My Corner of the Interweb

In Darker News...

Mood: Vaguely Sad.
Music: The theme to Star Trek....
Game: World of Warcraft, Planetside, Call of Duty, Auto Assault Beta, Gunzonline Beta.
Book: None.
Muffin: None.
Punchline: None.

As you've probably heard, James Doohan, aged 85, died yesterday of pneumonia/Alzheimers.

Otherwise known as Chief Engineer Scott on Star Trek, "Scotty" was probably responsible for the focus and inspiration for millions of men and women to choose Engineering for a career.

This may sound funny to some. To me, it's pretty obvious. "Scotty" made Engineering cool. He was trustworthy, reliable, cantankerous, and a completely unprepossessing genius. If it was broken on a starship, or probably anywhere else, he could fix it...or at least get it working enough to save the lives of everyone yet again. Engines, shields, weapons, the captain's private bathroom...anything. It was not completely unheard of for people to occasionally call me Scotty...and I definitely do not have a Scottish accent. (Neither did James Doohan...but it didn't prevent him from using one.)

The writers of Star Trek, through Scotty, presented engineers not as nerds or geeks...but as the head of security, the go-to guy, the guy who could come up with the save when they needed it the most. In a crew that included Kirk and Spock, this was no small feat.

James Doohan was awarded an honorary doctorate in Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, for representing the field of Engineering in pop culture. I think that's pretty classy, not to mention definitely cool.

I refuse to put any Scotty quotes in here, in deference to the fact that James Doohan was more than Scotty, although the world never let him forget what made him famous. James Doohan, a former member of the Canadian Army, was hit by six bullets on D-Day, losing the middle finger of his right hand, which he was always concealing from the cameras. There was plenty of James Doohan in Scotty, I'm sure.

He didn't mind being associated with being Scotty. He absorbed it, and loved the attention, according to the stories and anecdotes I've read. Whereever he went, as far as Kenya or China, he was always greeted with cries of "Scotty!" and always returned the greetings with smiles and autographs.

He left behind children, a wife (and a few ex-wives...), and millions of adoring fans.

So long, Scotty. It's been fun.

His family have arranged to have his remains shot into space. And no, I'm not making that up.

Posted by Glenn at July 21, 2005 09:22 AM