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Walter Koenig Reprises His Role as Chekov

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the not-creepy-at-all dept.

hords writes "Walter Koenig returns to the role of Lt. Pavel Chekov in an upcoming episode of Star Trek: New Voyages, a fan made series mentioned earlier on Slashdot. He will be re-imagining the role that made him famous. 'The folks from New Voyages approached and we started kicking around ideas for a Chekov story,' said Koenig. 'It occurred to me that what we were coming up with was what every actor dreams of: a second chance to get it right...it is almost beyond comprehension that this is happening so late in my life! Talk about belated reward!...I didn't believe I could ever again be this excited about performing a part...I guess it isn't so trite after all: perhaps, all good things do come to those who wait.' Amazingly enough they even got D.C. Fontana to write the episode!"

28 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Always thought he was underappreciated... by BTWR · · Score: 3, Insightful
    I always thought Walter Koenig was a fine actor. He was often underrated and often used simply for comic relief, which he is capable of much much more.

    Don't get me wrong, he has nice comedic timing, but I can guess that if he has something to do with the script, it'll be more than 30 minutes of "Nuclear Wessels!"

    1. Re:Always thought he was underappreciated... by Arker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Indeed. He did a great job on B5, in a much more serious role.

      --
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      Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
    2. Re:Always thought he was underappreciated... by Nogami_Saeko · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Oh, absolutely he did. Bester is one of my favorite characters of all-time.

      Sure, he was a cold, calculating, (evil?) manipulator, but the episodes that involved his wife (captured and 'altered' by the shadows) really brought the depth into the character. It'd be interesting to talk to Mr. Koenig and find out what "made Bester tick" when he was acting the part.

      There were both greatscripts and great acting in B5...

      N.

      --
      "Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
    3. Re:Always thought he was underappreciated... by dabigpaybackski · · Score: 5, Interesting
      He did an interview on Coast to Coast AM a few weeks ago, during which he gave his assessment of the old Star Trek cast. What I found most illustrative was his admonishment to "read between the lines" as he read through the roster, conspicuously omitting the name of William Shatner. When the host, George Noory, rather ham-handedly asked for Koenig's opinion of Shatner, Koenig gently reminded him again to "read between the lines."

      Sounds like there's some bad blood there.

      --
      "OH SHIT, THERE'S A HORSE IN THE HOSPITAL!"
    4. Re:Always thought he was underappreciated... by Mike+McCune · · Score: 5, Informative
      >Sounds like there's some bad blood there.

      Read Warped Factors if you want a good account of why Koenig hated Shatner.

      William Shatner managed to make enemies of most of the cast of TOS. While he was friends with Nimoy and Kelly, the rest of the cast hated Shatner. James Doohan refused to speak to Shatner even to the last days of his life.

      BTW - Koenig really is Russian. His grandparents were Russian Jews from Vilna, Lithuania.

      --

      In a world that is Free and Open, who needs Windows and Gates?

  2. They missed out one role I really enjoyed.. by clifforch · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That of Bester in Babylon 5, I mean, it was far more complex and he really showed he could play a bad(ish.. depends on your POV) guy in sci-fi.

    --
    In SOVIET RUSSIA the hot grits profit you!
    1. Re:They missed out one role I really enjoyed.. by tillemetry · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I disagree. Bester messed up Garibaldi pretty good, and seemed to take a little too much joy in it. The sadistic streak made the character believable. If you followed B5, and looked at Bester, Chekov didn't even cross your mind. I thought it was great.

      Always thought the tip of the hat to Alfred Bester (whose book The Demolished Man laid out a lot of the "telepath lore") was a brillant move by the writers. Okay, they stole, but they gave the author credit at the same time. It was great.

    2. Re:They missed out one role I really enjoyed.. by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 4, Interesting

      His portrayal of Bester actually made me forget all about Chekov, to the point that when I see Walter Koenig I think "Bester" instead of "Chekov". Considering how deeply the 'Trek characters have been driven into our memories over the decades, that's quite a testimony to his acting ability.

      --
      We apologize for the inconvenience.
    3. Re:They missed out one role I really enjoyed.. by Nimrangul · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Yet is what he did something that can really be construed as evil?

