Scotty's Weight

[eyeresist]

maybe he had enough seniority to be able to keep getting waivers for not meeting requirements.

I misread this as "maybe he had enough seniority to be able to keep getting wafers for not meeting requirements."

... Which might be one explanation!

 

[Therin of Andor]

I feel bad commenting on Doohan's weight but when your only acting work has been reduced to a few weeks of filming every two years, you should probably try to make an effort.

He was on steroids after his heart attack pre-ST II (his "wee bout"). Maybe he was making plenty of effort, just to keep appearing on Star Trek for you?

 

[bbailey861]

I feel bad commenting on Doohan's weight but when your only acting work has been reduced to a few weeks of filming every two years, you should probably try to make an effort.

He was on steroids after his heart attack pre-ST II (his "wee bout"). Maybe he was making plenty of effort, just to keep appearing on Star Trek for you?

That, Sir, was masterful.

 

[Disco]

I know this might open up a can of worms but I don't consider Starfleet to be a military so I can't see them having issues providing he was healthy.

 

[2takesfrakes]

...why wasn't Scotty's weight more of an issue in-universe?

In universe, it was all muscle.

>>SNORT!!!<<

That's right! In-universe, Scotty was 400+ pounds of firmness.

Otherwise, that's the ravages of Old Age, for you. We'll either balloon out like Scotty, Kirk & Uhura. Or become raggedly emaciated like Spock and the aptly named "Bones." Sulu & Chekov looked realistic, but I'm sure it's just a "by-comparisson" kind of thing, with that ...

 

[SPCTRE]

Looked okay to me in TVH.

 

[Retu]

When I was doing my national service, I was in an air command that was lead by a colonel whose appearance resembled Scotty in Star Trek VI. His weight didn't stop him hopping on the backseat of a jet fighter every now and then, when there was a training exercise on.

 

[Melakon]

What makes Scott valuable is his knowledge and experience, not how fast he can run 50 meters. Be sort of short-sighted for Starfleet to say "Sorry Scotty, you're too fat to know how to operate a warp engine now."

 

[USS KG5]

When I was doing my national service, I was in an air command that was lead by a colonel whose appearance resembled Scotty in Star Trek VI. His weight didn't stop him hopping on the backseat of a jet fighter every now and then, when there was a training exercise on.

And unless there was a particularly micr-managing General around, who was gonna stop him?

Rank hath its privileges!

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I'm surprised no on'es brought up Scotty's (or at least Doohan's) number of fingers yet. No, it's hardly a disability (despite working a job which is primarily pushing buttons), but it's not like Scotty's physique ever prevented him from getting under a console to fix some stuff (TFF, "Relics").

Mark

 

[FormerLurker]

^Sometimes I wonder. Around STII, when Scotty is wearing his rad gloves, is he flipping people off, or does he look like he's drinking tea? Unless Spock had to jam two fingers into one when he went into the intermix chamber, or whatever room it was with all the radiation.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

I'm surprised no on'es brought up Scotty's (or at least Doohan's) number of fingers yet. No, it's hardly a disability (despite working a job which is primarily pushing buttons), but it's not like Scotty's physique ever prevented him from getting under a console to fix some stuff (TFF, "Relics").

Mark

As efforts were made to hide the missing digit, it was presumably Doohan who was missing a finger, not Scotty.

--Sran

 

[FormerLurker]

Doohan was missing a finger. It got shot off while he was invading Normandy in 1944. But by TFF they stopped making any effort to hide it at all, and some fans speculate that Scotty lost it at some point. I'm actually surprised they went to any effort to hide it while he was giving Dr. Nichols the formula for transparent aluminum in TVH, since he held it right up in front of the camera handing Dr. McCoy the parts to Excelsior's main computer drive in the previous film.

 

[MikeS]

I realise this question was asked from an in-universe perspective. But any guy that was part of the gargantuan effort to rid Europe of tyranny deserves to be able to put on a couple of pounds during his senior years.

 

[2takesfrakes]

The fact that none of the Original Series Cast had quit, died, or been fired by this point, was probably a comfort to the fanbase, especially. Jimmy Doohan's known to have been a regular fixture at STAR TREK conventions, and I even remember one fan stating that he was suckered into this one convention where he was stuck outside in the rain, having to sign autographs. It's probably safe to say that if Jimmy Doohan's weight had presented a problem to those casting the STAR TREK movies, that the fans would've been very vocal and active in their support of the actor and just happy to have him there, at all. And he was an incredibly brave sonofabitch, having fought in World War II. A relative of a friend of mine was in that war, as well, and he's 90 years old, now. We go visit him, every once in a while at The Home his family put him in. He's about as senile as they come, but when I was laying out the matts on the floor one time, so he'd have somewhere soft to land on if he fell out of bed, he looked at me in a way where I knew he understood my appreciation of him and what he did. Hopefully, he'll be around another decade.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

I realise this question was asked from an in-universe perspective. But any guy that was part of the gargantuan effort to rid Europe of tyranny deserves to be able to put on a couple of pounds during his senior years.

Correct. People tend to discuss actors and characters interchangeably, when in fact they're different people who merely look alike (for obvious reasons). I'm talking only about Montgomery Scott, not James Doohan; otherwise, I'd have used Doohan's name in the title of this thread.

That said, I share your sentiments regarding anyone who participated in the Normandy invasion. I had the good fortune of meeting the now-late father of one of my neighbors several years ago, a man who fought at Normandy on D-Day + 1, and was humbled to be in the presence of someone who showed so much courage and dedication.

--Sran

 

[Mudd]

I realise this question was asked from an in-universe perspective. But any guy that was part of the gargantuan effort to rid Europe of tyranny deserves to be able to put on a couple of pounds during his senior years.

And indeed millions of them embraced that opportunity.

 

[The Old Mixer]

However unintended the effect, Doohan's weight gain helps to sell the idea that TWOK takes place 10+ years after TMP.

 

[Therin of Andor]

As efforts were made to hide the missing digit, it was presumably Doohan who was missing a finger, not Scotty.

There were also several shots throughout TOS in which a five-fingered hand actor used the controls of the transporter in closeups when it was Scotty on duty.

 

[LMFAOschwarz]

As efforts were made to hide the missing digit, it was presumably Doohan who was missing a finger, not Scotty.

There were also several shots throughout TOS in which a five-fingered hand actor used the controls of the transporter in closeups when it was Scotty on duty.

Which is odd, that in That Which Survives, it's clearly Mr. Doohan's hand in the close-up shot of the magnetic inverter!