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| Beam me up, Scotty | |
|---|---|
| Character | James T. Kirk |
| Actor | William Shatner |
| First used in | Star Trek |
"Beam me up, Scotty" is a catch phrase that made its way into pop culture from the science fiction television series Star Trek. It comes from the command Captain Kirk gives his chief engineer, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, when he needs to be transported back to the Starship Enterprise.
Though it has become irrevocably associated with the series and movies, the exact phrase was never actually spoken in any Star Trek television episode or film. In the Original Series episodes "The Gamesters of Triskelion" and "The Savage Curtain", Kirk said, "Scotty, beam us up"; in the animated episodes "The Lorelei Signal" and "The Infinite Vulcan", when he said, "Beam us up, Scotty"; in Star Trek IV, saying, "Scotty, beam me up"; and in Star Trek Generations, by saying, "Beam them out of there, Scotty". The phrase was used on a bumper sticker with the tag line "Beam me up Scotty. There's no intelligent life down here."
"Beam me up, Scotty" is similar to the phrase, "Just the facts, ma'am", attributed to Jack Webb's character of Joe Friday on Dragnet, "It's elementary, my dear Watson", attributed to Sherlock Holmes, "Luke, I am your father", attributed to Darth Vader, or "Play it again, Sam", attributed to Humphrey Bogart's character in Casablanca. All four lines are the best known quotations from these works for many viewers, but not one is an actual, direct quotation.
The complete phrase was eventually said by William Shatner in the audio adaptation of his novel Star Trek: The Ashes of Eden.
James Doohan, the actor who played Scotty, later chose this phrase as the title of his autobiography.
U.S. Congressman James Traficant adapted the catch phrase "Beam me up" in his trademark one-minute rants on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.
In popular culture
- Comics
- The line has been used several times in the Dilbert comic strip.
- Computer games
- Astral Software's 1986 puzzle maze game, XOR, features teleportation portals inscribed with the letters "BMUS" - a reference to the phrase "Beam me up, Scotty".
- In Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, Larry can read the graffiti in Lefty's toilets. There he'll read Scott me up, Beamy!
- In Destroy All Humans! 2, a levitated hippie will occasionally say "Beam me up, Scotty!"
- In The Simpsons Game, several aliens will cry "Beam me up Scotty" at particular points in the levels of the game.
- In Team Fortress 2, there is an achievement for the Demoman class named "Beat me up, scotty", a clear reference to the original phrase.
- In Fallout: New Vegas, the player can complete a challenge called "Beam (Weapon) Me Up" upon inflicting a set amount of damage with laser based weaponry.
- Films
- The phrase has also been used in several films unrelated to Star Trek, including Armageddon.
- In Material Girls, Brent Spiner, known for his portrayal of the Star Trek: The Next Generation android Data, uses the line upon entering Fabiella's elaborate reception area.
- In the early '90s film New Jack City, actor Chris Rock playing the crack-cocaine abuser explains how "beaming up to Scotty" means getting high off of crack-cocaine or heroin.
- Literature
- At several points in the "Young Wizards" series, Kit calls a teleportation spell a "Beam-Me-Up-Scotty".
- In Stephen King's book Lisey's Story, the heroine's husband's fans use that phrase in that famous writer's meetings (his name is Scott Landon).
- Music
- The phrase is quoted in songs by:
| R Kelly ("Rock Star") | Jan Terri ("Journey to Mars") | ||
| Jimmy Buffett ("Boat Drinks") | MC Lars ("Space Game") | ||
| Chamillionaire ("Yeah freestyle") | Babylon Zoo ("Spaceman") | ||
| Relient K ("Beaming") | Fabo ("Scotty") | ||
| Fabo ("I'm So High feat. Bobby V") | 311 ("Prisoner") | ||
| Lupe Fiasco ("Blackout") | Tay Dizm and T-Pain ("Beam Me Up") | ||
| Kid Rock ("What I Learned Out On The Road") | Vanessa Hudgens ("Party on the Moon") | ||
| Nicki Minaj ("Beam Me Up Scotty (mixtape)") | Billy Bragg ("Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards") | ||
| Plan B ("Beam me up, Scotty (this planet sucks)") | The Pharcyde ("Hey You") | ||
| The Firm ("Star Trekkin'") | Saul Williams ("1987") | ||
| Pitbull ("Back To The Future") | Son of Dork ("We're not alone") | ||
| Erykah Badu ("Window Seat") | Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah (Album: Lake Shore Drive) ("Beam Me Up Scotty") (1972) | ||
| Chamillionaire ("50 in my pinky ring remix") | EPMD ("Strictly Business") | ||
| Tones on Tail ("There's only one") | Lil Wayne ("Da Da Da") | ||
| Bone Thugs-N-Harmony ("Body Rott") | Hyro Da Hero (Album:"Birth,School,Work,Death") ("Beam Me Up Scotty") | ||
| Eminem ("Still Shady") |
- Television
- The line is used in episodes of a number of television series, including: Boys from the Black Stuff, Friends, Family Guy, Robot Chicken, South Park (in Latin "Me transmitte sursum Caledonii" and only in the background), Vicar of Dibley, Heroes, Futurama and Stargate SG-1.
- In Gilmore Girls, Rory tells her mother that she is "one 'beam me up, Scotty' reference away from one", referring to a murder.
- The phrase is used by Sam Beckett in "Star Light, Star Bright", a 1992 episode of Quantum Leap. Scott Bakula, who played Beckett, would later star as Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise, set a century before The Original Series - in 2009's Star Trek reboot, Scotty believes he has been "exiled" to the remote Starfleet outpost where Kirk and the older Spock encounter him as punishment for losing Archer's dog in a transporter ("beaming") accident.
- The phrase is used by Sergeant Baker in the series Captain Power in the form: "Beam me up, Scotty. There's no intelligent life here", after Lieutenant Ellis has made another Star Trek reference: "Let's all go boldly where no man had gone before".
- The line "Beam me up Scotty" was also used in the season four episode of the TV show Bones entitled "Science in the Physicist".
- In Heroes, episode 11 of season 4 "Thanksgiving", Hiro says "Must rescue Watson... Beam me up Scotty" before vanishing.
- In an episode of Desperate Housewives, Lynette refers to one of Parker's nerdy friends as "beam me up scotty."
- In an episode of The Middleman, guest star Kevin Sorbo says: "Maybe Scott can beam us down... ah, it's an obscure reference to a canceled television show, I'm sure you never heard of it."
See also
References and notes
- The Holmes phrase originated in a radio play. See List of famous misquotations and "Elementary, My Dear Watson" at Snopes.com
- Webb did say: "All we want are the facts ma'am". See Just the facts, ma'am, List of famous misquotations and "Just the Facts" at Snopes.com
- Greatest Film Misquotes - Part 2, Tim Dirks at filmsite.org
- Beam me up, Scotty: Star Trek's "Scotty"—in his own words, James Doohan, Peter Allen David, Pocket Books: 1996
- http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/beam-me-up-scotty/id97151527?i=97151519
Further reading
- Michael Quinion (1996-08-06). "BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY!". World Wide Words.
- Barbara Mikkelson (1998-12-31). "Beam Me Up, Scotty!". Urban Legends Reference Pages.
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