Scotty in "The Galileo Seven"

[Christopher Miles]

Scott was a supporting character in most of TOS, and that character had a strange split-personality. Sometimes Scott was a calm, cool, pleasant professional who was obviously easy to get along with. ("The Galileo Seven", "The Corbomite Maneuver") Other times, Scott was a bit of a hot head, at times getting shrill. ("Who Mourns for Adonais?") Scott's third personality, which never made sense to me, was that of a drunk. "The Trouble with Tribbles" made sense, because everybody simply had too much to drink. But by TMP2, it seemed we were assuming that Scott regularly got into trouble. I never bought into that.

I always preferred his "Corbomite"/"Galileo" personality. He seemed to enjoy his work and had a disciplined personality. He was calm, cool and collected. And likable.
...

I totally agree. I am thinking specifically of how weak/odd he is in the Jack the Ripper and Memory Alpha episodes. The man can't handle the women. I'm disappointed in how (both eps) he comes across as either a victim, or a buffoon.

Isn't he also a little too bloodthirsty in Day of the Dove?

There is so much more to the man than his engines or his scotch.

 

[Astra]

I totally agree. I am thinking specifically of how weak/odd he is in the Jack the Ripper and Memory Alpha episodes.

Especially how he kept telling her in the latter to keep it quiet and not let Kirk know. As someone who understands command, he should know that you don't keep such important things from the people that have to make decisions. I found that very odd.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I am thinking specifically of how weak/odd he is in the Jack the Ripper and Memory Alpha episodes. The man can't handle the women. I'm disappointed in how (both eps) he comes across as either a victim, or a buffoon.

"Who Mourns for Adonais" also belongs on that list.

Isn't he also a little too bloodthirsty in Day of the Dove?

That was under the influence of the *.

 

[Timo]

...Even McCoy developed a taste for Klingon blood there.

It must be pointed out that "Wolf in a Fold" is similarly an aberration. Heck, Scotty's "misogyny" or whatever there isn't even for real - it's just a joke shared by Kirk and McCoy in the teaser, something to set the mood for "what if...?" but not act as proof positive that this "what if...?" really would be a consideration. Note that it never comes up in the actual investigation or trial.

It's a separate matter that Scotty might be interpreted to appear shy around women in that episode, perhaps somewhat weakening his performance overall. But a more likely reason for that is that Redjac is messing around with his brain, apparently knocking him unconscious every few hours!

All that said, Scotty's "can't handle women" persona need not be considered separate from "his usual self" IMHO. It's just a facet of the character that seldom gets seen because the circumstances in Scotty's little kingdom belowdecks have been arranged by the king himself to prevent women from being a problem for him.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Forbin]

I'd wager there are plenty of men who seem perfectly secure in life and competent at their jobs, who turn into total spazzes around women. Ask any attractive woman I've met since 1971.

 

[telerites]

Maybe the awkwardness around women ran in Starfleet Engineering Chiefs. Scotty and then there was Geordi La Forge (TNG) and even Engineer Barclay who both used a holodeck fantasy.

But yeah, I'd wear out the holodeck myself.

 

[Drone]

Trip?

 

[Timo]

O'Brien? Torres?

One'd think Chief Engineers in the Starfleet environment would in general be very good "people people", what with having to deal with assorted eccentric geniuses while theoretically running a hierarchical workplace. Scotty just might be in the eccentric genius quota himself...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Drone]

Here here sir

 

[Push The Button]

I'll give McCoy a pass because he's McCoy, but Scotty was the only officer on the Galileo, other than Spock himself, that acted like a professional military member, and just did his job like he had sworn to do. If I were Spock, I would have had Boma brought up on charges when I got back to Enterprise.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I'll give McCoy a pass because he's McCoy, but Scotty was the only officer on the Galileo, other than Spock himself, that acted like a professional military member, and just did his job like he had sworn to do.

Oh, I don't know. The first yellow shirt to die (Getano?) didn't get in Spock's face and followed orders. He died so quickly, there wasn't time for him to do much else.

 

[Timo]

One wonders why there'd be disagreement over how to deal with the situation in the first place. It sounds like a textbook case: shuttle down, resources limited, external threat, time window. Surely there would be procedures about such things? And surely not just Spock but all his underlings as well would know them by rote?

It's not as if there would be any uniquely complicating issues there. The only threat to the team is the restless natives. Applying Basic Anti-threat Doctrine A55 on them and then waiting it out sounds like a plan: the team could just sit on their hands for, oh, three or four weeks until Kirk returned, occasionally reapplying BADA55 as needed to keep the brutes at a distance.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Forbin]

BADA55.

 

[Drone]

I'll give McCoy a pass because he's McCoy, but Scotty was the only officer on the Galileo, other than Spock himself, that acted like a professional military member, and just did his job like he had sworn to do.

Oh, I don't know. The first yellow shirt to die (Getano?) didn't get in Spock's face and followed orders. He died so quickly, there wasn't time for him to do much else.

It was actually Latimer that got it first. Gaetano died, after attempting to ward off the creatures, having his phaser knocked out of his hand and then being pounced on.

BADA55.

Seconded!!!!!

 

[JonnyQuest037]

It was actually Latimer that got it first. Gaetano died, after attempting to ward off the creatures, having his phaser knocked out of his hand and then being pounced on.

I guess the name "Gaetano" just stuck in my head for longer because it was mentioned more.

 

[J.T.B.]

An interesting aspect about Scotty was that, according to TMoST, he was not an Academy graduate and had come up from the enlisted ranks. Though it was never explored on screen, that distinction may have been fairly significant in a time with a lot of veterans in writing and production, and may have influenced the development of the character as a steady, "done it all" presence. A speculation, anyway.

As much as he was characterized as the below-decks miracle worker, Scotty in TOS was also shown to be highly competent, reliable and cagey as a commanding officer, as TOSalltheway mentioned earlier. His performances in "A Taste of Armageddon," "Friday's Child," "Bread and Circuses," "The Enterprise Incident" and even "A Piece of the Action" make it easy to picture Scotty moving on to captain his own vessel some day. The characterization of Scotty in the movies, though it was probably inevitable, left a lot to be desired for me as a fan of the series character.

 

[Timo]

Besides inevitable, the characterization might be taken as realistic - Scotty might be one of the heroes who takes his heroic image too seriously and falls into a glide path of celebrating and self-pity, indeed becoming a caricature of himself. Alternately, he might be of the sort that learns to laugh at his public image, and the people around him just don't get the humor.

Whatever his personality, his character always appears to be one of the most senior in the episodes. McCoy may have been all wrinkly at birth, but Scotty is showing natural signs of physical age. Why not mental as well? Maturity in TOS and senility in TFS would both provide contrast to the rest of the heroes.

Timo Saloniemi