12.19.2008

First Lady of Star Trek

Majel Barrett Roddenberry passed away on December 18. Her son is quoted at Roddenberry.com: "My mother truly acknowledged and appreciated the fact that Star Trek fans played a vital role in keeping the Roddenberry dream alive for the past 42 years. It was her love for the fans, and their love in return, that kept her going for so long after my father passed away." - Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry, Jr.

Star Trek was one of those shows that had me glued to the TV every week as a child. I'd lay on my belly on the floor right in front of the TV, chin in my hands, trying my best to peer through the snow because the station didn't quite come in all the way. I idolized Spock, made my fingers do the Vulcan "V" and worked to make my left eyebrow go up when I found something "fascinating." I idolized the logic in the character, and imitating it gave my very emotional, sensitive, creative brain an anchor. I still watch reruns of any of the Star Trek shows, and of the original series, I've seen each episode, oh, about 25 times, if not more.

Majel Barrett played the sickbay nurse, and she suited the part well. She did her job. I never knew until many years later that she was the wife of Gene Roddenberry. When she played Deanna Troi's mother on ST:TNG, she expanded her acting and let loose a bit of eccentricity. The small parts that she played always stood out.

The Roddenberrys took us 'where no man has gone before' and it will be awhile before we catch up to them. They kept our eyes ahead and on the future.

3 comments:

  1. Okay, now I'm sad. I've been a Trekker for every bit of my life that I can remember. I watched reruns of the original series over and over on TVs that didn't come in well. I remember standing through entire episodes so that I could have one hand on the rabbit ears to make the picture clear enough to see. I can trace my whole career in computers back to my love for that show, and I'm far from the only one. It's a tribute to Gene Roddenberry that the dream is still alive.

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  2. Yeah, I know how it is. The reason why I wanted to get into computers was so that I could create the Enterprise zooming through the stars. Yep, we're from the same cloth and the same era, you and I. It is very sad that they are both gone now.

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  3. It's such a shame that she has been lost from the Star Trek universe,the voice of the Enterprises computer will never be the same without her.

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