Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine To Boldly Go...James Doohan Passes Away

I just received an e-mail that shot my whole day. James Doohan, Scotty of Star Trek fame, finally succumbed to his numerous health issues this morning.

Because of my name I was always the one who had to play Scotty when we played Star Trek as kids. And my brother and I had old Army cots for beds that were held together with springs and wires instead of a box springs. I used to crawl up under the bunks like I was in one of the Jefferies Tubes on the Enterprise.

Excuse me while I go and have a silent cry and prayer for Mr. Doohan, his family, friends and multitude of fans.

CNN Obit

Awww... that's so sad ...

Duuude... so sad...

Although James Doohan was born in Vancouver, he grew up in my hometown of Sarnia, Ontario (if you've never been there, the only reason to go are the wonderful sandy Lake Huron beaches in the summer - other than that, it's pretty dreary). He certainly was a television icon and with be forever identified with his role of Scotty. A sad day, but he'll always be with us.

Star Trek was such a part of my childhood. It used to be on first thing after school. I used to rush home to see it. As the kid who loved science, I loved Scotty and Spock most of all. I'm so sad.

I'll remember re-runs of his funny appearances on those cheezy 70s Canadian gameshows too.

I need to get a copy of ST:NG "Relics".

And unlike some others he didn't try and run away from that one role. He embraced it.

"It's me old body, Cap'n! She canna take the strain ana more!!!"

When my turn comes to "boldly go" to the great beyond, I'll be comforted in knowing that Scotty will be there to help "Beam me up".

I saw the news just now on Heidi MacDonald's blog. I'm really on the verge of tears.

Star Trek was such a huge part of my early childhood. I was born in '71, but I was a Star Trek fan before I was a Star Wars fan. And Scotty was always my favorite (when I was younger, and didn't appreciate having an unusual name, I always wanted to change it. "Scott" was always my first choice, mostly because of Star Trek).

I'm with LL. My day is ruined.

That is awfully sad... still, I've got to smile thinking about him in Star Trek. He always looked like he was enjoying the part - especially in the first Star Trek movie when he had a whole new engine room and the same old problems. He got to play one of the great Star Trek endings in the Trouble with Tribbles episode.

Now there's a guy whose mortal remains belong in outer space.

And that line was never spoken by anyone in a Trek series or film. It was always more like "Scotty, two to beam up" or something but never "Beam me up, Scotty". Yet he graciously accepted it.

Star Trek started the year I was born (1966) and with each passing (Gene Roddenberry, Mark Lenard, DeForest Kelley) I feel like a little bit of me disappears. I was a true Trekker from my earliest memories through high school. I remember trying to organize a letter campaign to bring Spock back after STII.

I like the fact that DeForest Kelley and James Doohan both appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Somehow, to see their characters boldly go beyond the first series, it gave them and the actors who played them a feeling of immortality.

You will rarely find people so deeply ingrained in the pop culture of the world. I think their passing affects everyone in some way.

Mr. Scott and his "wee bairns" of the Enterprise's engines. I'll truly miss him. You get attached to good mechanics, and in the annals of portraying fictional ones, Jimmy Doohan was right at the top.

In "Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home," when the reworked Klingon ship was leaving Golden Gate Park, Kirk said into his communicator, in a clear homage to that legendary non-line: "Scotty! Beam me up." (Just before the 20th-Century cetacean scientist [Catherine Hicks] jumped into Kirk's arms, and thus hitched a ride to the 23rd. Lucky lady!)

Mr. Scott was shown playing "Amazing Grace" on his bagpipes at Spock's (presumed) funeral in "Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan," and both director Nicholas Meyer and composer James Horner resisted the idea, but finally decided to thus bow to the Chief Engineer's Scots heritage. I'm glad, on a day like this, we have that memory as well.

Take care, Jimmy, and we know that wherever you are, you'll now, at long last, have no tribble at all.

I can't help but think of how much pain William Shatner must be in today. I hope that he and Leonard Nemoy and as many of the surviving cast members that are able to will gather and hold a memorial service, or even more fitting, a wake.

'Scotty' just was his character to me no matter where I would see him in other venues. He was gracious and he never made excuses for having embraced that role and made it come to life.

He was the reason I first became interested in Scotland, and let me tell you how thrilled and proud I was to find out my father's mother was Scottish (Robertson Clan!) When I was a little girl I was just sure we were related to Scotty somehow.

