Talk:James Doohan

Jimmy Doohan was always a favorite of mine, long before I met him. I was in college in the late 60s, at the University of Tenn, and trying to find a way to chill between classes, and the nightly trips to the library. In the mid 60s I had heard from friends in Chicago about this incredible sci fi show called Star Trek, but alas, mid 60s TV in the south was not ready for such racy stuff. When I was in college, I sure soaked it up; Trek was right up my alley. Cutting edge, intelligent, science oriented, and positive, with a lot of adventure and space romance thrown in.

Anyway, before long, I was a nightly trekker from 6-7pm, and Scotty became on of my favorites. You could just tell the guy was talented, had experience, and was a decent person. Some people you can just sense that about. Great actor, multi-talented, very skilled. Anyway, soon, my favorites were Scotty, Kirk, Spock and Bones, with Sulu, Leslie, O'Neal, Kyle, Chekov, and Uhuru right behind.

Decades later, in the early 90s, I had a chance to meet the man twice at conventions. He was polite, hilarious, disarmingly honest, and extremely cordial. Jimmy loved people. He loved his fans and his fans loved him. His autobio is amazing. What a life! My kids were lucky enough to meet him once at the Science Fair here in 2001. He would stay at his conventions, all of them, until each and every person got an autograph, a picture, and time to speak with him, even if that meant 3, 4, or 5 hours of his time. THAT was when he was in his late 60s and early 70s.

He inspired many, many people to get in the field of Engineering, just as Spock/Nimoy inspired many people to go on to be scientists. Rest in peace, James Doohan. Well done.

Alex G

While trying not to sound cold hearted, I'm afraid there's no other way to say: This probably shouldn't be here as it has nothing to do with the actual articl content. - AJHalliwell 09:52, 21 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, but perhaps we could have a section at the bottom of the page where people could remember their fondest thoughts of James, and, as here, if they'd met him, what they thought of him. I've got some newspaper cuttings from today's UK newspapers, if anyone wants to read what we think of him in England. zsingaya 16:11, 21 Jul 2005 (UTC)^Talk

Yes, unfortunately emotive writing here is beyond the purview of our article space and talk pages also -- however, anyone with anecdotal information of Doohan's career or personality can of course structure it as article information, and list your source here:

• for example, i met Doohan in 1994 in FL at two conventions, and he remembered me from a trivia contest the second time i met him. he was giving away free magnets by an artist he was acquainted with.

To add information such as this to an article, we could add a subsection describing his activities at conventions or interviews, because he was a fascinating guest speaker who alway had something original to add, besides being a kind man. :( his passing is indeed a tragedy to fandom. -- Captain Mike K. Bartel^talk 16:35, 21 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Futurama appearence... Not so much?

Does anyone know why he didn't reprise his role on the episode of Futurama "Where No Fan has Gone Before"? Every other main cast memeber did. In the episode, they attributed Scotty's absence by saying that he got killed a while back and got replaced with some fat guy. I always thought it was because Doohan had died by the time they made that episode, but when I found out that he had actually died (three years later), it kinda mucked my theory. Was it a casting thing? Did he want to put Star Trek in his past? Anyone know?

• If I remember correctly, from an article in Star Trek: The Communicator magazine, he was either to sick (I believe he had Alzheimers) and/or just didn't want to do it. - AJHalliwell 01:02, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Hi, Ì`m from Germany and saw Doohan about ten years ago on a TV-show here. He was still very enthusiastic about Star Trek, so no I don`t think he wanted to put ST in his past.(In that show he acted like he was Scotty, not Doohan. Always thought he was drunk, but if he really had Alzheimer, i take it back. Sorry Mr.Doohan(RIP)) In fact, I think he didnt particpate in that episode of Futerama, because he didn`t like the idea of taking part in something like a spoof of ST. Toby

James was born in 1952

I heard some source say that James was born in 1952.It may seem unlikely but maybe every image/vid of him up until 1952 was James as an unborn out of the body not yet a person in that in April 1952 James officially was 'born' (not physicaly but as a person,like when some is saved only his spirit went into his body or something like that) Please look into this (like he wasn’t born in 1920 but his embryo/egg stepped out then he wasn’t born until 1952) Remember these guys were on Star Trek