Lost and losses

[selenak]

Considering The Sarah Connor Chronicles won't be back until February (American season breaks are so frustrating), it's good to know another of my shows will be back early in January. I just woke up to find a new Lost season 5 trailer:

I also woke up to hear Majel Barrett Roddenberry died, which causes that odd sense of mourning for a complete stranger you get if said stranger has been part of your fannish life for such a long time. You know, when I watched Star Trek as a child, I never realized that Nurse Chapel and the female first officer from The Menagerie were played by the same actress, and of course I didn't watch ST undubbed and in the English original until I was an adult, so the fact she voiced the computer escaped me until then, too. But she definitely made an impact on me as Lwaxana Troi in TNG and DS9 (this was around the time when I switched to watching tv shows I liked very much in their original language, too), and I was delighted by her guest stint on Babylon 5 where she played Emperor Turhan's widow (btw, you can't tell me JMS was above a casting in-joke there). Looking back, I can see where the criticism about Lwaxana's character as a sexist cliché (middle-aged woman obsessed with marrying off her daughter and/or finding a new man herself) came from, but the thing is, the execution rose about the concept. Lwaxana was such a force of nature on screen, Menage a Troi remains one of my favourite TNG comedy episodes, and when they gave her serious stuff to do - as in the story with the sick ambassador, or with the revelation about the death of her first daughter as a child - Majel Barrett showed the depth of Lwaxana, too. The most unexpected and welcome twist was her relationship with Odo on DS9. The scene in which Odo, who needs to regenerate (in the not Doctor Who sense) at certain intervals, is barely holding it together because he's embarassed and ashamed of his natural form, and Lwaxana, to help him and makes things equal, takes off her wig and shows him what she looks like without artifice, and his reaction is just touching and beautiful, and still among my favourites in my favourite Trek incarnation. The impact Lwaxana had on me was such that when two years ago I got a story prompt that said "William Adama in a Star Trek incarnation, any show", the idea that immediately came to my mind, and which I executed, wasn't "Adama on the Enterprise/ on DS9/ on Voyager" but "Adama meets Lwaxana Troi". What can I say? I was, and am, a fan.

So thank you, Majel. And farewell.

Comments

[ex_mrs260625]

That scene with Odo is my favorite of hers.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It was just beautiful.

[skywaterblue.livejournal.com]

I love the episode where he sham marries her, for the scene in which Odo plays on his changeling jungle gym to her delight. Such a perfect scene about acceptance.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

True. Also his declaration about why he marries her.

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

That episode was so well done. Even with all her over the topness, Lwaxana had a strength and dignity, thanks to Majel's interpretation of her.
It's sad news, indeed.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Strength and dignity going hand in hand with over the topness is just the right way to put it. And oh, that episode.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

I love that scene.

"You are not at all what I expected."
"No one's ever paid me a greater compliment."

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*hearts*

[wee-warrior.livejournal.com]

I now feel torn, as I'm both sad about Majel Barrett - Lwaxana was still the best thing about Troi - and oddly giggly about the Lost promo, which seems to promise a bizarre foray into Umberto Eco's work, specifically Foucault's Pendulum and The Name of the Rose. I mean, hooded figures tapping on computers? Really, show?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Did we ever get an Umberto Eco reference either via Sawyer or in Juliet's book club, I wonder?

But hey: deep down, we all know that Rambaldi must be to blame for the island if you go back far enough, so hooded figures totally fit!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

The Odo--Lwaxana relationship was unexpectedly special. It could have been so corny, but it wasn't. I hadn't realised that Barrett played Lwaxana.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You didn't recognize her, face-wise, or name wise?

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I knew the name Majel Barrett as the person who voiced the computers, and Roddenbury's widow, but hadn't connected it with Lwaxana Troi.

[kathyh]

Oh, how sad. I didn't know she'd died as it wasn't on the news I heard this morning. I love that scene with Odo and as you say sexist cliches could be applied to Lwaxana but she always rose above them.

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

Lost is coming back! Whee!

Miraculously, I am 100% unspoiled. As in, I haven't even seen the promos. That is definitely a first. :-)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I have seen this one, and another, but they don't tell you anything beyond "stuff happens and at some point, Jack shaves", and so I'm completely unspoiled as well. :)

[shezan.livejournal.com]

So well said. I loved the humanity in Lwaxana, and how Barrett played off the various cast members. Farewell indeed.

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

I was saddened by her death. Also she was going to voice the computer on the new Star Trek movie.

And I loved her Lwaxana character better than anything.

We'll miss her...

[meganinhiding.livejournal.com]

It took me a few episodes to warm up to Lwaxana; I think my favorite one with her was the one she befriended Alexander which is also one of my favorite ST:TNG episodes. I adored not only the relationship with Alexander and the comedy but also the depths and vulnerabilities of Lwaxana. I think it was the first time that I felt the writing for Lwaxana equaled Majel's acting.