Friday, August 5, 2011

Montgomery Scott







In Memory of James Doohan (1920-2005)

This man... James Doohan played many roles on the original series, some you may not think is him but it is... for instance he was the M-5 unit in "The Ultimate Computer"

Scotty is the Second of 4 characters that survived the second pilot. Jimmy Doohan, tried many accents for his role on Star Trek, before coming to the accent we know and love. The reason he chose a Scottish accent was that he thought that they made the best Engineers. Scott's first name was a homage to Doohan's grandfather James Montgomery, something.

I have always enjoyed Scott and how he interacted with the Enterprise and Captain Kirk, especially in one of Scotty's finer moments in "The Trouble with Tribbles" and I would like to point out that Scotty is not a drunk, He'll get into his occasional bar fight and drink a Kelvin under the table but there is one other person who is more deserving of that particular title.

We all have a friend like Scotty always telling us that it will take more time then it will to be a miracle worker. James Doohan as Scotty was in 68 episodes of the Original Series, 21 Animated Series episodes, 1 Next Generation episode, 1 Deep Space Nine episode and 7 feature films. I know I speak for all of us when I say God Speed, Jimmy. We miss you

Star Trek: New Voyages/Phase 2

Well as much as I miss seeing James Doohan as Scotty because of Star Trek (2009), I am thrilled to work with a guy who embodies Scotty in many ways... Charles Root. He was introduced as Scott in the first episode of New Voyages, "In Harm's Way". I know you all who know the series will tell me that he wasn't the first, and you are all right he wasn't the first. Jack Marshall who directed the pilot and first 2 episodes was Scott in the pilot "Come What May".

Anyways, Charles has been exemplary Scott. He has come a long way with lessons from our Sound Designer Ralph Miller, LOL! But, all kidding aside, I think he is better then the Scott in Trek (2009). He comes into the studio with an energy that says "Let's get this show on the road"

His best performance was in "Enemy: Starfleet!" when talking about ruining his engines, I actually forgot that it wasn't James Doohan. And this is a guy that I have known and worked with for 3 years now.

Not only does Mr. Root play our Chief Engineer, but the displays that you see in "Enemy: Starfleet!" on the bridge, he did. So the man is the actual Mr. Scott

Next time... a new episode and maybe one of the big three.

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