Anton Yelchin, new Star Trek's Chekov, dies in freak accident

The 27-year-old, who played Chekov in the Star Trek reboot films, dies after being pinned by his own car.

chekov in new star trek

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chekov in new star trek

Anton Yelchin, aka Star Trek's Pavel Chekov, arrives on the red carpet at the LA premiere of "Star Trek" in 2009. The actor died on Sunday.

Anton Yelchin, the actor known for playing Chekov in the recent series of Star Trek reboot films, died in a freak accident in Los Angeles early Sunday morning.

Left to right: Yelchin as Chekov, Chris Pine as Kirk, John Cho as Sulu.

Left to right: Yelchin as Chekov, Chris Pine as Kirk, John Cho as Sulu.

Yelchin, 27, was killed when his

Friends found Yelchin after he failed to show up for a scheduled rehearsal, Houser said.

The Russian-born actor played Pavel Chekov in 2009's " Star Trek " and 2013's "Star Trek Into Darkness," as well as in " Star Trek Beyond ," due out later this year.

Yelchin's Star Trek colleagues took to Twitter on Sunday to express their sorrow, including actors John Cho and Zachary Quinto, who play Sulu and Spock, respectively, "Star Trek Beyond" director Justin Lin and "Star Trek" and "Star Trek Into Darkness" director J.J. Abrams (by way of his production company, Bad Robot):

Update, 12:23 p.m. PT: Adds information from the LAPD; adds Cho's tweet. 12:42: Adds tweets from Lin and Quinto. 1:30: Adds Bad Robot tweet of J.J. Abrams' note.

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How Anton Yelchin’s Death Changes Star Trek Beyond

By Scott Meslow

Image may contain Human Person Clothing Apparel Anton Yelchin and Sleeve

At a key moment in Star Trek Beyond , Kirk leads the crew of the USS Enterprise in a toast. "To absent friends," Kirk says, as everyone raises a glass. And then the camera shifts, ever so slightly, to refocus on the man standing behind him: Pavel Chekov, the crew member played by Anton Yelchin, who died at age 27 in a freak automobile accident last month.

Appreciating the man who said "I can do that!"

By Maggie Lange

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At least, I thought the camera pivoted to Chekov. In retrospect, I'm almost 100 percent sure it was in my imagination. But for me, watching Star Trek Beyond so soon after Yelchin's sudden death cast his performance—and the film itself—in a different light. It's a resonance that the film's creative team never intended, but it's still there. When the film began, every time Chekov appeared on screen, I felt a little jolt of grief. As it continued, this feeling gradually softened, but it never totally went away.

None of this is to criticize the creative team behind Star Trek Beyond , who have felt the loss of Yelchin as both a colleague and friend, and who have been unfailingly thoughtful and gracious in their tributes to Yelchin during the movie's promotional circuit. But the death of an actor changes the context in which you watch a movie, and for fans of Yelchin's work, Star Trek Beyond will be both a tribute and a fresh source of grief. And sitting in a movie theater, it's hard to reconcile those feelings with what Star Trek Beyond wants to be: a fun, escapist summer popcorn blockbuster.

Star Trek Beyond is hardly the first Hollywood blockbuster to hit theaters under the shadow of a cast member's unexpected death. The Harry Potter franchise recast the role of Dumbledore after the death of Richard Harris. Last year, the final Hunger Games sequel was reworked to minimize the role of Plutarch Heavensbee, the supporting character played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died in February 2014. Earlier this summer, Alice Through the Looking Glass featured the final performance of Alan Rickman, whose unmistakable baritone classed up an otherwise forgettable movie.

Of course, a movie faces a different challenge when a late actor's performance contains echoes of their death. One of the Joker's final lines to Batman in The Dark Knight —"I think you and I are destined to do this forever"—became unintentionally ghoulish after Heath Ledger died. And then, of course, there's Furious 7 —the James Wan-directed installment of a franchise largely defined by Stark Trek Beyond director Justin Lin, who directed installments three, four, five, and six. When Paul Walker died during the production of Furious 7 —in a car crash, no less—the film's producers faced a difficult decision: shut down production, or release a movie with some unsettling parallels to a real-life tragedy? In the end, they concluded that releasing the film was the right decision, and they managed to give Walker's protagonist a relatively graceful exit, using previously shot footage, along with CGI and body doubles, to complete the performance.

Star Trek Beyond is largely constructed as a tribute to another late Star Trek icon: Leonard Nimoy.

But the team behind Star Trek Beyond had a simpler choice to make. Yelchin's performance was finished, and nothing in the film directly recalls the circumstances of his death. In fact, Star Trek Beyond is largely constructed as a tribute to another late Star Trek icon: Leonard Nimoy, who died several months before Beyond entered production.

This timeline enabled screenwriters Simon Pegg and Doug Jung to weave Nimoy's real-life death into the fabric of the film. As Beyond begins, Spock (Zachary Quinto) learns that Ambassador Spock (Nimoy)—his older self from an alternate timeline, as seen in the previous two Star Trek movies—has died. This news sends the younger Spock into a soul-searching grief that informs his entire arc in the movie, as he contemplates leaving both the Federation and his girlfriend, Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana), to spend more time rebuilding his culture with the other surviving Vulcans. The story crescendoes with a brief, poignant nod to Ambassador Spock and the rest of the original cast, offering a final love letter to both the character and Leonard Nimoy.

Star Trek Beyond features one of Yelchin's final performances, which is both the simplest and most complete way to honor his work in the franchise—but his death also hangs over the movie, and the already-announced Star Trek 4 will need to address it. J.J. Abrams has said that the role of Chekov won't be recast, but that it's "too early" to decide how they'll resolve the character’s absence.

As far as I can tell, the only change that was definitively made to Star Trek Beyond in the wake of Yelchin's death happens several minutes after the movie itself has ended. In the middle of the credits, a warm title card appears that was presumably planned a long time ago: "In loving memory of Leonard Nimoy." When those words fade away, they're replaced by a second, simpler dedication: "For Anton."

Anton Yelchin (1989-2016)

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Anton Yelchin

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Anton Yelchin and Mia Wasikowska in Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

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Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia (2016)

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Cary Elwes, Catherine Keener, Justin Chatwin, Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon, Anton Yelchin, and Riley Keough in We Don't Belong Here (2017)

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Anton Yelchin and Lucie Lucas in Porto (2016)

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Simon Pegg, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Sofia Boutella, and Chris Pine in Star Trek Beyond (2016)

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  • performer: "Home", "Real Friends", "Stay With You", "Wheels on the Bus", "Beautiful Mess"

Robert Downey Jr., Hope Davis, Anton Yelchin, Kat Dennings, and Tyler Hilton in Charlie Bartlett (2007)

  • performer: "Those Were the Days (Theme from All in the Family)", "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out", "Yankee Doodle"

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  • No Children
  • Parents Irina Korina
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  • Trivia The 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee that rolled into him was part of a 2016 recall for that exact same issue. Incredibly, the recall notice was mailed to Yelchin seven days after his untimely death.
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Tributes pour in for late 'Star Trek' actor Anton Yelchin

Actor Anton Yelchin, best known for his role as Ensign Pavel Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek movie series, has died in what is being labelled a "freak accident" involving his own car.

Los Angeles police found the actor in his driveway at around 1am PST on Sunday morning. The cause of death has been declared accidental by authorities, with LAPD spokesperson Jenny Houser telling The Hollywood Reporter : "It appears he momentarily exited his car and it rolled backward, causing trauma that led to his death."

Born in what is now Saint Petersburg, Russia on 11 March 1989, Yelchin's parents Irina and Viktor – both figure skaters who had qualified for the 1972 Olympics but were prevented from competing by the former Soviet regime – moved the family to the USA when Anton was six months old.

Anton Yelchin's movie debut came in 2000's independent film A Man is Mostly Water . He also appeared on television in series such as E.R., Hearts in Atlantis, and Huff . His big screen career took off in 2009 when he appeared as Kyle Reese in Terminator: Salvation and the JJ Abrams-directed Star Trek .

Yelchin would go on to resume the role of Chekov in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness in its impending sequel, Star Trek Beyond , and appear in numerous movies including 2011's Fright Night remake, Odd Thomas , and Only Lovers Left Alive . He also lent his voice to animated feature The Pirates! and the English language dub of Studio Ghibli's From Up on Poppy Hill .

Tributes to the young actor have flooded in, praising his charm and charisma, and mourning the loss of such a talent so young.

Trek director and producer JJ Abrams tweeted a note reading "Anton - you were brilliant. You were kind. You were funny as hell, and supremely talented. And you weren't here nearly long enough. Missing you, JJ."

In a further statement to Entertainment Weekly , Abrams said "Anton was our little brother. But only by years; he was as wise and clever and intellectually curious as anyone we ever knew. His laugh was preposterous – you couldn’t hear it and not laugh yourself. He was funny, edgy, wild and talented beyond measure. His focus and dedication was admirable, as was his love of family, friends, literature and music."

"We loved Anton, at work or at play. We are all shocked and numb and devastated by the world’s loss of an extraordinary young man. To his family, we send you our love during this impossible time. We will miss Anton forever."

Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the Star Trek film series, also released a statement. It said: "All of us at Paramount join the world in mourning the untimely passing of Anton Yelchin. As a member of the Star Trek family, he was beloved by so many and he will missed by all. We share our deepest condolences with his mother, father and family."

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Yelchin's Star Trek cast mates also paid tribute. John Cho, who plays Sulu, said "I loved Anton Yelchin so much. He was a true artist - curious, beautiful, courageous. He was a great pal and a great son. I'm in ruins," and "Please send your love to Anton's family right now. They need it."

Zoe Saldana - Lt Uhura - said "Devastated by our friend's loss. We are mourning his passing and celebrating the beautiful spirit that he was. #RIPAnton".

Justin Lin, director of Star Trek Beyond added "Still in shock. Rest in peace, Anton. Your passion and enthusiasm will live on with everyone that had the pleasure of knowing you."

Dozens of other Trek cast and crew, both past and present, have also paid their respects to Yelchin, though it was perhaps a fan tribute to the late actor that most poignantly hits home .

Yelchin will be posthumously seen in Star Trek Beyond , released 22 July, 2016's Porto and We Don't Belong Here , and 2017's Thoroughbred .

This article was originally published by WIRED UK

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Chris Pine Reflects On Anton Yelchin’s Secret Illness Filming Star Trek Beyond

Anton Yelchin and Chris Pine

Before J.J. Abrams helped to kickstart the Star Wars franchise with The Force Awakens , he had his eye on another intergalactic property. Abrams brought the Star Trek series back to theaters with his trilogy of movies, starring a talented cast and plenty of lens flares. The fate of the potential fourth movie remains unclear , although the Star Trek family suffered a loss with the death of actor Anton Yelchin .

Anton Yelchin played Pavel Chekov in all three Star Trek movies, although the threequel Beyond was released after his unexpected death at the age of 27. The Star Trek cast recently assembled to celebrate the first movie's 10-year anniversary, and Chris Pine spoke to working with Yelchin. It was revealed posthumously that Yelchin suffered from cystic fibrosis, and Pine remembered a scene where he's sure the young actor was silently suffering. As he put it:

While we were shooting [Star Trek Beyond], especially towards the end, I think we could all tell that something wasn’t right with Anton. I don’t think anyone knew that he was battling the illness that he was. We had about a week of doing a pretty intense stunt, like a really grueling, physically demanding stunt. I haven’t actually thought about it until now, but looking back on it, I remember how hard it was for him to get through it. And he never complained. He didn’t use [the disease] to get out of this fight scene, which he could easily have done, obviously.

It looks like Anton Yelchin was determined to shoot all of his scenes in Star Trek Beyond . So this included silently suffering through symptoms of cystic fibrosis while shooting a weeks worth of stunt footage. It's this type of dedication that made his tenure as Pavel Chekov such a fan favorite aspect of the trilogy.

Chris Pine 's comments to THR just continue to highlight the tragedy of Anton Yelchin's unexpected death. The Russian-American actor clearly had a strong work ethic, and was able to juggle his diagnosis and the long grueling hours of working on a film set. Besides not asking for assistance, Yelchin didn't even share his experience with co-stars like Pine.

Related: Zoe Saldana Recalls Anton Yelchin Being ‘Nervous’ To Do Star Trek Justice

Anton Yelchin's life is being explored through the new documentary Love, Antosha . The doc explores the actor's life and death, with both Chris Pine and J.J. Abrams among the cast who speak to their experiences with Yelchin. You can check the trailer for Love, Antosha below.

Anton Yelchin died on June 19th, 2016 at the age of 27. He was involved in a freak motor vehicle accident in his own driveway, before Star Trek Beyond made it way to theaters. It's particularly tragic that Yelchin didn't get to see the scene that Chris Pine described above, considering the hard work involved.

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The fate of the Star Trek franchise is still a mystery . But if a fourth movie is finally green lit, it would mark the first installment without Anton Yelchin's character.

CinemaBlend will keep you updated on all things Star Trek . Be sure to check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

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'Star Trek' actor Anton Yelchin crushed to death at Studio City home

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LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Anton Yelchin, a charismatic and rising actor best known for playing Chekov in the new "Star Trek" films, has died at the age of 27 after a freak accident at his Studio City home, his publicist, Jennifer Allen, confirmed.

Yelchin's friends went to his house in the 3800 block of Berry Drive at about 1 a.m. Sunday when he failed to show up for a rehearsal meeting. Authorities from the LAPD Valley Traffic Division said he was pinned between a car and a mailbox pillar in his driveway.

The actor's car was in neutral and running when it appeared to have gone down the bottom of the steep driveway, killing Yelchin, authorities said.

Police said no foul play was suspected, and it was unknown whether drugs or alcohol were involved.

Yelchin started small with roles in indie films and various television shows before breaking out in films like the crime thriller "Alpha Dog" and the teenage comedy "Charlie Bartlett." His biggest role to date has been in the rebooted "Star Trek" films - the third of which, "Star Trek Beyond," comes out in July.

MORE: "Star Trek" co-stars, celebrities react to tragic death of actor Anton Yelchin

The official "Star Trek" Twitter page posted the news saying "We're saddened to report the passing of Anton Yelchin, best known as Chekov."

Director J.J. Abrams, who cast Yelchin in the "Star Trek" franchise, wrote in a statement that he was, "brilliant ... kind ... funny as hell, and supremely talented."

Actor Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the reboot, posted a tribute on Instagram of his friend and colleague.

The post read: "Our dear friend. Our comrade. Our Anton. One of the most open and intellectually curious people I have ever had the pleasure to know. So enormously talented and generous of heart. Wise beyond his years. And gone before his time. All love and strength to his family at this impossible time of grief."

Yelchin, an only child, was born in Russia. His parents were professional figure skaters who moved the family to the United States when Yelchin was a baby. Yelchin's family requested privacy at this time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Published Jun 19, 2016

Remembering Anton Yelchin, 1989-2016

chekov in new star trek

StarTrek.com is deeply saddened to report that Anton Yelchin, Star Trek's current Chekov, died today, June 19, at the age of 27. The actor was killed in a freak accident at home in Los Angeles by his own car. Yelchin played Chekov in Star Trek (2009) , Star Trek Into Darkness and will be seen one last time as the character next month in Star Trek Beyond .

chekov in new star trek

Yelchin was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and moved with his figure-skater parents, Irina and Viktor Yelchin, to the United States when he was just six months old. He was already one of Hollywood’s most-exciting young talents -- a screen natural -- when he signed on to play Pavel Chekov in Star Trek (2009) , having logged film and television credits that included ER, Hearts in Atlantis, The Practice, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Alpha Dog, Huff and Charlie Bartlett . Since playing Chekov in the first J.J. Abrams blockbuster, he’d appeared in Terminator Salvation, The Beaver, Fright Night, Only Lovers Left Alive, Experimenter and the recently released Green Room , in which he co-starred with Patrick Stewart. In addition to Star Trek Beyond , he'd completed several projects set for release in the near future, among them We Don't Belong Here, Porto, Rememory and Thoroughbred .

chekov in new star trek

Back in 2011, StarTrek.com spoke with Yelchin about playing the young Chekov and the likelihood that he'd be playing Chekov over the course of several films. Asked if he felt his version of Chekov served as a bridge to Walter Koenig's, Yelchin replied, "I don’t know if it builds to Walter’s Chekov, that if we make more films then suddenly it’ll totally become that guy. I just think that I tried to capture as close as possible all of the great qualities that Walter brought to his Chekov. So I hope there’s a continuity. I don’t know if it’s necessarily an evolution, but I hope there’s a continuity where you can say, 'Oh, yeah, I buy that person being that age.'”John Cho, Star Trek 's current Sulu, was among the first to comment on his friend and colleague's passing. He tweeted, "I loved Anton Yelchin so much. He was a true artist - curious, beautiful, courageous. He was a great pal and a great son. I'm in ruins."

Paramount Pictures released the following statement: "All of us at Paramount join the world in mourning the untimely passing of Anton Yelchin. As a member of the Star Trek family, he was beloved by so many and he will missed by all. We share our deepest condolences with his mother, father and family."Please join StarTrek.com in offering our condolences to Yelchin's family, friends, colleagues and fans.

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Anton Yelchin, ‘Star Trek’ Actor, Dies at 27

chekov in new star trek

By Dave Itzkoff

  • June 19, 2016

Anton Yelchin, who played the young incarnation of Chekov, an excitable officer on the Starship Enterprise, in the rebooted “Star Trek” movie series, died early Sunday morning when he was pinned by his car in his driveway at his home in Los Angeles. He was 27.

Officer Jenny Houser of the Los Angeles Police Department said Mr. Yelchin was hit around 1:10 a.m. The car, an SUV, had rolled backward down a steep driveway and trapped him against a brick mailbox pillar and a security fence.

Officer Houser said he was found dead by friends who had come to his house, in the Studio City neighborhood, after he did not show up for a rehearsal.

(On Monday, The Associated Press reported that the vehicle, a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, was one of 1.1. million vehicles recalled by the manufacturer, Fiat Chrysler, in April because their gear shifters had confused drivers, causing the vehicles to roll away, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records.)

Mr. Yelchin was born on March 11, 1989, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, in what was then the Soviet Union. His parents, Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin, were superstar figure skaters with the Leningrad Ice Ballet.

But the Yelchins, who are Jewish, fled the Soviet Union six months later, facing political and religious oppression and fearing for their son’s safety. They settled in Los Angeles. His parents survive him.

