‘Star Trek’ Star James Doohan Dies – Yahoo! News
Damn. He was so cute in the recent broadcasts of “Trekkies” on cable, talking about the people who’ve touched his life in the years since “Star Trek” went off the air. I knew about his retirement from public life due to Alzheimer’s, but still today the news made me sad.
It’s simple to find images of James Doohan – just Google “Scotty Trek” and there you are. There are a lot of candids that people have taken at fan events, and there are a lot of screen grabs, TV Guide covers, and promo pictures that have shown up on sites everywhere.
I was trying to find a good one of Scotty cradling his beloved whiskey bottle after drinking the alien Kelvan under the table, and considered the one of him holding a bunch of Tribbles (clearly showing that he was missing the middle finger of his right hand, a souvenir of his WWII service), but this is how I’ll remember Scotty: every now and then, Kirk and Spock took off, leaving him in command of the Enterprise. Note how his right hand is casually out of view behind the armrest.
I got this off of the very funny “Scotty off of Star Trek” page of the Uncyclopedia. He was warned by his dentist that he might as well “go with the flow” regarding being typecast as “Scotty from Star Trek,” and now that’s how he enters posterity.
He was a lovely man, a battle-scarred veteran, and he will be missed.
Scotty definitely shone on those occasions when he got to be in command. He’d get that steely eye and wry determination and you just knew that he’d be one hellacious opponent in battle.
My other favorite Scotty moment — when it looks like one of them is going to have to stay behind in the Mirror universe, and Scotty promptly volunteers, to save the others, then utters an anguished “Jim!” when Kirk overrides him.
A fine cast member. He’ll be both missed and well remembered.
I have a lot of favorite Scotty moments. One line that I still use is from… ack, the movie set in 20th century San Francisco, with the whales and the USS Enterprise and so on. I crack up when he’s trying to get the primitive computer to work and picks up the mouse and talks into it. I will still say this when the machine on my desk is acting balky.
“Computerrr…”