How James Doohan got in trouble with Star Trek top brass

James Doohan made a few comments that set Star Trek brass on edge.

While Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was in production, word had leaked out that Spock was going to die. This was based on Leonard Nimoy’s decision to leave the character behind. Thankfully, he changed his mind, but all fans knew was Spock was going to be killed off, and it didn’t sit well with them at all.

Once the firestorm started, the powers-that-be went into overdrive mode in an attempt to defuse the situation. According to producer Robert Sallin, in a post on his wife Sandra Sallin’s blog, this led to even more security with scripts being numbered before being issued, and the cast and crew being “severely cautioned about disclosure.”

It’s only natural, though, that the cast would be comfortable enough with their representatives to discuss whatever they wanted to discuss. Presumably, Doohan wouldn’t have to worry about what was being said to the people who represented him. But this wasn’t the case as James Doohan learned.

James Doohan disclosed Spock-related information to his representation staff.

Doohan was, most likely, having a regular conversation and some of the information cropped up. The word got back to Paramount, though, and no one was pleased. So Sallin got the unpleasant job of contacting Doohan and “telling, not asking, him to appear for a meeting with some of the top studio brass.”

Doohan had recently had a heart attack which urged Sallin, who was being sent death threats himself because of Spock’s impending death, to go to the Paramount executives and urge them to be careful when they talked to Doohan.

"James Doohan (Scotty) had unthinkingly disclosed Spock-related information to some of his personal representation staff and the word got back to Paramount. I was tasked with contacting him and telling, not asking, him to appear for a meeting with some of the top studio brass. In a percipient moment, prior to Jimmy’s appointment, I went up into the Administration Building and cautioned the Paramount executives to go lightly with Jimmy as he had recently had a heart attack! I argued that we had sufficient impending death around us with inflicting it on a thoroughly decent man whom we needed!"

Fortunately, the Paramount execs must have taken Sallin’s words into consideration because Doohan went on to appear in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as well as the remainder of the movies.