August 28–September 4, 1997

20 questions

Majel Barrett Roddenberry

Background

Majel Barrett Roddenberry is admittedly illiterate when it comes to computers, but that hasn't kept her from being the voice of the U.S.S. Enterprise or several other bits of Star Trek circuitry over the past 30 years. Then again, the 58-year-old doesn't have much medical training and her most famous role might be as the prim Nurse Chapel from the original Star Trek series. Her interstellar career was helped along by dating Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, whom she later married. Now that Gene has passed on, she continues his lifelong mission of spreading the message of peace, harmony and space travel. Majel, 58,works as a public representative for NASA and wants to see the program beefed up. She's currently producing and developing Gene Roddenberry's Earth, the last program he was working on before he died. Of all the parts she's played, her favorite is Lwaxana Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. The saucy character, she says, proves that there can be life after 40.

What makes your voice a good one to play a computer?

It's low and commanding.

Is that why you were chosen for that part on Star Trek?

I was chosen because I was sleeping with the producer.

Was there ever any resentment from other people on the show about you sleeping with the producer?

Somebody had to do it.

What do you think of books that philosophize about the show, such as Thomas Richards'The Meaning of Star Trek?

I'm delighted that people are thinking about it enough to have an opinion. I think it's very exciting and healthy. A lot of it reflects Gene's own personal philosophy.

In Herb Solow's book, Inside Star Trek,he says your acting career was stunted by your association with the show. Do you agree?

I don't think it was stunted at all. I don't put much credit in anything Mr. Solow says, he really wasn't around as much as he'd like to think he was.

There was also a story in his book about your wig disappearing from the Star Trek set.

After one Halloween my wig and [Nichelle Nichols'] disappeared. People always thought that I took mine because I didn't like it. That really wasn't true. I loved that wig. I wish I had it now.

What's your association with the current Star Trek projects Deep Space Nine and Voyager?

I have no association with them. I go in when they call me to read as the computer, that's it. A lot of fans ask me if I can do things about the show, but I can't. They want to know if I can make the stories a little more this and a little less that. The producers do not consult me for anything under any circumstances and never have.

You've been open about having plastic surgery. What have you had done?

Just about everything from the knees up.

Several people on the Internet say that Viacom and Paramount are trying to shut down Star Trek Web pages.

Viacom doesn't want to do anything to the people who have Star Trek Web pages. They love the idea that Star Trek fans want to converse with each other and will bother no one except those who're trying to make money from it. It's illegal for them sell Star Trek products like scripts and pictures over the Internet. I don't like some of the things [Viacom has] done and the high-handedness with which they've done it, but I have to defend their right to do it.

What are some of Gene's predictions that you're surprised came true?

Look at computers, the only ones in existence [when we were doing the first series] were those great monolithic monsters. Now you don't feel comfortable if you can't have one in your lap or in your hand [like the ones we had on Star Trek]. The bio-computers [that monitored patients] in the sickbay are standard issue now. We also had cellular phones back in 1966 [in the form of communicators].

What would you like to see NASA do?

I'd to see them go straight to the moon and then on to Mars. We're about 25 years behind on that. I'd like to make sure we put mankind in space.

Do you mean a manned space station?

A manned station on the moon and on Mars.

Do you believe in UFOs?

Nope, certainly don't.

What's the current state of Gene Roddenberry's Earth?

We're filming the eighth episode and we're going to be on the air the week of Oct. 6. I'm executive producer and I play Doctor Belman in the show.

Do you like playing people in the medical profession?

I like playing Lwaxana a lot more. She's fun — she's free and open. She has morals, but they're not real strong ones. She shows that there is life after 40.

How much of the show was developed when Gene passed away?

He'd written the first pilot and had lots of notes on it.

What is the show about?

It's about the alien invasion of Earth — which sounds pretty familiar, I know. These days everybody is invading Earth. But we don't deal with the actual invasion, that's better left to those one-shot movies who have a lot of money like Independence Day. On Earth, there are 71 alien "companions" placed strategically on the planet. We're a species below the aliens and they regard us like cattle. To them we're just a large-scale Jurassic Park. The alien companions want pretty much what any oppressor would: the material wealth of our planet and the slave labor to harness it. The main human characters are part of a resistance group. The theme, as laid out by Gene, is: "No matter what the punishment for non-compliance or the rewards for obedience, there will always be those humans who will fight to death for individual freedom." Because fat and happy slavery is nonetheless slavery.

I have another agenda as well: I want to heighten public awareness of our space program. This global village we have keeps getting smaller and we've got to show how everyone on our planet can work together to defend the takeover of our planet by superior beings. Space is not our final frontier, the human soul is.

Majel Barrett Roddenberry will be appearing at the Philadelphia Science Fiction Exposition, Fri.-Sun., Aug. 29-31, at the Adam's Mark Hotel, City Avenue & Monument Road, (610) 454-1197.