Beamed Up to the Final Frontier

[Elspode]

Scotty has left Engineering. Someone else is going to have to coax that last bit of warp speed out of the Enterprise the next time Kirk gets everyone into dutch.

James Doohan, who was about as Scottish as Wayne Gretzky (both were Canadian, actually), has died at the goodly age of 85. He leaves behind nine children from three marriages. He sired his last child at the age of 80, thus proving that old pistons can still deliver the horsepower when needed, not unlike Scotty's beloved Enterprise.

Doohan, like most of the other cast, did rather well with his permanent typecasting as the affable Scotsman, and was a frequent participant in Trek conventions. Heck, I even saw him do a killer stint on "Password" back in the 80's. It was *so* weird to hear him speaking without the brogue. Jimmy Doohan was a WWII vet of the Juno Beach D-Day invasion, and was missing a finger for his trouble (something I never noticed).

It is a rare honor, I think, to be permanently and indelibly enshrined in the collective consciousness of humanity, even if it does bring your acting career to a grinding halt as a result. As the years slide by, one by one, the intrepid crew of the Enterprise will join Bones and Scotty in that Unexplored Country, but their voices, their images, their characters and their impact on our popular culture will always be present, as close as the button on your TV.

Give it all you've got, Mr. Scott. She'll take just a little more...