James Doohan (1920–2005)

In Beam Me Up, Scotty: Star Trek’s “Scotty” – In His Own Words, James Doohan recounts his life from youth through the final appearance of James Montgomery Scott in Star Trek Generations. He discusses growing up in rural Ontario, dealing with his alcoholic father and trying to find his place. World War II offered the opportunity to discover it, though as he describes, he spent many years in Canada and Britain waiting for the war. Doohan participated in the D-Day landings only for a show more stray shot to take his right middle finger. He then learned to fly, contributing in other ways while discovering his love of aviation. Following the war, Doohan began acting on radio and stage before transitioning to television and film, with Star Trek typecasting him and opening up opportunities through the fan community and all it afforded him. Doohan concludes, “To me, Scotty is Scotty and was already a full human being as soon as I opened my mouth with a Scottish accent. I tell people that he’s one percent accent and ninety-nine percent James Doohan… The way I look at Scotty is, hey, I love engineering myself. I wish I could be an engineer. Scotty may not be so much James Doohan as he is an idealized version of James Doohan. A James Doohan who, as a boy, loved things that ‘went’ and dreamed of escape” (pg. 205). Doohan’s memoir is distinctly enjoyable, with his characteristic optimism shining through his every anecdote. A great read for any Star Trek fan that pairs well with the autobiographies of Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, and Walter Koenig. show less

I found this book to be a breath of fresh air. I feel that many Star Trek fans would be disappointed in this book. The book goes into details of the life of James Doohan (A.K.A. Montgomery Scott of the starship Enterprise).

I found this book refreshing because it gave me an insight as to who James Doohan really is. I found the accounts of his life very interesting. I was also not aware of all of the acting he did before and after Star Trek. I was glad to see that for James Doohan, Star Trek show more was not everything. The descriptions of his life events were very interesting and he puts closure to many questions such as, "Why don't we ever get to see his right hand in the Star Trek episodes?" or "Where did the name Montgomery Scott originate?" I was also impressed with how professionally he handled some of the negative things he had in his life. This book had little to no "Mud Slinging" about anyone in his life.

As a Star Trek fan I was disappointed however. He did not go into very much detail over his extent with Star Trek. He summed up 3 seasons worth of Star Trek in one chapter. He summed up all of his years of convention going in another chapter and his experiences with the movies in a third. And believe me, these were relatively short chapters in comparisons to his other chapters which detailed his family life and his experiences in WWII.

I was able to start and finish this book on a business trip I took recently to the west coast. It is a pretty easy read and did capture my attention long enough to continue reading it. In some ways I wish that there were more stories about what happened on the Star Trek sets but I was pleasantly surprised at the true life story of James Doohan which he felt was much bigger than Star Trek. The message of the book was very clear and I am glad he wrote it this way. I came away with the feeling of "Gosh, I wish I could meet and be friends with James Doohan."


Flyinfox show less

Not bad. Interesting story, interesting characters, an elegant war, and a nice mystery. Aside from seeing Raeder as Scotty all the time (he's not - not Scots, and only 29), it's a good read. Nothing wonderful but quite good. I thought I knew who the bad guy was and I was right - don't know if I remembered from the previous reading (a couple years ago) or it was just well-enough foreshadowed that I figured it out - I suspect the former, though. And there were a couple not-quite-quotes - the show more thing about the Bethe-cycle bomb 'jiggling' its way down and then the thoughts as it exploded are almost perfectly out of H. Beam Piper's Space Viking. Some of the bar descriptions and some of the battle scenes rang faint bells too. Not to disparage this story, I rather enjoyed the echoes. It's never going to be a favorite, but I'll keep it and likely reread it. As I recall the series went downhill fast, so I'm suppressing the desire to read the next one(s). show less

James Doohan may have been famous for being Scotty on Star Trek, but this autobiography shows that he was much more than that. A WWII D-Day hero. A consummate character actor. A family man.