“No Bloody A, B, C, or D”: Scotty’s Greatest Star Trek Quote Fans Love Didn’t Happen in the Original Series
A memorable holodeck moment
In “Relics,” Captain Scott, played by James Doohan, finds the holodeck aboard the USS Enterprise-D. After drinking green Aldebaran whiskey, he asks the computer to show him the bridge of “the Enterprise.” When the computer asks him to choose among five recorded USS Enterprises, Scotty gives the reply fans have kept repeating: “No bloody A, B, C, or D.” The scene appears in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6, episode 4.
The Enterprise Scotty remembers
Scotty served as chief engineer aboard the original Constitution-class Enterprise and its replacement, the Enterprise-A. He also stepped aboard the Enterprise-B and Enterprise-D, but never served on the doomed Enterprise-C.
The recreated 1960s Enterprise bridge was a notable production achievement for “Relics,” built on a 1990s television budget. Seeing the older Scotty return to that setting brought a strong sense of nostalgia for the original series and the simpler ship he missed.
More ships named Enterprise
Scotty’s list of five reflected the ships known during The Next Generation’s production. Later Star Trek stories added more vessels bearing the name, including the NX-01 from Enterprise, which was established as the first Starship Enterprise.
The Enterprise-D was destroyed in Star Trek Generations and replaced by the Enterprise-E. The Enterprise-F followed, and Star Trek: Picard season 3 ended with the Titan-A renamed Enterprise-G, under Captain Seven of Nine.
A quote that outlasted the scene
Other familiar Scotty lines include “I canna’ change the laws of physics!” and “I’m giving her all she’s got!” The article also cites his “Hello, computer” exchange with an Apple computer’s mouse in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Further Enterprises appear in the franchise’s later timeline: the Enterprise-J in Star Trek: Enterprise’s Temporal Cold War story and an unseen ship in Star Trek: Discovery’s 32nd century. The article counts six additional Starship Enterprises created after The Next Generation.
Key points
- Scotty’s “No bloody A, B, C, or D” line comes from The Next Generation episode “Relics.”
- In the episode, Scotty asks the holodeck computer to show him the Enterprise bridge.
- Scotty served aboard the original Enterprise and the A, B, and D, but missed the C.
- Later series introduced additional Enterprises, including the NX-01, Enterprise-G, and Enterprise-J.