Jay said:

CP3S said:

Scotty was a comic relief character, and Pegg's Scotty definitely tried to play the comic relief role, but I feel the relation ends there. To me the character felt like Simon Pegg on screen doing an extended Scotty impression, while not even managing to be that much like Scotty.

Scotty had his moments as comic relief, but in TOS, he was frequently in the hot seat during life-and-death situations and was often left in command (and portrayed as very decisive and capable) while Kirk, Spock, and Bones went off to do whatever.

Also keep in mind that the latest film's Enterprise is a ship commanded and manned by recent grads. These are kids, not seasoned veterans. Some goofy antics and shenanigans should be expected.

Poor wording on my part saying, "Scotty was a comic relief character". I didn't mean to suggest that was all he was there for in TOS, just that he was often the source of some of the more humorous lines in the series.