A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
|
|
|
World of Westfahl |
Encyclopedia Introduction |
All Entries |
Acknowledgements
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
(Majel Lee Hudec 1932– ). American actress.
Provided voices for: Star
Trek (tv series) (1966–1969); Star Trek
(animated tv series) (1973–1975);
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Robert WISE
1979); Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Nicolas MEYER 1982);
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (Nimoy 1984); Star Trek
IV: The Voyage Home (Leonard NIMOY 1986); Star Trek: The Next Generation (tv series)
(1987–1994); Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (William
SHATNER 1989); Star
Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Meyer 1992); Star
Trek: Deep Space Nine (tv series)
(1993–1999); Star Trek: Generations (David Carson 1994);
Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual (video
game) (1994); Star Trek: Judgment Rites (video game) (1994); Star Trek: Voyager (tv series) (1995–2001); Star Trek: The Next
Generation: Interactive VCR Board Game—A Klingon
Challenge (video game) (1995); Star
Trek: The Next Generation—A Final Unity (video game) (1995);
Star Trek: First Contact (Jonathan FRAKES 1996); Star Trek: Borg (video game) (1996); "Sins
of the Father Chapter 1: Doctor Strange" (1996), "Partners in
Danger Chapter 8: The Return of the Green Goblin," "The Wedding"
(1997), episodes of Spider-Man; Star Trek: Generations (video game) (1997); Star Trek The Next Generation Companion (video game) (1999); Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion (video
game) (1999); "Emission Impossible" (2001), episode of The Family Guy; Star Trek: Enterprise (tv series) (2001–2005); Star
Trek: Nemesis (Stuart Baird 2002).
Produced: Gene Roddenberry's
Earth: Final Conflict (tv series) (1997–2002); Gene Roddenberry's
Andromeda (tv series) (2000–2005).
Her major roles as an actress—all of them associated with husband Gene
RODDENBERRY—can be classified as the good, the bad, and the ugly. She was reasonably
good in the original Star Trek pilot, first incorporated into the two-part episode "The
Menagerie" (1966) and later released on video as The Cage, playing Number One, the cold and capable second-in-command
of the starship Enterprise. When
NBC insisted upon the removal of this powerful woman character, the
result was her bad performances in the role that made her famous,
Norse Christine Chapel; it is as if Roddenberry resolved to satirically
respond to NBC's sexism by creating the most stereotypically "feminine"
character possible, a simpering blonde haplessly longing for the love
of the tall, dark stranger, Mr. Spock (Leonard NIMOY). Today, the
scenes in which she is allowed to emote are generally unwatchable.
The first Star Trek film
attempted to update the character for the feminist era by restoring
her natural hair color and elevating her to a doctor, but this only
meant that she went from being annoying to being superfluous. And
so, thankfully, except for a cameo appearance in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Chapel was
omitted in subsequent films. But positively ugly were her guest appearances
in Star Trek: The Next
Generation and Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine as Deanna Troi's eccentric
mother, Lwaxana Troi—performances that
were consistently tedious, overdone, and relentlessly unamusing.
Manifestly, only the ring on her finger kept her from being thrown
off the set.
Still, when you turned off the camera and turned on the
microphone, matters improved considerably. Drawing upon her Number One persona,
Majel Barrett Roddenberry performed quite effectively as the voice of the
Enterprise's
computer, the role she reprised in all subsequent Star Trek series and most of the films. She also did many other
voices for various incarnations of Star
Trek, memorably including the catlike Lt. M'Ress
in the animated series, and she also reprised her role as the ship's computer
on an episode of The Family Guy.
Her acting outside of the Star Trek universe was generally unmemorable, including appearances
in every single one of her husband's 1970s unsuccessful pilots and a guest
appearance on the rival program Babylon 5, perhaps a muted expression of
displeasure over the way that Gene Roddenberry had gradually been deprived of
all control over the Star Trek franchise.
But after her husband's death in 1992, she devoted little time to brooding,
instead launching a new career as a television producer. First, she dusted off
one of her husband's old ideas about an alien race coming to Earth and launched
the series Earth: Final Conflict, also
casting herself in a recurring role during its first two seasons; although it
must have attracted respectable ratings, nobody really seemed to be paying any
attention to it. Then, displaying greater creativity, she revisited the
scenario of Roddenberry's proposed series Genesis
II, which involved a cryogenically preserved man who awakens in a future
world devastated by a global nuclear war. Giving the idea the tiniest of
tweaks, she then unveiled Gene
Roddenberry's Andromeda, which involved a cryogenically preserved man who
awakens in a future world with a spaceship, which he promptly boards in order
to begin exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new
civilizations, and boldly going where no man has gone before. While better and
more popular than Earth: Final Conflict,
and blessed with a strong lead performer in Kevin SORBO, Andromeda also managed to last only five seasons—but perhaps this
was only a matter of cosmic karma, since Gene Roddenberry had after all
declared in the 1960s that five years was the optimum length for a science
fiction television series.
At the time of writing, it remains unclear whether Majel
Barrett Roddenberry will ever dig something else out of her late husband's
trunk to create another series, but if another Star Trek series or film is ever produced, she will surely
interrupt her retirement to again serve as the crisp, clear voice of the ship's
computer. And because of the influence of her innumerable performances as a
computer, and in light of research showing that female voices tend to attract
more attention, it seems probable that the talking computers of the future will
in fact sound much like Majel Barrett Roddenberry. Paradoxically, then, one of Star Trek's weakest performers may
become its most enduring presence.
|
|||||||||||
To contact us about encyclopedia matters, send an email to Gary Westfahl. Hosted & Designed By:
If you find any Web site errors, typos or other stuff worth mentioning,
please send it to our Webmaster.
Copyright © 1999–2008 Gary Westfahl All Rights Reserved Worldwide
