Talk:James Doohan

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Contents

[edit] Inappropriately Angry Trekkers

The Internet is full of essays and reports about and by Trekkers who were angry about James Doohan not getting a send-off in the annual Oscar tribute to celebs who have died. But the strange thing is, he WAS featured; they showed a brief clip from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," with Kirk and Scott talking. Considering most people during the tribute were just flashed on the screen for a second or so, while Doohan got to say his beloved line, "aye, sir," it confuses me to no end how people could have missed it. Minaker 18:22, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

The annual "In Memoriam" is for actors who were prominent in the medium motion pictures. The Motion Picture Academy does not have time in its "In Memoriam" to salute every actor who died within the previous year. Although Doohan was in the Star Trek movies, he was primarily a television actor, and thus a tribute would be more appropriate during the Emmy Awards. — Walloon 18:58, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Condolences, Memorials

The word is given Mr. Scott. Engage. 1920-2005

Post your condolences and memorials here

( Though I *am* a Star Trek fan, it just breaks my heart to know that a man who was such an important part of a seminal contribution to human culture is losing his faculties. :(

It is sad, but now that he's died, I'm sure he's in heaven. I just wish we had an internet article relating to his death, so we could add that.Bedford

You mean like these? --BradBeattie 16:51, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
You'll note I finally found one to add. Bedford 12:21, 20 July 2005 (EST)
A great man once said that ye cannae change the laws of physics. Well, Scotty, up there, you can. Have fun! Bryan Jones
May he be a continual source of inspiration to all engineers, present and future. --Wombat
RIP, Scotty -- ya gave her all she got, boyo!!!! (anon)
I guess he just didn't have enough pu'er. Bye Scotty, now you've beamed up I'm gonna watch a truckload of TOS and celebrate your life! Mikademus
I guess God decided it was time to beam him up. Rest in peace Scotty.
JesseG 03:16, July 21, 2005 (UTC)
Rest in peace my friend. --Admiral Roo 10:16, July 21, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for all the kind words about my Dad, James Doohan. He really loved his fans and being known as "Scotty". We hope you will attend the launch on dec. 6th - at least in spirit. Deirdre Doohan.

Diedre, your father was the best. A great legend. May he rest in peace....--Joel Lindley 15:54, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

James Doohan was a great actor and a great man. He will always be remembered. I'm sure that he's entertaining my sister in heaven right now. RIP. Tschow (talk) 04:19, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Other

The dates don't seem to add up. It says married he was married for 28 years. From 1974-2005 should be at least 30 or 31 years right?

Just a formatting note: The ISBN links should only include "ISBN", and not include the numbers, IMHO - I was expecting to see some information on the book when I clicked those, but was taken to the ISBN page.

Yes.. he would have celebrated his 31st wedding anniversary to Wende last week (oct. 05).

[edit] Copyright violations?

The edit performed by Fdewaele at 16:50, 20 July 2005 seems to have at least a couple portions that are copied directly from the Associated Press article about Doohan's death.

Here's a link to that article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050720/ap_on_en_tv/obit_doohan

The relevant portions are the discussion of Doohan's experiences on D-Day, and the discussion of his family history. -- Colden46 19:18, July 20, 2005 (UTC)

  • Yes, I noticed that too. Although people have subsequently tweaked the text, that doesn't fix the copyvio, since the current text is clearly based on the AP article. What is the right thing to do, delete it or add the copyvio marker? 128.2.203.136 20:59, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
I've rewritten all of these additions, which is the "right thing to do". --Dhartung | Talk 21:02, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Modern picture

Should we also add a more recent picture of him? Bedford 16:01, 20 July 2005 (EST)

I think He should be remembered as both the man, in the height of his acting career, and the older, wiser, man.

[edit] Marriages, children

Can we check how many children he had? - most of the obituaries I've read say seven, but we seem to be listing nine! -- Arwel 23:18, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

Fixed. He had no children by his second wife. --Dhartung | Talk 04:26, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

I am his second daughter, Deirdre, from his first marriage. The article is true - 4 kids from first and 3 from third..no kids with Anita (second wife). Associated Press had it wrong... and the word spread.

[edit] middlefinger

the story how he lost his finger, is it true? in de: someone deleted that recently. --141.53.194.251 13:42, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

It's in published obituaries. -- Arwel 17:25, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Post-War Service in Europe

Captain J.M. 'James' Doohan, RCA, served with my father, Gunner R.D. Knight, RCA, while both were members of 666 (AOP) Squadron, RCAF, stationed at Apeldoorn, Holland, in the summer and autumn of 1945. The recollection my father had of Captain Doohan was of driving him and other officers out to their assigned Auster aircraft, while my father was a qualified chauffeur/staff driver in 666 (AOP) squadron, months after the cessation of hostilities in the ETO. It was common knowledge in the squadron that Doohan was an exceptional pilot - as many of the officers were - and often picked for air taxi duties the squadron engaged in, while tasked with flying senior officers from #1 Canadian Army HQ in Apeldoorn, to and from Germany. A spartan but excellent reference to this history is found in the 32-page book the squadron produced while it was still serving in Holland, entitled "Battle History 666" (1945)(2006)... Darrell Knight <abelbookcompany@shaw.ca>

[edit] Early Career in Canada

If memory serves, before James Doohan became "Scotty", he played the role of an officer, if not captain, of a space ship travelling the galaxy. This was a sci-fi series that ran for perhaps a year or two on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. I like to think that that series already set him up for the role of Scotty in Star Trek. I'd appreciate it if anyone can confirm my recollection.