“It is a very bad situation over there,” Viktor Yelchin told The Los Angeles Times . “I would get angry, too — I’d say, ‘Why should we have to buy things on the black market? Why should we have to stand in line?’”

As a child actor, Anton made memorable appearances on television shows like “ER,” “The Practice” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” on which he played a child magician who frustrates Larry David with a card trick.

He also appeared in the films “Charlie Bartlett” (2007), with Robert Downey Jr., in which he played the title role, a talkative student who appoints himself his school’s resident therapist, and “Alpha Dog” (2006), in which he played an innocent boy who becomes an unwitting pawn in a drug war.

His breakthrough came in the director J. J. Abrams’s 2009 resuscitation of “Star Trek,” the venerable science-fiction adventure franchise. Mr. Yelchin was cast as Pavel Chekov, the Russian-born Starfleet officer portrayed by Walter Koenig in the original “Star Trek” television series and movies.

As played by Mr. Yelchin, Chekov was endearingly antic, humorously navigating his way through high-pressure scenarios and — even in the 23rd century — having difficulty with the “V” sounds in words like “Victor” and “Vulcan.”

Mr. Yelchin reprised the role in a 2013 sequel, “Star Trek Into Darkness,” and will be seen in a third film, “Star Trek Beyond,” to be released this summer.

His other recent roles included the voice of Clumsy Smurf in two “Smurfs” movies and a member of a punk-rock band fighting its way out of a neo-Nazi skinhead club in the horror film “Green Room” (2015).

His co-stars mourned his death on social media. In an Instagram post , Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock in the new “Star Trek” movies, wrote that Mr. Yelchin was “one of the most open and intellectually curious people I have ever had the pleasure to know.” In a post on Twitter , John Cho, who plays Sulu in the new movies, called Mr. Yelchin “a true artist — curious, beautiful, courageous.”

Memory Alpha

  • Starfleet operations personnel
  • Starfleet captains
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Early life [ ]

Pavel Chekov, son of Andrei Chekov , was born in Russia on Earth in 2245 . ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ", " The Way to Eden ")

Pavel was an only child . While under the influence of the Beta XII-A entity , he erroneously believed that he had had a brother named Piotr who was killed by the Klingons . ( TOS : " Day of the Dove ")

Starfleet Academy [ ]

Around 2263 , Chekov entered Starfleet Academy , from which he graduated with the rank of ensign . His Starfleet serial number was 656-5827D. ( TOS : " Catspaw ", " Who Mourns for Adonais? ", " The Way to Eden "; Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

During the early 2260s , Chekov was romantically involved with Irina Galliulin while they both attended the Academy together. The two had several disagreements before they parted ways: Chekov believed Galliulin to always be too free-spirited, Galliulin believed Chekov to have always been rigid. When Galliulin dropped out of the Academy, each accused the one of leaving the other. Chekov left, but came back to look for Galliulin, who was at the time staying in the city with friends . Galliulin eventually joined the counterculture movement of Dr. Sevrin and his search for the mythical planet Eden . ( TOS : " The Way to Eden ")

USS Enterprise [ ]

The five-year mission [ ].

Pavel Chekov, 2267

Chekov in 2267

Chekov's first assignment, at the age of 22, was on the USS Enterprise under command of Captain James T. Kirk. He joined the crew sometime prior to stardate 3018.2 (early 2267 ). ( TOS : " Catspaw ", " Who Mourns for Adonais? ", " I, Mudd ") He was serving there when sometime later, around stardate 3141.9, the Enterprise encountered SS Botany Bay , and he was seen by Khan Noonien Singh onboard the ship. ( TOS : " Space Seed "; Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

Pavel Chekov celebrating

Chekov celebrating the Enterprise 's defeat of an Orion scout ship

Chekov served a standard junior officer rotation, eventually earning the post of navigator , although he was also proficient with the science officer station, often serving at the post in Commander Spock 's absence. While acting the role of science adviser , Chekov made every attempt to be as thorough as possible. Chekov also became good friends with the slightly older helmsman Lieutenant Sulu who sat next to him on many missions. ( TOS : " Catspaw ", " Amok Time ", " The Deadly Years ", " Spock's Brain ", " Day of the Dove ")

While investigating a humanoid who could generate and control energy , who referred to himself as Apollo , in 2267, Chekov began to spout off information on similar creatures. After naming the electric eel and giant dry-worm , he was stopped by Dr. Leonard McCoy , who told him " not the whole encyclopedia , Chekov. " McCoy later quipping on Chekov's dedicated thoroughness by stating: " Spock's contaminating this boy, Jim. " ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ")

Chekov frightened by a dead body on Gamma Hydra IV

Chekov frightened by a dead body on Gamma Hydra IV

On a mission to deliver supplies to a Federation experimental colony on the planet Gamma Hydra IV , the six member landing party discovered that most of the colonist were either dead or close to death from rapid aging with Chekov becoming frightened upon finding the dead body of Alvin in one of the buildings. On return to the Enterprise , the entire landing party was infected with the rapid aging except for Chekov. Chekov complained to Sulu about how many times Dr. McCoy put him through a series of tests to discover why he wasn't aging, especially emphasizing that if he gave any more blood he wouldn't have any left. Spock soon discovered that the rapid aging was caused by radiation left on Gamma Hydra IV from a rogue comet . McCoy determined that the cure was adrenaline . Chekov had been so shocked upon finding the dead body that his adrenaline provided an immunity to the radiation's effects. ( TOS : " The Deadly Years ")

Tamoon

Tamoon, Chekov's drill "thrall" on Triskelion

In 2268 , Chekov, Kirk, and Lieutenant Uhura were captured by alien beings who used them in gladiatorial combat, which the beings wagered on. Such captured beings were known as " thralls ". One of the thralls, Tamoon was assigned to train Chekov in gladiatorial combat and developed romantic feelings towards him, leading to many unwelcome advances. ( TOS : " The Gamesters of Triskelion ")

Chekov as William Claiborne

Chekov as Billy Claiborne in 2268

Chekov was killed as a member of the landing party that made contact with the xenophobic Melkotians . The Melkotians considered Humans as a disease that must be destroyed, and placed the five member landing party in a frontier setting of the 19th century American West . The away team filled the role of the Clantons , one of the two major gangs involved at the OK Corral gunfight with Chekov playing gang member William Claiborne . Chekov was killed by one of the Earps over a girl named Sylvia , who was in love with Chekov/Claiborne, and not the Earp that wanted her. Spock realized that this simulation was not real, and thus the four other landing party members could not be hurt as long as they did not believe in the illusion. After successfully escaping the illusory setting, the landing party was transported back to the Enterprise , along with Chekov who was alive once again and the Melkotians were willing to begin talks to join the Federation. ( TOS : " Spectre of the Gun ")

Lordchekov

Chekov being tempted by androids Alice 118 and 322 on Mudd's planet

When the ship was hijacked by android Norman to an undiscovered planet , the Enterprise 's crew discovered Harcourt Fenton Mudd who had crashed on the planet. The planet was populated by androids who wished to use the Enterprise to visit other planets, but strand the crew there. The androids tempted Chekov with a planet full of beautiful women to serve him. In the end, the crew banded together and escaped the planet, leaving Mudd with five hundred android replicas of his overbearing wife, Stella . ( TOS : " I, Mudd ")

Chekov drinking vodka

Chekov drinking vodka at the bar on Deep Space Station K-7

During shore leave on Deep Space station K-7 , Chekov, along with Lieutenant Uhura, brought one tribble back to the Enterprise , which reproduced so fast that the ship became overrun with them in three days. Chekov participated in a bar fight with Klingons in the bar on the space station and was temporarily arrested by some redshirts . He had to then participate in an interrogation line on the Enterprise , in front of Kirk, until Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott admitted he started the fight. Scott found a humane way to dispose of all the tribbles on the Enterprise by beaming them over to the Klingon ship IKS Gr'oth just before it went into warp speed. ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles "; DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations ")

Chekov neutralized into an inert solid

Chekov was at navigation when he noticed the Enterprise navigation controls were not working, and then tried to assist Lieutenant Hadley , manning the helm, with the helm's stuck controls. The Kelvan Hanar then suddenly transported himself onto the bridge and put Chekov and the rest of the bridge crew into temporary motionless stasis. Two other Kelvans, Tomar and Drea , had already seized control of engineering and environmental engineering in a similar fashion. Thus began the attempted hijacking of the Enterprise by the Kelvan Milky Way Expedition so they could return to the Andromeda Galaxy . After the Enterprise successfully exited the Milky Way galaxy through the galactic barrier , Kelvan leader Rojan neutralized and reduced Chekov into a dehydrated porous cuboctahedron solid the size of a Human fist, composed of Chekov's base minerals which represented the "distilled" essence of Chekov's being, because he was considered along with most of the rest of the crew non-essential personnel. Chekov was reconstituted after Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Scott, the only four of the crew who were not neutralized, regained control of the Enterprise . ( TOS : " By Any Other Name ")

Chekov, Freeman and security guard arresting Kirk and Spock

Chekov, Freeman and a security guard attempt to arrest Kirk and Spock

After the Starnes Exploration Party children were brought aboard the Enterprise from the planet Triacus , no one on board knew that the children were under the influence of Gorgan , who had given the children the ability of mind-control . This telekinesis had already caused the deaths of the children's parents and was the way in which Gorgan hoped to achieve galactic dominance by way of other children. The children used their mind-control on Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura to make them believe that the Enterprise was still orbiting Triacus, when in actuality Chekov and Sulu had set course for Marcus XII , the intended next target for Gorgan. This also caused Kirk, unaware of the change of course and the departure from the orbit of Triacus, to have two crewmen have their molecules beamed into and spread throughout space and to their deaths. Then Tommy Starnes manipulated, by telekinesis, Chekov, Security Chief Freeman , and another security guard to attempt to arrest and put in the brig both Kirk and Spock because of false "orders" of Starfleet command. Kirk and Spock fought off Chekov, Freeman, and the other security guard, who were temporarily put in the brig themselves. Chekov was freed from the mind-control once the children were freed from the influence of Gorgan. ( TOS : " And the Children Shall Lead ")

Main viewer rear projection

Chekov in front of the bridge's main viewscreen showing a chart of the Sigma Draconis system during the search for Spock's brain

Chekov and security guards staying warm

Chekov and two security officers keeping warm on Sigma Draconis VI

Chekov was rendered unconscious by the Eymorg Kara when she boarded the Enterprise and used her control bracelet in order to steal Spock's brain . After the crew regained consciousness and found Spock's body without his brain and they found Kara's ship left an ion trail to the Sigma Draconis system , Chekov placed a schematic of the system on the bridge's viewscreen . A debate ensued between Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura as to which of the three class M planets they should look for Spock's brain, with Kirk reminding them that Dr. McCoy said that Spock would have only three hours to live without his brain. None of the three planets seemed capable of supporting interstellar flight, but Kirk's best hunch of where to look came from Uhura, who found large, regular energy pulsations on the otherwise glaciated and pre-industrial Sigma Draconis VI . Chekov was part of a landing party that also consisted of Kirk, Scott, McCoy, and two crewmen who beamed down to the surface of Sigma Draconis VI. There the landing party suffered an ambush by the Morg , primitive humanoid men, until one of them was subdued by a phaser . The Morg that was hit hinted at "the Others" who gave "pain and delight", but seemingly the Morg had no mates and didn't know what a female was. Chekov then ran his tricorder and found evidence of an underground city. Kirk, McCoy, and Scott went underground and found that the Eymorg were the females of the Morg and discovered Spock's brain was being used to power the city, Chekov used his phaser to heat a rock to keep him and the two crewmen warm. McCoy was able to get Spock's brain back in his head, just in the nick of time, and they met back up with Chekov and the two crewmen leaving the Eymorg to have to start living with the Morg. ( TOS : " Spock's Brain ")

When Spock mind melded with Medusan Ambassador Kollos to guide the Enterprise into normal space after being stranded in an uncharted void of the galaxy by a then-dead Larry Marvick , Spock-Kollos took over, temporarily, the helm console from Sulu and was assisted in the task by Chekov at navigation. Unfortunately Spock-Kollos forgot to put back on the visor, which caused Spock to go temporarily insane while still on the bridge. During this temporary insanity, he pushed very hard backwards both Chekov and Sulu, who were trying to help him, with Chekov landing on top of the navigation console and then to on his back on the floor. Fortunately Chekov recovered quickly and Spock did so, as well, a short time after that. ( TOS : " Is There in Truth No Beauty? ")

Chekov attacks Spock

Chekov goes insane and attacks Spock while in Tholian space

Chekov was part of an away team that beamed aboard the starship USS Defiant , which was adrift in space. They discovered that the ship was dissolving due to the effects of the interphase of that part of space. They also discovered that there had been mass insanity aboard the USS Defiant with its whole crew dead. Kirk unfortunately had to remain behind because the transporter could only beam aboard three of the four away team members. After beaming back to the Enterprise , Chekov attacked Spock on the bridge in a fit of madness. The illness then spread throughout the ship. The interphase was causing mental breakdowns in the crew of the Enterprise . Chekov was cured of his madness the same way the rest of the crew who suffered mental breakdowns did, from Dr. McCoy discovering and then dispensing a diluted theragen derivative. Spock told Chekov that it was great to see Chekov back to his normal self. The crew rescued Kirk and escaped the Tholians . ( TOS : " The Tholian Web ")

Near the end of 2268, Chekov was very nervous when Kirk, Spock, and Scott were forced to activate the three-part self-destruct sequence in order to force Commissioner Bele to relinquish control of the Enterprise to Kirk. Shortly after in the recreation room , Chekov attended the speech by Lokai regarding how his people had been enslaved and then subjugated by Bele's people on their home planet of Cheron for many centuries. Chekov expressed surprise about this by saying to Lokai, " There was persecution on Earth once. I remember reading about it in history class. " Sulu then reminded Chekov that that took place several centuries earlier on Earth and was considered primitive thinking in the 23rd century. Chekov, manning the bridge's main science station for Spock, was later the one to discover that Bele sabotaged the self-destruct program so he and Lokai ended up having their final battle on the already mutually annihilated, by civil war , Cheron. ( TOS : " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield ")

Early in 2269 , Chekov's sight was affected when the "lights of Zetar " beings attacked the Enterprise as the ship was trying to reach Memory Alpha . Apparently as navigator, Chekov's sight was considered by the Zetarians to be the most important part of Chekov's brain to render useless in the young man during the attack. Chekov later expressed that he couldn't force himself to look at the navigation controls during the attack. ( TOS : " The Lights of Zetar ")

Pavel Chekov and Irina Galliulin kiss

Chekov kissing Irina Galliulin

A bit later in 2269, Chekov once again encountered his lost love, Irina Galliulin. Although they were initially happy to see one another, Chekov adamantly disapproved of her new lifestyle and attempted to cast her off. She visited Chekov, who was working in auxiliary control assigned to help Spock locate the planet Eden , to apologize for upsetting Chekov. Her ulterior motive, however, was to subtly use him to gain his knowledge of the systems of the ship, which were later used by Dr. Sevrin and his followers to hijack the Enterprise . The two left each other once again, this time while saying "good-bye" to one another, as well as each with a better understanding of the other. ( TOS : " The Way to Eden ")

Sulu and Chekov

Chekov and Sulu refusing to comply with the captain's orders as Kirk's body was inhabited by Dr. Janice Lester in 2269

A short time after that unaware that Kirk's body was being inhabited by Dr. Janice Lester after a life-entity transfer , Chekov and Sulu started protesting when the captain extended the mutiny charges against Spock and the doctor to Scott and McCoy and ordered the death penalty for all four of them. Chekov persisted and tried to remind the captain that the death penalty was forbidden except for violation of General Order 4 , which had not been violated. But the captain refused to listen. A short time later on the bridge, Chekov and Sulu took their hands off their consoles in defiance of the captain's orders to go to the planet Benecia for the internment of the prisoners. This action by Chekov and Sulu fortunately started the process of returning Kirk back to his own body. ( TOS : " Turnabout Intruder ")

Later in 2269, Chekov was no longer the navigator on board the Enterprise , having been replaced as navigator by Arex . ( Star Trek: The Animated Series )

Pavel Chekov, 2270s

Lieutenant Chekov in the 2270s

By the early 2270s , Chekov had been promoted to lieutenant and served as the security chief and tactical officer of the refit Enterprise under the command of Captain Will Decker .

Chekov in pain

Chekov's hand burned during V'ger 's attack

Chekov was manning the weapons console when the Enterprise entered a wormhole created by its imbalanced warp engines. Kirk ordered Chekov to fire phasers on an asteroid they were going to collide with in the wormhole, but Decker ordered that he fire photon torpedoes at it instead. Slowly, Chekov fired the weapons due to the wormhole effect but ultimately saved the ship. Later, Chekov's hand was severely burned by a feedback pulse when the ship was probed during its encounter with V'ger . ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture )

USS Reliant [ ]

By the 2280s , Chekov was promoted to commander and assigned as first officer to USS Reliant under Captain Clark Terrell .

Chekov ceti eel pain

Chekov in pain as a Ceti eel leaves his ear

In 2285 , the Reliant was on a mission to find a suitable planet to conduct trials with the Genesis Device . When they explored Ceti Alpha V , Chekov and Captain Terrell encountered Khan Noonien Singh and his Augments .

By putting Ceti eels inside their heads, Khan made them susceptible to his suggestions, his motive being to seek revenge on Admiral Kirk. Using Chekov and Terrell, Khan was able to seize the Reliant and subsequently steal the Genesis Device.

After Captain Terrell's death, and the departure of the Ceti eel from his head, he returned to the Enterprise after his rescue from Regula I , and recovered in time to help Admiral Kirk defeat Khan in the Battle of the Mutara Nebula . ( Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan )

USS Enterprise , again [ ]

Following the death of Spock, he assumed the post of Enterprise 's acting science officer . ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

Chekov braces

Chekov braces himself when Kruge fires at the Enterprise

After it was discovered that Spock may still be alive on the newly formed Genesis Planet , Chekov and his shipmates Kirk, Scott, Sulu, and McCoy stole the Enterprise from Spacedock One (with Uhura's help) in an attempt to recover his regenerated body.

The Enterprise was disabled by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey in orbit around the Genesis Planet and was then self-destructed by Kirk (with help from Scott and Chekov) to prevent its capture. Kirk and his crew later seized command of the Klingon ship, which they named the HMS Bounty .

