Star Trek Icons: The Importance Of Being Scotty
Captain Kirk's Enterprise Engineer Makes It All Work LIke Tribbles In Heat
I cannot change the laws of physics, Captain! - Montgomery Scott - Star Trek
Maybe not, but he sure as hell tries his best to do so every chance he gets.
Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott is the stalwart Starfleet man with the plan which simply never fails. Be it revving up those beloved bairns or warp engines for more power, boosting the ship’s defense shields to unimaginable intensity, or simply getting rid of a load of tribbles, where they’ll be no tribble at all, the man gets the job done with style to spare and then some.
Sadly, the ever efficient and proud Scotsman never gets nearly as much flashy credit as other Enterprise crew, but still, he makes it all work elegantly. Throughout three original broadcast television seasons on NBC, an animated TV show, and seven feature films, Canadian actor James Doohan personified the legendary sci-fi fix-it man. In due course, he became known as Kirk’s miracle worker, who always helped get the planet hopping crew out of a jam. Be it predatory alien influence or titanic, technological snafu, Scotty' always puts the Enterprise back on its warp track.
Enter The Scotsman
When we first see Scotty in the first season pilot - the 2nd pilot after The Cage - Where No Man Has Gone Before, he isn’t wearing the infamous red shirt we’re all accustomed to seeing him wear throughout the original series run.
Ultimately, and thankfully, nobody else would ever wear those boring, beige, tube collared uniform shirts ever again. This Scotty, though limited in screen time, and more subdued than the passionate firebrand we’re treated to in later episodes, still effectively communicates his quiet, competent authority. Gary Mitchell (Gary Lockwood), Kirks best friend and Enterprise helmsman, has been imbued with destructive, godlike powers. It’s up to the entire crew to stop him or succumb to Mitchell’s growing omnipotence.
Scotty’s first line of dialogue is said to Kirk, as he operates the Transporter, he informs his Captain, “Materializer ready, Sir.” Later, when the crew is discussing the dread thing which Mitchell is morphing into, Scotty reports how controls and levers on the bridge were seen operating by themselves. It’s the first line of dialogue where we hear Scotty’s convincing Scottish accent - yet James Doohan was born in Canada, not Scotland. Doohan dazzled as a master of voices. He even vocalized the out of control M5 computer featured in the A.I. run amuck episode, The Ultimate Computer.
The Legendary Starfleet Miracle Worker
Scotty always gave us choice memorable lines to savor. In Star Trek III: The Search For Spock, he gives loyal fandom a doozy indeed.
[the crew gets a first look at the USS Excelsior]
Uhura: Would you look at that.
Kirk: My friends, the great experiment: The Excelsior. Ready for trial runs.
Sulu: She's supposed to have transwarp drive.
Scotty: Aye. And if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon.
But the man must live up to his celebrated reputation - doesn’t he now? Later on in in the same film, we’re given an explanation on just how he manages his miraculous rep.
Kirk: How much refit time before we can take her out again?
Scotty: Eight weeks, sir. But ye don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for ye in two.
Kirk: Mr. Scott. Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?
Scotty: Certainly, sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?
Kirk: [over intercom] Your reputation is secure, Scotty.
Decades later, Scotty gives Geordi Laforge (Levar Burton), another Enterprise Engineering Chief, some well worn advice.
Scotty: Do you mind a little advice? Starfleet captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. But the secret is to give them only what they need, not what they want.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: I told him I'd have the analysis done in an hour.
Scotty: How long will it really take?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: An hour!
Scotty: Oh, you didn't tell him how long it would really take, did ya?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge: Well, of course I did.
Scotty: Oh, laddie. You've got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker.
Perhaps the most playful of Scotty’s quotes, and a personal favorite of mine, comes from the feature film, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. After beaming up the humpback whales onto the borrowed Klingon Bird of Prey, Scotty exclaims, “Admiral, there be whales here!”
It’s a memorable line plucked from a truly triumphant movie moment.
Like many things we take for granted in our lives - a mother’s comforting love, a clean pair of socks, a sunny afternoon or that cold drink downed on a hot day, Scotty’s contribution to the Star Trek mythos is enormous. James Doohan fleshed him out first, then Simon Pegg took the Scotsman into a new generation of films. Undoubtedly we’ll see this essential character back nurturing his ship engines and balancing his warp drive in a future incarnation of Gene Roddenberry’s sci-fi starship of the imagination.