James Doohan Passes Away

Today James Doohan, who played Scotty on televisions Star Trek passed away. I guess Scotty beamed himself to his final destination. Star Trek and Scotty in particular influenced me in a big way. Scotty worked his last miracle. Doohan's death is not unexpected as he had been in failing health for some time.

In addition to serving fictionally on the Enterprise, James Doohan was also a war hero, having served in the Canadian Army in World War 2. Mr. Doohan landed on D-Day and was wounded during the war.

My favorite episode was "The Trouble with Tribbles," where Scotty leads the crew members under his watch in a brawl with Klingons after they call the U.S.S. Enterprise a garbage scow.

The subsequent scene between Kirk and Scotty where Scotty informs the Captain the does not care if Kirk is insultated but nobody is going to call the Enterprise a gargage scow.

Or how about Scotty trying to communicate with the 20th Century Macintosh by speaking into the Mouse in Star Trek 4.

He also latter appeared in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Scotty sent himself into a pattern buffer in the transporter and keeping his matter circulating in the unit through continuous diagnostic loop. Latter in that episode Mr. Scott was re-united with the Enterprise bridge set (re-created in the holo-deck).

This show had an impact on me because after watching Star Trek and the television series from Gerry Anderson (U.F.O., Thuderbirds, and Space 1999) as a kid, I have been building control rooms every since.