NCMojo

Walter Koenig was one the guests at a sci-fi convention that I helped to organize, and he seemed to genuinely be a nice guy. George Takei is outstanding, and wrote one of the better of the Star Trek memoirs. Nichelle Nichols never really did anything for me, to be honest, but she was a pretty important role model for 1960's television. James Doohan was one of the first of the regulars to embrace the Trekkie fanbase.

Let's toss out Majel Barrett and the three big guns (Nimoy, Shatner, Kelley) plus a lot of the more peripheral characters (Grace Lee Whitney, Mark Lenard, Jane Wyatt) and just focus on the four others. Who's your favorite, and why?

Red Dog

James Doohan - he did a fantastic job as Scotty.

Chew

I've met (alright.....I've been in their presence and exchanged a few words......) with everybody listed (alright.....except das) and found Doohan to be the best of the bunch.

I always looked forward to the "Scotty-in-command" episodes ("Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me").

From the episode standpoints, the other three just seemed to be even more in the background. How many episodes actually had Uhura say more than "Hailing frequences open"??

Fielding Mellish

Mr. Doohan, natch. For the fight scene in "Tribbles" alone.

"Ye want to rephrase that, laddie?"

Damn, wasn't Trek once great? Sigh.

Red Dog

Plus you have to respect a man who can hold his liquor.

From the Tholian Web...(after McCoy creates the antidote)...

Scotty: Would it make a good mix with Scotch?
McCoy: It should.
Scotty: (grabs the bottle) I'll let you know!

das Monkey

Woo hoo! Tied with Nichols!! (at 0)

"A keyboard ... (cracks knuckles) ... how quaint."

I too have to vote for Doohan, but it's a close race. Picture Sulu as a swashbuckler or large and in charge aboard Excelsior, and it makes it difficult. But judging all factors, Scotty was all about the Enterprise. While Starfleet may consider his greatest achievements to be switching the polarization of the blah-blah on the anti-blahblah, his banana-in-the-tailpipe work on Excelsior is his finest hour. Add to that his devotion to the fans, and it's difficult not to love the guy. I saw him in the 80s, again in the 90s, and twice more last year, and he still keeps on going. And it's not about the money. The guy truly loves the fans.

In all fairness to the others, Takei is a great con guest as well and really gives everything to the fans (I too loved his autobiography). Koenig is also a nice guy and genuine, although he's a bit introverted and not too keen on all the fan madness. Nichols is a bit of a queen behind the scenes, but she's still very pleasant to the fans.

In the end, though, I take Scotty by a nose. Loyalty to his captain, loyalty to Enterprise, loyalty to the fans.

"Admiral ... there be whales here!"

das

Bandoman

1 vote for the Captain's chair.

AGuyNamedMike

Not to take anything away from the others, fine people all, but Scotty got the best writing and lines to play with.

He 'transported the whole kit and kaboodle into their engine room where they'll be no tribble at all'.

[holds mouse up to mouth] Computer. Computerrrr? [/holds mouse up to mouth]

Tomar "What is it?"
Scotty "Uh...It's green."

mookiemeister

Scotty! Beam me up!

NCMojo

Ya know, I knew Jimmy Doohan would be the popular choice, if for no other reason that he got much more screen time than anyone else...

das Monkey

He had a kid in his 80's ... how could he not win?

das

Jason

I vote for that guy in the red shirt who was always getting killed every week. I think his name was Ensign McCormick or something...