Jm419
Sr Member
This is a pretty neat story I heard from my grandmother today.
Around the time that Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released, my grandparents went to a public appearance by some of the minor characters and a few principals, including James Doohan and (possibly?) Nichelle Nichols. This would have been in 1979-1980.
My uncle, who would have been about 11-12 at this point, carried with him his brand new Enterprise model which he'd built specifically for the event, as he was hoping to show Doohan and the rest of the cast. Just as he reached the front of the line, though, two young boys from the family ahead of him (who were rough-housing) knocked into my uncle, who dropped his Enterprise on the floor, causing a nacelle to fall off and the saucer to go spinning across the floor. Heartbroken, my uncle broke down in tears.
Seeing this, James Doohan stood up from the table, sent a lackey to retrieve the saucer, and knelt to pick up the cracked and damaged secondary hull. Scotty then helped my uncle to snap the saucer back into place, and reposition the nacelle with some superglue someone had on hand. Doohan handed the repaired model back to my uncle, winked, and said, "Couldn't've happened in a better place, laddie. I know this ship like the back o' me hand, ya know." He signed a photo my grandfather had bought for the occasion, and he even wrote a special note to my uncle on the Enterprise's stand - "To Mark - Take good care of the Enterprise - she's a beautiful lady."
I don't know if it's true, or if my grandmother wasn't remembering the events quite properly, but I'm looking at the same Enterprise model now, with Scotty's note on the base. My uncle has kept it in a special case for many years, now.
How would you like that? To have your model repaired by the ship's chief engineer himself?
It warmed up my day, and I thought I'd share.
Around the time that Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released, my grandparents went to a public appearance by some of the minor characters and a few principals, including James Doohan and (possibly?) Nichelle Nichols. This would have been in 1979-1980.
My uncle, who would have been about 11-12 at this point, carried with him his brand new Enterprise model which he'd built specifically for the event, as he was hoping to show Doohan and the rest of the cast. Just as he reached the front of the line, though, two young boys from the family ahead of him (who were rough-housing) knocked into my uncle, who dropped his Enterprise on the floor, causing a nacelle to fall off and the saucer to go spinning across the floor. Heartbroken, my uncle broke down in tears.
Seeing this, James Doohan stood up from the table, sent a lackey to retrieve the saucer, and knelt to pick up the cracked and damaged secondary hull. Scotty then helped my uncle to snap the saucer back into place, and reposition the nacelle with some superglue someone had on hand. Doohan handed the repaired model back to my uncle, winked, and said, "Couldn't've happened in a better place, laddie. I know this ship like the back o' me hand, ya know." He signed a photo my grandfather had bought for the occasion, and he even wrote a special note to my uncle on the Enterprise's stand - "To Mark - Take good care of the Enterprise - she's a beautiful lady."
I don't know if it's true, or if my grandmother wasn't remembering the events quite properly, but I'm looking at the same Enterprise model now, with Scotty's note on the base. My uncle has kept it in a special case for many years, now.
How would you like that? To have your model repaired by the ship's chief engineer himself?
It warmed up my day, and I thought I'd share.
