Saturday, February 14, 2015

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, Number One, Star Trek

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry is quintessence Star Trek. Why? She was so involved in the shows, movies, video games, and animations that she was know as the "First Lady of Star Trek."

Her career with Star Trek began with her role of Number One in the pilot episode (The Cage, 1964) with Captain Pike. But she wasn't accepted in that role by NBC's network executives. The women viewers that participated in test screenings didn't like her character either. Thus, Spock became the first officer. Though the network didn't like the Vulcan either. Apparently, hard to please.

Her film career started with the movie Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) She appeared in films from 1957 to 2000. Her TV appearances ran from 1963-1999. Her episodic career ran from 1960-2001. She acted in many genres including science fiction, comedy, and western stories.


She played Nurse Chapel in the original Star Trek series. She moved up to Doctor Christine Chapel in star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (This was the original film based on the series.) and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). In Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, she played Ambassador Lwaxana Troi

Barrett's voice sounded as the computer in the first series from 1966-1969,  Christine Chapel and M'Ress voices in the animated series (1973-1975),  the Federation computer in Star Trek: TNG (1987-1994), Federation computer voice in DS9. Her voice featured in many Star Trek video games from 1994-1997. She was the voice in the Star Trek: The New Generation; Q-in-Law of 1992 a product of  Simon & Schuster of New York.

She co-wrote the Star Trek Cookbook with Ethan Phillips published in 1998 by Pocket Books of New York City.

Barrett had a long and illustrious career associated with Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek despite the opinion of the executives and the women viewers that originally objected to her role as Number One.


Star Trek Crosswords Book 1


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