      He did what he did to have is thumb on the pulse of Babylon 5, something vital to the continuation of his people. That he happens to get his kicks by pulling the wings off a fly kinda shows he has a dark side, but Garibaldi was the information man at the station and the telepaths needed that information.

      His view of mundane humans is understandable as well, it is the same view that many people have about the mentally retarded. Sure, they can go about living their lives, but you'd rather keep your people alive then them.

      If you are faced with the choice of letting a million mentally retarded people live or a hundred smart people live, where only one party could survive, which would be best for the race? It's a philosophical counter to Spock's needs of the many argument.

      Bester may have had an arrogance to him, but the end goal was a better world for his people. Dust was made to try and better humanity, it was designed to make people telepathic. The alliance with the Shadows was to make the race as a whole more powerful in the universe.

      Nah, I just can't view him as a villian, he isn't a protaganist, but he's definately not an antagonist either. Surely he was misguided, but that is in part because of what Psi-Corps had done to him.

      --
      I'm sick of following my dreams - I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
  3. Re:not dead yet? by double-oh+three · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Whaa? You crazy. Kirk may have died (twice, IIRC) but William Shatner is doing pretty well with Boston Legal.

    --
    "For years, I struggled with reality... but I'm happy to say I finally won out over it." -- Elwood P. Dowd
  4. Star Trek is where it belongs by aussie_a · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ron Moore of Battlestar Galactica said on his blog that with Star Trek: Enterprise cancelled and no plans on any future series or movies, that Star Trek had returned once more to its fans. I can understand now what he meant. Back when TOS was cancelled, fan run magazines popped up with fan fiction. Now, in the 21st century, the same thing is happening, only it's changed along with the technology we now have access to. And I can't think of any better hands for Star Trek to be in at the moment, then its fans.

  5. Interesting sidenote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Here was a good read I found not oo long ago about the choice to add W.K. to the series.
    http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/chekov.asp

  6. Not trying to be a spoilsport but... by HishamMuhammad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a Trek fan all I can say is "power to those guys", I'm looking forward to check out their stuff once their server recovers, but...

    what are the legal ramifications of this? Isn't there some Big Corporation who owns the rights to the Star Trek names? If New Voyages makes it big I fear they'll be sued out of existance... :(

    --
    The filesystem is the package manager
  7. Re:not dead yet? by ilyaaohell · · Score: 5, Informative

    William Shatner has been getting consistent work for many years now. He's had supporting roles in several very successful films, from Dodgeball to Miss Congeniality. He has won last year's Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor and is currently nominated for another Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor for his role in Boston Legal, a television show with bigger viewership than the original Star Trek ever got.

    Any questions?

    --
    UNIX: A computer user is defined as a programmer. WINDOWS: A computer user is defined as a consumer.
  8. The web server by dtfinch · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's dead, Jim.

  9. Price of Star Trek DVDs by cjsm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Somewhat off topic, but I was starshocked when I went to Circut City recently, and they had the original series on DVD for $129. I though, well, that's for the complete show, but it was one season. WTF. TNG is priced the same per season. I wouldn't mind owning these, but I'm not going to pay the rate of a newly released movie in widescreen enhanced def, for a forty year old TV series in low def TV format (I have an Infocus ScreenPlay projector and 6 ft wide screen).

    Well, the market is supposed to set the price, but the price on these old TV shows on DVD are way overpriced, IMO, and I'm not buying. These old TV shows are worth about the same or less to me as a discounted old movie at Walmart, nowhere near $390 for 3 seasons of Star Trek. Maybe 1/4th that amount.

    --
    This ad space for rent.
  10. Re:not dead yet? by some+guy+I+know · · Score: 3, Funny
    [Blah blah Shatner is a superstar and I want to have his baby blah blah blah ...]

    Any questions?
    Yes, I have some questions:
    1. What is your name?
    2. What is your quest?
    3. What is your favorite color?
    --
    Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
  11. Re:not dead yet? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Don't forget his musical career :)

  12. Re: Legal Ramifications of ST:TNV by some+guy+I+know · · Score: 5, Informative
    what are the legal ramifications of this?
    According to IMDB, none, as long as they don't make a profit.

