Beam me up, Scotty

"Beam me up, Scotty!" is a catch phrase that made its way into pop culture from the science fiction television series "". It comes from the command Captain Kirk gives his transporter chief, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, when he needs to transport back to the ship.

Though it has become irrevocably associated with the series, the exact phrase was never actually spoken in any "Star Trek" television episode or film. Captain Kirk comes closest to saying the phrase in the Original Series episode "The Gamesters of Triskelion", by saying, "Scotty, beam us up"; in the episodes "The Lorelei Signal" and "The Infinite Vulcan", when he said, "Beam us up, Scotty"; in "Star Trek III", 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. Just the facts." attributed to Jack Webb's character of Joe Friday on "Dragnet", as well as "It's elementary, my dear Watson", attributed to Sherlock Holmes. All three lines are the best known quotes from these works for many viewers, but not one is an actual, direct quotationFact|date=March 2008.

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 House of Representatives.

The phrase has also been used in several films unrelated to "Star Trek", as well as in the "Dilbert" comic strip.

The complete phrase was finally said by William Shatner in the audio adaptation of his novel "".

In popular culture

* The line is referenced in episodes of the television series "Boys from the Black Stuff", "Friends", "Family Guy", "Robot Chicken", "South Park" and "Stargate SG-1", as well as the film "Armageddon", and cult favorite "Jan Terri"'s song, Journey to Mars.
* 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".Fact|date=June 2008
* In 1989 the German rock band Plan B published the LP "The Greenhouse Effect" containing the song "Beam me up, Scotty (this planet sucks)"; Tay Dizm and T-Pain recorded a song titled "Beam Me Up."
*The phrase is referenced in songs by R Kelly ("Rock Star"), Jimmy Buffett ("Boat Drinks), MC Lars' ("Space Game"), and Relient K ("Beaming")."Beam Me Up, Scotty" the 1993 novel (Arcade Publishing) by New York born writer Michael Guinzburg, called by Terry Southern: "A great book. The hardest, purest American prose since Faulkner's Sanctuary..." concerns a clean and sober newspaper reporter who transfers his addiction to murdering drug dealers. The book was a major best seller in France under the title "Envoie--moi au ciel, Scotty." In the novel, crack cocaine addicts say "Beam me up, Scotty" when getting high -- basically: "Get me out of here. Take me to another place." The phrase is also noted in the song, "Hey You" by The Pharcyde

Further reading

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ee also

*Misquotation
*List of famous misquotations