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The five-day tribute, "Beam Me Up Scotty ... One Last Time," had been in the planning stages for more than a year before it was revealed, earlier this summer, that the 84-year-old Doohan, who lives in Redmond, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Coming so soon after the death of the similarly afflicted former president, Ronald Reagan, the family's announcement added greater urgency — and no small degree of poignancy — to preparations.

Some had feared Doohan might not have been lucid enough to appreciate the events planned in his honor.

As his wheelchair made its way through the banquet hall — escorted by his family, a single bagpiper and a phalanx of Klingon guards — Doohan smiled broadly and waved to the wildly cheering crowd.

Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original series, served as unofficial roastmaster, contributing several humorous, and occasionally ribald, anecdotes from his and Doohan's travels.

Chase Masterson, Leeta on several "Deep Space Nine" episodes, serenaded Doohan with a frisky "Latinum Is a Girl's Best Friend," a reference to the liquid Ferengi currency that was missed only by those few who weren't familiar with "Star Trek" iconography. Robert O'Reilly and J.G. Hertzler presented their personal tribute in Klingon, a guttural language, which legend has it was invented by Doohan.

The emotional highlight of the evening, though, came with Nichelle Nichols' ("Uhura") introduction of astronaut Neil Armstrong (how totally cool), who said he was proud that both he and Scotty were engineers.

"I've been remarkably fortunate," Armstrong said. "I've ridden on 13 different rocket engines and commanded three different space missions. All were primitive in that they didn't have warp drive, which made the Enterprise travel 100,000 times faster than anything I flew.

"For my next command, I hope to be given a Federation starship, and I'd like to be given a crew like the one James Kirk had."