Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek #1!As Montgomery "Scotty" Scott from Captain James T. Kirk's Enterprise-A serves on a new ship with characters from Deep Space Nine and Voyager, fans may be surprised the iconic engineer is still alive, but a prior episode from Star Trek: The Next Generation explains how this is possible.
As most fans know, Scotty was Chief Engineer of the Enterprise-A in the original Star Trek series. But in the Next Generation episode "Relics," Picard's Enterprise-D finds and restores Captain Scotty's life signal that had been sustained within the pattern buffer of his ship's jury-rigged transporter for 75 years. At the end of the episode, Scotty is loaned one of the Enterprise-D's shuttlecrafts indefinitely to either retire in this new future or explore the galaxy.
It's clear that Scotty eventually decided not to retire at the end of "Relics" in Star Trek #1 by writers Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, artist Ramon Rosanas, colorist Lee Loughridge and letterer Clayton Cowles. He's not only Chief Engineer of Captain Benjamin Sisko's new crew, but he has completely recommissioned a vessel that was originally commissioned during his original timeline with his own methods and technology.
Scotty's Struggles Shouldn't Be Forgotten
The only problem with this latest development is that Scotty appears to be much more adjusted to this brave new world than he was in The Next Generation's "Relics" episode. Understandably, as a product of a much earlier time, The Next Generation showed Scotty struggling a great deal with no longer being relevant, especially since the Enterprise-D's Chief Engineer La Forge found Scotty to be more of a nuisance whenever he tried to help. It eventually got to the point where Scotty's presence in Engineering was actually affecting his job performance, giving La Forge no choice but to kick him out. Undoubtedly the episode's greatest scene transpired on the Holodeck, a new invention to Scotty, where he sits aboard a hologram of the original Enterprise. There, within this stunning juxtaposition between the life Scotty once knew and a technology that underscores just how far away from home he really is, the old Starfleet officer tries to get a handle on his new life when Picard eventually joins him.
Scotty Can Be Star Trek's Voice of Experience
Of course, just getting to see Scotty again in new stories that take place after the original Star Trek era is exciting for fans of his character and the first series. Moreover, ever since the movie Star Trek: Generations came out, viewers undoubtedly fell in love with this much older, jollier and even more lovable version of Scotty than how the original series portrayed him as a younger character. With this series, readers will get to enjoy this version of him to their heart's content. But if this new Star Trek series completely ignores the side of Scotty where he wrestles with the past and his new present, then it will be an opportunity squandered. Scotty's knowledge of the past did eventually save the day in "Relics" and prove La Forge wrong, showing that his experience of the galaxy has its place - evidence that the new Star Trek series should continue to balance the intriguing dichotomy of this reimagined version of a fan-favorite character.
Star Trek #1 is available now from IDW Publishing!