One of television's great ethnic stereotypes was lost today with the passing of James "Scotty" Doohan, the closeted Canadian best known for his borderline-offensive portrayal of affable Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott of the USS Enterprise. For a show that has been almost slavishly lauded for its progressive vision of a harmoniously multi-ethnic future (Nichelle "Uhura" Nichols was famously persuaded by Martin Luther King to remain on the show because she represented such a positive Black role model), Star Trek seems to have dodged a lot of heat for Doohan's take on the goofy, scotch-loving, Aberdeen-born Scotty. I mean, Uhura never pines for watermelon, Chekov steers clear of the vodka... hell, Sulu is allowed to drive. But the Scotsman? Well of course he's a fucking drunk. 500 years in the future and the highlanders are still piss-heads. Yeah, that's a really forward-thinking characterization.
(Just in case you think the preceding paragraph contains any actual indignation, it does not. I think all Scottish people are drunks.) Anyway, although I am not what you could call a Trekkie, I am very fond of the original series and I always liked Mr. Scott. (If were picking favorites, I'm a Dr. McCoy fan... that dude was completely insane and drunk.) So farewell, James Doohan. You leave behind quite a legacy: history's most well-known fake Scottish accent. "tachDaq magham!” (That's Klingon for "We will meet in the cocktail lounge"... I swear to god I'm not making that up.)
Speaking of stereotypes... The policeman from the Village People got arrested. I bet Alanis Morissette puts that one in "Isn't It Ironic 2006."
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