James Doohan hid his hands because he was literally missing a finger due to a war injury.
this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2026
344 points (99.7% liked)
TenForward: Where Every Vulcan Knows Your Name
7354 readers
1075 users here now
/c/TenForward: Your home-away-from-home for all things Star Trek!
Re-route power to the shields, emit a tachyon pulse through the deflector, and post all the nonsense you want. Within reason of course.
~ 1. No bigotry. This is a Star Trek community. Remember that diversity and coexistence are Star Trek values. Any post/comments that are racist, anti-LGBT, or generally "othering" of a group will result in removal/ban.
~ 2. Keep it civil. Disagreements will happen both on lore and preferences. That's okay! Just don't let it make you forget that the person you are talking to is also a person.
~ 3. Use spoiler tags.
Use spoiler tags in comments, and NSFW checkbox for posts.
This applies to any episodes that have dropped within 3 months prior of your posting. After that it's free game.
~ 4. Keep it Trek related. This one is kind of a gimme but keep as on topic as possible.
~ 5. Keep posts to a limit. We all love Star Trek stuff but 3-4 posts in an hour is plenty enough.
~ 6. Try to not repost. Mistakes happen, we get it! But try to not repost anything from within the past 1-2 months.
~ 7. No General AI Art. Posts of simple AI art do not 'inspire jamaharon'
~ 8. No Political Upheaval. Political commentary is allowed, but please keep discussions civil. Read here for our community's expectations.
Fun will now commence.
Sister Communities:
Want your community to be added to the sidebar? Just ask one of our mods!
Creator Resources:
Looking for a Star Trek screencap? (TrekCore)
Looking for the right Star Trek typeface/font for your meme? (Thank you @kellyaster for putting this together!)
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Its absence is noticeable on a few occasions.
Yep, he did a great job keeping it obscured. As you say, there were only a few quick shots where the absence of a finger was visible, and it takes a keen eye to actually spot them.
The pre-HD era of screen resolutions was helpful too.
missing a finger due to a war injury.
Crossing between command posts at 23:30 that night, Doohan was hit by six rounds fired from a Bren gun by a nervous Canadian sentry:[2] four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.[7] His right middle finger had to be amputated, something he would conceal on-screen during most of his career as an actor, sometimes with a flesh-colored glove with a faux finger.[9]
The bullet to his chest was stopped by a silver cigarette case given to him by his brother.
The one time smoking saved a life.
It's called "wounded", Peanut. "Injured" is when you fall out of a tree or something.
SSgt. John Martin Band of Brothers
Flipped off the wrong officer, but provided the most Vulcan gesture ever. 🖖
I thought it was an interesting detail that in the Kelvinverse movies, Simon Pegg wears an iron ring (which I understand is ceremonial for Canadian engineers) on the finger that Doohan was missing.
Scotty. Start… the reactor. Free Mars.
No! Scotty!
Scotty doesn't know
His finger was bitten off by a Meaney who would later become his successor.
But what did he do with it? Use the DNA to make Scotty buffer clones? Keep as a trophy for succeeding him as chief engineer?
It's too bad we have to kill a lieutenant every time we need their wisdom
Thanks Chief.
I can't tell if you're messing with us. Lol
Wow, I'm convinced that I'll never stop learning new things about this show.
I genuinely would have thought they'd allow you to smoke on set back then
Is it because the film is flammable, or just an early example of smoking bans?
I genuinely would have thought they'd allow you to smoke on set back then
Of course they wouldn't let you. It was a film set, not a hospital!
That makes sense. You need that cigarette in the hospital, I can't remember a time I was in a hospital and wasn't stressed enough to smoke
It's probably more of a continuity problem, clouds of smoke wafting randomly around without plot significance. Even if they had a character who did smoke, the smoke should be centered around them.
I get the sentiment, but early trek is NOT a paragon of continuity
It would damage the costumes over time, I'd think.