Majel Barrett-Roddenberry would have been 90 this year — and she’s featured in a current museum exhibition.

By Christian Blauvelt, Apr 12, 2022 2:00 pm

“And now the conclusion…”

For “Star Trek” fans during the ‘90s, there were no more thrilling words than those at the end of a “previously on” sizzle reel. They promised the epic second installment of a two-part episode to come, whether on “The Next Generation,” “Deep Space Nine,” or “Voyager.”

The woman who said those words was not just the “voice” of “Star Trek” but its “First Lady”: Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the wife of franchise creator Gene Roddenberry, and an omnipresent part of the series herself.

Barrett, who died in 2008, would have turned 90 this year, and she’s currently being featured in the exhibition “Gene Roddenberry: Sci-Fi Visionary” at the San Diego Comic-Con Museum through June 9. The flamboyant costumes of one of her later “Trek” characters, Lwaxana Troi, all frills and folds of flowing fabric, are there. Two of the characters she originated are also returning to the small screen May 5 with “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” on Paramount+. But Barrett-Roddenberry’s legacy goes even deeper: She helped inspire personal voice assistant technology, with Amazon even code-naming the project that eventually became Alexa as “Majel.”

Source: Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Paved the Way for Alexa and Siri | IndieWire