Aulogy?
My story, this my take a while, as I seem to keep crying.
It was 1997 or 98, and the local Star Trek convention was in town. At the time I was working for National Geographic, and we had a weekly ST table in the cafeteria. It was a diverse group, folks everywhere from the loading dock to the masthead.* One of the participants decided to ask Mr. Doohan to come by for a tour and lunch.
Knock me down with a feather, he says yes. The geeks were so happy at this point, but I bet you all get that. Scotty was coming. Everybody was working on the questions that they would ask at lunch, because he was going to answer questions. Tribbles, no, somebody else will ask that. Oh, I have it, I’ll ask something about the techno-babble that solved every question in TNG. Friday dawns, and I head to work smiling.
To be greeted by th worst virus outbreak that National Geographic has ever encountered. Yes, the two geekiest geeks, me and my work partner, were fighting viruses, and could not participate in the tour or the luncheon.
But, as I was running around, wiping viruses, Mr. Doohan, his entourage, and I climbed in the same elevator. His escort recognized me as one of the regulars and introduced me. James Doohan became Mr. Scott, he understood what I was doing, for the ship, as it were. He told me how important my job was, and to keep it up. Then he gave me some autographed 'fridge magnets. They show him at the transporter console with the message coming in, “Beam me up Scotty! There’s no intelligent life down here.”
He was a class act, and some day, I may tell the story about how the Monday after Peter Mayhew and David Prowse called and asked for a tour.
Bless you Scotty, for helping me see how it mattered on a bad day. How laboring in the fields made a difference.
I’ll miss you, the world is poorer without you.
*the masthead is the credit list given in the front pages of a magazine.
When I was an undergraduate, we used to have one big-name speaker a year during a traditional week-long festival (related to the student elections, of all things). One year, he was the guest speaker, and we attended of course. He was gracious and entertaining, and wore the school sweatshirt he’d been given. He stayed in town for a few days and, I heard, bought drinks for any of the students who joined him in the hotel bar in the evenings. Also, there was a student group that had (and still has) a world-class model railroad layout in a dormitory basement. Supposedly, he was given a tour of it, during which he was very interested and appreciative. Sometime after he left, the model railroad club received a check from him, in the amount of $10,000 (or at least that’s what I heard; perhaps it wasn’t that much).
He lived long and prospered, what else can I say.
:: lifts a glass of Balvenie::
Energize…
Damn allergies 
From a MAD magazine piece in the late 70s: explaining the definition of underrated and overrated,: “Mr. Spock is overrated; Mr. Scott is underrated.”
Another one off to the undiscovered country. A fine human, a gentleman, a brave fighter.
Why Jimmy you sly old warrior – betcha Shatner could not top that one… 
My favorite scene too.
I caught myself doing just that today (but I was wiggling the mouse, not picking it up).
Except ours is a POS e-machine… I tend to quote that a lot.
sigh
Thank you Mr. Scott.
For all of it.
The war
The character
The memories
for being a class guy.
May you go where the scotch is all single malt, and the lasses are all bonny.
Damn eyes keep leaking
Looks like you weren’t the only one who noticed. Check out the obit now; the phrase is suddenly listed as “apocryphal.” That’ll teach CNN a lesson, I hope. They may be fairly reliable when reporting trivial matters such as the words of international heads of state, but they should really leave the critically important stuff like Trek quotes to the experts.
Seriously though, a very touching obituary. My favorite passage was:
Thank you for the fond memories, Mr. Doohan. You’ll always be in our hearts whenever we need more power.
In the Telegraph obit this morning is great line. He was said to be suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. His reply?
"If I had Alzheimer’s, I think I’d remember it.’ 
Once in a rare while we seem to come across a person who understands what it means to be a celebrity. After reading much about James Doohan today, it seems like he truly ‘got it’.
He has a five-year-old?
Mr. Doohan, I salute you.
And I also became an engineer, although I wouldn’t attribute it too much to Mr. Scott.
Ah, good ol’ Scotty. “It’s green!”
On the way to work today, I heard an interview with one of the producers of the original series. He was there when Doohan auditioned for the part. According to him, the role of Chief Engineer was supposed to be a one shot deal, and not a regular cast member. It was Doohan’s performance which inspired Roddenberry to make Scotty a permanent member of the cast. I can’t imagine Star Trek without Scotty. The producer (and Will Wheaton) went out of his way to say what a nice person Doohan was. One might think that this was simply a case of not speaking ill of the dead, but the tone with which he spoke, the details he provided, pretty much erase that idea.
Who else could have saved humanity–and our Galaxy–by drinking a Kelvan under the table with Scotch Whiskey, Saurian Brandy, and um, and, well, and I don’t know whatthis is but it’s green!
::Belch; Vomit; Pass Out:: (but not before the obnoxious Kelvan. :wally )
The loss of a great actor and a great man.
I never noticed a missing finger in any of his appearances. Did he wear a prosthesis or was there some special effects laid into the films after filming?
(I must begin with a disclaimer that everything I type today seems to be wrong. It is just that sort of day.)
I cite the obit in the Daily Telegraph online at Here
He was a captain of artillery on the Canadian beach (‘Juno’) on D-Day. He was hit by machine-gun fire. Eight times. In the leg (four times), the finger (three times, says the newspaper) and in the chest (once).
He lost the middle finger of his right hand.
He would have died but for his metal cigarette case. He recovered from his wounds and returned to duty as an artillery observer in a light aircraft.
(Makes you wonder about the old guys at the mall doesn’t it? Which of them were heros?)
Neither, just good acting.
That nad a few hand doubles on close ups.
Like Gary Burghoff, they just found ways to shoot around the missing digit(s) and hid it with props. You can actually see it in Star Trek V.
er that, and a few hand double close ups…
The 60’s may have been swinging but not that swininging.