Saturday, December 20, 2008

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry is gone too

I had sort of this fanboy dream back when I was first putting pen to paper that if I ever successfully pulled off anything with fiction writing, eventually I might get to be a guest at a science fiction convention in one venue or another.

Then in suitable Martin-Short-as-Ed-Grimley fashion, I thought: "I might get to meet some of the stars of the original Star Trek, don't ya know?"

I liked Star Trek re-runs when I was growing up. I watched in the first round of syndication in 1968, when it was really becoming a fan hit. The show happily stimulated my creative imagination and was one piece in the mosaic of influences that made me want to create my own stories.  

Happily my grand design worked out, and I was able to meet some of the TOS actors over the years.  Majel Barrett Roddenberry was the first. Some ambitious fans put together a convention in Alexandria, LA, and found their way to my doorstep because they'd heard I had some books out, and I got to be one of the guests.

I met Mrs. Roddenberry when she arrived in town for the event. I don't recall the confluence of events that led to the major coolness. A lot of media stars --i.e. people who were really famous --were on hand for the convention, but somehow or other they were busy. I wound up judging the convention's costume contest beside Ms. Roddenberry.

And saying to myself; "How freakin' cool is this? I'm judging a costume contest with Nurse Chapel and Lwaxana Troi in one."

I thought of the moment, of course, when I opened the Internet Movie Database to check a factoid this week and was hit with the headline that she'd passed away, just as Trek is poised for a pop-culture re-entry in a new form.

The notion that deaths of pop-culture figures come in threes seems to have been confirmed again, with Forry Ackerman, Bettie Page and now Nurse Chapel. It's always seems to happen that way, and it's always sad.

4 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I was sorry to hear this, of course. I remember her so well as Nurse Chapel. I never got to meet her in person but I bet she was good folks.

Lana Gramlich said...

I remember her as both characters. She made for a delightful Lwaxana & episodes she appeared in were NEVER dull! She had very beautiful eyes & will be missed.

Shauna Roberts said...

She also played "Number One" in the original Star Trek pilot and was the voice of the computer on some or all of the Star Trek series. And I'm thinking she played yet another role in a Star Trek, but I can't think of it.

Sidney said...

Yeah, in The Cage. I watched "Where No Man Has Gone Before" recently in HD. Not sure if The Cage is online or not.

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