Introduced on Star Trek: The Original Series, Chief Engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan) has a well-deserved reputation as one of the best starship engineers in Starfleet. Scotty served as the Chief Engineer on the USS Enterprise for nearly 30 years, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). Throughout this time, he became known as a "miracle worker" due to his ability to fix almost any engineering problem. Scotty knew the Enterprise inside and out, and he took personal offense if anyone insulted his beloved starship.
Born in 2222 in Scotland, Scotty was proud of his Scottish heritage but felt even more at home working on the engines of a starship. Scotty had a particularly impressive Starfleet career, serving on eleven ships throughout his 51 years in the service. He penned several technical manuals throughout his career and contributed to official Starfleet regulations regarding ship specifications. Scotty's familiarity with versions of the Starship Enterprise allowed him to push the ship to its limits when necessary, which ultimately saved the day on numerous occasions.
Scotty’s Starfleet Career Before Enterprise (2241-2259)
Scotty Served On Federation Freighters & Cruisers, As Well As Starships
While at Starfleet Academy, Scotty had Professor Pelia (Carol Kane) as an instructor, and learned at least some of his engineering expertise from her. Although Pelia considered Scotty to be one of her best students, he received some of the worst grades in her class, much to his embarrassment. Star Trek has only revealed a few details about Scotty's early Starfleet career, but he worked on cruisers and freighters before officially joining a starship crew.
By 2259, Lt. Montgomery Scott (Martin Quinn) was serving on the USS Stardiver, a solar research vessel. While studying coronal mass ejections in the Shangdi system, the Stardiver was attacked by the Gorn. Scotty managed to escape by constructing a transponder that made his shuttle appear as a Gorn ship on sensors. Scotty was forced to land on Parnassus Beta, where he created fake human bio-signs and force fields to trap the Gorn. This trap inadvertently lured Captain Christoper Pike (Anson Mount) and his crew to Scotty's location, and he was later beamed aboard the Enterprise.
Scotty Joins USS Enterprise In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2259-2265)
Martin Quinn Was Added As A Series Regular For Strange New Worlds Season 3
With his previous ship destroyed, Scotty travels with Captain Pike back to the Enterprise, bringing the device he used to conceal his shuttle from the Gorn. As Pelia and Scotty hurry off to engineering, Captain Pike returns to the bridge, where he realizes the full horror of their situation. With several crew members prisoners of the Gorn, Pike faces an impossible situation, as the Enterprise faces down four Gorn ships.
In his first major Hollywood role, Martin Quinn is the first Scottish actor to portray Scotty.
Scotty Is Chief Engineer Of USS Enterprise In Star Trek: The Original Series (2265-2269)
Scotty Is Most Remembered As Chief Engineer Of The Starship Enterprise
The USS Enterprise was the first ship on which Scotty served as the Chief Engineer, and he oversaw the maintenance of the engines and other technology aboard the ship. Scotty was also the second officer aboard the Enterprise and took command when both Captain Kirk and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) were incapacitated or away from the ship. Throughout his time on the Enterprise, Scotty became even more familiar with Constitution-class warp engines than the man who originally designed them. Thanks to Scotty's quick thinking and creative problem-solving, the Enterprise survived many close calls.
In 2267, Captain Kirk and his crew brought a probe called Nomad aboard the Enterprise, and it attacked and killed Scotty when he defended Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). However, Nomad "repaired" Scotty upon seeing the distress his death caused, bringing the Chief Engineer back to life. Later that same year, Scotty was accused of murder while on shore leave, but the culprit was actually a non-humanoid lifeform called Redjac. Scotty was willing to risk his life to save his crewmates and was even willing to destroy his beloved Enterprise to protect Earth and the Federation.
Scotty Was In 7 Star Trek Movies (2270s-2293)
Scotty Proved His Loyalty To His Crew & To The Federation Many Times Over
After the events of Star Trek: The Original Series, Scotty was promoted to the rank of commander and helped oversee the Constitution II-class refit of the Enterprise, under the command of Captain Will Decker (Stephen Collins). Years later, in 2285, Scotty remained on the Enterprise under the command of Captain Spock, during the ship's tenure as a Starfleet training vessel. This training cruise was cut short, however, when the Enterprise was pulled into a mission to stop Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán) from stealing the Genesis Device.
In 2286, Scotty traveled back in time with Kirk and the rest of his crew, posing as Professor Scott from Edinburgh in 1986. After the Enterprise saved Earth by bringing a pair of humpback whales back from the past, Scotty joined the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-A as Chief Engineer. In 2293, Scotty helped his crew expose the conspiracy of Starfleet, Romulan, and Klingon offers who were attempting to sabotage the Federation/Klingon peace talks. Later that year, Scotty, Kirk, and Commander Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) were guests of honor for the maiden voyage of the Excelsior-class USS Enterprise-B.
Scotty Arrives In The 24th Century In Star Trek: The Next Generation (2369)
Scotty Visited Captain Picard's Enterprise-D In TNG Season 6, Episode 4, "Relics"
After retiring from Starfleet, Scotty was traveling aboard the USS Jenolan in 2294, when the ship stopped to investigate a Dyson sphere. After the Jenolan crashed on the surface of the sphere, Scotty was one of only two survivors. As Scotty had no idea how long rescue would take, he rigged the ship's transporter buffer to hold on to his transporter pattern. It took 75 years for him to be rescued. In 2369, the USS Enterprise-D picked up the Jenolan's distress call and Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) restored Scotty's transporter pattern.
Although Scotty held the rank of captain, he had little interest in pursuing a career in command, saying he "never wanted to be anything else but an engineer."
Aboard the Enterprise-D, Scotty felt like a man out of time, as the technology of the 24th century surpassed his engineering knowledge. Scotty's expertise proved vital, however, when the Enterprise-D became trapped by the Dyson sphere. Scotty and Geordi worked together to repair the Jenolan and rescue the Enterprise. As a thank you, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) gave Scotty a shuttlecraft "on extended loan," and he set out on another adventure.
From Captain Kirk's Enterprise on Star Trek: The Original Series to Picard's Enterprise-D, Star Trek's most iconic ship would have been destroyed many times over if not for the ingenuity of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott.
