RIP Nurse Chapel, Lwaxana Troi, Computer Voice

[zev_steinhardt]

http://www.accesshollywood.com/star-..._article_12706

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the wife of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, has passed away, Access Hollywood has learned. She was 76.

Zev Steinhardt

[jayjay]

Oh, no!

[KneadToKnow]

Shit.

[jayjay]

I didn't even know she was ill. I hadn't seen anything about it.

[emmaliminal]

Nooo!

That sucks.

[zev_steinhardt]

Personally, I thought that Number One (from The Cage) and Nurse Chapel were blah characters. Lwaxana, however, was a great character. She did a great job with her.

Zev Steinhardt

[levdrakon]

Ah man! That's really sad.

Let's not forget her work on Earth: Final Conflict, either.

[The Devil's Grandmother]

Whaa! How terrible! MSNBC says leukemia. I didn't even know she was ill.

[BrainGlutton]

She did the computer voice too? Hm. Never knew that.

RIP, Most Excellent Consort of the Great Bird!

[WordMan]

She was an essential part of the ST family and will be missed.

[alphaboi867]

This is sad. On the bright side she's probally enough voice work to continue playing the voice of the computer in any future Star Trek productions.

[Don Draper]

Anybody know if she did the computer voice for the new re-imagined (or re-booted, or whatever) Star Trek film coming out?

IMO, they ought to dedicate the film to her.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by The New and Improved Superman

Anybody know if she did the computer voice for the new re-imagined (or re-booted, or whatever) Star Trek film coming out?

IMO, they ought to dedicate the film to her.

IMDb credits her as Enterprise Computer for the new film.

And I agree with the dedication idea.

[memory I wish I didn't have]
Went to see Undiscovered Country and when the title card dedicating the film to Gene came up, snot-nosed asswipe in the seat in front of me turns to his equally snot-nosed asswipe friend and says, "Who's that?"
[/memory I wish I didn't have]

[levdrakon]

Originally Posted by The New and Improved Superman

IMO, they ought to dedicate the film to her.

I'd be enormously surprised if they didn't.

[Skammer]

Originally Posted by The New and Improved Superman

Anybody know if she did the computer voice for the new re-imagined (or re-booted, or whatever) Star Trek film coming out?

IMO, they ought to dedicate the film to her.

My co-worker just told me she did indeed. That is a fitting end to her career.

[DSYoungEsq]

My favorite line of hers was when the Enterprise computer has been "upgraded" to give it personality and she replies to Kirk's memorandum about scrapping the upgrade with, "Computed." There is genuine hurt in her voice as she says it. Steals the scene, and does it without even being seen!

[teela brown]

Crap. Her characters could get on my nerves a bit, but I understood she wanted to poke a little fun at the stodginess of the series and respected her for it. That's a shame. And she did have a killer voice.

[ivylass]

Well, phooey.

But, Gene waited a long time for her to join him...I'm glad they're together again.

[friedo]

Originally Posted by DSYoungEsq

My favorite line of hers was when the Enterprise computer has been "upgraded" to give it personality and she replies to Kirk's memorandum about scrapping the upgrade with, "Computed." There is genuine hurt in her voice as she says it. Steals the scene, and does it without even being seen!

There's a great scene in the one of the very few good Voyager episodes (Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy) wherein the Doc starts having hallucinations. In one fantasy, he is convinced that there's going to be a warp core breach, and Majel's voice booms "Warning: Warp Core Breach a lot sooner than you think! Time to be a hero, Doctor, GET GOING!"

She does it with such comic sincerity yet still manages to sound like a computer. A truly great moment in voice acting.

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by friedo

There's a great scene in the one of the very few good Voyager episodes (Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy) wherein the Doc starts having hallucinations. In one fantasy, he is convinced that there's going to be a warp core breach, and Majel's voice booms "Warning: Warp Core Breach a lot sooner than you think! Time to be a hero, Doctor, GET GOING!"

She does it with such comic sincerity yet still manages to sound like a computer. A truly great moment in voice acting.

Youtube link to that scene. It IS great!

[runner pat]

Originally Posted by BrainGlutton

She did the computer voice too? Hm. Never knew that.

RIP, Most Excellent Consort of the Great Bird!

I don't remember how long ago this was and it may no longer be true but at that time, due to her voice work as the computer, she had "appeared" in every episode of all four series and all the films.

[levdrakon]

When I was a kid, I used to think the Bell Telephone operator voice was her too, but I guess it was Jane Barbe.

[Tuckerfan]

Originally Posted by DSYoungEsq

My favorite line of hers was when the Enterprise computer has been "upgraded" to give it personality and she replies to Kirk's memorandum about scrapping the upgrade with, "Computed." There is genuine hurt in her voice as she says it. Steals the scene, and does it without even being seen!

Mine was her doing the voice of Stewie's computer in one episode of Family Guy.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by runner pat

I don't remember how long ago this was and it may no longer be true but at that time, due to her voice work as the computer, she had "appeared" in every episode of all four series and all the films.

I think that's only true if you consider her to be "playing" the ship itself. There are quite a few episodes where we don't hear the computer speak.

[Malacandra]

Aww, crappity.

One by one they're all off where... pretty much every man has gone before, or will. Roddenberry, Kelley, Doohan, now Barrett.

[Raguleader]

Oddly enough, the memory of her voice acting which most stands out for me is from "Best of Both Worlds, Part II" after the recap, with her saying "And now... the conclusion."

