Number One= Starfleet Computer voice. Coincidence? I think not.

[I am not Spock]

I have been recently thinking that the reason (in-universe, not behind the scenes) all Starfleet computers sound like Majel Barrett could be because Starfleet used the voice of Number One as a template for the voice, presumably somewhere in between The Cage and WNMHGB.
Thoughts?

 

[A beaker full of death]

Unfortunately, someone actually put that into a Trek novel. I think it's fucking retarded. No offense. I just hate it when people take this stuff so literally, when that wasn't the intent.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I just hate it when people take this stuff so literally, when that wasn't the intent.

Well, I like it when some obvious/cute links can be made. One of the early "Best of Trek" books postulated that Number One and Chapel were sisters, which is going a bit too far, but then, the Enterprise computers were revamped by a colony of women (as mentioned canonically in the episode where the computer calls Kirk "Dear"), the fanon numbered clones ideas for Number One also fits with Majel Barrett's own speculations (devised by her to play the role) about Number One. Majel's notes presented her own ideas for why the character had no name, not even in the writers' bible.

The only problem with such references: one is cute, two are fun, twenty is overkill, but then, not everyone reads every novel.

Another novel, "A Flag Full of Stars", features an Admiral named Timothea Rogers and this character was, in the original manuscript (only), identified as Number One, commentating with Robert April re a big televised anniversary of the NASA shuttle program. Richard Arnold nixed the Number One reference, but the physical description left behind was enough to clue me in. It was fun to finally have my suspicions confirmed online by the author, Brad Ferguson!

I did actually use the sisters idea, and multiple mysterious names for Number One, in a TOS movie era fan fic, well before "A Flag Full of Stars". It turned out very well, and caught lots of readers by surprise.

 

[Timo]

Of course, "Number One" was from the very start identifiable as a piece of naval jargon, the title for the Executive Officer of the ship. I wonder how long a show starring Hunter and Barrett would have kept on referring to the character as "Number One" only? I'd actually think her name would have come up by the third episode already, and none of the writers would have dreamed of using "Number One" as an "alien" or "futuristic" expression...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Ronald Held]

I do not see any real problems with the voice of Pike's "Number One" being used as a template for the computer voice.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I do not see any real problems with the voice of Pike's "Number One" being used as a template for the computer voice.

Even I think that's fanwanking, and I normally hate that term. One might just as well ask if the Ent-D's computer voice was patterned after Lwaxana Troi, or if Guls Macet and Dukat are related (yeah, the novels did that one too - they're cousins). What little sense it does make is far outweighed by the massive coincidence.

 

[Rarewolf]

so.. has there ever been an explanation for Nick Locarno & Tom Paris, or Tuvok and the Enterprise B's human played by Tim Russ?

In both cases the pairings were pretty much contemporaries of each other.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

so.. has there ever been an explanation for Nick Locarno & Tom Paris, or Tuvok and the Enterprise B's human played by Tim Russ?

No. Should there be?

Tom Paris was created to avoid royalties being owed to "The First Duty"'s writer. Same reason why T'Pau wasn't a main character on ENT and T'Pol was created for that purpose. They're not the same person (not even the novels have claimed otherwise).

Tuvok and the Ent-B tactical officer? Not even the same species.

Not everything is connected. Tim Russ, for example, has played other characters - he's been a Vulcan, two different humans, and a Klingon. And Vaughn Armstrong has played over a *dozen* characters, from eight different races. Would you say they're all related?

 

[Rarewolf]

I was just curious as to if any one had tried - fanwank does tend to join as many dots as it can. As you point out yourself.

 

[Dane_Whitman]

And Vaughn Armstrong has played over a *dozen* characters, from eight different races. Would you say they're all related?

That would be one screwed up family. An ex-Borg, at least three Klingons, a Romulan, a Starfleet Admiral, one of those easily offended Kreetassans, and probably more as I've doubtless forgotten a few. All the ingredients for the first so-called 'real-life soap' I would watch.

 

[kirkshairpeice]

i can buy that they used number ones voice for starfleet computers, but did you notice she sounds a bit different in sttmp?

 

[I am not Spock]

And Vaughn Armstrong has played over a *dozen* characters, from eight different races. Would you say they're all related?