The crew then transported the regenerated body of Spock to Vulcan , where the body was reunited with his katra , which had been placed in McCoy. ( Star Trek III: The Search for Spock )

HMS Bounty [ ]

Following their exile on Vulcan, Chekov chose to return to Earth with his comrades aboard the HMS Bounty , where while en route, they discovered reason Earth was under "attack" by an orbiting Whale Probe .

Using the slingshot effect , the Bounty went back in time to 1986 to transport two Humpback whales to the 23rd century. While on Earth, Chekov and Uhura were part of "Team 2," assigned to locating and acquiring photons for recrystallizing the dilithium crystals aboard the Bounty .

Pavel Chekov injured

Chekov injured after falling from the USS Enterprise CVN-65 in 1986

Although the mission was a success in acquiring the necessary photons from the nuclear vessel, USS Enterprise , Chekov was captured by the ship's security. Accused of being a "Russkie," Chekov made a failed escape attempt from the aircraft carrier , only to become critically injured when he fell over fifty feet from the ship's hangar deck, running through an open hatch that led out to one of the ship's massive aircraft elevators.

Chekov cured

Chekov at Mercy Hospital

Chekov was taken into emergency surgery at Mercy Hospital where he was diagnosed with a tearing of the middle meningeal artery after a fundoscopic examination . He would successfully be healed, narrowly escaping the removal of an epidural hematoma by trepanation, and subsequently evacuated from the hospital by McCoy, Kirk, and Gillian Taylor .

USS Enterprise -A [ ]

Upon returning to the 23rd century, Chekov and his shipmates faced court martial for their actions. However, they were eventually cleared of all charges and Chekov was reassigned as navigator on the USS Enterprise -A . ( Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home )

Pavel Chekov, 2287

Chekov posing as captain of the Enterprise -A in 2287

In 2287 , Chekov took temporary command of the Enterprise -A and posed as "Captain Chekov" as a ruse to negotiate with Sybok for the hostages that the renegade Vulcan took on Nimbus III . While Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and a security team landed on the planet covertly by shuttlecraft , Chekov successfully distracted Sybok long enough for the landing party to launch an attack on Paradise City . Sybok later captured the landing party and boarded the Enterprise . Making his way to the bridge, Sybok confronted Chekov and took away his "pain". Afterward, Chekov became one of the Vulcan's followers. ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier )

Pavel Chekov, 2293-A

Chekov, shortly before the Enterprise -A's decommissioning

In 2293 , Chekov undertook his final voyage on the Enterprise -A as part of the mission to escort the Klingon Chancellor to peace negotiations with the Federation. Chekov used his investigative science background to find forensic evidence linked to a Federation-Klingon conspiracy attempting to undermine the peace talks. After the Khitomer Conference, Chekov's last duty on the Enterprise -A was to man navigation and the helm for her decommissioning cruise. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

Guest of honor [ ]

Chekov, Kirk, and Scott

Chekov with Kirk and Scott on the new USS Enterprise -B's bridge in 2293

In the latter part of 2293, Commander Chekov was a guest of honor aboard the new USS Enterprise -B , which was under the command of John Harriman . During the ship's maiden voyage , Captain Kirk went missing (presumably swept into space) during a hull breach caused by a part of the Nexus energy ribbon when it collided with the Enterprise -B. ( Star Trek Generations )

At some point, Chekov had a son , Anton , who served as the president of the United Federation of Planets in 2401 , by which time Chekov had died. ( PIC : " The Last Generation ")

Russian heritage [ ]

Chekov was very proud of his heritage. He often noted – mostly erroneously – that most great inventions and events ever noted in history came from his homeland, which both amused and annoyed his crewmates.

  • He claimed that the old Earth saying " Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me, " was invented in Russia. ( TOS : " Friday's Child ")
  • He once sarcastically referred to himself as " the tsar of all the Russias " when meeting Apollo . ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ")
  • He claimed that the English story about the Cheshire Cat was actually a Russian story about a disappearing cat from Minsk . ( TOS : " Who Mourns for Adonais? ")
  • He claimed that the Garden of Eden was located just outside Moscow . He described it as " a very nice place " and that " it must've made Adam and Eve very sad to leave, " to which Kirk sarcastically responded with " Just... outside Moscow, all right. " ( TOS : " The Apple ")
  • He once referred to Harry Mudd as an "' unprincipled evil-minded lecherous Kulak . " He then commented that planet Mudd was " even better than Leningrad . " ( TOS : " I, Mudd ")
  • He claimed that the region surrounding Sherman's Planet was first mapped by the famous Russian astronomer Ivan Burkoff , when in fact, it was discovered by John Burke , of the Royal Academy . ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles ")
  • He claimed that quadrotriticale was a Russian invention, when, in fact, it was invented in Canada . ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles ")
  • He was also known to have made references to Peter the Great . ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles ")
  • He claimed that scotch was invented by a little old lady from Leningrad . ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles ")
  • He was also fond of the Russian beverage vodka and referring to the Klingons, among other individuals, as Cossacks . ( TOS : " The Trouble with Tribbles ", " Spectre of the Gun ", " Day of the Dove ")
  • He claimed Cinderella was a Russian epic. ( Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )

In addition to these, Captain Kirk once stopped Lieutenant Sulu mid-sentence, while Sulu was referencing an incident in Siberia , and told Sulu, " If I wanted a Russian history lesson, I would have brought Mr. Chekov. " ( TOS : " That Which Survives ", in which Chekov himself did not appear)

Biographical timeline [ ]

  • 2245  : Born in Russia , on Earth
  • ca. 2263  : Enrolls at Starfleet Academy , later graduates with the rank of ensign
  • ca. 2267  : Assigned to USS Enterprise as navigator and relief science officer
  • 2270  : The Enterprise 's five-year mission ends.
  • Early 2270s  : Joins the refit Enterprise crew as lieutenant , assigned as security chief
  • 2285  : Assigned to USS Reliant as commander , first officer . Assignment ends when the vessel is stolen and destroyed by Khan Noonien Singh . Chekov participates in the theft and destruction of Enterprise , and flees with Admiral Kirk's party to Vulcan
  • 2286  : Charges against the crew and Chekov are dropped, Chekov becomes navigator of USS Enterprise -A
  • 2287  : Temporarily in command of the Enterprise -A, acts as captain to negotiate with Sybok at Nimbus III
  • 2293  : After helping to solve the Khitomer conspiracy , Chekov's assignment to the Enterprise -A ends when the vessel is scheduled for retirement. Chekov is a guest on board the new Enterprise -B.
  • 24th century : Has a son named Anton Chekov , who has become the President of the United Federation of Planets by 2401.

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

  • " Catspaw "
  • " Friday's Child "
  • " Who Mourns for Adonais? "
  • " Amok Time "
  • " The Apple "
  • " Mirror, Mirror "
  • " The Deadly Years "
  • " I, Mudd "
  • " The Trouble with Tribbles "
  • " Bread and Circuses "
  • " Journey to Babel "
  • " A Private Little War "
  • " The Gamesters of Triskelion "
  • " Obsession "
  • " The Immunity Syndrome "
  • " A Piece of the Action "
  • " By Any Other Name "
  • " Patterns of Force "
  • " The Ultimate Computer "
  • " Assignment: Earth "
  • " Spectre of the Gun "
  • " Elaan of Troyius "
  • " The Paradise Syndrome "
  • " The Enterprise Incident "
  • " And the Children Shall Lead "
  • " Spock's Brain "
  • " Is There in Truth No Beauty? "
  • " The Tholian Web "
  • " For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky "
  • " Day of the Dove "
  • " Let That Be Your Last Battlefield "
  • " The Mark of Gideon "
  • " The Lights of Zetar "
  • " The Way to Eden "
  • " The Savage Curtain "
  • " Turnabout Intruder "
  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
  • Star Trek Generations
  • Star Trek Beyond (Picture only)
  • DS9 : " Trials and Tribble-ations " ( archived footage )

Background information [ ]

Chekov was played by Walter Koenig , who joined the cast of Star Trek at the beginning of TOS Season 2 , and filled in what were originally intended to be roles for Hikaru Sulu while George Takei spent much of this time involved in filming The Green Berets during Season 2. ( "To Boldly Go...": Season 2 , TOS Season 2 DVD special features)

According to Gene L. Coon in his The Making of Star Trek , Gene Roddenberry wanted to add in a young Englishman to appeal to younger demographics. However, he received a written complaint from Russian sources, who complained that Star Trek – though trying to fashion a future where the world was united – was ignoring the USSR, which, at the time, was the leader in the space race. Roddenberry soon after altered his English youth into Chekov.

On the video release of William Shatner's Star Trek Memories , Walter Koenig himself said that the Russians didn't say anything about there being no Russians on the Enterprise and the Pravda article that Roddenberry and Coon referred to likely didn't exist because at the height of the Cold War, no American programming was airing in Russia. ( Allan Asherman 's The Star Trek Compendium says that the Pravda journalist "[had] seen a Star Trek episode televised in Germany", but Star Trek didn't air in Germany until 1972 .) According to Koenig, the character was created to add Davy Jones -like appeal to the show and the Russian heritage was added by Roddenberry because he wanted to honor the fact that the Russians were the first people in space. In his first couple of episodes, Koenig indeed wore a Monkees -style wig to look more like Davy Jones. ( "To Boldly Go...": Season 2 , TOS Season 2 DVD special features) Ironically, during the time of TOS in the late 1960s, Soviet teens sporting this look, derisively called "hairies" and viewed as dangerously rebellious by their elders, were often arrested and had their hair cut off by the police. [2]

Chekov was the only main character from Star Trek not to appear in Star Trek: The Animated Series , due to budgetary constraints. ( Inside Star Trek: The Real Story , p. 422) He was briefly written into the series, appearing as an ensign in the first draft script of " Yesteryear ", though his role in that story was rewritten for a newly created character, Ensign Bates . Despite Chekov's exclusion, StarTrek.com has a TAS Chekov biography page explaining what he was up to away from the Enterprise in the years of The Animated Series . [3] (X) Koenig, however, was not entirely absent from the series; he did provide the script for " The Infinite Vulcan ".

Chekov was referenced in the first draft script of the Star Trek: The Next Generation sixth season episode " Relics ". Moments after Scott was rematerialized on the USS Jenolan in the 24th century, he started to suggest to Geordi La Forge that perhaps he (i.e. Scott) and Chekov could do something related to salvaging the Jenolan . However, Scott trailed off, not finishing his sentence, upon first seeing Worf . The reference to Chekov was completely dropped by the final draft of the script. [4]

A 24th century version of Pavel Chekov was briefly planned to feature in an episode that was conceived but not filmed for the seventh season of TNG . Writer Naren Shankar recalled how Chekov was portrayed in the story; " He returns as a prisoner-of-war from a planet where he was imprisoned for many years and finally released. Now he has come back as an ambassador to help the Federation open up diplomatic relations, like Vietnam, essentially. " Chekov would have also, in the same story, formed a friendship with Worf, who had likewise been brought up in Russia. Shankar concluded, " Throughout the course of the negotiations with these people, it appears as though Chekov is sabotaging them. It turns out he is plotting to use the Enterprise to lay waste to their capital for revenge and to screw things up for the Federation because he feels they abandoned him and let these people torture him. " ( Sci Fi Universe , September 1994 issue [ page number? • edit ] )

In the first draft script of Star Trek Generations , Chekov had a total of three lines. He was aboard the Enterprise -B when it encountered El-Aurian vessels caught in the Nexus, though he didn't have any dialogue on the Enterprise 's bridge. After being recruited as a nurse by Dr. McCoy and accompanying him to the Enterprise -B's sickbay with the intention of treating the El-Aurian survivors, Chekov reported to McCoy, while scanning the El-Aurians with a tricorder, that he had found "only minor injuries so far...." One of the people Chekov scanned was Dr. Tolian Soran , who roughly grabbed him. Chekov tried to assure Soran, who was desperate to return to the Nexus, that he was safe on the Enterprise . However, Chekov began to be attacked by Soran, so McCoy rendered Soran unconscious with a hypospray before he could seriously wound Chekov. Puzzled, Chekov asked McCoy what Soran had been talking about, though McCoy didn't know. Chekov returned to the bridge of the Enterprise -B and remained there until the setting of the script changed.

In Star Trek Generations , Chekov is briefly referred to as "Captain Chekov" by one of the reporters on the Enterprise -B. Chekov was referred to in the final draft script (but not in the first draft) as "Commander". He is also shown wearing a commander's pin on screen.

By the time Star Trek Generations came about, Walter Koenig felt it was finally time to say goodbye to the character of Chekov, having believed Star Trek VI would be Chekov's last appearance. As it turned out, the amount of content which was ultimately given to Chekov to say and do in Generations also pleased Koenig. " I found this attractive and appealing because there is a couple of personal moments that Chekov has in this story that were absent in what was supposedly our last appearance, " he stated, " and although the story certainly isn't about Chekov, nor is any one page about Chekov, still I feel that I have been given the opportunity to invest some character into the dialogue and to leave an impression of Chekov's personality on the screen. " ("Uniting Two Legends", Star Trek Generations (Special Edition) DVD / Blu-ray )

One of Chekov's costumes was added to the ScienceFictionArchives.com collection and was showcased at Paris science museum during 2010-2011 exhibition "Science (and) Fiction: Imagination Meets Reality". [5]

Walter Koenig's portrayal of Chekov, especially in TOS Season 3 , heavily influenced Anton Yelchin 's depiction of the alternate reality version of the character. " There's a lot more Chekov in season three, so I wanted to focus on [that] season [....] I'm indebted to [Walter Koenig] for setting me up in this great way, " Yelchin remarked. " He crafted such a fun character, so I try and embrace that energy every time, and be respectful of that. " ( Star Trek Magazine Movie Special 2016 , p. 84)

Heather Kadin remarked, " I don't think I realized as a kid when I was watching what it meant that Chekov was on the bridge in the middle of the Cold War. That's amazing that Gene Roddenberry thought to do that and actually was able to do that. " ("A Woman's Journey", DIS Season 1 DVD & Blu-ray special features)

Apocrypha [ ]

According to Star Trek II: Biographies , Chekov was born on 6 March 2245 in Moscow to parents Aleksei Mikhailovich Chekov and Catherine Rykova. While his biography in the video game Star Trek: Starship Creator , written by Mike Okuda , stated that his parents were named Andrei Dimitrievich Chekov and Larisa Irinova Chekov. He also had a daughter named Kim.

In the Eleventh UK Annual Story , Chekov says that he took the same radio courses as Uhura, presumably at Starfleet Academy.

In the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy game, Chekov claims that prior to joining the Enterprise , he was stationed on the planet Benderi IV, where he had a commanding officer who believed getting angry was unprofessional and bottled up her rage until it exploded. He also authored several simulator missions used at the Academy.

In the novel To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh , Chekov led the security team that delivered Khan and his followers to Ceti Alpha V's surface. Khan remembers Chekov as having led a courageous but failed attempt to retake the engine room during Khan's brief takeover of the Enterprise . This coincides with both Khan's recognition of Chekov, as well as Chekov's comment in the novel Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan that he had seen the world Khan had been left on.

According to The Sundered , the first book in the Star Trek: The Lost Era series, Chekov served as executive officer of the USS Excelsior from 2293 through at least part of 2298 . Chekov is mentioned in TNG -era novels from Pocket Books , such as Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens 's Federation . That novel mentioned him becoming an admiral after commanding both the USS Potemkin and USS Cydonia . The Reeves-Stevenses collaborated with William Shatner on The Return , which had Chekov becoming a fleet admiral . In Exodus , a novel in the Star Trek: Vulcan's Soul series by Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz , one plot thread had Chekov still be alive by the time of the Dominion War , along with Admiral Uhura.

The Face of the Unknown briefly depicts Chekov's longing for a new direction in his life following the events of " The Way to Eden ", and ends with him deciding to transfer for additional security training, to be replaced on the Enterprise by Arex Na Eth . The beginning of the novel The Latter Fire depicts his leaving the Enterprise for training at Starfleet Academy's Reed Annex in London (presumably a tip of the hat to Malcolm Reed ), and his subsequent replacement by a newly transferred Arex.

Chekov returns in the Agents of Yesterday expansion for Star Trek Online , again voiced by Walter Koenig. After the events of The Undiscovered Country , he eventually became a captain, and even later in his life he became a temporal agent , sometimes working alongside Daniels . Chekov – aided by the player character – removes a Na'kuhl bomb from the Enterprise and places it aboard the Orion scout ship that attacked during the trip to the Babel Conference ( TOS : " Journey to Babel "). He later leads Starfleet and allied forces against the Temporal Liberation Front in the Battle of Procyon V , joining with the player and unwitting temporal agent Montgomery Scott to use the Tox Uthat against the Sphere-Builders .

In Star Trek Cats , Chekov is depicted as a Russian Blue cat .

External links [ ]

  • Pavel Chekov at Wikipedia
  • Pavel Chekov at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
  • Pavel Chekov at the Star Trek Online Wiki
  • 1 Daniels (Crewman)
  • 3 Calypso (episode)

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Anton yelchin, ‘star trek’ actor, dies at 27.

J.J. Abrams, Jodie Foster and Drake Doremus pay tribute in the wake of the actor's accidental death on Sunday morning.

By Arlene Washington , Ryan Parker June 19, 2016 11:15am

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Anton Yelchin , best known for playing Chekov in the new Star Trek films, has died. He was 27.

The actor was killed in a car accident early Sunday morning, his publicist, Jennifer Allen, confirmed.

The accident happened around 1:10 a.m. at Yelchin’s home in Studio City, LAPD spokeswoman Jenny Houser told The Hollywood Reporter . “It appears he momentarily exited his car and it rolled backward, causing trauma that led to his death,” said Houser. 

Yelchin was on his way to meet his friends for rehearsal and when he didn’t respond, his friends went to check on him. The actor was found pinned between the car and the fence and a mailbox pillar. 

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Yelchin  stars in the upcoming  Star Trek Beyond , which is set to open July 22. The film’s studio, Paramount Pictures, released a statement on Yelchin’s death:

All of us at Paramount join the world in mourning the untimely passing of Anton Yelchin . As a member of the Star Trek family, he was beloved by so many and he will missed by all. We share our deepest condolences with his mother, father and family.

