Scotty on DS9

[Timewalker]

Heh, I was thinking the same thing.

I think it's because when the episode was written 30+ years ago the general belief was you needed a sun-like star to support life. Larry Niven basically made the same mistake with Ringworld. I feel that the long lives of red dwarf stars wasn't particularly appreciated until more recently.

Marion Zimmer Bradley set her Darkover series on a world orbiting a red dwarf star, and included an ancient alien race there that was so old that their own starfaring days happened before humans had discovered how to make fire. For the chieri, it was a case of "been there, done that, we came home, leave us alone unless we choose to contact you."

Scotty wouldn't have liked first-season Bashir (nobody liked him at first, other than Garak). He would have had a hard time accepting knowing Bashir was genetically enhanced, due to his experience with Khan (remember that Khan was responsible for the death of Scotty's nephew, Peter Preston).

Dunno if McCoy would have liked later season-Bashir. First-season Bashir put his foot in his mouth in nearly every conversation, but he could also surprise people.

 

[STEPhon IT]

To be fair to Scotty, I'm in a line of work now where I tend to inflate my estimates as well, because it's a heck of a lot better to say, "I'll get this done for you in the next couple of days", and have it done in the afternoon, than it is to overpromise and underdeliver...but also because I often simply don't know what the exact shape of my workload will be. My highest priority at the time can get entirely sidelined if I get a high-priority email.

That was Ronald D. Moore's Scotty from "Relics"; I understand where you're coming from relating to THAT character but that was not the Scotty I remembered in TOS. When there was a situation, Scotty didn't inflate expectations, he told the truth and I find that fascinating and showed how good he was at his job. Even in those movies I thought he was truthful.

 

[kkt]

Scotty wouldn't have liked first-season Bashir (nobody liked him at first, other than Garak).

You really think Garak liked Bashir in the first season? I thought it was basically transactional. Garak thought it would be useful to chat regularly with someone who knows what the station senior officers are up to; Bashir was a junior officer who put his foot in his mouth all the time and had no one else to have lunch with.

 

[Timewalker]

Garak and Bashir are a popular couple in DS9 fanfic. Garak could flirt while asking for the time of day.

 

[kkt]

That's what Garak wanted Bashir to think.

 

[Jayson1]

I always hoped he would guess star. If it was up to me I would have done a story were Scotty shows up to buy another ship, no longer using the shuttlecraft, from Quark. He makes friends with Nog who is studying for a Starfleet entrance exam so he can get into Starfleet.

 

[Timewalker]

I always hoped he would guess star. If it was up to me I would have done a story were Scotty shows up to buy another ship, no longer using the shuttlecraft, from Quark. He makes friends with Nog who is studying for a Starfleet entrance exam so he can get into Starfleet.

I can see it now: They get into a debate about the merits of scotch vs. root beer. When they're both exhausted, they make friends over a bottle of something "green."

 

[FederationHistorian]

That feels like a fannish episode, I'd prefer a Scotty episode where he somehow got caught up or was imprisoned in a Cardassian political dilemma, forcing Sisko to take action. How does the Cardassians deal with a man who shouldn't exist in their timeline and would they have disputes to why he's in their space or planet?

On the flip side, how would Scotty handle being imprisoned by the Cardassians? We’ve seen how they treated Picard and O’Brien, as well as the Bajorans and Maquis.

Scotty wouldn't have liked first-season Bashir (nobody liked him at first, other than Garak). He would have had a hard time accepting knowing Bashir was genetically enhanced, due to his experience with Khan (remember that Khan was responsible for the death of Scotty's nephew, Peter Preston).

There’s also the possibly that Bashir could reawaken in Scotty what he saw in Khan to idolize him in the first place. With Scotty deciding to place that ideal with Bashir instead.

 

[Jayson1]

I always hoped he would guess star. If it was up to me I would have done a story were Scotty shows up to buy another ship, no longer using the shuttlecraft, from Quark. He makes friends with Nog who is studying for a Starfleet entrance exam so he can get into Starfleet.

Not only that but it would be funny if Scotty and Rom bonded as well as fellow engineers and then Rom learned how to play the miracle worker trick on Quark when he is gripping at him to fix a broken food replicator or something. Allowing Rom to gain some control over Quark and how he is always taking him for granted by making him see just how much Quark needs him.