That would be one screwed up family. An ex-Borg, at least three Klingons, a Romulan, a Starfleet Admiral, one of those easily offended Kreetassans, and probably more as I've doubtless forgotten a few. All the ingredients for the first so-called 'real-life soap' I would watch.

Lol! Vaughn has certainly been around. He also played a Vidiian and a Hirogen if I recall correctly.

 

[Kelso]

The only problem with such references: one is cute, two are fun, twenty is overkill, but then, not everyone reads every novel.

It seems like the modern Trek novels are built around continuity porn. Though, it has been some time since I picked one up.

 

[gastrof]

...One might just as well ask if the Ent-D's computer voice was patterned after Lwaxana Troi...

Umm...

The Enterprise-D computer voice was apparently the same voice as that used about a century earlier on Kirk's original Enterprise. It could still have been the voice of "Number One".

 

[Therin of Andor]

It seems like the modern Trek novels are built around continuity porn.

Well, that's a loaded comment. Fans who like continuity porn would say there's never enough. Fans who dislike it resent any cute links back to obscure canonical references.

I reckon there's just enough.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Of course, "Number One" was from the very start identifiable as a piece of naval jargon, the title for the Executive Officer of the ship. I wonder how long a show starring Hunter and Barrett would have kept on referring to the character as "Number One" only? I'd actually think her name would have come up by the third episode already

Nope. According to convention stories from Gene, Majel and DC Fontana, the term "Number One" was not only "naval jargon", it was to make the character more enigmatic, to set audiences wondering about why she didn't use a personal name. Had there been an definite intention to "name her", that probably would have been added to the writers' bible. It wasn't left out simply because Gene couldn't think of a good name; this was a character he wrote for Majel, after all.

none of the writers would have dreamed of using "Number One" as an "alien" or "futuristic" expression...

Except that writers are expected to follow the show's Bible, and GR was rewriting episodes to his taste.

BTW, the Season One Writers' Bible for VOY mentioned how the EMH would search for a name (and eventually would select "Doctor Zimmerman"), which is which several early novels were using the name for the character.

 

[Timo]

BTW, the Season One Writers' Bible for VOY mentioned how the EMH would search for a name (and eventually would select "Doctor Zimmerman"), which is which several early novels were using the name for the character.

But just like VOY abandoned the idea of the EMH settling with a specific name, it seems likely that Hunter Trek would eventually have ditched the #1 idea. I mean, there's an obvious mechanism for it to happen: the writers try to milk on the concept that saying "#1" is cool, which means they have to pose the obvious question. And since they can't afford to think too far ahead in an episodic TV show, they are soon tempted to give the answer, too.

I dunno. Much of the "enigmatic" Spock was made up as they went along, and that kept the character afloat. As another enigma character (read: they hadn't decided on a backstory yet), #1 would have needed constant spicing up that would have led in one direction or another - and if the direction wasn't found during the first season already, the character would never live up to its potential, but would go the way of Deanna Troi.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Therin of Andor]

it seems likely that Hunter Trek would eventually have ditched the #1 idea.

Perhaps to you...

 

[Timo]

Um, certainly to me, or else I wouldn't have suggested it, now would I? I'm not insisting that others should share the view, of course.

If the story concept of #1 were better defined, then it might have had a future. But it really was just a way of covering the fact that there was no plan on what to do with her, which should bode ill for the future of the concept.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Therin of Andor]

there was no plan on what to do with her, which should bode ill for the future of the concept.

The plan was that she was be different than expected: cold and aloof yet highly intelligent, and without a personal name, making viewers unsure if she was a human, an alien or what.

If they weren't leaving options open for her future development, they would have called her something like Lieutenant Leigh Smith in the pilot. And, as I said, Majel Barrett came up with her own ideas for the character not having a name, and she would have had plenty of influence over GR, just as she manipulated him to add Mrs Troi into TNG for her.

Re the EMH. His search for a name wasn't dropped completely. He did decide he didn't need a name after all, and then he settled on Joe in the alternate first ending for "Endgame". What was dropped was calling him "Zimmerman", when it was decided to introduce the original Zimmerman.