Pavel Chekov: The Life and Times of Sci-Fi's Greatest Space Russian

Anyone who has watched enough Star Trek: The Original Series knows that the supporting characters were rather marginalized. Sure, the racially-diverse crew of the USS Enterprise was boldly going where no man had gone before, but in a rather limited sense; aside from the blatant tokenism displayed by the bridge crew (ok, one African-American, check... one Asian, check...), these lesser characters simply didn't get that much characterization. The trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy was the formula that made the show's best episodes, and as such deviations didn't end well. Throughout the rest of their Star Trek career, Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), James Doohan (Scotty) and George Takei (Sulu) would be rather marginalized within the series and typecast out of it.

In a similar manner, so too was the last major cast member of the original series, Pavel Chekov (played by Walter Koenig); of the original characters, he was the one who came closest to more important roles throughout the series and also achieved some fame outside of Star Trek. Here's a look at the ups and downs of the character throughout its nearly 30 years of appearances.

The Original Series

Chekov first made his appearance in "Amok Time," during the television series' second season. (He actually first played the role in "Catspaw," which was produced first but not aired until around Halloween.) He was the new navigator, and fulfilled the minor role as Russian aboard the crew. The reason for the addition of the Chekov character is somewhat murky. According to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, an article in the magazine Pravda criticized the 23rd century Star Trek adventures as not containing a Russian character (considering the USSR was ahead of the US at the time in the space race.) But evidence suggests there never was such an article; William Shatner (Kirk) wrote the whole thing off as a publicity stunt by Roddenberry or the PR department. On the other hand, Roddenberry wrote a letter to Pravda after Chekov was introduced, suggesting that Roddenberry might have believed some hearsay.

Either way, the more important basis of the character was that The Monkees, with young chaps running around with Beatles-style haircuts, were becoming more popular. It was a bid to attract younger viewers and keep the show lighter; in fact, Roddenberry planned for such a character even as the first season had barely started. Koenig hammed up his Russian accent and wore a hairpiece when he appeared, and thus Chekov was born.

Of course, the original series was cancelled due to low ratings, and that was the end of Chekov (and the other characters) for almost a decade, until...

The movies

Chekov made his return with the rest of the cast in Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. His role in the story: minor. The most significant thing the character does is get zapped by an alien probe; Chekov screams with pain but is relieved by a bald alien chick. That's about all.

Surprisingly, Chekov actually becomes an important character in the sequel, The Wrath of Khan (1982). He's no longer an Enterprise crew-member but rather first officer aboard the USS Reliant. Unfortunately the Reliant gets hijacked by the crazed superman Khan Noonien Singh, who the Enterprise discovered escaped from 1990s Earth in a sleeper ship and who was marooned on a dead world. Khan remembers Chekov (a continuity error, as the episode Khan appeared in, "Space Seed," aired in the first season, long before Chekov joined the cast) and when Chekov and his captain refuse to answer questions, Khan implants slimy eels into their ears that turn them into slaves (yuck). Chekov screams again (Koenig joked that "Chekov Screams Again" should be the real title of the film) but eventually lures the Enterprise and Kirk into a deadly trap, as well as betraying the location of a powerful superweapon to Khan. Eventually the eel's influence wanes and Chekov wrests free of the alien's control, and takes his place at the Enterprise's weapons station to destroy the Reliant and Khan.

Apparently Chekov learned his lesson that to leave the bridge crew of the Enterprise means serious injury, because for the next four films he remained on the Enterprise with virtually everyone else (only Sulu eventually left the ship, to captain the Excelsior. Good for him, it's about the only good thing Takei's character ever got to do.) In Star Trek III, Koenig was angry that his character had turned from an important element of Star Trek II to a minor role in Star Trek III; the film's producer, Harve Bennett, was unapologetic, and essentially told Koenig that if he didn't like it, he could leave. Reluctantly, Koenig stayed on board. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) was essentially the ultimate low point for Chekov, as he runs around in what appears to be a futuristic schoolboy outfit and only gets to help blow up the Enterprise after they are surprised by Klingons.

With the next three films, Chekov fully transforms into a character whose only real role is comedic stooge (oh, and meat shield). In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Chekov runs around 1980s San Francisco asking police and passerby where they keep the "nuclear wessels", and manages to get critically injured escaping from an aircraft carrier (an interrogator wonders aloud if he's a retarded Ruskie.) Luckily he's saved (again) and gets to appear even more moronic in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), where he and Sulu get lost in Yosemite (to be fair, everyone looked moronic in that film.) Finally, Chekov incorrectly attributes Cinderella as a "Russian epic," spouts the lines "guess who's coming to dinner," and acts as clueless plot dump in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), although to be fair once again he does get about a minute of importance when he discovers a vital clue leading to the capture of evildoers.

Chekov also makes a small appearance in the opening of Star Trek Generations (1994), but only because they couldn't get Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley (Spock and McCoy) to reprise their roles one final time. Basically he does nothing except comfort crazy refugees, but hey. At least he got screen time!

The future

1994 was Chekov's last appearance, canonically. Koenig did make an appearance as Chekov in some Star Trek fan productions as well. The 2009 film, however, sees Chekov played by a newcomer, Anton Yelchin. Does this new era mean a new makeover for Chekov? Not likely. The character only gets a split-second appearance in the new Star Trek trailer, and even that brief shot is replaced in some other shots to make way for Nimoy's appearance as Spock. So all I'm saying is if Yelchin's role consists of getting hit in the head or explaining where the enemy wessels are, don't be surprised.