His engine
July 20th, 2005 at 4:53pm |
His engine finally failed.
Just learned that James Doohan died.
No dilithium crystals nor elaborate and implausible slingshots around the sun will bring him back.
Two original Star Trek cast members are gone now.
Posted in Awake
I heard this on Fox News this evening. The other death was McCoy, right? I watched reruns of the original series when I was a kid, and I enjoyed it. I never got into the newer series, however. The only one of the movies I liked was “Wrath of Khan.” I think my interest in that movie was the oddity of seeing the guy from Fantasy Island looking like some kind of Neanderthal dude with huge pectorals.
Yeah, DeForest Kelley.
I admit a love-hate thing with the original Star Trek. I started watching it because my mother liked it, and I wanted to make fun of it. (The same way I started watching Doctor Who.)
I never liked Star Trek as much as Star Trek: The Next Generation. That show was for my generation, with better special effects, acting, etc.
But the movies with the original cast were often quite good.
Wrath of Khan is great, has Scotty playing bagpipes at the end.
I definitely loved the movies, and could easily get sidetracked by a discussion of them. After TNG, though, Star Trek never had quite the same pull for me.
Those original cast members are getting older. William Shatner is apparently well aware of his mortality these days, as he’s shown in songs on his album Has Been.
Knew it was just a matter of time.
Well, I guess Scotty’s been beamed up then, eh?
Like Matt, I watched reruns of the original but never really got into the others. As for the movies, I liked episode IV, the one with the whales, mainly because of that scene with Spock trying to figure out American culture on the bus.
Other Star Trek memories:
1) Watching “The Trouble With Tribbles” as a film (you know, those things on big reels) at home on my dad’s old projector. We used to borrow films from the county library, including really boring films about smelting copper ore and other educational films. The Star Trek episodes were always my favorite.
2) Dragging my sister off the piano bench and pummeling her for playing piano while I was trying to watch Star Trek on tv. I’m a bit embarrassed about that, though. I could have been nicer…
I remember watching Star Trek as a youngster with my dad. I would sit on his lap and we would watch it first and then Barney Miller, which I really enjoyed (and still do). Of course these were re-runs, but nonetheless fond memories.
And, I, too, liked the Star Treck movie with the whales. It was filmed in the Bay Area and I spent my summers there with my extended family. It was neat to see things that I had seen “in real life” in a movie! Ah, to be young again.
Sure will miss Scotty, though.
That’s quite sad about Scotty. No one could murder a Scottish accent quite like how he could.
And, Dawn, you watched TOS episodes on film projector? That’s impressive.
And Brandi: That was part of the allure of going up to S.F.: To stand in Golden Gate Park and yell, “There be whales here, sir!”
Was he imitating a Scotch accent, or was he really Scottish? I always thought he was an honest-to-goodness Scotsman.
I don’t think he was really a Scot, I think he just played one on TV.
He was definitely not Scottish, any more than Walter Koenig is Russian. Or at least, did not come by his accent honestly.
I knew for a long time that Doohan’s accent was fake, but after obit reading, I learned that he auditioned for the role with a number of accents, and they settled on Scottish because if he was to be an engineer, he’d better be a Scotsman. Apparently, Doohan, who was Canadian, also did voices for other characters on Star Trek. I imagine that with something so low budget, you welcome versatility.
And yes, to the Bay Area thing, I get great amusement out of saying things like Alameda and nuclear wessels.
And Heather and I got temporarily lost in Sausalito, which is where the fictional whale institute is supposed to be.
Admiral, there be whales here!
Ahh. . . I miss the Bay Area! So many found memories.