The Ladies of Multiple Star Trek Series

Majel Barrett Roddenberry as Ambassador Lwaxana Troi in
Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

                         
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Star Trek: The Next Generation       Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Ambassador Lwaxana Troi represents Betazed before the United Federation of Planets.   She is "Daughter of the Fiofth House, Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Rixx, and Heir to the Holy Rings of Betazed".   Lwaxana is the mother of USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D Counselor (Commander) Deanna Troi, and the widow of Starfleet Lieutenant Commander Ian Andrew Troi.  She is a lonely women who wants both herself and her daughter to be happy; and, to her, happiness is being married.  Captain Jean-Luc Picard is only one of the numerous men she has pursued in order to be happy.  Ambassador Troi pays a visit to the Enterprise to advise Deanna  of the marriage arrangement her late father had made for her (Haven).   Deanna dutifully, but only halfheartedly, honors the traditional Betazoid custom, and prepares to marry Wyatt, the son of her father's best friend.  Wedding preparations between the two families result in bickering concerning the format of the wedding ceremony.  Will it be a human ceremony or a traditional Betazoid ceremony where the wedding party and guests are naked?  The wedding, and Lwaxana's plans for her daughter are thwarted when Wyatt realizes his long-time fantasy lover is real and is aboard a Tarellian vessel containing the last survivors of a biological warfare blast.   They are turned away from Haven and Wyatt, a doctor by profession, beams over to the contaminated alien vessel with medical supplies in hopes of finding a cure for his love and the remainder of the Tarellian survivors.  Transporting delegates to a special Federation conference on Pacifica, the USS Enterprise picks up two representatives from the newly discovered planet Antede III.  They are unaccustomed to space flight, and arrive on the ship in a self-induced coma to deal with the trauma of their voyage. Ambassador Troi also happens to be on the way to Pacifica and again comes aboard the Enterprise (Manhunt).  Captain Picard soon finds himself the latest object of Lwaxana's passions, and turns to Counselor Troi for advice.  She explains that her mother is in "the phase," a mid-life period when a Betazoid woman's sex drive increases tenfold!  He is reluctant to reject her amorous advances, so he decides to hide from her in the holodeck.  She then redirects her search for a mate and ends up on the bridge where she sees Commander Riker and announces to the crew that they will soon be married.  Ambassador Troi discovers that the Captain is on the holodeck, but she loses interest in both the Captain and the Commander when she meets Rex, the bartender in a 1940s holodeck bar.  She later finds out that her dream man is only an illusion.   Lwaxana's telepathic powers reveal that the Antedians are not delegates, but assassins sent to blow up the conference site using explosives hidden in the lining of their ceremonial robes.  Commander Riker and Counselor Troi take shore leave on Betazed at the conclusion of a trade conference there, and the USS Enterprise sets out on a routine mission (Menage a' Troi).  Lwaxana interrupts a tender moment between her daughter and Commander Riker, and the three of them are unexpectedly joined by two Ferengi who had been delegates at the conference.  One of them, Daimon Tog, says he has come for Lwaxana, who had previously spurned his advances.  The group is transported to the Ferengi ship.  The Ferengi doctor, Farek, hopes to study Lwaxana's telepathy through mind probes.  Lwaxana stalls for time by agreeing to discuss with Tog a proposal by which he could use her telepathic abilities in trade negotiations.  Again a passenger aboard the USS Enterprise, Lwaxana Troi becomes infatuated with Doctorr Timicin of the planet Kaelon II.  Timicin, a leading scientist on Kaelon II who has requested the Federation's aid in saving his planet, is also attracted to Lwaxana, and the two begin spending time together (Half a Life).  The experiment he performs fails, and he tells her he is returning home to die.  She is outraged by Timicin's revelation that he will participate in a ritual suicide known as The Resolution.  All citizens of Kaelon II kill themselves upon reaching the age of sixty in order to eliminate the society's need   to caring for the elderly.  Lwaxana likens the ritual to murder but Captain Picard refuses to intervene since the problem is out of his jurisdiction.  Timicin falters under pressure from Lwaxana, but finally agrees to return home to die among his loved ones. Lwaxana Troi is now a loved one, so she puts aside her pain and disappointment and transports down to the planet with him, to witness his final Resolution and give her support to his decision.  The Enterprise welcomes a delegation of the Cairn, a telepathic species that has no concept of spoken language.  Communication requires an interpreter with a strong telepathic ability is needed, and Ambassador Lwaxana Troi is recruited for the task.  She immediately sets out to start a romance between her daughter and Maques, the senior Cairn diplomat (Dark Page).  Lwaxana soon begins displaying irrational behavior, and Doctor Beverly Crusher discovers that she is low on psilosynine, a neurotransmitter involved in telepathy.  Lwaxana Troi is ordered to rest and not use telepathy.  Deanna Troi offers to help her mother work with the Cairn.  As soon as they are back on the job, Lwaxana defies the doctor's orders, communicates with Maques, and collapses.  Doctor Crusher tells Deanna that her mother's brain has shut down.  The Cairn try to help and discover that Lwaxana apparently suffered some emotional event in the past that her meta-conscious mind can't tolerate.  They begin to research her diaries and are shocked to discover that Lwaxana deleted seven years of entries that began shortly after her marriage and ended soon after Deanna's birth.   Deanna enters her mother's mind again and ends up in the arboretum, watching her mother, her father, a girl about seven, and herself as an infant.  Lwaxana refers to the girl as Kestra, and Deanna realizes that this girl who she has never heard of must be her sister.  Lwaxana's pain increases but Deanna presses her to continue, and she is finally able to reveal that Kestra died that day in an accident; an accident for which Lwaxana blames herself.  Deanna is able to help her mother say goodbye to Kestra and let go of her guilt.   Doctor Bashir plays reluctant host to a delegation of Federation ambassadors, one of whom happens to be Lwaxana Troi, who creates a scene in Quark's bar when she discovers her priceless brooch has been stolen.  Odo catches the culprit and returns the heirloom to her.  She develops an instant attraction to him (The Forsaken).  Later, Lwaxana, now dressed to kill, makes advances toward Odo.  He returns to the Promenade, runs right into Lwaxana, and tries to escape into the turbolift, but she gets in with him.  It stops suddenly between floors.  Lwaxana finally has Odo where she wants him, alone at last.  Odo discovers he can't even shape-shift his way out, and becomes resigned to being stuck with Lwaxana for a while. Time passes and Odo cannot hold his shape any longer, so Lwaxana lifts her dress to form an improvised basin, into which Odo dissolves safely to his liquid form.  Lwaxana and Odo, now back in his humanoid form, are freed from the turbolift, and she leaves him with a hint of romance to follow when they meet next.  The Bajoran Gratitude Festival, an annual celebration, is about to get underway.  Lwaxana Troi arrives, and immediately searches for Odo, hoping for a romantic interlude (Fascination).  ,Lwaxana experiences a brief headache at the opening ceremonies.   Soon, there are strange goins on; Vedek Bareil chases Jadzia Dax, Jake Sisko declares his love for Kira Nerys, Jadzia Dax pursues Benjamin Sisko, Kira Nerys and Julian Bashir find each other, and Lwaxana Troi relentlessly pursues Odo.  Captain Sisko has Dax examined, but Doctor Bashir can find nothing wrong.  He watches in horror at the party that evening as Dax chases him, Bareil chases Dax, Bareil hits Sisko, Dax slugs Bareil, Jake moons over Kira, and Kira and Bashir are pawing each other.  Keiko O'Brien arrives at the party in a stunning red dress, and walks up to her husband and kisses him.  Quark appears and proclaims his undying love for Keiko.  Captain Sisko and Odo both notice Lwaxana had a headache just before Quark saw Keiko, and Quark seemed to feel the same headache.   Doctor Bashir discovers that Lwaxana Troi has Zanthi Fever.  Betazoids who experience a headache from the condition project their amorous feelings for someone onto anyone in close proximity.    Sisko learns to his surprise that it only affects people who already have a latent attraction.  Doctor Bashir cures her and says everyone will be back to normal in a few days.  The Next time we see Lwaxana Troi, she visits Odo in his office with the surprising news that she is pregnant.  She is thrilled to be having a baby boy, but her Tavnian husband insists she adhere to the custom of giving him their son to raise alone until the child is sixteen (The Muse).  She is unwilling to give away the baby and decides to have him on Deep Space Nine.

