Scotty was demoted before Kirk....while still on Vulcan

[TrickyDickie]

Scotty was a captain in Search for Spock:

But in the beginning of Voyage Home he was already demoted. His insignia is commander in the HMS Bounty scene and also in the courtroom scene before the charges are even read:

Was there an earlier script for TVH that got into this, or did the costume department mess things up? Note the inconsistency with the pullover color.

 

[Vger23]

TVH is not canon.

 

[Dukhat]

He was promoted to "Captain of Engineering" of the Excelsior by Admiral Morrow. Presumably this was just temporary after what happened with that ship.

 

[Timo]

...The in-universe mystery would be, why does Scotty tear off out his shameful Excelsior pins only after the escape from Spacedock Earth, to replace them with the "real" ones he feels comfortable with - and not the moment he clears the airlock of Styles' ship and commits himself to the mutiny?

Then again, he was the only one to keep his uniform on while stealing the Enterprise. Supposedly he was much busier than his passengers during the preparations. Plus perhaps in need of outward signs of authority till the very last, in order to pull this off in the first place.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm more bothered by Scotty's incredibly rapid weight gain. II-V take place over around five months, even though they were filmed years apart.

Must have been those Klingon food packs.

 

[FormerLurker]

That sour stomach was the least of his worries with those.

 

[2takesfrakes]

I have no idea why Scotty's wearing his Commander pin in TVH, but whatever the reason, he certainly regained his Captaincy for the rest of the movies, which is probably why Uhura started going out with him. All that status and prestige compensated for his gerth, apparently ...

TFF
http://www.trekcore.com/specials/albums/rare/article79/doohan_drinks_with_klingon_st5.jpg

GEN
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Montgomery_Scott?file=Montgomery_Scott,_2293.jpg