Montgomery Scott aka Scotty (as in “Beam me up, Scotty!) was chief engineer of the original Star Trek. When Captain Kirk needed something impossible, it was Scotty who’d coax the Enterprise to deliver. Reluctantly, though, and with many words of caution:
- “Even if we were under full scale attack I couldn’t move any faster, not and maintain a safety factor.” — The Naked Time,” Episode 7
- “The warp drive is a hopeless pile of junk.” — “The Doomsday Machine,” Episode 35
- “I’ve giv’n her all she’s got captain, an’ I canna give her no more.”
- “She won’t take much more of this.”
Scotty didn’t need to prove his manhood with macho bravado–his concern was for his ship and for the big picture, not for polishing his own image. A suitable hero for a young nerd like me, and I always liked him.
How much of Scotty was in the writing and how much was in the performing? I was surprised to discover that actor James Doohan, who died this morning, was a Canadian who tried out multiple accents and nationalities before Scotty became a Scot. Wounded on D-Day–his cigarette case probably saved his life–Doohan gave Scotty the gritty no-nonsense attitude I so admired.
We will miss him,