In 1967, as the Cold War still dominated the country’s collective consciousness, Gene Roddenberry added a young Russian navigator to the bridge of the USS Enterprise.
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Roddenberry → dominate → Enterprise
The character cheerfully insisted that Scotch whisky, the Garden of Eden, and most other worthwhile inventions had originated in his homeland.
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whisky → insist → homeland
Walter Koenig, who died Oct. 25 at 90, was cast in the role less for any deliberate geopolitical statement than because producers wanted someone who looked like Davy Jones of the Monkees.
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who → die → Monkees
Koenig was born in Chicago in 1936 to Russian immigrants from Lithuania.
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Koenig → bear → Lithuania
The family soon moved to the Inwood section of Manhattan, where he grew up.
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he → move → Manhattan
He began college as a pre-med student at Grinnell College before transferring to UCLA.
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He → begin → UCLA
Drawn to acting, he trained at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse, then took early television roles that included a Marine sergeant on The Lieutenant, Roddenberry’s first series, and a juvenile gang leader in an adaptation of a Harlan Ellison story for The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
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that → draw → Hour
When Roddenberry wanted a character who might draw younger viewers to Star Trek, the physical resemblance to the Monkees singer settled the matter.
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resemblance → want → matter
The show’s producers had been looking for someone who could create the same kind of following that Jones enjoyed among teenagers.
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Jones → look → teenagers
Koenig joined at the start of the second season in 1967 and appeared in 36 of the remaining episodes.
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Koenig → join → episodes
The accent, with its distinctive substitution of “w” for “v,” was modeled on his father’s.
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accent → model → father
Onscreen, Anton Chekov was the eager, slightly boastful junior officer who claimed Russian priority for every invention under the sun and who could, when the moment called for it, deliver a line like “And I am the tsar of all the Russias!” with deadpan conviction.
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I → claim → conviction
Offscreen, the part tied Koenig to the franchise for the rest of his career.
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part → tie → career
Fan mail poured in from children who liked the haircut (a wig at first) and paid little attention to the Cold War.
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who → pour → War
He reprised Chekov in the six films that reunited the original cast and in Star Trek Generations (1994).
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that → reprise → Generations
The movies gave him more to do than the series often had.
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series → give → more
He received Saturn Award nominations for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), in which a Ceti eel produces one of the franchise’s most memorable screams, and for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, in which Chekov wanders through 1986 San Francisco asking passersby where the “nuclear wessels” are kept and later faces an FBI interrogation about his accent and his phaser.
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wessels → receive → accent
Between the films and after the original series ended, work was uneven.
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work → end → films
The same recognition that filled convention halls also limited the roles he was offered elsewhere.
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he → fill → roles
“People are interested in Chekov, not me,” he observed.
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he → observe → Chekov
He wrote for television, including an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series and episodes of Land of the Lost and The Powers of Matthew Star, published memoirs such as 1998’s Warped Factors: A Neurotic’s Guide to the Universe, and taught acting classes.
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He → write → classes
He remained a regular presence at fan events for decades; in 2023, he posted a blunt invitation to one convention: “Come see me before I die.
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I → remain → me
In the 1990s, he found a more substantial part as the calculating Psi Cop Alfred Bester on Babylon 5.
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he → find → Babylon
The role, which he called the highlight of his acting career, gave him a character with his own agenda, dry humor, and capacity for menace rather than an ensign waiting to be told the next heading.
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he → call → heading
Bester was meant to be a one-off appearance; it became a recurring part across 12 episodes.
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it → mean → episodes
Koenig valued the chance to play someone who moved the story rather than simply reacting to it, and he later described the part as more exciting and challenging than Chekov.
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he → value → Chekov
In 2023, he returned once more to the Star Trek universe, voicing Federation President Anton Chekov in the finale of Star Trek: Picard.
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he → return → Trek
Koenig received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012, the last of the original series principals to do so.
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Koenig → receive → principals
The character introduced as youthful comic relief became an enduring piece of the series’ optimistic picture of the future.
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character → introduce → future
Of the famous “Khaaaaaan!” scream in The Wrath of Khan, he once mused that he was going to his grave with the epitaph, “Here lies Walter Koenig.
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Koenig → muse → epitaph
He screamed good.”
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He → scream → ?
He was candid about the limits of the part that defined him.
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that → define → him
“Sure, I complained here and there about Chekov not being given enough to do,” he said in a 2016 interview, “but if I’m going to be known at all after I’ve departed this mortal coil, it will be as Chekov and I’m happy with that.”
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I → complain → that
Yes, you guessed right — that was a character named Chekov who was referencing Hamlet.
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who → guess → Hamlet
Chekov — er, Koenig — added, “I was here for something truly wonderful that has garnered due respect and had something really significant to say about the way we human beings should be operating in this world.
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beings → add → world
Daniel Ross Goodman (@DanRossGoodman) is a Washington Examiner contributing writer and teaches theology and religious studies at St. John’s University.
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Goodman → contribute → University
His next book, Dante’s Guide to Life: How The Divine Comedy Can Change Our Fortunes, Our World, and Ourselves, will be published this fall by Angelico Press.
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Comedy → change → Press
The Aporia
