Godspeed, James Doohan. He was an absolutle badass who lost a finger storming the beaches at Normandy, was the most insane pilot in the Canadian Air Force despite not actually being in the Canadian Air Force, and then spent his senior years doing comedic bits in Star Trek movies.
Doohan was really self-conscious about his missing finger and he went to great pains to hide it when filming. Like, if I’d lost a finger fighting the Nazis on D-Day I’d never shut up about it, but these were men of a different time.
Doohan’s wikipedia entry is buck wild:
Military service
At the beginning of the Second World War, Doohan joined the Royal Canadian Artillery and was a member of the 14th (Midland) Field Battery, 2nd Canadian Infantry Division.[10] He was commissioned a Lieutenant in the 14th Field Artillery Regiment of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. He was sent to England in 1940 for training. He first saw combat landing at Juno Beach on D-Day. Shooting two snipers, Doohan led his men to higher ground through a field of anti-tank mines, where they took defensive positions for the night. Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan was hit by six rounds fired from a Bren Gun by a nervous Canadian sentry:[2] four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.[7] His right middle finger had to be amputated, something he would conceal on-screen during most of his career as an actor.[11]
Although he was never actually a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Doohan was once labelled the “craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force”. In the late spring of 1945, on Salisbury Plain north of RAF Andover, he slalomed a plane between telegraph poles “to prove it could be done”—earning himself a serious reprimand. (Various accounts cite the plane as a Hurricane or a jet trainer; however, it was a Mark IV Auster.)[15][16]
Three is atrociously bad. Like, the only good thing about it is that it makes part five look good. I guess they were in something of a pickle after Khan, but lol, the whole movie is ridiculous even compared to a movie about Kirk literally finding god
I don’t mean to front like I’m some uber geek, but probably the most highly regarded original episode was “The City on the Edge of Forever” where they time travel back to 1930s America to find/rescue a psychotic McCoy, so perhaps the whales singing in 4 was a bit much but it’s not that much sillier than the original show.
I rank 3 lowest for the meta reason of succumbing to the bringing a dead character back to life story trope, retroactively robbing 2 of its emotional impact.
After some reflection, i believe you have the correct order. It’s just that 2>>4>>>6>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>everything else so it can seem like the top three are all number ones.
They didn’t even bring the most important character in Kirk’s life back tho. Still haunting him all the way into Undiscovered Country. Conveniently forgot about it though by Generations.
But, like, “Scotty, beam me up?” For that matter even, “Good shooting, Mr. Scott?”
4 is definitely the most quotable, and that’s even outside of me living in the Bay area and making reference to the nuclear wessels in Alameda ~ 1/month.
I got 2 > 6 > 4 >> 1 > 3 > 5, and I got Generations faring pretty well compared to 1, 3, and 5. Not sure exactly where I slot First Contact with the top 3, but it’s obviously excellent.
IMO no one should view Khan (for the first time or otherwise) without first watching a few random TOS episodes, followed by TMP. It will perfectly set the mood for how much Khan will blow your mind with what a Star Trek movie can accomplish.
I know I have told this story about 1000 times but I spent a great day with Jimmy Doohan at a local hobby shop many many many years ago. They were running some contest but the radio station they advertised on forgot to run the spots. I lived within a block and just happened to walk by the store (it did not receive a lot of foot traffic) and spied my beloved Scotty. I spent the entire day listening to Doohan tell stories and answer my questions about Trek. I think the max number of fans in the store at any one time was three.
Doohan was extremely gracious about the mix-up and lack of fans and really seemed to enjoy himself (maybe I’m a great Star Trek fan or maybe he’s a great actor).
actually a really solid response except for saying the great lawyers who say nothing wrong happened are greg jarret and mark levin. if he would have left it at great lawyers it would have been a perfect response. today is the day he finally got good enough at bullshitting to not look like a total dope the way he usually does.