Star Trek director J.J. Abrams posted a tribute to the actor through his Bad Robot Productions Twitter page. He tweeted a photo of a handwritten note which reads, “You were brilliant. You were kind. You were funny as hell, and supremely talented. And you weren’t here nearly long enough. Missing you. JJ “

pic.twitter.com/ q8VBJBVPK3 — Bad Robot (@bad_robot) June 19, 2016

Yelchin in May signed on to co-star in DirecTV/the Audience Network’s 10-episode straight-to-series Stephen King adaptation Mr. Mercedes . Producer David E. Kelley told THR Yelchin was to portray Brady Hartsfield , a mentally deranged ice cream truck driver and IT worker for Cyber Patrol (aka Geek Squad) who is secretly the Mercedes Killer. The drama is slated to premiere in 2018 on both DirecTV and AT&T Uverse . 

“We are devastated to learn of the tragic death of Anton Yelchin ,” a spokeswoman for DirecTV/Audience Network said in a statement. “We greatly admired his talent and were very much looking forward to working with him on Mr. Mercedes. Everyone at AT&T and Audience Network extends our deepest condolences. Our thoughts are with his family and friends during this difficult time.”

It remains unclear how Yelchin’s death will impact the series.

Yelchin began acting as a child, both in films and television, including in Steven Spielberg’s Emmy-award-winning TV series Taken , which aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in late 2002. The prolific actor starred in several films released in 2001, including Along Came a Spider , but garnered the most recognition for Hearts in Atlantis .

In 2006, Yelchin received widespread acclaim for Alpha Dog , a crime thriller drawing from the real-life story of kidnap and murder victim Nicholas Markowitz . 

Paramount was particularly impressed with the young actor; the studio and Abrams cast him to play Chekov in their reinvigorated Star Trek series, the first of which hit theaters in 2009. Yelchin reprised the role in Star Trek Into Darkness in 2013 and will be seen posthumously in Star Trek Beyond . (Justin Lin took over directing duties from Abrams on the third film.)

Yelchin also devoted his time to a number of smaller and independent films, including Jodie Foster’s The Beaver (2011).

“Anton … What a rare and beautiful soul with his unstoppable passion for life,” Foster said in a statement. “He was equal parts serious thinker and the most fun little brother you could ever dream of. I am so honored to have been able to direct such a deep actor, so committed and genuine. I will forever be grateful for all of those little exchanges we shared, his contagious enthusiasm, his questions, his company. My heart breaks for his mom and dad who were a part of every anecdote. He carried their love into everything he touched.”

Yelchin starred opposite Felicity Jones and Jennifer Lawrence in the 2011 indie film Like Crazy , which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Paramount’s specialty division, Paramount Vantage, picked up the movie and gave it a limited release at the box office, where it earned north of $3.4 million.

Drake Doremus , who co-wrote and directed Like Crazy , was reached by THR shortly after the news broke. “I’m still in shock,” he said. “I’m having a hard time processing it. I just woke up and saw it online and thought it was a hoax, you know, like some of these things are. Then I talked to some people who confirmed it and it’s just devastating.”

He continued: “Everyone’s devastated. I spoke to Felicity, who is very devastated and very upset. And Jon Schwartz [the film’s producer]. You just try to touch base with all the people you love and who changed your life, and he certainly changed all our lives.”

Yelchin also starred in Rudderless ( 2014) for director William H. Macy; Michael Almereyda’s Cymbeline (2015), which made its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival; and Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Broken Horses (2015). Major studio offerings in recent years outside of Star Trek included DreamWork’s Fright Night remake (2011), directed by Craig Gillespie, and Sony’s animated franchise The Smurfs . 

Pamela McClintock, Lesley Goldberg and Scott Feinberg contributed to this report .

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Star Trek 's Anton Yelchin Talks Chekov Accent and Klingons

...and green screen work aboard the enterprise..

chekov in new star trek

In the new Star Trek movie, rebooting the franchise with all new actors playing the original Enterprise crew, Anton Yelchin is the new Chekov. Reinterpreting Walter Koenig ‘s Russian starship lieutenant required some interesting linguistic decisions on Yelchin’s part.

“The thing is about Walter Koenig was his accent was interesting,” said Yelchin. “I think I’m just going to leave it at interesting. All of us had to make the choice of what we wanted to take from the original and what we wanted to bring to it. There are certain things that I took, from the fact that he replaced every V with a W which is weird. I don’t really know where that decision came from but regardless that’s the decision that he made and I thought it was important to bring that to the character.”

If he can nail that down, Yelchin has done Chekov proud and should have free reign to do whatever else he wants with the character. “I talked to J.J. [Abrams] a lot about what he wanted. His thing was we’re not making something that’s supposed to be the old Star Trek . He’s making his own movie but there is a bit of, like, I think people want to see what they love so we’re all trying to find things that will remind people of the old characters. So it’s been interesting picking up on little things.”

As for finding opportunities to say the line “But Ceepteen, the Kleengons are approaching,” Yelchin has spent most of his time on the ship. “Chekov is just on the Enterprise. A lot of it is green screen. I mean, the Enterprise itself, J.J.’s trying to shoot as much of it as he can with out green screen, but I think a lot of space is obviously green screen — what I’m looking at while seeing the Klingon warships.”

Star Trek hits theaters Christmas 2008.

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Anton Yelchin Dies In Car Accident: Chekov In ‘Star Trek’ Reboot Was 27

Anton Yelchin , best known for portraying Ensign Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek reboot film series, as well as for roles in, Jim Jarmush’s Only Lovers Left Alive , the Stephen King adaptation Hearts In Atlantis , and the acclaimed horror film Green Room , is dead following a tragic car accident in his Studio City home last night. He was 27.

“Actor Anton Yelchin was killed in a fatal traffic collision early this morning. His family requests you respect their privacy at this time,” his publicist, Jennifer Allen said in a statement.

Born in Leningrad, Russia (now Saint Petersburg) in 1989 to parents who were stars of Russia’s Ice Ballet for 15 years, Yelchin and his family immigrated to the United States as political refugees that same year. Yelchin subsequently grew up in Los Angeles, attending Tarzana’s Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies and in 2007, the University of Southern California. However, his entry into acting came at age 9 in the indie film A Man is Mostly Water , with other early roles including in Delivering Milo , House of D , and the 2002 Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries Taken .

His first major recognition as an actor came in 2001 when he played the younger version of Bobby Garfield, played as an adult by David Morse, in Hearts in Atlantis . The next year, Yelchin won Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actor at the Young Artist Awards for his performance. Yelchin next came to increased prominence in 2006, co-starring as the central kidnapping victim in Nick Cassavetes’ crime thriller Alpha Dog , opposite Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried, Harry Dean Stanton, Sharon Stone, and Bruce Willis.

Yelchin’s breakout role came at 19 in Charlie Bartlett , the Jon Poll-directed comedy-drama written by Gustin Nash about an awkward, wealthy teenager who begins giving out therapeutic advice and prescription drugs to his classmates in a bid to become popular. This was followed in 2009 by a pair of major franchise roles that solidifed his career – the teenaged version of Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation , taking on the role originated in 1984 by Michael Biehn in James Cameron’s The Terminator , and Ensign Pavel Chekov in JJ Abram’s 2009 Star Trek .

Like many of his co-stars on Star Trek, Yelchin notably looked to the performance of his predecessor on the original series and subsequent films, Walter Koenig, for insight into the role. Mimicking the original Chekov’s accent, Yelchin also drew from his own Russian background as well as from the Cold War climate of the original series for inspiration. “I wanted it to be close to the Chekov accent, I guess that is where our opinions differ. I have no problem doing a real Russian accent, but that wouldn’t be Chekov to me. The interesting thing about it is that his accent is a cold-war stereotype of a Russian person,” he said in a 2009 interview . “It is not entirely the same, but Walter [Koenig] came on set and was like “that sounds like me.” And that is what was fun for me. As a person familiar with a Russian accent, and someone with Russian roots who can speak Russian and knows what Russian people sound like, it was fun to purposefully mess around with the Russian accent — to purposefully change what I thought a Russian accent was to suit that stereotype they had in the sixties.”

One notable aspect of that performance came in the reboot franchise’s first film, when Yelchin’s Chekov displayed extraordinary difficulty pronouncing the phrase “victor victor” and ended up saying it as “wictor wictor”, a tribute to Koenig’s memorable pronunciation of “nuclear vessles” as “nuclear wessles” in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . Yelchin portrayed Chekov two more times – in 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness , also directed by JJ Abrams, and in the upcoming Star Trek Beyond directed by Justin Lin which hits theaters July 22.

Most recently, Yelchin drew great reviews for his performance in the acclaimed horror film Green Room , in which he co-starred with Imogen Poots and Alia Shawkat as members of a punk band who find themselves hunted by neo-Nazi skinheads after witnessing a murder at an isolated Pacific Northwest club. The film won raves throughout its festival run in 2015, taking home the Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award at the Toronto Film Festival last October. It had limited theatrical release in April of this year.

Other roles include: Charlie Brewster in remake of Fright Night opposite David Tennant, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Imogen Poots, and Toni Collette; Jim Jarmush’s critically acclaimed vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive , opposite Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi, and John Hurt; the romantic drama Like Crazy ; voicing Clumsy Smurf in the feature film adaptation of The Smurfs ; the Aardman Animations production The Pirates! Band of Misfits ; and the 2014 romantic comedy 5 TO 7 .

Yelchin’s final film is Thoroughbred , a psychological thriller also starring Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy that marks the feature film debut of playwright Cory Finley. Filming on Thoroughbred wrapped two weeks ago in Boston.

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Janis paige dies: prolific film, tv & stage actor known for ‘pajama game’, ‘silk stockings’ & soaps was 101, anton yelchin dies in car accident: chekov in ‘star trek’ reboot was 27.

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chekov in new star trek

Anton Yelchin, best known for portraying Ensign Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek reboot film series, as well as for roles in, Jim Jarmush’s Only Lovers Left Alive , the Stephen King adaptation Hearts In Atlantis , and the acclaimed horror film Green Room , is dead following a tragic car accident in his Studio City home last night. He was 27.

“Actor Anton Yelchin was killed in a fatal traffic collision early this morning. His family requests you respect their privacy at this time,” his publicist, Jennifer Allen said in a statement.

Born in Leningrad, Russia (now Saint Petersburg) in 1989 to parents who were stars of Russia’s Ice Ballet for 15 years, Yelchin and his family immigrated to the United States as political refugees that same year. Yelchin subsequently grew up in Los Angeles, attending Tarzana’s Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies and in 2007, the University of Southern California. However, his entry into acting came at age 9 in the indie film A Man is Mostly Water , with other early roles including in Delivering Milo , House of D , and the 2002 Steven Spielberg-produced miniseries Taken .

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His first major recognition as an actor came in 2001 when he played the younger version of Bobby Garfield, played as an adult by David Morse, in Hearts in Atlantis . The next year, Yelchin won Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actor at the Young Artist Awards for his performance. Yelchin next came to increased prominence in 2006, co-starring as the central kidnapping victim in Nick Cassavetes’ crime thriller Alpha Dog , opposite Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried, Harry Dean Stanton, Sharon Stone, and Bruce Willis.

Yelchin’s breakout role came at 19 in Charlie Bartlett , the Jon Poll-directed comedy-drama written by Gustin Nash about an awkward, wealthy teenager who begins giving out therapeutic advice and prescription drugs to his classmates in a bid to become popular. This was followed in 2009 by a pair of major franchise roles that solidifed his career – the teenaged version of Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation , taking on the role originated in 1984 by Michael Biehn in James Cameron’s The Terminator , and Ensign Pavel Chekov in JJ Abram’s 2009 Star Trek .

Image: Paramount Pictures

Like many of his co-stars on Star Trek, Yelchin notably looked to the performance of his predecessor on the original series and subsequent films, Walter Koenig, for insight into the role. Mimicking the original Chekov’s accent, Yelchin also drew from his own Russian background as well as from the Cold War climate of the original series for inspiration. “I wanted it to be close to the Chekov accent, I guess that is where our opinions differ. I have no problem doing a real Russian accent, but that wouldn’t be Chekov to me. The interesting thing about it is that his accent is a cold-war stereotype of a Russian person,” he said in a 2009 interview . “It is not entirely the same, but Walter [Koenig] came on set and was like “that sounds like me.” And that is what was fun for me. As a person familiar with a Russian accent, and someone with Russian roots who can speak Russian and knows what Russian people sound like, it was fun to purposefully mess around with the Russian accent — to purposefully change what I thought a Russian accent was to suit that stereotype they had in the sixties.”

One notable aspect of that performance came in the reboot franchise’s first film, when Yelchin’s Chekov displayed extraordinary difficulty pronouncing the phrase “victor victor” and ended up saying it as “wictor wictor”, a tribute to Koenig’s memorable pronunciation of “nuclear vessles” as “nuclear wessles” in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . Yelchin portrayed Chekov two more times – in 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness , also directed by JJ Abrams, and in the upcoming Star Trek Beyond directed by Justin Lin which hits theaters July 22.

Most recently, Yelchin drew great reviews for his performance in the acclaimed horror film Green Room , in which he co-starred with Imogen Poots and Alia Shawkat as members of a punk band who find themselves hunted by neo-Nazi skinheads after witnessing a murder at an isolated Pacific Northwest club. The film won raves throughout its festival run in 2015, taking home the Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award at the Toronto Film Festival last October. It had limited theatrical release in April of this year.

Other roles include: Charlie Brewster in remake of Fright Night opposite David Tennant, Colin Farrell, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Imogen Poots, and Toni Collette; Jim Jarmush’s critically acclaimed vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive , opposite Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi, and John Hurt; the romantic drama Like Crazy ; voicing Clumsy Smurf in the feature film adaptation of The Smurfs ; the Aardman Animations production The Pirates! Band of Misfits ; and the 2014 romantic comedy 5 TO 7 .

Yelchin’s final film is Thoroughbred , a psychological thriller also starring Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy that marks the feature film debut of playwright Cory Finley. Filming on Thoroughbred wrapped two weeks ago in Boston.

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Interview: Walter Koenig Talks New Memoir, Closure With William Shatner, And Putting Chekov Behind Him

chekov in new star trek

| May 18, 2020 | By: Anthony Pascale 103 comments so far

Walter Koenig appeared as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek: The Orginal Series as well as in seven Trek feature films. The actor has just released Beaming Up and Getting Off: Life Before and Beyond Star Trek , an update to his 1998 autobiography Warped Factors . TrekMovie spoke to Koenig about the new book and his time in the final frontier.

What prompted you to do the update to your autobiography?

Well, I was approached by Jacobs Brown Publishing and it sounded like a fun project. Writing an autobiography is a lot different than writing fiction. I don’t have to worry about story structure. I don’t have to worry about relationships. It’s just all from memory, and I can just go in chronological order. I enjoy the process of writing, so when they approached me, I was otherwise at liberty as they say and said, “Sure!”

The 1998 autobiography got positive reviews and was lauded for its honesty, perhaps even brutal honesty. But was there anything you held back for this one?

Not really. I was pretty candid. It’s not masochistic. It’s not like I am pointing to failings in my character that I have burdened with over the last two decades and finally decided that I would therapeutically put it down on paper. Over twenty years have passed and there have been events and situations and people that were introduced into my life that were not there previously. Also, I felt looking back and evaluating how I felt then with how I think now might be interesting for folks. We all transition during the course of a lifetime and develop attitudes and habits and philosophies, etcetera, that may have been incipient early on but develop to a way leading one’s life. Although I don’t think what I have written is terribly profound, it is the current state of my mind and what I project as far as the future is concerned.

In that vein, have your views on Star Trek and your time with the franchise changed in that last two decades?  

Yeah, I think it has. I was always very pleased when we were shooting the show and the motion pictures, to be identified with Star Trek . I thought we were putting forward some very trenchant socio-political philosophies that needed to be articulated. I think we did that by projecting problems that were current into the future where it was more admissible. I was always pleased that we were dealing with issues of mankind and humanity and how we can achieve a better moral society and be inclusive of all races, creeds, sexes, philosophies, etcetera.

But there was always something a little nagging in the back of my head and that was while we shooting the shows and the feature films I felt this is current and part of my life and I could, without reluctance, take a bow or two for whatever small participation I had in the show. But I have been somewhat detached from the creative process for quite a while now. So, when I go to conventions and people tell me how much they not only love the show but how much affection they had for my character, I feel a little awkward, a little uncomfortable.

That is really dealing in the past. I don’t want to wallow in the past. I want to be a creature of the present and the future. I don’t think I am done. God knows the industry may not have the same sentiment, but I don’t think I am done. And I don’t just want to rest on past laurels. When I go to make public appearances, I would love to be able to present a current list of accomplishments and unfortunately, they have been in less abundance [laughs] before I wrote the first autobiography.

chekov in new star trek

Walter Koenig as Chekov in TOS “Spectre of the Gun”

Speaking of conventions, your updated memoir has a recent story regarding yourself and a candid conversation you had with William Shatner backstage. Your first memoir also had a few candid Shatner stories as well, do you think this recent, and somewhat awkward moment backstage at STLV, is going to be as good as you get for closure with Bill?

No, we don’t have closure. But yes, I was candid, and what you see in the memoir reflected my sentiment at the time, and they do now. Mr. Shatner comes from a different place and a different philosophy and different set of values. He argues that he is not at fault and not guilty of any social misdemeanor, and I say misdemeanor and not felony because it never achieved that status. They were just little things along the way that were disappointing and disillusioning, but not enough to change my life or go to bed tossing and turning thinking about Bill Shatner. In the book, I also acknowledge his talent and acknowledge his availability and responsibility in making Star Trek the success it was. He was an enormous part of the reason why Star Trek continued through three seasons on television and the six movies.

But yes, there are a couple of stories. And in the new edition of my book, there are anecdotal stories I tell about Bill. But I don’t think they are mean or vicious. I think they are more funny than anything.

Your first memoir was Chekov’s Enterprise , about the making of Star Trek: The Motion Picture . That project went through a lot of changes early on, including the Star Trek: Phase II television series concept, which you were also signed up for. Do you ever think a new television show would have been more fulfilling to you as an actor?

More fulfilling? I don’t know. It is pure speculation. When Gene [Roddenberry] called us all in the spring of ’69 and thanked us for our participation in Star Trek and hoped we could all work together again someday, that was not prophetic, that was just a salutation and a punctuation mark to say our careers involving Star Trek were over. So, I don’t know what would have transpired if we had gone back to doing a television series.

I had some fairly rewarding experiences doing the original series. Many times, I just sat there read a readout on my console. I don’t exactly consider that an artistic achievement. As a matter of fact, I left the show in the third season for a month to do a play, because I felt a little frustrated with the amount of participation I had on the show. In the third season, my contribution was relatively minor. A play gave me a chance to do a leading role and be on stage every day and be on stage opposite Jackie Coogan.

