While fans continue to puzzle over what Star Trek: Discovery will look like, we may have an inkling as to what it will sound like. According to producer Rod Roddeberry, there’s every reason to believe the voice of the late Majel Barrett might again feature as the voice of a Starfleet shipboard computer.
With very few exceptions, the vast majority of canonical Starfleet ships from all of Star Trek have been equipped with an onboard computer program voiced by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry. As the computer voice, she was a permanent fixture in Star Trek, establishing a sense of continuity between all the various iterations of the vast fictional universe.
And though Majel Barrett-Roddenberry sadly passed away in 2008, her voice lived on in the 2009 Star Trek film directed by J.J. Abrams. And now her son, Rod, announced on Twitter that there’s totally a possibility of her voice could not only feature on people’s phones — like SIRI —but most interestingly, in the new Star Trek TV show.
Majel Barrett appeared in a variety of roles throughout the various different Star Trek series, including the role of Nurse Christine Chapel, who served as a romantic interest for Spock in the original series. She has often been described by fans as the First Lady of Star Trek, not only for her marriage to creator Gene Roddenberry, but as a continuing supporter of the series for several years after his death.
Majel Barrett as Nurse Chapel on the original 'Star Trek'
We’ll find out what the computer voice on the starship Discovery sounds like when Star Trek: Discovery debuts sometime in early January 2017.
