Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2
Summary
Star Trek: Prodigyfound a Vulcan way to honor Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. In addition to being the wife ofStar Trekcreator Gene Roddenberry,Majel Barrett-Roddenberry is known as"the First Lady of Star Trek"due to her involvement withStar Trekas a franchise from its inceptionand continued influence throughoutStar Trek’s history. Barrett-Roddenberry appeared as both Number One and Nurse Christine Chapel inStar Trek: The Original Series, and Ambassador Lwaxana Troi inStar Trek: The Next GenerationandStar Trek: Deep Space Nine. FromTOSto J.J. Abrams’Star Trek(2009), most Starfleet computers sported Barrett-Roddenberry’s voice.
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was also active behind the scenes of theStar Trekfranchise.Barrett-Roddenberry keptStar Trekalive during fallow periods of content by appearing at conventionsand advocating for the continuation ofStar Trek. Gene and Majel Barrett-Roddenberry worked together to facilitate the curation and sales ofStar Trekmemorabilia via the company Lincoln Enterprises, which Majel continued after Gene’s death in 1991. On a more personal level,Barrett-Roddenberry united different generations ofStar Trekactorsthrough parties held at her home as the de facto"den mother"forStar Trekcast members separated by the franchise’s different shows. It’s fitting that Barrett-Roddenberry should be honored byStar Trek: Prodigy.
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Star Trek: Prodigy’s Vulcan Is A Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Tribute
Cadet Maj’el’s Character Design Honors A Classic Star Trek Vulcan
Star Trek: Prodigyseason 2 adds a crop of new characters to theStar Trek: Prodigycast, and one of them isVulcan Starfleet Academy Cadet Maj’el(Michaela Dietz), named in tribute to Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. Maj’el is a member of Starfleet Academy’s Nova Squadron who provides a logical foil to the"cockamamie"schemes dreamed up by Dal R’El (Brett Gray) and his fellow Academy hopefuls.As a Vulcan, Maj’el’s demeanor more closely aligns with Barrett-Roddenberry’s firstStar Trekperformance asTOS’s Number One,and contrasts sharply with the flamboyant personality of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry’sStar Trek: The Next GenerationandStar Trek: Deep Space Ninecharacter Lwaxana Troi.
Maj’el’s unique hair color is an intentional tribute to T’Pau.
Star Trek: Prodigy’s Cadet Maj’el also honors anotherStar Trekmatriarch, theVulcan leader T’Pau(Celia Lovsky), first seen overseeing thekal-if-feeceremony inStar Trek: The Original Seriesseason 2, episode 5, “Amok Time”. T’Pau’s distinctive hairstyle features two white braids that stand out in an elaborate, crown-like style. Instead of sporting the flat black hair color typically associated with Vulcans,Maj’el’s character design inStar Trek: Prodigyechoes T’Pau’s hairstyle with a section of white hair.This is no accident, asStar Trek: Prodigywriter and co-executive producer Aaron Waltke has explained that Maj’el’s unique hair color is an intentional tribute to T’Pau.
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Continues To Influence New Star Trek Shows
Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Also Honor Majel Barrett-Roddenberry’s Legacy
Sixteen years after her death in 2008, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry’s influence onStar Trekcontinues to be felt in other newStar Trekshows, not justStar Trek: Prodigy. When Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) reveals that the USS Enterprise-D is, in fact, spaceworthy inStar Trek: Picardseason 3, everything seems to be just as it had been during the seven-year run ofStar Trek: The Next Generation,includingthe ship’s computer speaking with Majel Barrett-Roddenberry’s voice.Although Barrett-Roddenberry did record her voice phonetically for posthumous use, archival recordings were used forStar Trek: Picard’s Enterprise-D computer voice.
Star Trek: Strange New Worldsincludes among its castboth of the characters that Barrett-Roddenberry originated onStar Trek: The Original Series.Rebecca Romjin’s Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley inStar Trek: Strange New Worldsbrings new life to Barrett-Roddenberry’s Number One, the no-nonsense First Officer of the USS Enterprise. As Barrett-Roddenberry’s secondStar Trek: The Original Seriescharacter, Jess Bush’s Nurse Christine Chapel has opportunities for complexity and growth thatMajel Barrett-Roddenberry’s Nurse Chapelnever did. That makesStar Trek: Prodigy’s Vulcan, Cadet Maj’el, only the latest in a long line of tributes to the First Lady ofStar Trek, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.