Hey, it was a great episode

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

One by one, the greatest Starfleet crew vanishes.

[Icerigger]

If I am not mistaken she was the only person to "appear" in every Trek incarnation.

[alphaboi867]

Originally Posted by Icerigger

If I am not mistaken she was the only person to "appear" in every Trek incarnation.

I think you're right. She's certainly the only person to play the same character in every incarnation.

[jayjay]

She did a lot of voice work in the Star Trek animated series, as well, particularly the Cattian crewmember, M'ress, and Nurse Chapel.

[Terrifel]

Peace and farewell, ever-bright and hopeful vision.

[Spurious George]

Sniff. I hear her voice every day, as my computer starts up and shuts down. A great loss, and another reason to look forward to the new film, featuring her final performance.

[Spatial Rift 47]

Damn.

[cochrane]

Damn, it's sad she's gone. I hope she's with Gene somewhere, despite Roddenberry's beliefs.

And yes, she was in all five series. Or at least her voice was. In the Enterprise two-parter, "In A Mirror, Darkly," she provided the computer's voice for the mirror universe's U.S.S. Defiant, the Constitution-class vessel and sister ship to the Enterprise NCC-1701 which disappeared in Tholian space.

[BrainGlutton]

Recalling two verses from the Leslie Fish filk classic, Banned from Argo:

Our proper, cool First Officer was drugged with something green,
And hauled into an alley, where he suffered things obscene.
He sobered up in Sickbay and he's none the worse for wear,
Except he's somehow taught the bridge computer how to swear.

The Head Nurse disappeared awhile in the major Dope Bazaar,
Buying an odd green potion "guaranteed to cause Pon-Farr."
She came home with no uniform and an oddly cheerful heart,
And a painful way of walking-with her feet a yard apart.

[Skald the Rhymer]

Originally Posted by zev_steinhardt

Personally, I thought that Number One (from The Cage) and Nurse Chapel were blah characters. Lwaxana, however, was a great character. She did a great job with her.

Zev Steinhardt

The former two were blah characters, I admit, but that was hardly her fault; it was the sexist assumptions of the writing (and the fact that Number One got, what, 5 minutes of screen time). I loved Lwaxana, though, and I am sorry to hear of her death.

[DeafAngelboy23]

"They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries boldy going where no man, where no one...has gone before."

[kasuo]

Damn, sad to hear.

I always got a kick out of her calling Worf as "Mister Woof."

[TWDuke]

I think Number One could have been a fascinating character (as well as something of a pop-culture milestone). As Skald points out, we never got a chance to know her.

[jkusters]

I had the sincere pleasure of meeting and talking with Majel at several sci-fi cons in the greater California area. She was the sweetest lady, even to unimportant "gophers" like myself. I will miss her greatly.

[RickJay]

Originally Posted by zev_steinhardt

Personally, I thought that Number One (from The Cage) and Nurse Chapel were blah characters. Lwaxana, however, was a great character. She did a great job with her.

Lwaxana Troi was indeed a great character and Majel Barrett played her perfectly. She injected life into what was often a very sterile, dry show.

[Quasimodem]

I am sorry to know of this. From the original series on, she has remained my favorite actress of the entire Star Trek "family", not because of her acting skills per se, but her quiet empathy.

Will she join her husband in space? Anyone know?

Thanks

Q

[What Exit?]

Damn, they're going quick now aren't they.

Of the remaining George Takei is the youngster at 71. Walter Koenig is 72. Shatner & Nimoy are 77 already. Nichelle Nichols is about to turn 76.

It is amazing looking at her credits and realizing just how much Star Trek was her life.

A sad day,
Jim

[foolsguinea]

:holds up a candle in requiem:

[jayjay]

Originally Posted by cochrane

Damn, it's sad she's gone. I hope she's with Gene somewhere, despite Roddenberry's beliefs.

And yes, she was in all five series.

Six. She did voicework in the Animated Series as well.

[matt_mcl]

I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who loved Lwaxana. RIP, Majel.

[matt_mcl]

Every one of us has a thousand different kinds of tiny people inside us. Some of them want to get out and be wild; some want to be sad, or happy, or inventive or even go dancing. That's why we have different urges at different times. And all those different little people inside us? We must never be afraid to take them with us wherever we go. Who knows when we might need one of them to pop up and rescue us from ourselves. Variety, my little Alex. The great secret is not the variety of life; but the variety of us!

- Lwaxana Troi, "Cost of Living"

[cochrane]

Originally Posted by cochrane

Damn, it's sad she's gone. I hope she's with Gene somewhere, despite Roddenberry's beliefs.

And yes, she was in all five series. Or at least her voice was. In the Enterprise two-parter, "In A Mirror, Darkly," she provided the computer's voice for the mirror universe's U.S.S. Defiant, the Constitution-class vessel and sister ship to the Enterprise NCC-1701 which disappeared in Tholian space.

Originally Posted by jayjay

Six. She did voicework in the Animated Series as well.

Yes, you're right. I even have the complete animated series box set. I was referring to the five live-action series, which were different incarnations. I considered the animated series as an extension of the original series, when rightly, it should be numbered on its own.

[Wile E]

I was just reading an article only a couple days ago about how she was doing the computer voice in the new Star Trek movie. There was no mention of her being ill so I was shocked to hear of her passing.

[critter42]

One of the articles said it was a "short battle" with leukemia - must have been extremely aggressive. The Wikipedia entry for her has a picture taken in '07 and she looked extremely good for 75!