 

[Timewalker]

There’s also the possibly that Bashir could reawaken in Scotty what he saw in Khan to idolize him in the first place. With Scotty deciding to place that ideal with Bashir instead.

Whut?

In what universe did Scotty ever idolize Khan? He said he had a bit of "sneaking admiration" for Khan, pointing out that there were no massacres under his rule... but how would that ever equate to idolizing him?

It's not like Bashir is a ruthless dictator whose only reason to be admired was to refrain from massacring people.

 

[RuleofAcuisition17]

I hope McCoy would take Bashir to task for his habit of dating his patients.

"Damnit man! You're supposed to cure them, not court them!"

 

[Timewalker]

McCoy dated a patient once, unless Yeoman Barrows only ever saw Dr. M'Benga for her on-board health care. That was in "Shore Leave".

 

[FederationHistorian]

Whut?

In what universe did Scotty ever idolize Khan? He said he had a bit of "sneaking admiration" for Khan, pointing out that there were no massacres under his rule... but how would that ever equate to idolizing him?

It's not like Bashir is a ruthless dictator whose only reason to be admired was to refrain from massacring people.

You still got the general point though, right? That Scotty's sneaking admiration could return, but for the qualities that Bashir exemplifies (i.e not Khan).

 

[Orphalesion]

No thanks, the only character I dislike more than "Scotty" is Chekov.

 

[DonIago]

That was Ronald D. Moore's Scotty from "Relics"; I understand where you're coming from relating to THAT character but that was not the Scotty I remembered in TOS. When there was a situation, Scotty didn't inflate expectations, he told the truth and I find that fascinating and showed how good he was at his job. Even in those movies I thought he was truthful.

I suppose one difference is that Scotty was typically responding to the highest authority on the vessel, while I'm often responding to people who can be overruled by other factors.

 

[at Quark's]

On the flip side, how would Scotty handle being imprisoned by the Cardassians? We’ve seen how they treated Picard and O’Brien, as well as the Bajorans and Maquis.

"Ye cannae change the laws of physics, laddie. There are four lights."

 

[fireproof78]

I suppose one difference is that Scotty was typically responding to the highest authority on the vessel, while I'm often responding to people who can be overruled by other factors.

I mean, Kirk even calls Scotty on in the TOS films, so it's not exactly something unknown to the characters.

 

[at Quark's]

To be fair to Scotty, I'm in a line of work now where I tend to inflate my estimates as well, because it's a heck of a lot better to say, "I'll get this done for you in the next couple of days", and have it done in the afternoon, than it is to overpromise and underdeliver...but also because I often simply don't know what the exact shape of my workload will be. My highest priority at the time can get entirely sidelined if I get a high-priority email.

I do that, too. I make an estimation, and then I inflate that estimation by a certain factor, depending on the complexity of the project. (The more complex the project, the higher the factor.)

Not because I want to establish a reputation as a kind of miracle worker, but because experience has taught me that especially in more complex projects, unpleasant surprises will crop up - things you never even thought possibly could go wrong will go wrong anyway, nearly untraceable errors in computer code, discrepancies in source data or computational results you can't quite explain, and such.

So, when I give that inflated estimate, I'm both lying and speaking the truth. I'm lying in the sense that I think it should cost me significantly less time, but I'm speaking the truth in the sense that experience has taught me that in all likelihood, reality will turn out closer to the inflated estimate.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I actually recall, back in the days after DS9 was officially announced and the rumors were flying everywhere, that James Doohan actually was going to be a semi regular presence on the show. Of course, that just wound up being one of the dozens of wild rumors that flew around about the show in those days, but it was the most interesting one by far.

 

[Timewalker]

You still got the general point though, right? That Scotty's sneaking admiration could return, but for the qualities that Bashir exemplifies (i.e not Khan).

There's no need to be condescending.

I'm not sure what qualities Bashir exemplifies that Scotty would admire, unless it's an interest in engineering (something he mentioned to O'Brien on an early away mission, before they became friends). Or maybe Scotty likes playing darts.