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Posted in: Paramount+, Star Trek, streaming, TV | Tagged: majel barrett, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, star trek, Star Trek Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Terry Matalas
Star Trek: Picard: Terry Matalas on Season 3 Computer Voices, Using AI
Star Trek: Picard EP Terry Matalas on Season 3's multiple computer voices & why he couldn't use Majel Barrett-Roddenberry's voice with AI.
One of the Star Trek franchise's most distinguishing characteristics is the AI computer that occupies its Federation vessels. Since The Original Series, the actor tasked with providing that voice was Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who also played the original Una Chin-Riley in the pilot, Nurse Chapel in TOS, and Lwaxana Troi on The Next Generation & Deep Space Nine. With her passing in 2008, the actor's final performance was in J.J. Abrams's 2009 Kelvin Timeline reboot, also titled Star Trek. The role as the voice of the ship's computer has been taken over by multiple actors since, and that tradition will continue, according to Star Trek: Picard executive producer Terry Matalas, who responded to a fan inquiry about how it will be handled.
Star Trek: Computer Voices Since the Late Majel Barrett-Roddenberry
"There are multiple voices. One for Civilians and one for Starfleet. All will be revealed soon," Matalas offered. In the current Paramount+ era, Kay Bess provided the voice of the AI on Rios' (Santiago Cabrera) ship the La Sirena, in the first two seasons of Picard. Annabelle Wallis voiced the computer as it evolved into Zora on Discovery. Bonnie Gordon was the U.S.S. Protostar computer on Prodigy. Jessica McKenna is the U.S.S. Cerritos computer voice on Lower Decks. On the cinematic front, Bill Hader voiced the U.S.S. Vengeance computer in 2013's Star Trek: Into Darkness. Technology is at least flexible as far as Star Trek canon since Voyager introduced the idea of the Emergency Medical Hologram, which was played by Robert Picardo. In the series, the program was created by Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, also played by Picardo, which became standard in all Starfleet ships as shown in 1996's First Contact and his cameo. On Picard, the program expanded to include different specialists in engineering, medical, and tactical, all played by Cabrera.
When a fan replied to Matalas' quote tweet about his original comment in regards to digitally recreating Barrett-Roddenberry's voice using AI and an archive of past recordings, "I'm sure one day this could happen with the right technology and budget. Neither were available to us in Season 3. But that would be amazing," he wrote. Pressured further, he doubled down, "Time & money. Or I can spend that bringing back a legacy character onscreen. Fans may not love to hear this: TV shows actually have a finite amount of time & resources. You can't dial up some subpar deepfake on a website and call it a day. If you're going to do it, do it right." Matalas is open to the idea citing what Lucasfilm is able to do with Star Wars and the work done on the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. "I certainly wasn't aware of this library, but I'm sure one day, with the right technology and budget. Just listen to what did with James Earl Jones. It can be done." Star Trek: Picard season three premieres February 16 on Paramount+.
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