So, it didn’t portend well that if we came back and did a series in the ‘70s that I could anticipate greater involvement. As for the feature films, Star Trek II and Star Trek IV were really high points to me and I am certainly grateful I had the opportunity to perform in both of those films. But I don’t do a lot of reflecting on “What Ifs.” I am pleased with the way things turned out.

You highlighted two of the Star Trek films. Do you have regrets about the other films where you had less to do?

I didn’t have much to do in Star Trek [The Motion Picture] . I had less to do in Star Trek III and [Star Trek] V . And that’s okay. I didn’t have any problem coming to work knowing that the part would be very modest. I thoroughly enjoyed being on the set and working with my compatriots and getting to perform even in a minimal way. I was glad to be there. I was a little frustrated and would have loved to do more.

Star Trek VI was a different situation. With VI I was culpable with my less than present attitude with which I approached the work. I really thought Star Trek VI was our last film. I was bitterly—and I use that word understanding the drama of it—I was bitterly disappointed because since it was going to be our last film, that there should be a curtain call for each of the supporting actors. We should each have some small moment that gave us some insight into who these characters were and would wrap up their stories. That was not forthcoming. It was treated like just another episode without that sense of finality.

Whether I was justified in feeling that way is really a matter of conjecture. As a consequence, I took that to work every day, and boo on me for feeling that way. My first responsibility was to be a professional and to be conducting myself in a manner that reflected that. I don’t think anyone was aware of how I felt. I didn’t throw tantrums, but I was unhappy. I was unhappy that myself and George [Takei], Nichelle [Nichols], and Jimmy [Doohan] didn’t have a little more to do. We were from the start, expository characters. When you belong to an operation like Star Trek that receives such high regard and the recognition extended beyond oceans, you want to feel you are making a contribution that is comparable and commensurate with that kind of popularity. Maybe it is just a little selfish on my part and egocentric and a little neurotic, but that is the way I felt.

You were happy with how much you had to do in Star Trek II , but you were also involved early on, giving the script a review to make sure it fit with the show. Did you ever feel guilty that you didn’t point out that – contrary to the script – Khan never met Chekov on the show? 

That’s a great question because the fact of the matter of fact is in the script for Star Trek II when Spock dies, I called up the new producer Harve Bennett and he didn’t even want to talk to me because I was an actor and I was calling about acting problems. But I explained to him—because I got an advance copy of the script—that there was a fault in the story structure that had to be addressed. I said you cannot have Mr. Spock die in the second act. Along with Captain Kirk and the Enterprise, these three elements are quintessential to Star Trek. They are synonymous with what Star Trek is and you cannot eliminate one of those and not have it be the dramatic ending of the story. And to my utter surprise and bewilderment, nobody had mentioned that to him.

So, he was impressed enough to have me do a “Trekkie run” on the rest of the script and tell him what other missteps there were from what we had established on the Star Trek series. And one of the things I recognized right off the bat was that Chekov had never met Khan because I had not been in the first season of the show when he made his appearance. So, as industrious as I was and as committed as I was to pointing out Spock can’t die in the second act, I was determined not to mention that Chekov didn’t meet Khan as described in the script. I didn’t want the possibility that they would say, “Oh, in that case, we will give the part to Sulu.” [laughs] Yeah, I was aware of it. Never, never did I feel guilty about it. I was prepared to suffer the hostility of fandom over this inconsistency.

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Walter Koenig as Chekov in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

You are one of the very few Star Trek actors with a Star Trek writing credit – for the “Infinite Vulcan” – during your time with Trek, were you pitching story ideas?

I certainly wouldn’t have done it during the television series days. I was the new kid on the block coming in during the second season. Everything was in high gear. The machinery was functioning very smoothly. It didn’t even cross my mind to do that. There was a moment or two, such as in “Spectre of the Gun” I thought there was a flaw in the logic of the story, and I did bring it up to the story editor. At that juncture, I had more integrity and I mentioned to the story editor that it was illogical for Chekov to be alive before we had discovered it was all an illusion and to my surprise, the story editor said, “We figured that out but we said screw it!” [laughs] That was the only literary contribution I made, and they just ignored it, which I was just as happy about.

After Star Trek V, we seemed to be at an impasse regarding what the next Star Trek film would be about. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes conflict going on and wars being waged over the story of Star Trek VI . Mr. Bennett wanted to junk the cast and start over with a new concept, with new fresh faces. None of us were terribly pleased with that. During that time Nick Meyer was proposing a story that included the original cast. The head of Paramount concurred there was still one more in us. Even though we were all growing a little older, they believed the audience was still up for another Star Trek story with the original cast.

During that period, I wrote an outline for an alternative Star Trek story and submitted it to [Paramount CEO Frank] Mancuso and he tried to call me back and missed me, and then we never made contact. But I did include that at the back of my autobiography. The movie that we actually did was very well written by Nick Meyer, and it was successful with Star Trek fans. They wouldn’t have been happy with mine because I killed off just about everybody except Spock and McCoy. Again, I thought that was the end of our participation, so I felt that was a reasonable ending.

Moving forward to something a bit more recent, a few years back I moderated Q&As for a series of Star Trek movies at a theater in Santa Monica, and when you were the guest for one of them, you chose that day to reveal your true self…

[Laughs] And you want to know what it was like?

Well, I guess I was wondering, why after so many years did you decide that was the time to lose the toupée?

I think it was around 2011. looked at the mirror one day and said what is this 70-year-old man doing wearing a hairpiece? First of all, the hair that I had left was growing more conspicuously lighter in tone and my hairpiece was a real contrast with the real hair on my head. The reason I ever wore the hairpiece, beyond some vanity, was pragmatic. I was supposed to be the youngest member of the crew. The studio wanted to promote the idea of this younger character who could be identified with younger fans.

So, I kept it on and then it became habit. But then the moment came where the vanity was unbecoming and misplaced. Because I have problems with self-esteem, it was a little difficult to do. I was anticipating the first gasp of “Oh my god, look how old he is!” Actually, it was uncomfortable doing it that first day when I was asked to speak at a screening of one of the Star Trek movies with a full audience in attendance. But once having done it, I thought I made the proper choice and decided not to go back to wearing that hairpiece again.

CBS is developing multiple Star Trek projects. At one point there was even some consideration to bringing back Nichelle to play Uhura for one of their new Short Treks . I know you returned to the role of Chekov for some independent films a few years back, but would you consider it for official Star Trek, if approached?

I did a couple of low-budget feature films regarding Star Trek before CBS put the kybosh on that kind of thing. And my stipulation for Star Trek: Renegades was that we killed off Chekov. It’s not that I have any antipathy for him. I have great affection for all of my time I spent on Star Trek and for the character. I did [ Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II “To Serve All My Days”] because it added some dimension to the character. My frustration was always I never really got to fulfill the character and so when I was approached to do that, I decided to do it, even though it wasn’t under the most professional circumstances. And when I did Renegades , I told [producer] Sky Conway, that would be it. I had exhausted everything I needed to say about him that needed to be said.

To answer your question, I would not be very receptive to coming back as Chekov with these new iterations. That is not to say I wouldn’t mind coming back as another character. I would love to perform as another character in Picard or one of the other new Star Trek series. That would be great.

chekov in new star trek

Walter Koenig as Chekov in Star Trek: Renegades

Can you talk about any possible acting projects? I believe you are attached to something called Savage Midlife .

Savage Midlife is kind of fun, but it is one scene and totally different than anything I have got to do. They have cast my wife opposite me. These are folks I have worked with before up in Oregon where we will shoot. But we are also very aware of the circumstances of getting that done with the virus, etcetera. There is another science fiction project that Sky Conway has asked me to appear in, which would be fun. It is not Star Trek and certainly not Chekov. It is a part I can sink my teeth into, and that is what I am looking for. This is what I was trained to do and spent six decades doing. There is a third project which would be really fun to do, playing a cranky old guy who is very funny.

You have remained active on the convention scene. When in-person events return, do you expect to continue with public appearances this year?  

Well, I had six conventions planned for this year, and I was drawing the line there. As I mentioned before, it becomes a little awkward to feel all this praise and affection for something I have not contributed to greatly over the course of so many years. And there are a lot of people out there who have no idea who I am. They see this 83-year-old bald guy walking around and they say, “Who is that?” Because their focus is on anime, superheroes, or game players. That’s fine, but I don’t know who those folks are. So I feel I am a little out of date.

However, without the opportunities to do them because we are all in quarantine, I miss them a little. So, if the opportunities to do them are there next year, I would certainly like to take advantage of it at least to the degree I had limited myself to this year, maybe five or six.

chekov in new star trek

Walter Koenig at STLV 2018

Updated autobiography out now

Walter Koenig’s updated memoir Beaming Up and Getting Off: Life Before and Beyond Star Trek is available now. You can pick it up at Amazon in hardcover  and e-book .

chekov in new star trek

Keep up with all the interviews at TrekMovie.com .

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I met Walter at Destination Star Trek in London 2012 and wow what a gentleman- had a great conversation and photo with him – could have spent hours with him.

I will always be amazed that William Shatner could not recall Walter Koenig’s name in a press conference in 1989 for a Star Trek V. He had worked with Koenig for over 20 years by that point. https://youtu.be/g0Kv9d9SuG8

I’m impressed he could remember anyone’s name but his own, frankly.

Haven’t you ever forgot someones name when you were introducing them? I have. It’s embarrassing but it happens. Geez.

I have seen a guy forget his wife’s name he was married to for 40 years. The look she was giving him did not help him any.

Never, ever!

Wow that was painful! And you can tell he literally could not remember him. Yes, it could just be age or nerves, but hearing how he’s treated most of them over the years, no one would be shocked if he really just forgot it.

Like most here I grew up watching Kirk and that character was probably my gateway into Star Trek as a kid. But the more I hear about William Shatner, I have less and less respect for him. I came across a youtube video where Wil Wheaton actually recounted the day he got to meet William Shatner and was totally dissed by him. This was also during Star Trek V and they were shooting both productions side by side. He tells it really well but it makes you realize just how egotistical some people can be, especially when their entire persona is built around one franchise, movie or show they think will live or die because they participate in it.

The video is literally titled William F^cking Shatner if you want to have a listen.

Oh, the infamous press conference. Also the worst looking one in memory. Proves why you should never have actors appear in costume anywhere but on camera. Without that cinematic look, it just looks tacky. ‘Trick or treat!’

He appeared on Conan O’Brian years ago and couldn’t remember the name “Star Trek.” So Conan said, “Star Trek?” Shatner, without missing a beat replied, “That’s the second thing that goes.”

Maybe he just didn’t want to pronounce it incorrectly? And it’s not like Walter’s name had been on the scripts for those 20 years. The guy was just another one of many actors on the bridge.

He had known Koenig for more than 20 years. He should not only have known his name, he should also have known how to pronounce it. Not only was Koenig a co-star of many years, this was a press conference for Star Trek V which Shatner had directed. As director, Shatner should know the names of his actors (even the ones that he doesn’t even have scenes with). I hope that he simply had a mental blackout in that moment. Everything else would reflect very badly on him.

Very thoughtful reflections. And he looks distinguished without the hairpiece — losing it was a good call. Hope to see him at a con one day.

I’m sorry but he looks so much older without the toupee.

He’s 83. It’s okay to look old when you’re 83.

He wore a wig in his first few episodes as Chekov too, so there was that angle for wearing the toupe.

I got to see Walter at a small convention near Binghamton NY 15 years ago…A very kind man and a very charming speaker. I would enjoy seeing him appear again in any “Star Trek” production.

I just finished reading his autobiography, and it is excellent! He has led a fascinating life and writes very openly about himself and his experiences. His writing is witty, engaging, and often laugh-out-loud funny. Highly recommended reading!

I can’t help myself to say this, but the title of this book does sound like an adult male films star’s tell-all autobiography. :-)

Koenig is GREAT PEOPLE. Still so sorry about his son,

“ I was prepared to suffer the hostility of fandom over this inconsistency.” I love this man!

And yet if any current producer were to say that, they would be raked over the coals! I think, ultimately, you gloss over inconsistencies if you think it will serve the story. It’s harder as a fan to justify, if you’re not in love with how the story turned out, though.

I just wish more fans would appreciate what writers and producers are TRYING to do, even if they don’t always succeed.

Because it’s the producers JOB to note and think about these things. Actor’s jobs are to stand on the mark and say the line the best way they can. But yes it happens all the time.

And I can’t blame Koenig at all. TWOK was literally the only time the character just got to do something on his own away from the others and stand out a little. I would be upset too if those scenes were taken from me.

No, it’s not their job to obsess over the details of canon. Their job, first and foremost, is to craft a story. If they have to gloss over a few continuity details to tell it, they should do so, and not care about nerd rage.

Continuity details are not the be all end all. Those who think so are what spawned toxic fandom.

I would say that it’s definitely part of the job.

Google the question “What is the best plotted novel in the English language?”

You’ll likely find it’s by Jane Austen. Arguably, what’s made Austen’s novels so enduring is that they hang together in the characters, the story and the minutia.

While making a conscious creative decision to let something go for something else essential in a new story is fair, not making the effort to know, or just having stories that are incoherent in their own internal structures is appropriate to criticize.

As examples: Brian Miller’s recent interviews show that he didn’t understand at a fundamental level the history of the Many Worlds multiverse in Trek (even if he had some cool ideas that may have worked); Discovery’s writers room conflicts and changes in showrunners have left both seasons with incoherence and inconsistencies in both plotting and characterization (understandable under the circumstances, but still unfortunate).

I disagree. Any producer OBLIVIOUS to the issue would show that they are not thinking about story consistency and are also not familiar with Star Trek’s long history – a sign they are not a good shepherd for the franchise’s latest production. They would be raked over the coals.

On the other hand, someone who said “oh sure I recognize that, I know the series back and forth, but that detail wasn’t worth going into on film because of the bigger themes being developed” would reassure that they understand both the backstory and that Star Trek is more about character and big ideas than minute plot details. They would totally have some people QUESTIONING the decision, but not the outrage you get when an outsider comes along like “durr this is my movie and I’m ignorant of anything past”.

I enjoyed the story that he did not expose the inconsistency because he feared losing lines and screen time. That’s an actor for you! I think I recall hearing that story before. It dinged something in my memory banks. I had forgotten all about it.

Chekov was one interesting dude from TOS. He was a Russian on the Enterprise.

Russia and the United States have always had a adversarial relationship throughout history. Star Trek proves we will go beyond those pretty squabbles to create a better future for humans.

I really like this guy and his story is very touching.

William Shatner is not the guy I would talk to on a Saturday night. This guy is my drinking buddy lol. Like to see him again on Star Trek.

“Russia and the United States have always had a adversarial relationship throughout history.”

They most certainly have not. Set aside WWII and the 1990s. Tsarist Russia had reasonably good relations with the US. In particular, Teddy Roosevelt mediated an end to the Russo-Japanese War in Portsmouth, NH. John Quincy Adams was also ambassador to Russia during the Napoleonic Wars; the Smithsonian Quarterly had an interesting article a few years ago about how he convinced Russia to break with Napoleon’s Continental System (i.e., banning trade between Britain and continental Europe), which was a victory for US diplomacy at the time, since the US was trying to stay neutral.

Russia and US relations are at their worst point since the cold war. Don’t tell me otherwise. I appreciate the history lesson. Russia is not behaving like a civilized country. The US is not a neutral country anymore.

I learned about the Russo-Japanese War from the Japanese perspective. Japan is better than Russia. Maybe the bilateral relationship could improve sooner.

China and Russia are partners in crime.

Governments are governments, but as a nation Russia belongs to the ones I admire most. Russian literature, music and art rank among the best in the world. Russians are great people.

You admire Russia, I admire Japan… We got something to love.

Faze Ninja,

Re: Russo-Japanese Imperialism

The official Japanese version has been sanitized to eliminate their numerous war crime atrocities. You will find a more balanced view from the Koreans where neither Imperialist comes off looking “good.”

Disinvited,

I listen to a podcast called the History of Japan on Spotify. I learned more about the Russo-Japanese war from that. It does talk about Korea at the time of the war.

The Russians and Japanese went to war over China not Korea really. Koreans do play somewhat a role over the course of the war. Port Arthur and all that.

Japan and Korea do share a rich history. Modern Korea under North and South Korea perspectively. Japan did learn from their imperial past.

FAZE NINJA,

One source, especially a podcast, does not an adequate history lesson make. Neither will this missive, but here’s a small sample of some of the nuances that you missed:

The Russians were looking for an ice-free Pacific shipping lanes accessible port, and did not limit the scope of that search to China. They ran the TransSiberian RR and would lay track to and through any number of Asian nations to any Pacific port that they could acquire to that end; be it in China, Korea, etc., and negotiated on several fronts to that end.

The Japanese people had been fully indoctrinated into European racist Social Darwinist thinking and believed themselves the rightful superiors and rulers of all the “other” “inferior” Asians and used it to justify all sorts of horrid acts in pursuit of that psuedo-scientific “right.”

The Koreans might have an opinion or two on that.

I know and the Chinese.

I suggest you study the war also from the Russian perspective before you pass judgment. Saying Japan is better than Russia is an unjustifiable comment regardless. Perhaps English is not your first language and the subtlety of what you wrote escapes you…

Maybe no more Chekhov, but after seeing that RENEGADES photo, I gotta say: Walter Koenig playing Mikhail Gorbachev, anyone? Pair him up with Boris Lee Krutonog as Putin and, I don’t know, Costa Ronin as Yeltsin, and you’ve got a three man show…

The three Russian dictators, brilliant. Putin is a terrible person, feel bad for the Russian people. Russia was never a democracy and probably never will be.

Mikhail Gorbachev was the leader of the Soviet Union before it collapsed. Yeltsin was pretty descent.

If Russia was a normal country, then that wouldn’t be so bad LOL

Dictatorial comedy worked well in THE DEATH OF STALIN (starring our own Captain Lorca as Marshal Zhukov) and even JOJO RABBIT!

I’m sincerely surprised that folks are focusing on the Russian dimension given that isn’t Koenig’s ethnicity.

Let’s not typecast him.

(BTW, I’m with odarek in terms of appreciating Russia’s great cultural heritage. I sincerely grieve nonetheless the governments it’s had through much of its history. To Ninja, I suggest that you read some of the accessible Russian histories. Doing that, as well as travelling in Russia has helped me come to understanding.)

I’m aware of Russian history but that doesn’t change my opinion of Russia as a country. I would love to visit Russia one day.

