roddenberry was in ST4. At Star Fleet HQ ordering emergency power be redirected to medical when the Probe started screwing up the power grids on Earth.
And lets not forget her appearance in Babylon 5, as the third wife of the late Centari Emperor.
No matter who it was in ST3, I'm with you on her being missed.
Having (briefly) met her once, I think she'd appreciate the cascade of awful, awful Trek jokes that would spring up at the news of something like this.
Or the Scotty route, which ideally done results in a thundering hangover and the inability to find at least half your clothes.
"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke
Sound Forge and a dialogue editor. There is enough of her computer dialog from all the trek episodes and movies that an editor could splice together a variety of sentences without much effort.
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I'd rather have Enterprise than DS9 or Voyager......
Though HAL was the voice of AI, I had always hoped that we would be able to get to the point where we could perfectly replicate her voice. It would have been fitting that in the 24th century that her voice really would have been the voice of the computer. God Speed and God Bless Majel, we are all richer for your life here.
Seraphim
Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
I'm suprised she didn't market her voice to the electronics industry for products like GPS devices.
*It's not what you can do for the Dark Side but what the Dark Side can do for you!*
Isn't that one of the syrup flavors at IHOP?
Sheldon
Actually, the Roddenberry from an episode of Futurama that they were looking for when they were starving after leaving the planet of moochers. It was intended as reference to Gene Roddenberry (if I have to tell you who he is, please remove your SlashDot account!)
Also, the title, "The Problem with Popplers" was in reference to "The Trouble with Tribbles", a Star Trek episode.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
I wouldn't be surprised if she was under a non-compete preventing exactly that.
I would love to have a Star Trek -licensed GPS unit. LCARS for your car...
Give a man fire, and you warm him for the night. Set a man on fire, and you warm him for the rest of his life.
True that. Day I found out my mother died, I had a hysterical laughing fit in the shower. Over a really awful joke too. Not the kind that ends in tears either, just the kind that ends in gasping for air. People grieve in very different ways. Just so long as they avoid doing it at the funeral...
Actually Louise Fletcher's voice (Kai Winn from DS9) is close enough that I actually thought she did the computer voice in Voyager. Unfortunately she's up there at 74 years old, but she's still active. She was nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cookoo's nest (1975).
Just don't let George Lucas have any say on who does the voice, or we'll get some squeaky Jar Jar Binks nonesense to sell Star Trek touchscreen computer monitors to kids with matching appearance themes for Vista...
War as we knew it was obsolete
Nothing could beat complete denial
- Emily Haines
I wouldn't be surprised if she was under a non-compete preventing exactly that.
I would, she was employed by her husband initially, and by the time he had died she was central enough to production that the studios wouldn't have been able to force a one sided contract on her.
Isn't that one of the syrup flavors at IHOP?
Sheldon
Relatives of Gene and Majel owned a Roddenberry syrup and peanut company about 20 years back in my hometown of Cairo, GA. The company was eventually bought out but the name still exists and can be found in some form in grocery stores nationwide. So even if this was meant as a joke, it's kind of true.
My high school's mascot is the 'Syrupmaker' because of that company. *sigh*
Gene visited a few times and actually came to one of our football games in the 80's...but I was to young to remember it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_High_School
I have two Majel memories from when I met Majel briefly at a con in Dallas in the 90's. An acquaintance had gone to the con dressed up as an Orion slave chick, and we all went to see Majel announce who won the costume competition. She said she was envious of the girl's green makeup, and that they had used green paint on TOS. Majel being on contract was used for the original screen test to get the colors right before they used them on the guest star. Unfortunately every time they got the film back she looked normal, so they tried a darker green, and went back and forth with the guys who developed the film. Eventually it came out that they were color correcting her, finally they said "oh you wanted her to be green" and the color worked fine from then on.
As for meeting her briefly, someone had put a petition in my hands to get more Lwaxana Troi episodes on the show, I had it for about five minutes and hadn't gotten anyone to sign. I finished talking with someone about something and turned around to see Majel standing behind me. I didn't know what else to say so I told her what the petition was for, and asked her if she'd sign. She politely decline "they probably wouldn't take it very seriously if I signed it."
that I will truly miss.
I recall watching one or two of the first ST:TNG episodes where Majel wasn't the voice of the computer...it just seemed wrong to me.
I always liked the subtle tongue-in-cheek interaction that Lwoxana and "the computer" would have. If one didn't know that it was her playing both sides, it would seem innocuous. For those of us (most everyone watching Trek I would imagine) that knew, it was a neat little moment.
I think that no one will ever replace her. She executed her role so perfectly, unswayed.
I hope you had a great life, and have an even greater afterlife.
See you on the other side.
When they use a different voice actor or actress for the computer voice in the next Star Trek movie (after the one that's currently in production), at least one of the main characters should remark that they miss the old voice from before the main computer upgrade, as a salute.
I can go you one better - I once held her in my arms...
... it was a hypnotic moment, the entire crew was transfixed and except for Majel the room was absolutely quiet. And at some point it sunk in with me that the scene had been going on for a lot longer than was probably necessary and that the director wasn't saying "cut". It must have occurred to Majel as well because she suddenly stopped, raised her head and looked over at the director as if to ask whether it was enough footage. But before she could speak - out of the deafening silence of that moment - a small desperate voice in the back of the room cried out "Marry me, Majel!!".
I was working as a PA for a movie called Mommy. Majel played the role of Mrs. Withers, a schoolteacher who gets killed by the movie's lead villainess.
In her final scene, Mrs. Withers is hanging up decorations after hours in her classroom when she is confronted by the murderous lead character. After a brief argument with her would-be killer, Majel's character climbs back up a stepladder to resume her decorating and the murderess does the dirty deed by pushing Majel off the stepladder, causing her to fall to the floor where she presumably dies from a fractured skull.
The scene called for an upper torso shot of Majel falling backwards off the ladder. Since we're talking "B" movie here and the budget did not include an airbag for her to fall onto, the director had me and three other PA's stand next to the ladder with our arms linked together so as to catch her. She literally fell into my arms - not once but several times before the final take. Absolute highlight of my life! What really impressed me, though, was how trusting she was and - to echo what many other posters have already said - how joyful she was as a person.
One other story about Majel's final scene in the movie - her very last camera shot was from above, looking down on the fallen Mrs. Withers as she lay dying on the classroom floor. The director told Majel to ham it up a bit for her death scene so the editor would have some extra footage to work with for the final cut, so there she laid on the floor - eyes closed, a pained expression on her face, rolling her head to and fro and moaning...
(i'm just gonna let that image sink in for a moment or two)
If you ever get a chance to see the actual movie, keep that story in mind as you watch Mrs. Withers' final on-screen moments.
It takes an idiot to do cool things - that's why it's cool!