Summary
- Star Trek: Prodigy pays tribute to Majel Barrett-Roddenberry with a Vulcan character named Maj'el.
- Maj'el's design echoes T'Pau's hairstyle and Number One's demeanor, honoring Barrett-Roddenberry's Star Trek roles.
- Majel Barrett-Roddenberry's influence continues in other new Star Trek shows like Picard and Strange New Worlds.
Star Trek: Prodigy found a Vulcan way to honor Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. In addition to being the wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry is known as "the First Lady of Star Trek" due to her involvement with Star Trek as a franchise from its inception and continued influence throughout Star Trek's history. Barrett-Roddenberry appeared as both Number One and Nurse Christine Chapel in Star Trek: The Original Series, and Ambassador Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. From TOS to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009), most Starfleet computers sported Barrett-Roddenberry's voice.
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was also active behind the scenes of the Star Trek franchise. Barrett-Roddenberry kept Star Trek alive during fallow periods of content by appearing at conventions and advocating for the continuation of Star Trek. Gene and Majel Barrett-Roddenberry worked together to facilitate the curation and sales of Star Trek memorabilia via the company Lincoln Enterprises, which Majel continued after Gene's death in 1991. On a more personal level, Barrett-Roddenberry united different generations of Star Trek actors through parties held at her home as the de facto "den mother" for Star Trek cast members separated by the franchise's different shows. It's fitting that Barrett-Roddenberry should be honored by Star Trek: Prodigy.
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: Prodigy season 2 adds a crop of new characters to the Star Trek: Prodigy cast, and one of them is Vulcan 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 first Star Trek performance as TOS's Number One, and contrasts sharply with the flamboyant personality of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry's Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character Lwaxana Troi.
Maj'el's unique hair color is an intentional tribute to T'Pau.
Star Trek: Prodigy's Cadet Maj'el also honors another Star Trek matriarch, the Vulcan leader T'Pau (Celia Lovsky), first seen overseeing the kal-if-fee ceremony in Star Trek: The Original Series season 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 in Star Trek: Prodigy echoes T'Pau's hairstyle with a section of white hair. This is no accident, as Star Trek: Prodigy writer 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 on Star Trek continues to be felt in other new Star Trek shows, not just Star Trek: Prodigy. When Commodore Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) reveals that the USS Enterprise-D is, in fact, spaceworthy in Star Trek: Picard season 3, everything seems to be just as it had been during the seven-year run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, including the 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 for Star Trek: Picard's Enterprise-D computer voice.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds includes among its cast both of the characters that Barrett-Roddenberry originated on Star Trek: The Original Series. Rebecca Romjin's Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds brings new life to Barrett-Roddenberry's Number One, the no-nonsense First Officer of the USS Enterprise. As Barrett-Roddenberry's second Star Trek: The Original Series character, Jess Bush's Nurse Christine Chapel has opportunities for complexity and growth that Majel Barrett-Roddenberry's Nurse Chapel never did. That makes Star Trek: Prodigy's Vulcan, Cadet Maj'el, only the latest in a long line of tributes to the First Lady of Star Trek, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.
