Happy Birthday, Walter!

Today, September 14th, is Walter "Chekov" Koenig's 79th birthday. Hope he has a great one!

In honor of everyone's favorite Russian accident-prone screamer, read over all the previous posts about Walter from this blog!

Kelly Freas Chekov Portrait

Well, it's been a fun series of posts to do, and this time we look at the last of the portraits painted by Kelly Freas of the Officers of the Bridge. Why is Chekov last? I admit, the order of posting was entirely my own choice, the pictures were not numbered. But in descending order of any list of the bridge crew, poor little Chekov always comes in last. Aside from the fact that he was only added in the second season, Chekov seems to have been the whipping boy of Star Trek, not even showing up in the animated series. Did Freas do him justice in his portrait, though? Let's take a look-see...

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Like his painting of Sulu, Kelly perfectly captures the facial features of Chekov, who actually seems the closest to his 1967 self than any of the others. And oddly enough, whereas most of the others gained longer hair (based as most were on photos of the stars taken at the time, the mid-70's) Pavel's is the same as the series; maybe Freas judged his Monkees haircut shaggy enough already. Nothing added to it for visual interest, as in most of the others, either; a phaser or something would have added a little zing. I would have given it an A+ for character accuracy, but I deduct a bit for the lack of flair here that had been given to the others. But for the very nice starfield background, this would have been somewhat lackluster. Even his expression seems a bit distant and sad; whereas his buddy Sulu looked happy and energetic, Chekov looks lethargic and introspective.

Not surprisingly, painful depression really was inwented in Russia.

Maybe the expression comes honestly... Chekov always seemed to get the crappy end of the stick; a Ceti eel in his ear put there by Khan, an butt-ugly Drill Thrall who wanted to molest him on Triskelion, a plasma-burned hand when V'Ger overloaded their shields, brain injury on an aircraft carrier in Earth's past, shot and "killed" in the Melkotion OK Corral illusion... even his Mirror universe double fared no better, as he end up screaming for hours in the Agonizer Booth. Chekov was famous for screaming in terror and/or torment; that would dial down your enthusiasm level.

Or, perhaps it was taken from a then-contemprary photo reference of Walter Koenig, who probably was depressed at his lack of work after the series, and was forever ambivilent about his typecasting. His interviews and book "Chekov's Enterprise" all bemoaned the fact that he was so underused. The one convention I saw him in, where he was onstage with TNG actress Marina Sirtis, he looked uncomfortable, as if he had been ill, or eaten lunch at Taco Hell. Though, to be fair, I guess years of people asking him to "say 'nuclear wessals!'" would drain the joy from any man. He could probably relate to "Galaxy Quest" more than any others of the cast.

Bonus: Below, the salute to Walter Koenig from Starlog's Trek 20th Anniversary issue #112.

"I wonder... am I helping my career by playing Chekov or hurting it?"

Thanks for sticking with me on this series of posts! Thanks for your comments, also. I love hearing from my readers. Now that you've seen them all, name your favorite!

1990 "Starfleet Academy" article

Here's an article from the May 1990 edition of the awesome magazine "Cinefantastique," where Walter Koenig spills the beans about the then-planned "Starfleet Academy" movie which could have been ST 6. Thankfully, it was never made, and we got to see our heroes one more time in a grand send-off, "The Undiscovered Country." If Walter's efforts to alert the fans (and the resulting backlash) factored at all into the studio's decision to scrap the idea, then we should be grateful to him.

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Of course, Star Trek '09 was in essence the same idea; recasting the characters with younger actors, showing the Academy days, and even using Nimoy as an anchor; but enough years had passed that by then, we were ready to revisit the original show and were willing to accept new actors if it meant seeing the TOS crew in action again.

Bonus: Below, a silly article from the National Enquirer tabloid, published in September of 1983, that tries to use Star Trek to lend "credibility" to it.

"Uh, you should be gettin' back under the beam, Cap'n, unless ye want to lose the left side o' yer body, sir."

Starlog #3 Con Articles Part 4

For the past three entries, as you may know, (if not, use the Archives links to catch up) I have been posting the pages from issue #3 of Starlog, as they covered the 1976 Bi-Centennial 10 con, held in NY in September of 1976. This post wraps up that series, with the appearance page on Walter Koenig, and an inside look at the joys and trials of organizing conventions by none other than superfan Joan Winston.

(Click on images to enlarge.)

Below, from the same issue, is a writeup on the rollout celebration for the shuttle prototype which was named Enterprise. (I've covered this in other posts, but with articles from other sources.)

1977 article: "I Am Still Not Spock"

From issue #5 of "All About Star Trek Fan Clubs" magazine, published in October of 1977, comes a number of articles. First, the cover; a nice painting of the Russion whiz kid, Chenko... Chirpoff... er, Chekov, Pavel Andreievich.

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"Dees is my head, da; but painted on Keptin Kirrk's body."

The first article featured this time is one about Nimoy's continuing promotion of his autobiography, "I Am Not Spock." As we all know, he would give in to inevitability about 20 years later and write a followup called "I Am Spock;" which might as well have been titled "Alright Already, 'I AM Spock!' Happy Now? Sheesh!"

Next, from the same issue, comes this writeup on one fan's close encounter with Bill Shatner who is wearing a really loud shirt. Fortunately, his charisma and force of personality dominate it into submission, but it was a real fight for supremacy. If this girl Janet Haan is on Facebook or something she is probably going to want to kill me for posting this! But, I hope not. If you're out there, Janet, comment and let us know!

Somewhere in New Jersey a family discovers that their couch cover has gone missing.

And lastly, a photo album of Walter Koenig that includes one of him naked, which I know many of you have been wishing to see. Walter is the Woody Allen of the TOS cast, and with that photo it's easy to see he's always been that way... worried and a bit insecure; am I right? When your main characteristics as an actor on the show are a bad accent and the tendency to scream often, it's no wonder one might develop a bit of a inferiority complex.

Stop that or you'll go blind, Walter.

"I'm worried that people will confuse me wth Davy Jones of the Monkees."

If you want to see more articles from other issues of this magazine, use the "ST Fan Clubs Mag" tag on the sidebar! If Starlog was steak and potatoes, this publication was a greasy cheeseburger and fries... but still good when you're hungry like we were back then!

Sulu and Chekov...BFF!

(Click on images to view larger size.)

I clipped the above article from the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel on August 4th, 1978, as the new movie was in pre-production and media interest was starting to increase again. Even the show's secondary stars were getting some press, and the Koenig/Takei combo mini-article echoed their positions on the bridge and the show's publicity material, when they were often featured together. The friendship was highlighted several times in the movies, most notably in "The Final Frontier" as they got lost together on a hiking trip. It would be nice to see them becoming buddies in the next Trek movie.
This post continues the tradition of pairing the pals with some photos of the characters as they were during the TV show's production. Below, a classic shot of the two on the bridge!

Next, an article about the two of them from the British magazine Sci_fi Monthly.

Below, a glossy publicity still from the press kit sent to stations to promote the show for syndication.

"Deed you know that the ladder was inwented in Russia? Da, by a leetle old man in Leningrad."

"Shatner, beware! You either leave this war bloodied, or with my blood on your sword."

 

Chekov wasn't Sulu's only friend... he was a well-liked crewman, outgoing and friendly.