Aye, Scotty! Trekkies and stars salute Doohan

HOLLYWOOD — "Star Trek" events have become so commonplace that hardly anyone stares at those diehard fans who insist on arriving at conventions, book signings and ribbon cuttings sporting prosthetic foreheads, pointy ears and uniforms.

This weekend's salute to original cast member James Doohan — aka Montgomery Scott, "Scotty," chief engineer of the USS Enterprise — was a decidedly different sort of affair, however.

"This convention is more austere and somber ... not as geek-related," observed Andrew Ten, a handsome and well-groomed Los Angeles banker, who wore a formal jacket from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" to Saturday night's banquet and roast. "I was in the minority tonight."

The five-day tribute, "Beam Me Up Scotty ... One Last Time," had been in the planning stages for more than a year before it was revealed, earlier this summer, that the 84-year-old Doohan, who lives in Redmond, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Coming so soon after the death of the similarly afflicted former president, Ronald Reagan, the family's announcement added greater urgency — and no small degree of poignancy — to preparations.

Instead of going ahead with a purely festive "retirement party" for the beloved actor, Planet XPO elected to join forces with the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation to raise awareness of the disease. With the cooperation of Doohan's family, representatives of both groups quickly were able to refocus the event's theme, turning Saturday night's banquet into a benefit.

Doohan's final formal public appearance is expected tomorrow morning, when his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is unveiled, in front of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.

"This is a sad situation, but we want people to understand that there's real help and hope out there," said Mary Asta, chief operating officer of the Fisher Center. "We have 85 scientists working on a cure and expect to begin clinical trials of new drugs very soon. Everybody loves Jimmy (Doohan), and events like this will build awareness, increase traffic to our Web site and increase donations."

Dr. William Netzer, who conducts research at the Fisher Center at New York's Rockefeller University, echoed Asta's optimism in his remarks to banquet guests. Offstage, Netzer allowed that convention organizers had asked him to de-emphasize the scientific aspects of his remarks, and limit direct mentions of Alzheimer's disease to three. A closet Trekkie, Netzer was able to insert enough "Star Trek" references into his speech to mollify the promoters and keep guests interested in the Fisher Center's goals.

Some had feared Doohan might not have been lucid enough to appreciate the events planned in his honor ("He has good and bad days," cautioned one publicist).

As his wheelchair made its way through the banquet hall — escorted by his family, a single bagpiper and a phalanx of Klingon guards — Doohan smiled broadly and waved to the wildly cheering crowd.

The tribute part of the evening began with Brenda Shuman-Post performing her "Fantasy on Themes From Star Trek For Solo Oboe" to the rapt attention of the audience. Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original series, served as unofficial roastmaster, contributing several humorous, and occasionally ribald, anecdotes from his and Doohan's travels.

Chase Masterson, Leeta on several "Deep Space Nine" episodes, serenaded Doohan with a frisky "Latinum Is a Girl's Best Friend," a reference to the liquid Ferengi currency that was missed only by those few who weren't familiar with "Star Trek" iconography. Robert O'Reilly and J.G. Hertzler presented their personal tribute in Klingon, a guttural language, which legend has it was invented by Doohan.

Will Wheaton, an engineer on "The Next Generation," was profuse in his praise of Doohan.

"I don't remember much about the first time I met Jimmy," Wheaton said. "I know that he listened patiently to me geek out ... babbling like a fan boy about how cool it was to be an engineer. He smiled, listened and made me feel as if we'd known each other my entire life, and he soon became Jimmy, not Scotty."

The emotional highlight of the evening, though, came with Nichelle Nichols' ("Uhura") introduction of astronaut Neil Armstrong, who said he was proud that both he and Scotty were engineers.

"I've been remarkably fortunate," Armstrong said. "I've ridden on 13 different rocket engines and commanded three different space missions. All were primitive in that they didn't have warp drive, which made the Enterprise travel 100,000 times faster than anything I flew.

"For my next command, I hope to be given a Federation starship, and I'd like to be given a crew like the one James Kirk had."

Including, of course, the indispensable Montgomery Scott.

Gary Dretzka covers television and

other entertainment issues for

The Seattle Times from Los Angeles: gdretzka@aol.com