Slashdot Mirror
Star Trek's Scotty Dies at 85
darkworm writes "James Doohan, better known to Trekkies everywhere as Scotty, has died at the age of 85. James was suffering from both Parkinsons and Alzheimer's and died earlier today at his home"
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
Rest In Peace Scotty. You will always be remembered.
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
Travel well, James.
we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
-- anais nin
"Is the word given, sir?"
"Aye, laddie-- warp speed."
RIP, Scotty.
Scotty had to be one of the most beloved Star Trek characters of all time and Mr. Doohan really made the character. I only hope that someone somewhere will play Amazing Grace on the pipes for him as he did for Spock at the end of Star Trek II.
... Of all the characters in Star Trek.... He.. was the most... human.
(Thanks for teaching me how to keep my reputation as a miracle worker. I'll be enjoyin' a wee dram in your honor tonight, James.)
Just as Agnes Moorehead didn't want to be remembered only as "the witch", I think it's kind of insulting to James Doohan just to encapsulate remberences of him solely as his most well-known character. Can anyone out there comment on his other roles? (e.g. Star Commander of Jason?) his military service? or his long, long life?
We all know he had a fun, fake Scottish accent and was unparalleled in delivering technobabble in just the right doses for a good episode of Trek, but I'd love to hear the stories of this man that aren't penned by Rodenberry or copyrighted by Viacom.
Anyone have any?
Wait, If Scotty is gone who is going to beam me up?
moo.
The Space Shuttle is obviously waiting for his ashes... That would be fitting. (Depending on the families wishes of course)
"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run over." - Aneurin Bevan
But the real value that James Doohan brought to his role, and that I value from his life was his enthusiasm. The positiveness he brought to his role came from the heart. He embodied and lived the "Can Do" attitude. Hopefully it was every bit as infectious as the rest of Star Trek and we will all remember that we too 'can do!'
"Can there be a Klein bottle that is an efficient and effective beer pitcher?"
So is Bones.
And it looks like the guy in the red shirt does always die, even if it's Scotty.
Haec merda tauri est. Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
More so than any of the Trek characters, methinks. How many of us here were first inspired into tech geekdom by Chief Enginner Scott?
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
A great actor who will be missed by all. So sad that such an extrodinary human suffered the indignity of dying through Alzheimers.
I recommend all Slashdotters honour his memory by donating to the Alzheimer's Association so we can find a cure for this disease.
And how do you know that the child won't receive appropriate care?
And all things considered I would bet that Sarah Doohan doesn't mind the fact that she exists.
In other words, make a good-faith estimate, then double it, because that's the pad to get it done "faster" than you project. Then double it again, because your good-faith estimate is always optimistic.
RIP, Captain Scott, and clear subspace.
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
My father died when I was one year old. He knew he was going to die. My mother knew he was going to die. I am not an accident.
I do not consider my conception reprehensible behavior on the part of either of my parents. I'm rather glad to be here. Thanks mom and dad. The weather is lovely today and I'm angst free about the whole thing, no matter how unfasionable that may be these days.
My mother is rather glad to have me here as well, as was my father's mother before she too passed on.
I am something of him for them; and as I am half him he can hardly have "left" me.
KFG
Those are the kind of people, though, who I think do make the best actors - it is when you have seen it all and done a lot that you can better act in something which we may never see or experience - being an engineer on a star cruiser. But it is rare to find actors today *cough*Shatner*cough* who are upright and unassuming. Even though he has not been able to act in a while, he, and other actors like him, will be sorely missed.
I've never known my father; he's never seen me, although he's probably still alive, and he knows I exist. For all practical intents and purposes, he died before I was born.
When my mother told my father that she was pregnant, he gave her some money and told her to get an abortion. She gave the money back, and told him to go to hell. They never spoke after that.
Like me, Sarah Doohan will grow up without a father - but at least she had the opportunity to know him for a few years first. As you say, I'm sure she's glad to be here, even if her father isn't.
Beem him on up to the big NCC-1701 in the sky.
And no bloody A, B, C, or D, either.
In memoriam James Doohan. The longest surviving "Red Shirt" on the USS Enterprise, his "Scotty" set the standard for generations of geeks and engineers. Working with the latest future technologies, often experimental, under a demanding boss for whom FTL travel, teleporters, galactic communications and more firepower than all of 20th Century Earth combined weren't enough to cakewalk through missions on any given week, Scotty's role model has influenced millions of 20th Century predecessors. His ingenuity, fortitude, and sense of humor while telling the boss that his demands are insane, but doable, even under excruciating time pressure floating around a newly discovered dimension, are an inspiration to us all. Mr. Doohan, in your new journey, go as boldly as you led us in all your merely astral journeys on our televisions, and in our imaginations.
--
make install -not war
I have two, two, two recessive genetic diseases, one of which has the potential to kill me (and always makes my life rather difficult) and the other of which will certainly kill me in time. I have lived much of my life in pain and discomfort.
Life is suffering.
Nonetheless, today the sky is a remarkable shade of blue, the sun is warm, but not too hot and the air smells of summer. I have been sitting down by the river where there is a nice breeze blowing and playing violin much of the morning. I like playing violin.
Life is also the only blessing you will ever receive, and if all it offered me was today I would take it rather than have nothing.
I see no point in self-inflicted psychological suffering when it is just as easy to play violin. I feel sadness for your father, but because he created his own tragedy needlessly.
My father made it out of his twenties, but only just. Rheumatic Fever. There was no such thing as a heart transplant at the time.
Life is suffering; and then you die. If parents never had children to prevent them from suffering and death there wouldn't be any parents in the first place.
Get thee hence and buy the best pizza in town. Enjoy it.
Thank your father for making that joy possible.
KFG
I mentioned this a few months or so ago in the "Hollywood Walk of Fame" thread, but it bears repeating:
Quite a few years back, I attended a convention with a couple of friends, all of us in college at the time. I have no other Star Trek convention experience to compare it to, but I found him to be a great speaker, funny, intelligent, and not in the least condescending as a celebrity all too often can be in public. He was also very straightforward, as a Shatner comment or two demonstrated.
After the speech and the Q&A session, he went outside to sit at a table and sign autographs. The line was HUGE. I can't remember why, but my friends and I ended up at the very end of the line. I don't go in for autographs, so maybe I held them up. Anyway, I wait with them, passing quite a bit of time, as Doohan signs autographs, makes small talk, answers questions, hears the same lines and jokes over and over again, etc. Finally, the last people in line (us) make it to the table. I would have expected any celebrity making an appearance to be happy it was over with, sign something for us and break for the door. Hell, _I_ would have. Mr. Doohan instead greets us VERY warmly, makes a big deal about how much of a pain it must have been to stand in line all that time. Maybe I'm jaded, but I honestly never really expected a tv and movie star to sincerely appreciate his fans. He then tells my friend with the camera to not be silly standing there taking pictures, has us come around the table with him and has someone else take our cameras and take pictures of us with him.
Far too rare of a man. If I remember correctly, his star on the Walk of Fame wasn't bought by himself or his agent as a matter of self-promotion, but by his friends and colleagues of many years who wanted him to get the recognition he deserved. I can't judge anyone's acting talent (ok, maybe SOME people), but acting is what you do, not what you are. And James Doohan was a great human being.
Ignorance is the root of all evil.