Majel Barrett Roddenberry

Majel Barrett Roddenberry was Originally Posted on December 19, 2008 by lavarock

I used to attend Sci Fi conventions; well, to be more accurate, Star Trek Conventions.

It started at the University of Maryland’s showing of the Star Trek “Blooper Reel”, outtakes from the TV show and a special showing of the then-unseen Star Trek pilot. The pilot starred a cast who mostly did not make it to the series. However, cleberly the pilot was used within an episode so the actors did see the light of day.

Gene Roddenberry attended and it was fascinating to hear who he devised and researched the idea of people traveling through space. The series was essentually “Wagon Train to the Stars” and would feature new guests each week along with a recurring cast. Gene also involved some of the greatest scientific minds to ensure the series was plausible. He had lots of research and planning of life in space. Notable was the set of Star Trek blueprints which detailed the ship seen on TV each week. Each stateroom was shown, there was the exercise areas and yes, right off the main bridge, behind the viewing screen, was a bathroom! There was a hydroponics lab which grew food and of course, engineering areas. All of which were laid out in detail as though the ship could actually be built.

Also produced was a booklet of plans including phaser weapons and the communicator. Being a radio buff I did a bit of research myself. In the plans, the dummied down version of the radio looked like a cheap walkie talkie, yet used a part of the radio spectrum assigned for eart to space transmissions

You didn’t have to be a Science Fiction fan to enjoy the shows, if you would just accept the technology and look into the stories for what they were.

The shows involved many life-lessons, some more obvious than others. For example, should a race of people traveling to another planet make themselves known and if so, under what circumstances. An advanced race of “aliens” appearing to the public in any times before our present, would certainly cause a riot. Man yfeel we still are not ready to accept that there could be other living creatures in the universe.

Another show might delve into how we look for and what constitutes a diety.

Often a dilema arises much like that in real life. You are covered under a code of non-involvement yet must make a decision under what conditions you must ignore that code. A perfect example is a newsman who reports on a story and must try to remain a spectator, yet may have to ignore that directive to save a life.

An episode, very obvious in its message, involved two aliens whose main difference and reason for wwanting to kill each other, was their face. Each had a face with two colors, but they were reversed on the other alien. An obvious distinction was that they fwer from two races and that is why they hated each other.

In later years I attended conventions primarily because the cost was reasonable, my friends were going and I could meet some of the actors. I now have amny photos of myself with them and some day will post them online. I have a couple of favorites photos which will go up first.

I’m not sure if I ever met gene’s wife Majel. I think she was at the U of M show and I know Gene talked about her. I seem to remember that gene had medical problems then and could not stay for the whole show.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry became the widow of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry in 1991. She passed away yesterday at the age of 76 due to lukemia.

She played parts in almost every Star Trek television show and movie; from playing Nurse Chapel in the original series and them using her voice as the starship’s computer in nearly every version of the show and movies.

Her last role will be the voice of the USS Enterprise computer in the 2009 release of the latest Star Trek movie.

A public memorial is expected as has been common with other stars from the series.

It is amazing that genes idea for a TV show, an idea that was shot down by all the networks at first and that barely survived the first year, would turn into probably the largest and most widely produced entertainment vehicle.

There were the TV shows (Star Trek, Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space 9, Enterprise, the movies, the animated series, the book and fan books; the conventions and yes even the thrill ride and memoribilia exhibit at the Hilton in Vegas!

We fans mourn each passing actor or actress because we lose a small part of Genes world. Majel was one of the biggest parts of that world and we will miss her dearly!