Ed Treister <edtreister@yahoo.com>

It's in his IMDb entry: "Space Command". --Dhartung | Talk 19:00, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

Yes, he lost his finger on D-day. He was shot several times in chest, leg, etc. but only noticed his hand at first. It's a great and true story - I should know, I'm his daughter, Deirdre.

[edit] Grandfather

He claimed his grandfather, Thomas Doohan, was Chief Constable of Belfast. [1] There was no such rank in the RIC at the time. There was a rank of "Head Constable" see - http://www.4qd.org/biog/rgt.html - and http://www.psni.police.uk/index/pg_police_museum/pg_principal_ranks.htm - this was a non-commisioned rank above a sergeant far below what one might think of with the term chief constable. Jooler 03:25, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ashes in Space...

Anyone know if this went as planned? The article still says that they're planned to be launched on 6 December 2005 Vash The Stampede 07:52, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

According to Space Services Inc, his remains will be launched on their "Legacy" flight [[2]] in the first quater of 2007 Alastairward 16:44, 26 December 2006 (UTC)
He's going up with a bunch of other people on Friday, April 28, 2007. -Mik —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 151.203.186.103 (talk) 15:33, 25 April 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Relationship with Shatner

I've just noticed the paragraph asserting hostility between JD and WD is identical to the paragraph asserting the same in George Takei's page. Seems a bit suspect. Toby Douglass 16:37, 19 January 2006 (UTC)


[edit] NPOV?

In the legacy section of the article, it states that the Apollo 11 landing was "arguably the greatest engineering achievement in human history." While I don't necessarily dispute the statement or agree with it, It seems NPOV to me. Perhaps a more neutral wording or a citation could be arranged, or else I think that particular sentance isn't all that necessary anyway. A possibility of the top of my head, "one the most famous events in spacefaring history". There are so many engineering achievements in human history, I think that unless you have a list or article citing that a legitimate body thinks that the Apollo 11 landing was the greatest engineering achievements in history... TheHYPO 09:07, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

That the Apollo 11 landing may be the greatest engineering achievement in human history is very possibly true and a legitimate statement to include, and given that, the coincidence of dates is ironic and worth inclusion.
Davidkevin 00:48, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I have changed that phrase to "one of the greatest engineering achievement in space exploration" instead of the "greatest engineering achievements" based on the following

There have been several great enginerring achievements in the space program

As a citizen of the United States of America, of course I have full respect for everything that Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins did in serving this country.

Apollo 12 spent more time on the moon and collected more data

Apollo 14 spent more time on the moon and collected more data

Apollo 15 spent more time on the moon and collected more data

Apollo 16 spent more time on the moon and collected more data

Apollo 17 spent more time on the moon and collected more data

I am refering to the reference source: The Illustrated Encylopedia of Space Technology" ISBN: 0-517-542587

As far as Apollo 13, it is quite clear that NASA had about 1000 "SCOTTYS" to bring the crippled spacecraft home. I am referring to the book "Lost Moon" By Jim Lovell ISBN 0-395-67029-2 I am also referring to the accurately based movie "Apollo 13"

While it is quite true that the Voyager missions were unmaned, the incredible distances they achieved were a far greater enginering achievement.

Each and every Space shuttle has had computer capabilities far greater than any Apollo spacecraft

There have been an myriad of Space Shuttle missions that have carried a much larger crew into space.

Each and every Salyut, Skylab,Mir, and ISS mission has been a greater engineering accomplishment.

While I respect everything the crew of Apollo 11 accomplished and did for this country, instead of being the "greatest" engineering accomplishment, it should be,by now, described as being one of the "greatest"

Claffey27 (talk) 04:49, 12 April 2008 (UTC)Claffey27

I will assume good faith here and try to explain it to you as politely as I can as this is important, and as you aren't seeing it you're degrading the article as a result: what made it an achievement isn't how much core memory the computer had or how many people were in the ship or how many hours they were on the surface, what made it the greatest achievement is that they were the first. Against all odds, despite all unknowns, Apollo 11 was the culmination of what was arguably the most difficult engineering project ever undertaken, literally going where no man had gone before. All the engineering work was to that goal, everything following is by comparison anti-climactic. It is exactly that which makes the date of Doohan's death such a perfect irony -- best known for his role portraying a spaceship engineer, he didn't die on the anniversary of one of the earlier working-our-way-up missions or one of the rather mundane shuttle flights which followed, but precisely the one which had the most emotional impact, took the greatest risk, and won the biggest gamble.
If you still can't see that, I'm sorry for you, but please stop degrading the article for those who do. -- Davidkevin (talk) 07:06, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Irony

If anyone has trouble understanding the concept of irony, I recommend the linked Wiki article, which seems to me to be fairly comprehensive. (Section 4.2 in particular.)

The date of his death is ironic.

Davidkevin 09:14, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

That whole bit should be removed, imho. That source is not considered reliable by a number of editors here. Its also POV as pointed out above. --Tom 17:30, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
"Not considered reliable" -- so are you saying it's wrong and that he didn't die on July 20, 2005 or it's wrong and that Apollo 11 didn't land on July 20, 1969? -- Davidkevin 20:32, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image:James Doohan 1980s.jpg

I originally uploaded this image over two years ago; it was just tagged for speedy deletion because it lacks a fair use rationale (the tagger inexplicably failed to give notice here). If the regular editors of this article would like to keep the image (of whom I am not one), please look into this. Personally, I would prefer a screenshot of him in character, particularly one from TOS. Cheers, Postdlf 01:58, 21 August 2007 (UTC)