today majel barrett died.

before you get all sentimental, let me tell you a story. besides, chances are you don’t know who she is.

my mom is a star trek nerd; not just any star trek: star trek the next generation. well, thanks to her, her children* are also star trek nerds. every night at 9 p.m., st:TNG would be on TV on channel 9 or something, and we would plunk down and watch the reruns. one of the highlights of the show was watching the cast list in the beginning to see who would be on. would wil be on? would it be a Q episode? then came the inevitable lwaxana troy. if majel barret was in the cast call in the BEGINNING of the show, it would be a lwaxana episode, and we would prepare for an entertaining (and maybe naked) episode.

but the fun also came at the end of the episode, when the voice of the computer would be listed. who was it? why, majel barrett, of course! later on, we learned the majel was also on the original star trek, and also married to gene roddenberry**. so majel barrett became kind of a star trek icon to us who watched TNG. 

hats off to you majel. may you boldly go to an afterlife as exciting as a betazoid wedding.

*ok, maybe mostly just me and liz.

**for those of you who are completely NOT nerds at ALL, he is the creator of star trek.