See Some Photos of Lwaxana Troi

Majel Barrett Roddenberry played the recurring role of Nurse Christine Chapel throughout the three-year run of Star Trek.   She was born Majel Lee Hudec in Columbus, Ohio, on 23 February 1939.  Majel studied drama at the University of Miami, and went on to perform in a number of regional theatre productions including All For Mary at the Pasadena Playhouse and The Skin of Our Teeth and Idiots Delight at the Santa Monica Playhouse, and starred in the Broadway production of Solid Gold Cadillac.  She soon began to earn roles in national television commercials, and this led to her being cast in various television programs and feature films.  Majel met Gene Roddenberry in the early 1960s.  She said of him, "I was in love. It's just that simple ... There's nothing more to say about it.  I would have followed him anywhere."  Majel and Gene Roddenberry lived together as lovers throughout most of the 1960s before he decided it was time to marry her.  He asked her to join him; he happened to be visiting Japan at the time. Gene did not adhere to any particular religion and since they were in Japan, they chose to have a Shinto-Buddhist wedding on 6 August 1969. They regarded this as their real wedding, but his divorce was not yet final and they made it legal with a civil ceremony on 29 December 1969.  Their son, Eugene "Rod" Roddenberry, was born five years later.   Majel has appeared in person or in voice in most of the Star Trek universe; she played the recurring roles of Nurse (Lieutenant) Christine Chapel in Star Trek, as well as Doctor (Commander) Christine Chapel in the feature films, and Ambassador Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  She has also been the computer voice on most of the ships in the Star Trek universe, as well as the voice of The Companion (Metamorphosis).   Majel was cast in 1966 as the second in command "Number One" of the USS Enterprise, under Captain Christopher Pike, in The Cage, the pilot for Star Trek.  The Executives at NBC were not as forward-thinking as Gene Roddenberry and were not yet prepared to have a woman in power.   They forced Gene to replace her for the second, unprecedented, pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before.  She became the voice of the Enterprise's computer and the pretty blue-eyed, mini-skirted blonde Nurse Christine Chapel, a recurring character throughout the entire three-year run of the series.  She appeared as Doctor (Lieutenant Commander) Christine Chapel in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, having by that time earned her M.D., and as Commander Chapel in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.  Majel appeared on the award-winning series, Babylon 5, as Lady Morella in the episode, Point of No Return.    The world lost the Great Bird of the Galaxy In September 1991, during the filming of the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Hero Worship.  Majel later told Biography "I'm not so sure he's gone yet ... there's so much that's going on, that's still happening."  Majel Barrett Roddenberry strives to keep her late husband, Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry's vision alive and continues to carry his legacy as Executive Producer of the Roddenberry/Kirschner Production, Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict, in association with Tribune Entertainment and Atlantis Films.  Majel plays Doctor Belman on the show that Gene wrote in 1976 as Battleground: Earth.

See Some Pictures of Majel Barrett Roddenberry

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