Linlithgow... the final frontier. A three-year mission to boldly explore the unchartered territory that is the collection of memorabilia held by the family of the actor who played Scotty in Star Trek has just begun.
The celebration of one of the key crew members in the cult sci-fi series opened its doors yesterday after it was confirmed the character Montgomery Scott was born there, in stardate 2222.
The James Doohan Memorial Exhibition is expected to attract visitors from all over this world.
The display tells the story of the life of Scotty, during and after his key role as chief engineer of the USS Enterprise. It follows investigations which West Lothian Council said established Linlithgow's claims to be the "future birthplace" of the character, played by Canadian-born actor Doohan.
A slightly surreal argument between aficionados, or Trekkies, as they are known, over whether the character was born in Edinburgh or Linlithgow was ended by the Doohan family who agreed the engineer had been born in the West Lothian town.
According to the local authority, it has been found that several scripts from Star Trek suggest Doohan's popular character was born in Linlithgow.
With two dozen or so exhibits in a small room in the town's Annet House Museum, its curator, Alan Young, admits there is not much, erm, space. But he says the items are of interest.
They include an original dilithium crystal, a model of the first Enterprise, and a Tribble, a small furry alien character.
Wall placards reveal facts such as the origin of Spock's greeting, Live Long and Prosper, which it is revealed is a Jewish benediction by a rabbi to the faithful.
Mr Young said: "There is also a large model of the Enterprise built by Dr David Campbell of Heriot-Watt University which is an effective piece. I am told from the Trekkie point of view, the dilithium crystals and the tribble are the two things which they would think is super.
"We have already been getting inquiries and within the Trekkie community there is a growing interest.
"We have the material from the Doohans for up to the next three years so depending on the popularity of it, it could run until then."
West Lothian Provost Tom Kerr added: "I am extremely confident the exhibition will attract visitors from all over the world and help boost tourism in Linlithgow and West Lothian.
"James Doohan's widow Wendy and son Chris have given it their full support and they have confirmed they plan to come to Linlithgow in September to unveil a commemorative plaque.
"It is an exhibition which is most likely to grow over the years. Star Trek enthusiasts will get a warm welcome in West Lothian."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article