Majel Roddenberry Dies At 76 356
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."
Who will replace her? (Score:5, Insightful)
Other roles... (Score:1, Insightful)
So many roles, both on and off the camera. She will be missed.
A fitting epitaph (Score:5, Insightful)
Computer...
End program.
c'mon ppl,this is really sad,please hold the jokes (Score:1, Insightful)
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
"the pesky and officious Lwaxana Troi" (Score:2, Insightful)
"Death is that state... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:A fitting epitaph (Score:3, Insightful)
Without Majel Barrett, there can never be another Star Trek movie or show. It is forbidden.
I know, I know, the orginal Number One (Score:2, Insightful)
We'll miss you, Majel. - Submitter.
Iconic... (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Here's to Ms.Lwaxana Troi (Score:4, Insightful)
Thank you for your humor, your kindness and quirky insights into life.
Re:c'mon ppl,this is really sad,please hold the jo (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:Who will replace her? (Score:4, Insightful)
so we're destined to have 15 Enterprise movies now (to make up for the DS9 & Voyager movies that we haven't had yet, and now can't have). Crap.
Whether it's "Crap" or not depends on if they ignore the first three seasons. If they do, movies based on Enterprise could be good.
Re:c'mon ppl,this is really sad,please hold the jo (Score:4, Insightful)
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...
Re:c'mon ppl,this is really sad,please hold the jo (Score:3, Insightful)
A Kirk/Spock comparision would have been more appropiate
Actually, a Spock/Bones comparison would have been better.
Things like this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Roddenberry (Score:4, Insightful)
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 [youtube.com]
Re:Number One! (Score:5, Insightful)
Later, in an unexpected departure for her, it was revealed that she lost a child [wikipedia.org] 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.
Re:c'mon ppl,this is really sad,please hold the jo (Score:5, Insightful)
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
Re:Roddenberry (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Number One! (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:c'mon ppl,this is really sad,please hold the jo (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyone up for a good car analogy?
It's like Michael Knight explaining respect for peoples' passing to KITT.
Re:Who will replace her? (Score:3, Insightful)
I would love to give Majel Roddenberry in my car. The woman was wonderfully hot, even when I saw her as a child, in a mature and seasoned sort of way. Watching her appearances in every Star Trek, and in Babylon Five, was a treat.
She was wasted on Spock.....
Comment removed (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:c'mon ppl,this is really sad,please hold the jo (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:JMS put the words there, no stealth was needed (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:Who will replace her? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Who will replace her? (Score:3, Insightful)
That said, copyrights should last maybe 7 years or so.
Why? Because supposedly technology, communication, marketing and distribution has improved, and also the pace of "progress" .
If that is the case, then protection terms for patents and copyrights should be getting shorter and shorter, in line with the pace of progress, distribution etc.
They most certainly shouldn't be getting longer and longer.
Re:Who will replace her? (Score:3, Insightful)
Personally, I think that a reasonable fixed term would be a better choice to limit copyrights, rather than ending them with someone's death, which gives other people an interest in promoting that death.
Re:Who will replace her? (Score:4, Insightful)
Originally, the Borg were a ruthless, conscience-free enemy that could not be reasoned with -- diabolical. In Voyager, not so much.
Are Hugh sure? ;)