Star Trek My Interview With Walter Koeing (Chekov)

Koenig began playing Ensign Pavel Chekov, navigator on the USS Enterprise, in the original Star Trek television series in the second season, and continued in the role in all of the films featuring the original cast, including Star Trek Generations.Koenig was unfamiliar with science fiction before being cast on Star Trek.[7] One of only two actors to audition, he was cast as Chekov almost immediately primarily because of his resemblance to British actor and singer Davy Jones of the Monkees. Show creator Gene Roddenberry hoped that Koenig would increase the show's appeal to young people. The studio's publicity department, however, falsely ascribed the inclusion of Chekov to an article in Pravda that complained about the lack of Russians in Star Trek.[6][failed verification]As the 30-year-old's hair was already receding, costume designers fashioned a Davy Jones-style "moptop" hairpiece for him. In later episodes, his own hair grew out enough to accomplish the look with a comb-over.[8]Roddenberry asked him to "ham up" his Russian accent to add a note of comic relief to the series. Chekov's accent has been criticized as inauthentic, in particular Koenig's substituting the "w" sound in place of a "v" sound (e.g., "wodka" for "vodka" or most famously "wessel" for "vessel"); Koenig has said the accent was inspired by his father, who had the same difficulty with the "v" sound.[5]Koenig as Pavel Chekov in Star TrekMost of Koenig's fan mail came from children, and his popularity with fans contributed to him soon receiving a contract as a regular Star Trek cast member; this surprised Koenig, who had initially been told that Chekov would only be a recurring role.[6][9] When the early episodes for season two of Star Trek were filmed, George Takei was absent while completing the movie The Green Berets, so Chekov was joined at the Enterprise helm by different characters. When Takei returned, the two actors had to share a dressing room and a single script per episode. This reportedly angered Takei to the point where he considered leaving the show, although Koenig observed in a 2016 interview that, while sharing a dressing room with Takei and James Doohan, the three finally recognised their status as supporting players and after that "didn't think twice about it".[10] Koenig and Takei have since become good friends, to the point that Koenig served as best man at Takei's wedding in 2008.[11]The character of Chekov did not appear in the animated Star Trek series. The show's producers had declined to hire Koenig for budgetary reasons and the actor wasn't even aware that he would not be included in the cast until a fan informed him at a Star Trek convention. Although Roddenberry would hire Koenig as a writer and purchased his script for an episode of the show titled "The Infinite Vulcan", Koenig later confessed that he was upset at being left out of the cast of the animated series.[12] "The Infinite Vulcan" makes him the first cast member to write a Star Trek story for television.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/forbidden-realms-late-night-show-with-gary--2788432/support.