My kind of guy.
Posted on 10/15/2005 10:08:03 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
Saturday, 15 October 2005, 08:48 GMT 09:48 UK
Space date set for Scotty's ashes
Star Trek actor James Doohan, who played Scotty in the series, will have his final wish granted when his ashes are sent into space on 6 December.
Doohan died of Alzheimer's disease and pneumonia in July, aged 85. His ashes will be accompanied by thousands of tributes from fans of the sci-fi show.
"James spent so much time with fans and many want to come to his space blast," a Space Services Inc spokeswoman said.
The firm will fire the ashes into orbit from a California Air Force base.
'Absolutely adored'
"Jimmy absolutely adored playing the role of Scotty on Star Trek," said his widow Wende Doohan in a letter to fans.
"He would have given almost anything to be able to actually go into space.
"He finally gets his wish, I can't think of a more fitting send off than having some of his fans attend this, his final journey."
Mrs Doohan invited fans to contribute extra tribute messages via the Space Services Inc website, "to honour him on his journey to Earth orbit".
Messages will be digitised and put onto a disc that will be included in the rocket that carries Doohan's remains into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The Texas company previously sent the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and 1960s drug guru Timothy Leary into space.
Doohan's Star Trek character Scotty manned the Starship Enterprise with Captain James T Kirk, played by Shatner, and Mr Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy.
The original crew lasted for three series, starting in 1966, before the show was axed, but the team reunited for seven big screen movies.
'Beam me up'
Although Doohan became synonymous with the line "Beam me up, Scotty", it was never actually said in the series.
The closest Captain Kirk came to saying it was in the fourth Star Trek movie, when he said "Scotty, beam me up".
Canadian-born Doohan had been a successful character actor on radio and TV before landing the role in the pilot Star Trek episode.
He quickly became typecast as the Scottish space engineer, finding it difficult to get other roles, but he learned to embrace his place in sci-fi history.
His final public appearance was in October 2004 when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Sword, Gold and Juno were Normandy beaches taken by the Brits on D-day.
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