Great Scott

James Doohan is dead. Though he appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, he'll always be remembered as Montgomery Scott, chief Engineer of the Starship Enterprise.

Because the series soon became the adventures of Kirk, Spock and sometimes McCoy, Scotty only shines in a handful of episodes. For instance, in "Who Mourns For Adonais?" he (and his stuntman) gets beaten up pretty bad by Apollo. In "The Trouble With Tribbles" he gets into a barroom brawl and has an even better scene trying to explain it to Captain Kirk. In "Wolf In The Fold" he gets to ogle Orgellian belly-dancers before being accused of stabbing one to death. (It turns out to be John Fiedler, who died last month--sorry for giving it away.) Scotty's wide smile from this episode is the shot being used most on TV obits.

His best moment altogether may be in the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where he gives away important 23rd century technology to the 20th century and then laughs it off.

Ultimately, it's not the moments we'll remember, it's the character. Because of Scotty, we know people in the future will speak English, but some with heavy accents. Because of Scotty, we know guys in the future will still be proud of how much they can drink. Above all, we'll remember him for being reliable as well as reliably whiny. In about every other episode, the ship is broken, Kirk commands Scotty fix it and Scotty complains he doesn't have the time and/or power. But he always comes through.