Ok, I’m just going to interject that I have been in the same room as both of them! (Koenig and Gorbachev, 30 years apart)

it’s too bad that he’s so melancholy… i get it but he’s no different than all these other actors who were supporting characters on popular shows… they show up for work and read lines for a few years and decades later fans get excited to meet them. even though many of those actors didn’t really participate in the creative process. but i think many enjoy the fan experience. i know some actors personally who do. they get a kick out of it. he seems to be a creative guy that needed or needs more outlets.

when did short treks consider doing one with nichelle nichols’ uhura? i missed this bit of news.

I read this on another site, but believe it or not that Short Trek is what gave us the Picard show! :)

Basically this was going to be in the first season of those stories and someone came up with a story of Picard meeting Uhura and she was going to give him an assignment of tracking down the Borg. I don’t know the time frame if it was before Q Who or not but wanted Stewart and Nichols so I’m guessing the story was suppose to happen much later on? Anyway Stewart had said no when they approached him so that idea died before it started. That’s when they got the idea of doing a full on show instead and wanted to see if he would be interested in doing something bigger. And the rest was history!

But it also proves that Short Treks are open to anyone or character, so the possibilities are endless. I doubt we’ll ever see Nichols play Uhura again but we could see Uhura herself or anyone do those.

yeah im shocked they aren’t (or maybe they will) going back to classic trek characters… goto quark or garak or bashir or geordi or whoever is on voyager… you can do cool 15 minute story of where these characters are now. fans would love it and i’m sure there’s ton of writers who would love to take that on. have ira behr write a short trek. they could use the short treks to open up the entire trek universe and update fans. i know it’s a low budget thing by reusing sets and existing cast but still would be super fun.

I think it will happen eventually. I think originally Short Treks was mostly done to keep Discovery on people’s minds being off the air for so long and to promote second season. But season 2 they really broadened the stories a bit more so my guess is in time they will start doing short stories around VOY, DS9, ENT etc.

But a lot of people also point out these stories are mostly built around the sets they have lying around so that’s probably a big factor too. But I’m guessing as the franchise expands they will bring in more past characters in time. They can do SO much with it, especially characters who may not make it on Picard or other shows.

Even if it would be expensive to recreate old sets, they can always bring back old characters in animated Short Treks.

True as well. Would give anything for an animated Enterprise Short Trek to show off bits of the Romulan war if its not feasible in live action.

Who am I missing, it’s just Shatner, Koenig, and Takei left. Shatner would want millions, and it seems highly unlikely Walter and George would want to be in the same building with him. Can’t really think of any other minor TOS character who needs fifteen minutes of fame in their twilight years….

Not sure if this was a reply to my post but if it was I was talking about the CHARACTERS, not just the original actors who play them. Yes, I think with the TOS cast, their time is done. But as we seen just recently with Discovery and now SNW we are probably going to see more TOS characters in the next few years since the Kelvin movies. And its nothing wrong to introduce them in a Short Treks, especially if they won’t it make onto the other shows any time soon.

I would love to see a side story of how Kirk and Bones met for the first time for example. Normally I WOULDN’T care about seeing things like that in a show and feel its just more fan minutiae. But something like Short Treks is designed for things just like that as we saw with Spock and Number One first introduction.

Something has to be off on that, Ms. Nichols has been in declining health for years now….

This was back in 2018 and Nichols was still acting then. She was in that Star Trek parody movie with Snoop Dog and other Trek actors that same year in fact.

But yes I think since then her health has gotten much worse.

It sounds pretty farfetched but maybe whoever pitched it wasn’t aware of Nichols’ health.

As I just said, she was STILL acting at that time. On IMDB, she had 2 acting credits in 2018 and another one just last year (although I’m guessing that was shot earlier maybe). She was working pretty regularly up through 2017. So it’s not that far fetched.

And we’re talking a 15 minute short which she might have only been in one scene since it really sounded more Picard focus.

Not gonna lie – only saw Walter Koenig’s photo at the top of the page, not the headline. My first thought was he died.

Phew, good interview

That was my first reaction too. I was pretty relieved once I realized it was just an interview.

In so many ways I always felt bad for so much of the TOS cast, especially Koenig. He got the bare minimum to do out of all of them. They give Kirk and Spock so many memorable lines but the only memorable lines Chekhov got was when he did the comedy relief stuff in TVH and TUC. He has great comedic timing, I wish they played off that a little more at least.

But like he said, the character was there for decades why can’t they give the guy ONE scene to just have a strong moment in the last movie? The movies really frustrated me because they gave them all a little more to do but they never bothered to at least develop their character. Why not one subplot where Chekhov meets his parents, have a girlfriend, visits his old roommate at the academy days, something!?! I can’t tell you five pertinent things about Chekhov other than he’s Russian. I’m still convinced that guy is a virgin!

I understood why it was done in the TV show because it was the 60s. But by the movie era these guys should’ve been given more. I also found it weird they will bring in new characters to develop like Saavik, Decker or Sybok but leave most of the crew in the cold outside a few lines and scenes to interact in.

“Why not one subplot where Chekhov meets his parents, have a girlfriend, visits his old roommate at the academy days, something!?!”

Because those things are likely to be extraneous and shoehorned into the plot?

Funny Kirk and Spock got stuff like that often. And those were just examples. Just gives these people a development of ANY kind.

It’s no excuse. These people were treated like wall paper for decades.

From Russia with love.

That’s why a lot of writers have brought it up over the years, writing for seven actors is difficult for a movie, maintaining a good story and still giving the leads prominent stuff or else they would not agree to do. i.e Nimoy in Generations. I accept they wanted more and it caused problems.

A lot of it was the ‘star’ model of the 60s. Shows were written for that, but TNG showed another approach was possible with other actors each carrying an episode or two a season.

Shatner worked 6 days a week on Star Trek and ruined a marriage. Other bridge crew worked a few days a week and felt their craft wasn’t utilized.

Clearly, 90s Trek found a better way to work. But the short seasons of serialization in Discovery and Picard seem to have swung the pendulum back to having everything centre on a single star.

I really hope that SNW can go not only beyond Pike, but beyond the triumvirate to make the other characters have enough time to become real.

Yeah, I mean its not that hard. Look at movies today, especially comic book movies. They stuffed 30 characters in Infinity War and while they all didn’t get arcs obviously they still found ways for all those characters to shine and great moments for them.

There are tons of ensemble movies out there that give characters a lot of meaningful story development and character arcs, even if they are on screen for a minimum time. As said, I understand when the show was on that’s how a lot of TV worked back then but that still wasn’t true of every show. Mission Impossible was on during the years of Star Trek and that had an ensemble cast and utilized all the characters if not every week.

But the only point that was being said is what Koenig said, he knows he’s not the star, he didn’t expect to get any story lines, but you can still develop the character for peep’s sakes and tell us something about him in a few lines. You can still give him one strong emotional scene in a room with Kirk or Spock dealing with a crisis at hand. You can show a scene of him doing something as a character to just understand who he is, what he likes, etc. Chekhov was still the weakest link in the Kelvin movies IMO but he was given more to do in those three movies than Koenig was given in six of them.

I just always felt bad for them. On one hand they all became famous and relatively rich because of their association with Star Trek but as he said his actual contribution was peripheral when they all wanted to do more. I’m glad all the other shows gave their casts a lot to do. Even if some still got short changed week to week they were all well developed and got multiple episodes where their characters was the focus of the story to learn more about them and multiple character arcs throughout the shows.

You’re not wrong about Discovery and Picard, but we still at least learn about all the characters even if they are not all given the focus every week like the other shows.

Re: Chekov’s girlfriend

I’m not sure how all you Herberts forgot this, but we met Chekov’s old flame in THE WAY TO EDEN, and through her some of his back story, such as his first name.

I’ve always enjoyed Walter’s honestly and the fact that he is an intellectual. He shouldn’t be so hard on himself as he is a much bigger part of Star Trek than he gives himself credit for.

Surprised no mention of his epic work on Babylon 5 here.

I’d be very okay with him discussing that, as well.

Chekhov is my Russian friend.

Like to see more Star Trek characters from Slavic countries like Ukraine, Russia, or Eastern Europe.

I would love to see some Czech involvement into Star Trek. First Czechs have done some legendary beautiful TV productions in the past and second they seem to have a very strong fandom. The Klingon dictionary for example was translated in only three other languages: Italian, German and CZECH.

Absolutely agree, I’d like to see more Slavic and even some Central Asian characters.

Just wonderful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH1GPf9viPI&feature=emb_logo

I will add this to my collection and hope it’s got some quality pages on Babylon 5 as well as Trek.

As with a number of the original cast, he’s always been a class act. And as others have pointed out, there is a palpable undercurrent of melancholy in his comments. Nice interview.

He used to moan so much in Starlog every time a new Trek movie came out he would nearly always mention he was not the star of the show! Its tiresome as he got way more to do than the other 3 supporting cast not sure how much screentime he actually wanted LOL!

Back in the day I chatted with Walter at a Boston trek convention while he was pursuing the merchandise tables. Unlike some of the other actors, he is quiet, unassuming and just such a nice man. Later that day he did autographs, took questions and a performed a non-Trek play called “Actors” with Mark Lenard. Walter is a class act. To Walter: We don’t see “An 83 year old bald guy” we see a guy we loved in several TV shows and movies, who made a real contribution to two franchises, a guy at home in his own skin and a guy who tells it like i is. As I said, a class act. Really enjoyed this interview.

He’s not going to bed tossing and turning thinking about Bill Shatner, but he’s still talking about it more than 50 years later. And he doesn’t appear to mind talking about those stories with Shatner as long as it helps sell his book. I’m sure Shatner isn’t perfect but everyone has his or her personality and that’s life. He needs to stop complaining and deal with it.

Seems to me he has. For a lot of people, dealing with some of life’s unpleasantness doesn’t mean ignoring it.

I think for him it’s more informational, and I’m OK with that. Takei on the other hand — he got rather unhinged and got a little nuts over his obvious literal hatred for Shatner.

Nice interview. I loved watching Walter in Star Trek and I wished he had more roles as Chekov to play. I also loved him when he played Mr. Bester on Babylon 5. I actually met Jimmy Doohan in person but I wished Walter was at the convention as well.

A great actor in my book.

Walter, thank you. No one could have played the parts like you did. God Bless.

Thought Chekov’s role in TMP was pretty good, comparatively. They cut his scene when Ilia empathically eases his pain. He did get around the ship more than Uhura or Sulu. Understand why he wanted a beefier part though; the secondary characters weren’t used a much in TOS. That show pretty much took place from Kirk’s POV — he did most of the logs and the preamble. Even so, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov made the show richer, and not just because of youth/diversity. Even without a big role, actors can make a big impression. Never been to Russia, but think Koenig carried off Chekov’s accent believably, which was a big responsibility. As for Khan, saw him explain that away as Khan meeting Chekov in the Enterprise’s bathroom (head) and not giving him TP or something. Was pretty funny.

Thanks, Walter. He seems to have really matured, eh? And how wise he is!

He was good in Star trek but really came out as bester in Babylon 5 I loved how he played the bad guy.

I’ve met Walter at several conventions over the years and found him to be witty and gracious and seemingly interested in his fans. Which, when compared to William Shatner, makes him stand out even more. God I hate William Shatner

He was awesome as Bester in Babylon 5. My favorite rat bastard.

Be seeing you, Mr. Garibaldi

Yep — thanks for reminding me of that!

The Khan thing is easy – Chekov was a night shift security guard outside his quarters. Or something.

I wish they’d all let this Shatner stuff go. Again, not one of them has ever said that Shatner was rude, unprofessional, treated them badly onset or was ever anything less than polite and pleasant in person. The beefs were all about a supposed behind-the-scenes request for more lines – that none of them directly witnessed. They’ve all said this.

“Maybe it is just a little selfish on my part and egocentric and a little neurotic, but that is the way I felt.”

Yep. And you’ve told us repeatedly.

He’s also griped about Shatner not getting that it was an ensemble show, like TNG – except that’s not true, either. The only ensemble on TOS was Kirk, Spock and McCoy – and that’s the way it was written. That’s not Shatner’s fault.

I’ve been rewatching TOS and was surprised to see how little I miss Sulu or Chekov when they’re not in an episode.

I’d been a big fan of the supporting players until they started with this Shatner-bashing 25 years ago or so, just to sell books and get the spotlight at conventions. I now wish they’d all just get a life. Takei seems to have dialed it down a little in the last couple of years.

From my point of view, Takei was the one who looked bad in his “Shatner feud”. For a while he wouldn’t make a public comment without bringing it up. And I really feel like he did it mostly out of ego. He did it because he was selling a book or because he felt he needed his name mentioned out there or something. Regardless of what really happened (and we only have what the actors have claimed to go on) Shatner is the one who has publicly looked like the better man in that Shat-Takei thing. Even offering to hash things out with him and getting refused. I actually have less respect for Takei after that.

Me too. I get frustrated with Takei. I’m glad he’s found a voice and an audience, but I don’t think he needed the Shatner stuff to get there.

That said, Shatner could have just let it go. I know that he was asked about it a lot, but he could have handled it better (among other things, he called Takei “psychotic” and complained about Takei’s roast performance in both a book and in his stage show).

I’d read an interview with Takei in the Edmonton Journal, of all places, from 2-3 years ago, where he was asked about Shatner and actually had a gracious, dignified answer — that it was all, basically, water under the bridge and the important thing was Star Trek’s lasting message. It was a pleasant surprise.

Takei’s reaction to the gay Sulu thing in Beyond also bugged me a little. I get how personal it was to him, but I’d wished he hadn’t been quite so over-the-top about them “twisting” Gene’s creation.

I enjoyed the audiobook of his autobiography in the 90s because he read it himself. Same with George Takei

I had the pleasure of meeting Walter twice. Once was at a convention several months after STAR TREK V had come out. To my utter surprise, he was wandering around the dealers’ room, perusing the merchandise. For the most part, people were quite respectful of him and not pestering him a lot, with the exception of a small group of young guys who followed him around making jokes about Chekov always getting injured and screaming. To his credit, Mr. Koenig put up with them in a far more gracious manner than I ever would.

Then something remarkable happened.

A little boy – he couldn’t have been more than perhaps 6 years old – approached Walter with his father. The boy asked Walter if he was Mr. Chekov. And in the blink of an eye, Walter BECAME Chekov. He kneeled down so that he was at eye level with the boy, and went straight into Chekov’s Russian accent. He spent at least 10 minutes with the boy, answering questions about what it’s like to work with Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk, how scared was he of Khan, what do he and Sulu and Uhura like to do when they’re not on duty, and how do the phasers work on the Enterprise. It was one of the most charming, magical things I’ve ever seen, and, truth be told, I felt just as excited and happy as that little boy. Pure class act, and he gave that kid the memory of a lifetime.

I feel badly that Walter feels a little disillusioned and disappointed with his level of contribution to the franchise (which I personally feel he underestimates). I’m an actor myself, and I completely understand how he feels and where he’s coming from. Part of it is ego, yes. But another part of it is the frustration which comes from knowing that you can do more and wanting to make a meaningful artistic contribution to whichever endeavor you may be working on, but is being held back. After being directly associated with a franchise like that and feeling as though he’s getting more praise than he feels is due because of what he feels to have been limited participation, then yeah… I can see how that can lead to a certain degree of discomfort and even detachment.

The second time I met Walter was shortly after he starred as Chekov in the New Voyages episode, “To Serve All My Days”. It was a remarkable, amazing performance, and I asked him what prompted him to do it. He said that he saw it as a way to flesh out Chekov and put some form of closure on the character. I told him that, as an actor, I acknowledge how frustrating it can be to be pigeonholed as just one character (…or type of character) and how limiting that can be to a fuller, more varied career. But I also told him that he has the love and adulation of generations of fans across the world, who hold him up as a great example of a person, and thanked him for the memories and inspiration. He seemed to appreciate that. He grinned, thanked me, and signed the photo I chose for an autograph with, “To Richard – friendship always, Walter Koenig”.

Thanks for sharing that story.

Very cool interactions, congratulations and thanks for sharing.

Oh, by the way, if no one else knows, Walter played CAPTAIN Chekov (commander of the Enterprise-B following John Harrison stepping down after the Tomed Incident), alongside Nichelle as Captain Uhura (commander of the Excelsior, after Sulu gets promoted to the Admiralty), and Robin Curtis as Commander Saavik, Uhura’s Exec. It was in a special anniversary episode of the fan series, Starship Excelsior and the episode’s title is “Tomorrow’s Excelsior”. It is not a filmed episode (sadly), but an audio drama. Look it up – it’s easily found on YouTube. It’s nothing short of marvelous. Walter, Nichelle, and Ms. Curtis deliver beautiful performances. It’s very much worth a listen. Enjoy!

Thank you for that, Richard. Never heard that was done.

Yes, thank you. I’ve been listening to Doctor Who audio dramas by Big Finish. I’ll listen to this, sounds interesting.

I never really liked Chekov, and I didn’t think Koenig was a very good actor, but Walter Koenig seems like a lovely person. I guess that makes him kinda the reverse of Bill Shatner. :-)

What a lot of people are not saying is that he also worked on Babylon 5. On Babylon 5 he played a psychic and he pretty much was a villain and I grew to like the villain but if he wants to write something that’s bothering him then let him that’s what freedom of speech is about. You may not agree with him but he has a right to express how he feels

Great interview! The film retrospective must’ve been the one you did in 2009? The 70mm film series if I recall correctly. That would interesting to do again provided the film prints are showable and when the pandemic lessens to where we can go to the movies again.

I can’t help look at Walter and think about his son that died awhile back. When I saw him on the news, the whole story was shocking and so sad.

Oh my, Bestor, was the character you hated to love, but couldn’t help yourself. Even bad guys have family… I do recall I said hello & thank you to Mr. Koenig in an autograph line,once. It was at a convention in Burlington, VT, in the late 80’s, my 1st & only convention. Wish I’d paid more attention to this gentleman during the Q & A now, thanks for this interview. I must sit down & read this book, he appears to be a man of many talents, somebody who has to be active & doing things. Perhaps I’ll look at his comics…

Watch CBS News

'Star Trek' Actor Anton Yelchin Killed By His Own Car At Age 27

June 19, 2016 / 2:28 PM EDT / CBS Boston

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Anton Yelchin, a rising actor best known for playing Chekov in the new "Star Trek" films, was killed by his own car as it rolled backward down his driveway early Sunday, police and his publicist said.

