James Doohan Not In A Coma and Likely To Survive

ThreeHamsWillKillHim writes "Apparently, it's rumored that actor James Doohan, from Star Trek fame, is in a coma." The article notes that he's not likely to come out of it. James Doohan is 82 and is known best for his role as Engineer Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott on Star Trek. CD: Update, he's home undergoing rehab for his bout of pneunomia.

Comments

Better way?

[qslack]

Isn't there some better way to learn about cool people like this guy before they're likely to die? I thought of this when the author of ping died, too.

Maybe Slashdot could do a montly/(bi)weekly thing on "Lifetime Geek Achievement Awards."

I'm sure that 99.99% of these people use the Web, so it would be really cool to thank these people for all they've done for technology.

Any thoughts?

Greatest Engineer Ever

[Torgo's Pizza]

James playing Scotty inspired me to be the computer engineer I am today. He showed that true heros are the guys behind the scenes keeping the ship afloat. Not only that, his character showed that engineers could be smart and *cool* at the same time.

I truly hope he gets better because losing him would be a loss to all geeks.

Stupid Trivium

[ewhac]

That Mac was supposed to be an Amiga.

I was not directly involved with the debacle, but was closely connected with Commodore personnel who were in a position to know. Paramount originally wanted to use an Amiga in that scene in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. To that end, they contacted Commodore to obtain an Amiga 1000 for use.

The dweezil at the other end informed them that Commodore had no procedures in place for distribution of promotional machines (marketing? What's that?). However, they would be willing to sell them a machine at cut-rate developer pricing. Surprisingly, Paramount agreed, cut a check, and sent it off.

Fast forward a couple weeks: No machine. Another call to Commodore. It turns out that the amount of the check failed to include some trivial fee (shipping, tax, whatever), and the machine wasn't going to be shipped. Paramount was invited to send another check for the corrected amount.

Paramount understandably got fed up and made it's next call to Cupertino, CA. Apple not only gave Paramount a machine, they assigned them a programmer to do whatever they needed to make the machine dance for the camera.

Just another page in the ponderous tome of Commodore's incompetent management.

Schwab

Why he's my hero

[Macrobat]

The documentary Trekkies has an interview with him where he talks about a fan letter/suicide note he got form a depressed fan. He found out where she lived, called her up, and asked her to meet him at the next convention he was going to attend. She did.

He kept doing this for a while, meeting her at conventions and asking her to be at the next one...that's a pretty common suicide-prevention tactic, to get a promise from someone that you'll see them sometime in the future. That way they can't kill themselves.

He lost touch with her for a few years, and thought the worst, until he got a letter from her stating that she'd gone to grad school (Engineering, I think), and that his intervention saved her life. When he was telling the story, he was fighting back tears.

So yeah, he had a chance to do the Right Thing, and he did it. Celebrity may be a fickle thing, but he used his influence well.

That's why I admire him.