Maybe the association with Scotty somehow is the reason I married Scott??? They are both more intelligent and resourceful then they are given credit for and more then once they save everyone around them and ask for nothing in return. Scotty and Scott are both quiet and reasonable men unless provoked to violence by having something or someone they love threatened.

I always thought that the junior engineers who learned their Star Fleet hands on experience with the supervision of Scotty were the luckiest people on the Enterprise.

Rest in peace First Engineer Scot. I will think of you wandering the Highlands on Earth and reaching up for the stars....

The pull down attic stairs were my Jeffries Tube.

I, too, was born in 1966. My parents watched Trek in its original run, and it is there in my earliest memories. Many of the older kids of my parents' friends were Trekkers, so that made it more cool. (The idea of Trekkers being uncool didn't strike me until much later in life, probably when Bill Shatner told us to "Get A Life" on SNL!)

A Chicago Tribune columnist (and Trek fan) notes that Scotty was the working stiff of the Enterprise, the guy whose mechanical miracles made the vainglorious heroics of Kirk and Spock possible. Perhaps more important, he truly enjoyed what he did for a living. ("Scotty, you've earned your pay for the week!") I'm sure much of that enjoyment was a reflection of Doohan's delight in the role and innate good cheer.

I always do feel a little bad for Doohan and the other cast members that their Star Trek roles limited their subsequent acting work. I am consoled that he took such pleasure (and some livlihood) out of being Scotty for us fans all those years.

Geez.

I just heard the news (right when I came online this afternoon, in fact.)

To me, each of the 7 original main cast members are at the core of my love for Star Trek (even though my favorite show is ST:TNG.) Whenever someone related to the original series passes on, I feel a great weight of sadness. Our world feels a little less complete today.

For James Doohan, I will remember a man who graciously accepted the place he had in the world... all the conventions he went to over the years, all the fans he talked to, all the autographs he signed. He always seemed like such a great person.

I'm glad he got to play himself in Futurama. I wish Dee Kelley had been around for that one.

I'm sure there will be a lot of cartoon captions of St. Peter beaming James Doohan up, and that's appropriate. Wherever he is, I'm sure he is hearing some variant of these words: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

"Well done, Mr Scott!" - Captain Kirk, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Well done, Jimmy.

Add to all this that he was a brave man in real life too, having taken part in the D-Day invasion, sustaining multiple wounds. Scottie and Sulu were my real favorites, and I'm saddened by the news. James Doohan just seemed like a nice down-to-earth man, despite the role that made him famous.

According to MSNBC , the family has announced it will do just that.

Although Doohan's battle with Alzheimer's was well known, I am greatly saddened by his death.
Scotty was my favorite TV character while growing up. Who couldn't love imitating that brogue? As third in command of the Enterprise, he brought a restrained dignity to the role, ably following orders as well as giving them.

Scotty also had the best lines (which time and memory force me to paraphrase):

"I'll not take the word of some mealy mouthed gentleman down below."

"I cannae change the laws of physics, Captain."

"The haggis is in the fire, for sure."

"Up your shaft."

Doohan was also the first Star Trek actor from whom I ever got an autograph. It was 1979, at a Star Trek con here in Kansas City. At the disco party afterwards, he displayed an altogether unexpected side by dancing with Grace Lee Whitney (I think) to Patrick Hernandez's "Born to Be Alive." Yep, Scotty could cut a rug!

Original Trek is THE Trek. When I learned of this at work, I gasped "Oh, NO!" aloud. Reruns of ST was **the** childhood show for me. Rest in peace, Scotty.

The Scotty character is hands down my favorite Trek character and one of my favorite TV characters ever.

I saw him at Dragon*Con a few years back, during what I guess was his last tour. He was clearly ailing, but he just as clearly still loved meeting the fans.

R.I.P. Jimmy.

He was a true miracle worker in the shows... I always loved the sense of humor he showed. Truly sad.

Im sure the world's in a buzz about the sad passing of James Doohan (Scotty, ST:OS), does anybody have any memories of going to a sci-fi convention and meeting this man?

I wish i had, i heard he was quite an agreeable and giving sort of dude...

Didnt Bones McCoy appear (albeit very briefly and looking quite old) in the ST:TNG pilot?

The first episode, i believe it was. He was cosmetically aged, and still hated using a transporter. If i remember correctly, he insisted on being brought aboard by ship.