The car pinned Yelchin, 27, against a brick mailbox pillar and a security fence at his home in Studio City, according to Los Angeles police Officer Jenny Hosier. He had gotten out of the vehicle momentarily, but police did not say why he was behind it when it started rolling.

Yelchin was on his way to meet friends for a rehearsal, Hosier said. When he didn't show up, the group came to his home and found him dead.

Anton Yelchin

The freak accident tragically cuts short the promising career of an actor whom audiences were still getting to know.

Yelchin began acting as a child, taking small roles in independent films and various television shows, such as "ER," ''The Practice," and "Curb Your Enthusiasm." His breakout big-screen role came opposite Anthony Hopkins in 2001's "Hearts in Atlantis."

He transitioned into teenage roles in films such as the crime thriller "Alpha Dog" and the teen comedy "Charlie Bartlett." He also played a young Kyle Reese in 2009's "Terminator Salvation."

Yelchin, an only child, was born in Russia. His parents were professional figure skaters who moved the family to the United States when Yelchin was a baby. He briefly flirted with skating lessons, too, before discovering that he wasn't very skilled on the ice. That led him to acting class.

"I loved the improvisation part of it the most, because it was a lot like just playing around with stuff. There was something about it that I just felt completely comfortable doing and happy doing," Yelchin told The Associated Press in 2011 while promoting the romantic drama "Like Crazy." He starred opposite Felicity Jones.

"(My father) still wanted me to apply to college and stuff, and I did," Yelchin said. "But this is what I wanted."

His biggest role to date has been in the rebooted "Star Trek" films as the heavily accented navigator Chekov, for which he was able to draw on his Russian roots. The third film in the series, "Star Trek Beyond," comes out in July.

"What's great about him is he can do anything. He's a chameleon. He can do bigger movies or smaller, more intimate ones," ''Like Crazy" director Drake Doremus told the AP in 2011. "There are a lot of people who can't, who can only do one or the other. ... That's what blows my mind."

Yelchin transitioned between the big sci-fi franchise and voicing a part for "The Smurfs." He also appeared in more eccentric and artier fare, like Jim Jarmusch's vampire film "Only Lovers Left Alive" and Jeremy Saulnier's horror thriller "Green Room," a cult favorite that came out earlier this year.

The actor's publicist, Jennifer Allen, confirmed his death and said his family requests privacy.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Anton Yelchin, Star Trek 's Chekov, Dies in a Car Accident at Age 27

The actor was killed in a car accident.

Anton Yelchin

Anton Yelchin , who played Chekov in the new Star Trek  movies, was killed in a car accident at his home in Los Angeles early Sunday. He was 27.

The actor was standing behind his car that was parked in his driveway and the vehicle rolled backwards, pinning him against a brick mailbox and a security fence, a police spokesperson told E! News. He had been on his way to meet friends for a rehearsal and when he didn't show up, they went to his house and found his body.

The actor, an only child, is survived by his parents.

"His family requests you respect their privacy at this time," Yelchin's rep said in a statement to E! News.

The actor was born in 1989 in the former Soviet Union in what is now Russia. He and his parents, professional figure skaters, emigrated to the United States when he was a baby.

He made his onscreen acting debut in 2000 in an episode of  ER . He went on to star in films such as Hearts in Atlantis,  Alpha Dog  and Charlie Bartlett and shows such as The Practice , Curb Your Enthusiasm and Huff before being cast as engineer Pavel Chekov, known as just Chekov, in the 2009  Star Trek reboot.

 That year, he also played Kyle Reese in the movie  Terminator Salvation .

He reprised his  Star Trek  role in the 2013 sequel  Star Trek Into Darkness and also plays the part in an upcoming third film,  Star Trek Beyond , which is set for release on July 22.

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chekov in new star trek

Star Trek Celebrations: Pride Is A Wonderful Tribute to the Franchise's LGBTQIA+ Characters

  • Star Trek Celebrations: Pride celebrates diversity with new stories by top talent in the Star Trek franchise.
  • The anthology honors a tradition of positive representation and reflects the evolution of LGBTQIA+ characters in Star Trek .
  • IDW's new anthology captures the hopeful spirit of Star Trek with stories exploring the meaning of queerness in the franchise.

Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek Celebrations: Pride!

IDW’s new Star Trek Celebrations: Pride is a glorious celebration of the franchise’s various LGBTQIA+ characters. The Star Trek franchise is built upon the concepts of tolerance and an appreciation for diversity. Indeed, the franchise blazed a trail when it came to representation. This tradition continues into the current Star Trek media, stronger than ever. Star Trek Celebrations: Pride celebrates this tradition with all-new stories by today’s top talent.

The Star Trek franchise is built upon the concepts of tolerance and an appreciation for diversity.

Star Trek Celebration: Pride features stories by Steve Orlando, Vita Ayala, Mags Visaggio, Stephanie Williams and Hannah Rose May. The stories run the gauntlet of the Star Trek experience. The first story, “Errant Knight,” follows Kelvin Sulu as he attempts to free the crew, and be a family man. Some of the franchise’s lovebirds go on their first date in Celebrations: Pride : Raifi and Seven of Nine deal with snotty colleagues in “Lady Luck,” whereas Lower Decks ’ Beckett Mariner and Jennifer have a rendezvous on Risa.

Other stories feature Nurse Chapel and Discovery’s Jet Reno and Paul Stamets.

Star Trek Paved the Way for Positive Representation on Television

Star trek showed persons of color in positions of power.

Star Trek revolves around diversity and tolerance, showing an evolved humanity who has learned to celebrate their differences rather than fight over them.

Star Trek revolves around diversity and tolerance, showing an evolved humanity who has learned to celebrate their differences rather than fight over them. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry built diversity into the franchise from the beginning. Star Trek’s first pilot, “The Cage,” featured a woman in a position of power, something unheard of and several years ahead of its time. According to legend, viewers in the test audience took umbrage at a woman giving orders, but regardless, the concept of equality was off and running in the Star Trek franchise.

When Star Trek finally made it to television in 1966, it shattered the minds of American audiences by showing a Black woman, Uhura, as a competent and high-ranking officer. Actress Whoopi Goldberg, who herself would go on to appear on Star Trek, credits Uhura actress Nichelle Nichols as her inspiration, and Nichols’ performance even drew raves from Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. It continued this representation streak by introducing Sulu, a Japanese man, as well as a Russian, Chekov, at the height of the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union.

Star Trek Initially Dropped the Ball on Queer Representation

Star trek: deep space nine broke the mold.

The premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 continued to blaze new paths in representation by introducing a blind person, Geordi La Forge, who would become an icon to the disabled community. Yet in many ways, The Next Generation dropped the ball on further attempts at representation, particularly in the LGBTQIA+ community. According to some sources, a first season Next Generation episode was set to explore gay life in the 24th century, but was dropped due to being perceived as “stereotypical.” Part of the franchise’s reluctance to embrace the LGBTQIA+ laid with executive producer Rick Berman.

Star Trek Confirmed Tasha Yar Is Queer with 1 Surprising Romance

Star Trek fans have long speculated that Tasha Yar was an early queer hero, and while it took decades, the franchise eventually agreed.

That did not stop Star Trek: The Next Generation from making attempts at telling LGBTQIA+ stories, such as the fifth season episode “The Outcast,” but these attempts were few and far between, again owing to Berman’s management. Fans clamored for years for a thoughtful gay character, but it never materialized. In 1993, Berman, along with Michael Piller, created Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The first Trek show created without Roddenberry’s input, Deep Space Nine was a darker, more grounded take on the franchise, and also made its biggest inroads in representation for the queer community.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Secretly Queered Up the Franchise

Berman-era star trek was still behind the times.

Rick Berman was still very much in charge during Deep Space Nine’s seven-season tenure, meaning any attempts at introducing a gay character had to be coded. Garak, the Cardassian master-spy-turned-tailor, was coded to be bisexual, with a massive crush on Doctor Julian Bashir, another character of ambiguous sexuality. In several interviews, Garak actor Andrew Robinson said he played Garak as such. Jadzia Dax, the station’s Science Officer, was a member of the Trill species, and has become an icon for transgender Star Trek fans. Deep Space Nine explored the impact of a host changing genders in several episodes.

Although Star Trek: Voyager’s Seven of Nine was later revealed to be queer, her sexuality was never outright explored on the show, again thanks to Rick Berman. Likewise, Star Trek: Enterprise did not feature a gay character, despite growing pressure from fans. Other science fiction and fantasy franchises were introducing compelling LGBTQIA+ characters to great acclaim, but Star Trek had seemingly fallen behind the curve, ironic for a media property celebrating the Vulcan concept of Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. Enterprise ended in 2005, and Trek still had no queer characters.

Star Trek's First Gay Character Arrived on Its 50th Anniversary

The decision to turn sulu gay was controversial at the time.

All of that changed in 2016 with the premiere of Star Trek: Beyond. The film, set in the “Kelvin” timeline created by JJ Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek , revealed Sulu to be gay, and in a relationship with a child. Turning Sulu gay was highly controversial, largely because the character had always been portrayed as hetero. It was done as a tribute to George Takei, the openly gay man who first brought Sulu to life. Takei himself weighed in on the controversy. Beyond co-writer Simon Pegg explained the change using techno-babble, but it was still contentious.

Star Trek's Kelvin Timeline Accomplished a Major Starfleet First

Star Trek's Kelvin timeline changed the face of the franchise forever, and it also accomplished a major first, a century before the Prime timeline.

Furthermore, the Kelvin films are set in an alternate timeline distinct from the Prime Star Trek, which makes the canonicity of Sulu being gay even more muddled. The Kelvin films end with Beyond, leaving Sulu’s family life unexplored, and Star Trek Celebrations: Pride picks this thread up and crafts a fun and engaging story out of it. It proves that stories with a queer Sulu can work, and represents one of the Kelvin timelines many missed opportunities. It might seem that Star Trek once again dropped the ball on LGBTQIA+ representation.

Star Trek Returned With Discovery --And A Host of Queer Characters

Discovery, lower decks and strange new worlds make up for berman era inadequacies.

In 2017, Star Trek returned to television with the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery, which featured several queer characters. Among them were Engineer Paul Stamets and his husband, ship’s physician Doctor Hugh Culber. Jet Reno would join the ship in the show’s second season, and has been a presence on Discovery ever since. Discovery continued to break new ground in its third season, introducing the franchise’s first transgender and non-binary characters in Gray and Adira, respectively.

The current crop of Star Trek shows has made up for the franchises previous lack of representation.

The current crop of Star Trek shows has made up for the franchise’s previous lack of representation. Star Trek: Lower Decks ’ Beckett Mariner is pansexual, and was at one point in a relationship with the Andorian Jennifer. Despite getting off to a rocky start, the two became one of the show’s best couples, and Star Trek Celebrations: Pride shows their first date, as well as featuring them on a variant cover. Although no longer together, the two paved the way for better representation in the franchise. Nurse Chapel, of Strange New Worlds’, has been revealed as queer too.

Star Trek Presents a Hopeful View of Humanity, and the Future

Idw's new star trek anthology honors gene roddenberry's vision.

And now, Star Trek Celebrations: Pride celebrates all of them with excellent stories by top creators, some of whom are making their franchise debut. The creators in this anthology explore what it means to be queer in the Star Trek franchise. The stories are hopeful, keeping with the optimistic spirit that is also a hallmark of Star Trek . Although the franchise struggled with LGBTQIA+ representation for years, it has since made bold strides forward, and Star Trek Celebrations: Pride brings them together for one of the year’s most memorable Pride specials.

Star Trek Celebrations: Pride is on sale now from IDW Publishing!

Star Trek Celebrations: Pride Is A Wonderful Tribute to the Franchise's LGBTQIA+ Characters

Kovich's True Identity Revealed In Series Finale Of Star Trek: Discovery

It wasn't always the plan for David Cronenberg's mysterious character.

Kovich Daniels Star Trek Enterprise Discovery

*Warning! Major spoiler alert for Star Trek: Discovery 's Life, Itself !*

"My real name is a bit of a Red Directive in and of itself,"

Kovich tells Captain Burnham in his office. Kovich hesitates, but then, shaking Burnham's hand, he adds,

"Agent Daniels, USS Enterprise, and other places. Nice to meet you".

We should have known the moment he revealed his penchant for augmented reality spaces.

From his first appearance in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode Cold Front to his last in Storm Front, Part II , Daniels was always a mystery. Now that he is (also) Doctor Kovich, the mystery only deepens. Just exactly what did he mean by " USS Enterprise," for example? The J? One of the other letters in the alphabet? What exactly is Kovich/Daniels up to now in 3191? How old is he? And what is the form and function of that Infinity Room? We wouldn't say no to a spin-off about the Temporal Wars either! This is time travel, after all. Fire up those time portals again, Daniels/Kovich! The end, we all hope, is just the beginning!

Jack Kiely is a writer with a PhD in French and almost certainly an unhealthy obsession with Star Trek.

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery’s david cronenberg & doctor kovich explained.

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Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Star trek: discovery's ending finally makes "calypso" matter after 6 years, patrick stewart & star trek legends bring discovery’s sonequa martin-green to tears with touching tributes.

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery's finale, "Life, Itself".

  • Dr. Kovich in Star Trek: Discovery is actually Temporal Agent Daniels from Enterprise, linking the two series together in a surprising twist.
  • David Cronenberg's character has extensive knowledge of Starfleet history and the Temporal Wars.
  • Cronenberg, known for his directing career, also has acting roles - his enigmatic Star Trek character sheds light and adds depth to the series.

David Cronenberg plays Star Trek: Discovery 's enigmatic Dr. Kovich, a small role in a TV and film career which spans decades. First introduced in Discovery season 3, Dr. Kovich is a Federation scientist with access and knowledge that goes far beyond anyone else in Starfleet . However, Dr. Kovich was always hard to pin down, maintaining a frustrating level of secrecy, even when he asked Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery to track down the Progenitors' treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 .

David Cronenberg was cast in Star Trek: Discovery because Alex Kurtzman was a fan of his work as a director. Cronenberg had acted before, in his own movies as well as in the J.J. Abrams' series Alias . Cronenberg played Dr. Brezzel in the show, another scientist who was a bit more forthcoming than his Discovery character. However, the true identity of David Cronenberg's enigmatic Dr. Kovich is finally revealed in the Star Trek: Discovery finale , and it explains a lot about the character's evasiveness.

Star Trek: Discovery 's finale, "Life, Itself" was written by Kyle Jarrow & Michelle Paradise, and directed by Olatunde Osusanmi.

As Burnham seeks the universe's greatest treasure in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, she'll need help from a host of new and returning characters.

David Cronenberg Has A Directing Career Beyond Star Trek: Discovery’s Doctor Kovich

Although David Cronenberg has had multiple acting roles outside Star Trek: Discovery , he's best known as a movie director . Many of Cronenberg's sci-fi horror movies, like The Brood and The Fly , pioneered the body horror genre. There's a recurring fascination with the effect of technology on the human body in many of David Cronenberg's movies , from the commentary on screen violence in Videodrome to the hugely controversial Crash, which depicted a group of people who were sexually aroused by car accidents. Given the futurist themes of his movies, it's unsurprising that David Cronenberg was a fan of Star Trek: The Original Series when he was younger .

David Cronenberg's Crash starred Holly Hunter, who has recently been announced as part of the cast of the upcoming Star Trek: Starfleet Academy spinoff.

A number of Star Trek actors past and present have appeared in David Cronenberg's work over the years . Callum Keith Rennie, who starred in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 with Cronenberg, played Hugo Carlaw in the director's 1999 movie, eXistenz . Star Trek Into Darkness ' Peter Weller starred in Cronenberg's 1991 movie, Naked Lunch, as the exterminator drawn into a government plot orchestrated by giant bugs. David Cronenberg also worked with Star Trek: Voyager 's original Captain Janeway , Genevieve Bujold in his 1988 movie Dead Ringers , recently remade as a series for Prime starring Rachel Weisz.

David Cronenberg’s Doctor Kovich Is A Mystery Star Trek: Discovery’s Finale Solved

Star Trek: Discovery 's ending finally revealed the true identity of David Cronenberg's Dr. Kovich, which explained a number of things about his character. Dr. Kovich was actually a codename for Temporal Agent Daniels (Matt Winston) from Star Trek: Enterprise . The revelation that Kovich is an older version of Enterprise 's Daniels does explain multiple things about his character; from why Kovich knows so much about Starfleet history and the Temporal Wars, to how he managed to acquire a genuine 20th century legal pad made of real paper.

Star Trek: Enterprise

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Star Trek: Enterprise acts as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, detailing the voyages of the original crew of the Starship Enterprise in the 22nd century, a hundred years before Captain Kirk commanded the ship. Enterprise was the sixth series in the Star Trek franchise overall, and the final series before a twelve-year hiatus until the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. The series stars Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer, with an ensemble cast that includes John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock, Dominic Keating, Anthony Montgomery, Linda Park, and Connor Trinneer.

Daniels played a key role in Star Trek 's Temporal Wars , recruiting Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) in his attempt to ensure that history remained on course. Daniels was undercover aboard the Enterprise NX-01 as a humble Crewman, but also served aboard the USS Enterprise-J, which is why Kovich/Daniels says " USS Enterprise, and other places " when introducing himself to Burnham. Even though Star Trek: Discovery has now ended, the confirmation that Dr. Kovich is a former Temporal Agent creates a possibility for David Cronenberg to return elsewhere in the Star Trek franchise.

All episodes of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Enterprise are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

Star Trek: Discovery (2017)

  • David Cronenberg

Star Trek

How Kirk Came Back to Life In Star Trek Into Darkness and Why It's a Problem

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  • Star Trek Into Darkness was controversial due to its misleading marketing about Benedict Cumberbatch playing Khan.
  • The film remixed classic Star Trek moments, like Captain Kirk's resurrection using Khan's blood, creating narrative issues.
  • The revelation of a potential "death cure" in Starfleet, via Khan's blood, was a major story thread left unresolved.

When creating a new installment of a beloved storytelling universe, whatever story it tells is bound to be controversial to fans. Yet, Star Trek Into Darkness is perhaps the most controversial of the 2010s reboot movies for a number of reasons. However, the biggest problem with the Star Trek Kelvin Timeline is tied to how Captain James T. Kirk came back to life in Into Darkness after dying of radiation exposure.

