Swordfish
08-02-2005, 11:49 AM
HE MAY have gone where no man had gone before - but a row has broken out in Scotland over where Star Trek engineer Montgomery Scott came from in the first place.
The fictional nature of Scotland's intergalactic ambassador appears to be of no concern to civic leaders in least four towns and cities who currently claim "Scotty" as one of their own.
Just two weeks after the death of Canadian actor James Doohan who played the Enterprise engineer, Linlithgow, Elgin and Edinburgh have all put themselves forward as the character's birthplace.
Aberdeen has now joined the fray over the man forever associated with the phrase "beam me up Scotty".
Fans from the granite city say they have evidence proving the engineer was from Aberdeen, and born there in 2120.
Iain Struthers, 38, of the Aberdeen USS Avenger fan club said: "His character was supposed to be born in Constitution Street here."
The official Star Trek website www.startrek.com does confirm that in one episode Scotty describes himself as an "Aberdeen pub crawler".
Councillor Pamela MacDonald, Aberdeen's education and leisure leader, said the city should consider erecting a statue to the space travelling Scot.
"If he came from Aberdeen and there's a quotation to say that then we should claim him.
"We should get a copy of that quotation and put up a statue with it on the plinth."
The bid from Elgin in Morayshire is based on an interview in the 1970s in which Doohan himself said that Scotty came from "Elgin, near Aberdeen". Elgin councillor Alastair Bisset said he was considering putting up a plaque to mark the city's Star Trek connection: "I'm looking into this as obviously it would be a great tourism boost for Elgin. If James said his character was born in Elgin then that adds weight to our case.
"I've visited Linlithgow, and Elgin is far more attractive."
However, in Linlithgow, the first Scottish town to announce plans to erect a memorial to Scotty, council leader Willie Dunn said he was "confident" that Scotty was born there.
"I do not understand where the Elgin claim comes from. We did a lot of research into this. His parents are from Linlithgow and continue to live here (after he leaves home) and he was born here.
"He did move to Aberdeen later, before he joined the Enterprise, so I can understand where the confusion is there, but our research clearly tells us his birthplace is Linlithgow.
"I don't see why there can't be a network of Scottish places connected with Scotty, but the truth will come out in 2222 which is his birth date."
According to the official Star Trek website, run by Paramount Pictures, the belief that Scotty was born in 2222 "is based on a line in 'Relics', thus considered 'canon', but the home town is apocryphal".
In Edinburgh, where a statue to Sherlock Holmes, another fictional Scot, already exists, plans to create a memorial to Scotty are also being considered.
The original TV notes from the series say the engineer was born in the capital and the popular website www.scifi.com also lists "Edinburgh, Earth" as his birthplace.
Lesley Hinds, Edinburgh's Lord Provost, said she would not be surprised to learn that Scotty hailed from the capital. "All the best people come from Edinburgh.
"This is something we need to look into. If he really is from Edinburgh then we shouldn't let any of these other places claim him, and we should put up something in recognition of his Edinburgh connections."
But it seems fans may never know for certain where Scotland's most famous space traveller really came from.
Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator, died in 1991 so the secret of Scotty's true birthplace, may be lost forever in history or perhaps the future.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1710512005
The fictional nature of Scotland's intergalactic ambassador appears to be of no concern to civic leaders in least four towns and cities who currently claim "Scotty" as one of their own.
Just two weeks after the death of Canadian actor James Doohan who played the Enterprise engineer, Linlithgow, Elgin and Edinburgh have all put themselves forward as the character's birthplace.
Aberdeen has now joined the fray over the man forever associated with the phrase "beam me up Scotty".
Fans from the granite city say they have evidence proving the engineer was from Aberdeen, and born there in 2120.
Iain Struthers, 38, of the Aberdeen USS Avenger fan club said: "His character was supposed to be born in Constitution Street here."
The official Star Trek website www.startrek.com does confirm that in one episode Scotty describes himself as an "Aberdeen pub crawler".
Councillor Pamela MacDonald, Aberdeen's education and leisure leader, said the city should consider erecting a statue to the space travelling Scot.
"If he came from Aberdeen and there's a quotation to say that then we should claim him.
"We should get a copy of that quotation and put up a statue with it on the plinth."
The bid from Elgin in Morayshire is based on an interview in the 1970s in which Doohan himself said that Scotty came from "Elgin, near Aberdeen". Elgin councillor Alastair Bisset said he was considering putting up a plaque to mark the city's Star Trek connection: "I'm looking into this as obviously it would be a great tourism boost for Elgin. If James said his character was born in Elgin then that adds weight to our case.
"I've visited Linlithgow, and Elgin is far more attractive."
However, in Linlithgow, the first Scottish town to announce plans to erect a memorial to Scotty, council leader Willie Dunn said he was "confident" that Scotty was born there.
"I do not understand where the Elgin claim comes from. We did a lot of research into this. His parents are from Linlithgow and continue to live here (after he leaves home) and he was born here.
"He did move to Aberdeen later, before he joined the Enterprise, so I can understand where the confusion is there, but our research clearly tells us his birthplace is Linlithgow.
"I don't see why there can't be a network of Scottish places connected with Scotty, but the truth will come out in 2222 which is his birth date."
According to the official Star Trek website, run by Paramount Pictures, the belief that Scotty was born in 2222 "is based on a line in 'Relics', thus considered 'canon', but the home town is apocryphal".
In Edinburgh, where a statue to Sherlock Holmes, another fictional Scot, already exists, plans to create a memorial to Scotty are also being considered.
The original TV notes from the series say the engineer was born in the capital and the popular website www.scifi.com also lists "Edinburgh, Earth" as his birthplace.
Lesley Hinds, Edinburgh's Lord Provost, said she would not be surprised to learn that Scotty hailed from the capital. "All the best people come from Edinburgh.
"This is something we need to look into. If he really is from Edinburgh then we shouldn't let any of these other places claim him, and we should put up something in recognition of his Edinburgh connections."
But it seems fans may never know for certain where Scotland's most famous space traveller really came from.
Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek's creator, died in 1991 so the secret of Scotty's true birthplace, may be lost forever in history or perhaps the future.
http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1710512005