Goodbye, Scotty

None of my regular blog reads are acknowledging the loss of of syndication superstar, James Doohan this week. Not even self-described Trekkie Keith Brenton mentions his passing on his blog. So I shall give a blogger salute to the icon who gave us a culturally recognized symbol of frustration: "Beam Me Up, Scotty!" Yes, it was Captain Kirk who often said that, but if there were no Scotty, what would he have said? "Beam Me Up, Fred?" or "Beam Me Up, Jake?" No, it has to be Scotty. Plus Scotty has been fodder for many Saturday Night Live skits and other comedic endeavors. Why? Because he was so endearing to our hearts. He was "giving all she's got, Captain" all the way to the end. He was at once the realist ("I don't think she's going to make it") and the hopeful ("we'll do our best"). His accent was not genuine, but you wouldn't know that. As Scotty makes his way on one last journey to the final frontier, I hope that in the Captain's Log there is a notation that he gave it all he had, and perhaps escaped that one last enemy.