During the marketing for Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams, the cast and anyone involved swore on a stack of Starfleet manuals that Benedict Cumberbatch was not playing classic villain Khan. This was a lie, which Abrams admitted was a mistake and it hurt the film. Yet, even if they'd been upfront about what they were trying to do, the whole story would've still been problematic and not just because of casting. The film "remixed" one of the classic Star Trek moments earned after decades of stories. Beyond the impact on the viewer, the way Doctor McCoy is able to revive Captain Kirk from death created a massive problem the successive film simply never mentions again. Khan's blood is, effectively, a "cure" for death.

Why It Was a Mistake to Try to Revisit The Wrath of Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness

The new star trek series could erase the kelvin timeline, but shouldn't.

Since the Kelvin Timeline movies debuted, some Star Trek fans want them erased from canon, and the Paramount+ series could do it. But it shouldn't.

Spock's death in The Wrath of Khan is a singular moment in Star Trek and, arguably, cinema. In the docuseries The Center Seat - 55 Years of Star Trek , director Nicholas Meyer talked about shooting that scene and how it brought the crew to tears. The history between Kirk and Spock, as well as William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy in those roles, gave it a poignancy that can't be matched or imitated . The two characters -- who mean so much to fans and each other -- are separated by a simple pane of glass, creating a heartbreaking closeness and distance in those final moments. The scene in Star Trek Into Darkness , which swaps Kirk and Spock, has none of that.

When filming that scene, legendary Star Trek producer Harve Bennett realized they needed an "out" for Spock. On that day, Leonard Nimoy improvised the mind-meld with an unconscious Doctor McCoy, saying the word "Remember." They knew they needed a way to bring Spock back from oblivion, and it took two full movies to do it: The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home . Both the Spock character and Nimoy continued, even appearing briefly in Star Trek Into Darkness to offer some sage advice to his younger self. Yet, this universe and these versions of the characters had neither the history nor the narrative space to do justice to their version of this moment .

Fans and critics alike can quibble about whether Khan should've been used in the story or not. In fact, Khan is barely a villain in the movie, with Admiral Alexander Marcus as the true "heavy" of the film. The inclusion of Khan , and this clunky remix of Spock's death, undercut what was a relevant and, arguably, powerful story about American foreign policy over the past 30 years like Star Trek: The Original Series often did with the politics and conflicts of its day. Like with the prescient political allegory in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and Star Wars prequels, fans missed all that. Only rather than being too far afield from what they expected, Star Trek Into Darkness tried to recapture the magic of one of the universe's best stories of old.

Star Trek Into Darkness Used Khan's Super Blood to Bring Kirk Back to Life

Star trek into darkness is a better movie than fans remember.

From the Khan deception to a corrupt Starfleet, Star Trek Into Darkness was a controversial movie, but a decade later, it's better than fans remember.

While the Star Trek films of the past took two sequels to bring back the version of Spock audiences recognized, the Kelvin Timeline had no such luxury. Kirk needed to be alive and back in command of the USS Enterprise when credits rolled. In fact, the film ends with the beginning of the "five-year mission" the ship was on in Star Trek: The Original Series . Spock was revived thanks to "the Genesis Device" which created life on dead planets. Kirk was revived by Khan's genetically-augmented blood which didn't create life, but it did bring one of Star Trek 's fuzzy little tribbles back from the dead .

In the scene in which Kirk regains consciousness -- apparently two full weeks after Khan's defeat -- McCoy mentions he was "barely dead." Earlier, he places Kirk's body in a cryo-tube to "preserve brain function." This suggests that without this device, Kirk's death would've been more permanent, Khan's "super-blood" notwithstanding. Beyond this, the characters don't turn to Star Trek 's signature "technobabble" used to explain the magical, impossible things they do with their future technology. How Khan's blood reanimated the tribble, or Kirk for that matter , is left to viewers' imaginations.

Similarly, Into Darkness doesn't reveal what happens to Khan or his genetically augmented "family" in the cryo-tubes. There is a single scene of them all laid out in a dark, sealed room, reminiscent of the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark . While this is something of a story problem, it also creates an in-universe problem that pushes at the limits of scientific ethics and how far these scientists of the future can go to preserve life . After all, that is one of the central missions of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets. Khan's blood, even if only in certain cases, is a cure for death.

Has Starfleet Found a Way to Reverse Death in the Kelvin Timeline?

Every enterprise captain in star trek, ranked.

There is no ship more venerated in Star Trek than the Enterprise, and many officers have served as captain, but how do they rank against each other?

In the film, McCoy is insistent that it has to be Khan whose blood is used to bring Kirk back. Despite the fact there are more than ten dozen other genetic augments in cryo-tubes on the ship. Again, this is not explained, but it's easy to surmise why it had to be Khan. In Star Trek: Enterprise , other genetic augments like Khan appeared in a story, showing not all of them were created equal .

As a prequel, Enterprise is technically part of the Kelvin Timeline , too. With Kirk's life on the line and time being of the essence, McCoy is insistent on using Khan's blood to synthesize his death cure simply because he knows it will work. But what about after the events of Star Trek Into Darkness ? Unless Starfleet Medical would be able to synthesize McCoy's cure without more of Khan's blood, he and any augments with this specific modification could reverse countless unnecessary deaths .

Anyone who succumbs to radiation poisoning or similar maladies could be revived and healed with a simple infusion, provided they were frozen before brain function ceased. While the film makes it clear that using Khan and his fellow augments as instruments of death is evil, would it be so bad if their blood was used to save lives? Since Khan and his fellow augments simply want to live their lives in peace, they might even consent to allowing Starfleet to "use" them to create a bulwark against death.

Should Star Trek Revisit Into Darkness in the Final Kelvin Timeline Movie?

Everything we know about michelle yeoh's upcoming star trek movie.

Star Trek: Section 31 is the next film in the Star Trek franchise, though information is scarce. Here's what's known about Michelle Yeoh's new movie.

Star Trek Beyond didn't bring up Khan, his super-blood or McCoy's death cure, even though they could've used it. With a fourth and final Kelvin Timeline film on the horizon, should this topic be broached again? At the very least, storytellers could hand-wave it away like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker did with "the Holdo Maneuver" from Star Wars: The Last Jedi . With a few lines of technobabble, McCoy or someone else could explain Kirk's resurrection was a fluke and successive attempts to resurrect the recently dead had failed.

It's been almost ten years since this cast joined together to make a Star Trek film. The tragic passing of Chekov actor Anton Yelchin only adds to the reasons never to mention this again. Still, without sufficiently addressing McCoy's serum that resurrected Kirk in Into Darkness , the question of whether Starfleet is sitting on a "death cure" is a very large story thread left dangling. For all the questionable decisions made during the making of and release of Star Trek Into Darkness , this is perhaps the biggest mistake.

Star Trek Into Darkness is available to own on DVD, Blu-ray, digital and streams on Paramount+ .

Star Trek Into Darkness

After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction

star trek into darkness

Happy Birthday Star Trek Fleet Command

By gabriel 29 November 2023

Featured Image

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Rare Officer List

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5th Year Anniversary Offers To go along with this gift, we’re launching a variety of 5th Year Anniversary specials that will help any Commander in their journey through the galaxy.

Black Friday Syndicate XP Special

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  • These upgrade specials provide 1.5X of the value of the standard packs and will help you achieve any goal you’re working towards

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  • With 300 unique artifact shards as well as standard and premium artifact tokens, you’ll be able to complete your collection and be the envy of your Alliance

November 5th Year Anniversary Community Events

There are two brand new community events live right now for you to get involved with and earn some fantastic prizes. Whether you’re itching to show off the brand new Borg Cube you just built, flex your artistic talents, or simply want to follow us online, there is swag to be gained, and one lucky winner will get their very own custom Borg gaming PC. Check out the links below to see how to get involved. Borg Gaming PC Sweepstakes

Borg Fan Art/Borg Cube Contest

November Sweepstakes Giveaway

We want to thank everyone for being a part of Star Trek Fleet Command’s 5th Year Anniversary special. Without everyone in this amazing community, there would be no Star Trek Fleet Command. As for the anniversary credits, everyone has been collecting them over the past few months. Be sure to hold on to them as we have an idea to use them, and we think everyone will like them soon. Be safe out there, Commanders, and as always, live long and prosper.

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Star Trek Prequel Movie In The Works With Star Wars Director

Toby Haynes, who directed episodes of Black Mirror, Doctor Who, and Andor, is lined up to make a Star Trek movie.

By Eddie Makuch on April 11, 2024 at 12:06PM PDT

A Star Trek prequel movie is in the works with Star Wars director Toby Haynes attached to direct, Paramount announced during CinemaCon. This has been rumored since January , and now it's confirmed. The movie is set for release sometime in 2025.

Haynes previously directed episodes of Doctor Who, Black Mirror, Sherlock, and the Star Wars series Andor. Collider reported on these details from CinemaCon.

Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote The Lego Batman Movie, is writing the untitled Star Trek film. Haynes has never directed or written a Star Trek movie, but he directed Black Mirror's Star Trek-inspired USS Callister episode.

The film is said to be an "origin story" that will take place prior to the events of 2009's Star Trek, which took place in 2255 and was itself an origin story. This likely means it will feature a different cast. The stars of the latest series, including Chris Pine, Karl Urban, Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldana, have been rumored to be coming back for a fourth film in their series, but it hasn't happened yet.

2016's Star Trek Beyond is the latest entry in the main Star Trek movie series, but the franchise has lived long and prospered on streaming with the TV shows Picard and Strange New Worlds.

The 2009 Star Trek reboot and its 2013 sequel Into Darkness were directed by JJ Abrams, before he handed off directing duties to Justin Lin for Star Trek Beyond. The three movies collectively earned around $1.2 billion at the global box office.

In addition to Pine, Saldana, and Quinto, the latest Star Trek movie series featured John Cho as Sulu and Anton Yelchin as Chekov. Yelchin tragically died in 2016 at the age of 27 after a motor vehicle accident in his driveway.

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chekov in new star trek

IMAGES

  1. Top 92+ Pictures Who Played Chekov In The New Star Trek Movie Completed

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  2. 'Star Trek': J.J. Abrams Won't Recast Anton Yelchin's Chekov

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  3. Top 92+ Pictures Who Played Chekov In The New Star Trek Movie Completed

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  4. Pavel Chekov (AR)

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  5. Pavel Andreievich Chekov

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  6. Pavel Chekov

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VIDEO

  1. Reaction & Review

  2. One Little Mistake

  3. Chekov Went Looking for Irina Galliulin

  4. Star Trek Online blujai Chekov Compare USS Chekov

  5. Chekov Actor Walter Koenig, Told it His Way

  6. Star Trek: Into Darkness Reactions

COMMENTS

  1. Star Trek 4 Already Has The Perfect New Chekov Setup

    Star Trek 4 Already Has The Perfect New Chekov Setup. When the long-awaited Star Trek 4 hits movie theaters in 2023, Anton Yelchin sadly won't be part of the film but Star Trek Beyond already set up the ideal character to succeed Ensign Pavel Chekov on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Paramount and J.J. Abrams announced that the next Star ...

  2. Anton Yelchin, new Star Trek's Chekov, dies in freak accident

    The 27-year-old, who played Chekov in the Star Trek reboot films, dies after being pinned by his own car.

  3. Anton Yelchin

    Canonically, Anton Chekov is the son of Pavel Chekov, and was voiced by Walter Koenig, the first actor who played Pavel Chekov in Star Trek: The Original Series.

  4. Pavel Chekov

    Pavel Andreievich Chekov ( Russian: Павел Андреевич Чехов) is a fictional character in the Star Trek universe . Walter Koenig portrayed Chekov in the second and third seasons of the original Star Trek series and the first seven Star Trek films. Anton Yelchin portrayed the character in the 2009 Star Trek reboot film and two ...

  5. How Anton Yelchin's Death Changes Star Trek Beyond

    At least, I thought the camera pivoted to Chekov. In retrospect, I'm almost 100 percent sure it was in my imagination. But for me, watching Star Trek Beyond so soon after Yelchin's sudden death ...

  6. Anton Yelchin

    Anton Yelchin was an American actor, known for playing Bobby in Hearts in Atlantis (2001), Chekov in the Star Trek (2009) reboot, Charlie Brewster in the Fright Night (2011) remake, and Jacob in Like Crazy (2011).

  7. Tributes pour in for late 'Star Trek' actor Anton Yelchin

    Actor Anton Yelchin, best known for his role as Ensign Pavel Chekov in the rebooted Star Trek movie series, has died in what is being labelled a "freak accident" involving his own car.

  8. Chris Pine Reflects On Anton Yelchin's Secret Illness Filming Star Trek

    Anton Yelchin played Pavel Chekov in all three Star Trek movies, although the threequel Beyond was released after his unexpected death at the age of 27.

  9. 'Star Trek' actor Anton Yelchin crushed to death at Studio City home

    Anton Yelchin, a charismatic and rising actor best known for playing Chekov in the new "Star Trek" films, has died at the age of 27. He was killed in a fatal traffic collision early Sunday morning.

  10. Hollywood Remembers Anton Yelchin

    The tributes continue to pour in for Anton Yelchin, Star Trek 's current Chekov, who died in the early morning of June 19, at the age of 27. As reported, the actor was killed, in a freak accident, at home by his own car. He will be seen one last time as Chekov in Star Trek Beyond, due out next month.

  11. Remembering Anton Yelchin, 1989-2016

    StarTrek.com is deeply saddened to report that Anton Yelchin, Star Trek's current Chekov, died today, June 19, at the age of 27. The actor was killed in a freak accident at home in Los Angeles by his own car. Yelchin played Chekov in Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness and will be seen one last time as the character next month in Star Trek Beyond.

  12. Anton Yelchin, 'Star Trek' Actor, Dies at 27

    Anton Yelchin, who played the young incarnation of Chekov, an excitable officer on the Starship Enterprise, in the rebooted "Star Trek" movie series, died early Sunday morning when he was ...

  13. Anton Yelchin, "Star Trek" actor, dead at 27

    LOS ANGELES -- Anton Yelchin, a charismatic and rising actor best known for playing Chekov in the new "Star Trek" films, has died at the age of 27. He was killed in a fatal traffic collision early ...

  14. Pavel Chekov

    Sci-fi. Star Trek. Pavel Andreievich Chekov (Russian: Павел Андреевич Чехов) was a Human who served as a Starfleet officer during the latter half of the 23rd century. Although he mainly served as the navigator aboard the USS Enterprise and the USS Enterprise-A, he played a more variable role than the other senior...

  15. Anton Yelchin, 'Star Trek' Actor, Dies at 27

    Anton Yelchin, best known for playing Chekov in the new Star Trek films, has died. He was 27.

  16. Star Trek 's Anton Yelchin Talks Chekov Accent and Klingons

    In the new Star Trek movie, rebooting the franchise with all new actors playing the original Enterprise crew, Anton Yelchin is the new Chekov. Reinterpreting Walter Koenig 's Russian starship lieutenant required some interesting linguistic decisions on Yelchin's part. "The thing is about Walter Koenig was his accent was interesting ...

  17. Anton Yelchin Dies In Car Accident: Chekov In 'Star Trek ...

    Yelchin portrayed Chekov two more times - in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness, also directed by JJ Abrams, and in the upcoming Star Trek Beyond directed by Justin Lin which hits theaters July 22.

  18. Anton Yelchin, 'Star Trek' Reboot Series' Chekov, Dies At 27

    Anton Yelchin, best known for portraying Ensign Pavel Chekov in the Star Trek reboot film series, as well as for roles in, Jim Jarmush's Only Lovers Left Alive, the Stephen King adaptation ...

  19. Interview: Walter Koenig Talks New Memoir, Closure With William Shatner

    Walter Koenig appeared as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek: The Orginal Series as well as in seven Trek feature films. The actor has just released Beaming Up and Getting Off: Life Before and Beyond Star ...

  20. 'Star Trek' Actor Anton Yelchin Killed By His Own Car At Age 27

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Anton Yelchin, a rising actor best known for playing Chekov in the new "Star Trek" films, was killed by his own car as it rolled backward down his driveway early Sunday ...

  21. Star Trek's Anton Yelchin Dead at Age 27

    Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the new Star Trek movies, was killed in a car accident at his home in Los Angeles early Sunday. He was 27.

  22. 'Star Trek' actor Anton Yelchin killed in automobile mishap at 27

    Anton Yelchin, best known for playing Chekov in the new "Star Trek" films, has died at the age of 27.

  23. Star Trek Celebrations: Pride Is A Wonderful Tribute to the ...

    IDW"s new Star Trek: Celebrations: Pride is a glorious celebration of the franchise's many great LGBTQIA+ characters in all new stories.

  24. Kovich's True Identity Revealed In Series Finale Of Star Trek: Discovery

    Kovich tells Captain Burnham in his office. Kovich hesitates, but then, shaking Burnham's hand, he adds, "Agent Daniels, USS Enterprise, and other places. Nice to meet you". We should have known ...

  25. Star Trek: Discovery's David Cronenberg & Doctor Kovich Explained

    Summary Dr. Kovich in Star Trek: Discovery is actually Temporal Agent Daniels from Enterprise, linking the two series together in a surprising twist. David Cronenberg's character has extensive knowledge of Starfleet history and the Temporal Wars. Cronenberg, known for his directing career, also has acting roles - his enigmatic Star Trek character sheds light and adds depth to the series.

  26. How Kirk Came Back to Life In Star Trek Into Darkness and Why It ...

    When creating a new installment of a beloved storytelling universe, whatever story it tells is bound to be controversial to fans. Yet, Star Trek Into Darkness is perhaps the most controversial of the 2010s reboot movies for a number of reasons. However, the biggest problem with the Star Trek Kelvin Timeline is tied to how Captain James T. Kirk came back to life in Into Darkness after dying of ...

  27. Happy Birthday Star Trek Fleet Command

    When you log into Star Trek Fleet Command on Wednesday, November 29th, at event reset, head to your gifts tab to claim your 10,000 5th Year Anniversary Tokens. These tokens can be used in the event store tab to claim a full unlock of an Epic officer for those above ops 19 and for anyone under a full rare officer. Epic Officer List.

  28. Star Trek Prequel Movie In The Works With Star Wars Director

    2016's Star Trek Beyond is the latest entry in the main Star Trek movie series, but the franchise has lived long and prospered on streaming with the TV shows Picard and Strange New Worlds.

  29. Star Trek: Discovery's Series Finale Finally Reveals Kovich's True Identity

    Star Trek: Discovery has completed its five-season mission, debuting its series finale episode, "Life, Itself," today on Paramount+. In addition to wrapping up this season's main mystery, which ...