The Followspot

Ah, to be in England

1. The Royal website
2. The ancient (and actually dangerous) event known as Swan Upping

An Eternal Trek, Together

News comes today that Gene Roddenberry and his wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, together will boldly go where no one has gone before.

Gene Roddenberry, wife to spend eternity in space

LOS ANGELES – The creator of "Star Trek" and his wife will spend eternity together in space. Celestis Inc., a company that specializes in "memorial spaceflights," said Monday that it will ship the remains of Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett Roddenberry into space next year.

The couple's cremated remains will be sealed into specially made capsules designed to withstand the rigors of space travel. A rocket-launched spacecraft will carry the capsules, along with digitized tributes from fans. The Roddenberrys' remains — and the spacecraft — will travel ever deeper into space and will not return to earth.  [...]

After Gene Roddenberry died in 1991, his wife commissioned Celestis to launch a part of his remains into space in 1997. She died Dec. 18, 2008.

Anyone who hasn't been deaf and blind to American popular culture of the last forty years knows that Gene Roddenberry was the optimistic visionary behind the Star Trek franchise. It's the true fan geek (guilty!) who knows it was Roddenberry's wife, Majel Barrett, who was in many ways the true voice of "Star Trek."

Majel was "Number One," the first officer of the Enterprise on its maiden voyage in the series pilot, "The Cage." The NBC suits hated the idea of a pushy woman (and the producer's girlfriend) cast in a position of authority and so she was demoted to playing Nurse Chapel in the original series.

Her Trek role with the most range was as the overbearing, emotionally needy Betazoid mother of "Next Generation's" Counselor Troi. Barrett infused the character of Lwaxana Troi with humor, infuriating smugness, and a thoroughly human desire to love and be loved. She chased nearly every man who crossed her path, from Captain Picard to Odo, "Deep Space Nine's" changeling constable.

Those characters were behind her, but her continuing role as the Voice of the computer in every iteration of the USS Enterprise will be impossible to substitute with any satisfaction for the fans. When Majel Barrett died last month, I knew an era of our culture had closed. Bon voyage, Majel and Gene.

 
Majel and Gene on the bridge of the USS Enterprise