    Relevant section:
    Trivia: Although this is a "non-official" Star Trek incarnation, Paramount Pictures which owns the name and the rights to Star Trek agreed to allow the producers of New Voyages to make these episodes on the condition that no profit was to be garnered from the show.
    --
    Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
  13. Wil Wheaton, please read this post..... by tloh · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dear Wil,

    Since discovering you as a blogger and an author, I've begun to know you as more than just Wesley Crusher. First up, despite the cheese dick writers at TNG who had no clue how to develope your character, I've always apploaded the role you portrayed. In the real world where mediocrity often rule over those who dared to dream or excel, Wesley Crusher was one of the few shining examples where the geek spirit was truly celebrated. For me, personally, you made it okay to be smart. After reading "Just a Geek", I think that aspect of Wesley Crusher is something you can truly identify with. The compeling story in your book about your own internal relationship with a controvertial fictional persona you helped create as an actor fleshed both of you out in a way Trek and Hollywood never could.

    In the context of this /. post, I wonder if you have ever considered wrestling control of the character Wesley Crusher from those who have helped make your early life difficult. Have you ever considered using your own judgement to tell a story about this young man from an idealized future in a way that *you* see fit? The guy you like to call "William Fucking Shatner" has penned a number of books about Kirk. I think John De Lance has also written a novel about Q. You are an accomplished writter now, with two successful books to your credit and a number of magazine columns. What's to stop you from picking up a pen (or keyboard/laptop) and re-imagining Wesley Crusher in a way that isn't limited by political correctness, TV ratings, or studio beurocracy? In "Just a Geek", you seemed to have made peace with the tomultuous legacy Wesley have left you. But you still seemed some what regretful of the fact your left-on-the-cutting-room-floor cameo would be the last time you would bring Wesley to life. If you can pull it off, I think I wouldn't be the only one to find a Wesley Crusher novel told by the man who gave him life to be very worth reading. Please think about it.

    --
    Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
  14. Re:not dead yet? by isorox · · Score: 4, Informative

    Whaa? You crazy. Kirk may have died (twice, IIRC) but William Shatner is doing pretty well with Boston Legal.

    And All Bran adverts in the UK..

  15. Obligatory Futurama Quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fry: Melllvar, you can't let a TV show be your whole life. You can do anything you want. Look at Walter Koenig. After Star Trek, he became an actor!

    Koenig: Not just an actor but a well rounded person! With my own friends, credit cards, keys...

  16. Re:not dead yet? by VJ42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's not meant to be funny; William Shatner really is doing All Bran adverts here in the UK.

    --
    If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
  17. Re:not dead yet? by Digital+Pizza · · Score: 4, Funny
    I've a friend who's a TOS purist, and she absolutely hates to see William Shatner anywhere other than TOS because his "goofiness" ruins her image of Kirk. Geez, I wish she'd lighten up.

    I like goofy Shatner! He knows he's a big goofball and he has fun with it. The guy always makes me laugh.

    (Stolen from his Wikipedia page:)
    "I'm not a Starfleet commander, or T.J. Hooker. I don't live on Starship NCC-170... (some audience members say "1"), or own a phaser. I don't know anybody named Bones, Sulu, or Spock (picture of Dr. Benjamin Spock is shown on screen behind him). And no, I've never had green alien sex, but I'm sure it'd be quite an evening. (Pomp and Circumstance begins playing.) I speak English and French, not Klingon! I drink Labatt's, not Romulan ale! And when someone says to me 'live long and prosper', I seriously mean it when I say, 'get a life'. My doctor's name is not McCoy, it's Ginsberg (nude picture of Dr. Ginsberg shown on screen). And tribbles were puppets, not real animals. PUPPETS! And when I speak, I never, ever talk like Every. Word. Is. Its. Own. Sentence. I live in California, but I was raised in Montreal. And I believe in priceline.com, where you never have to pay full price for airline tickets, hotels, and car rentals! I've appeared onstage at Stratford, at Carnegie Hall, Albert Hall, and the Monkland Theatre in NDG. And, yes, I've gone where no man has gone before, but... I was in Mexico and her father gave me permission! My name is William Shatner, and I am Canadian!"

    --from a Just for Laughs appearance; a parody of the popular Molson Canadian Commercial entitled "I Am Canadian".

    --
    We apologize for the inconvenience.
  18. There was never just simple evil on B5 by infonography · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Nobody did anything because they were evil. Well may just Emperor Cartagia, but he was nuts in a Caligula sort of way. Morden was a spiritual disciple of the Shadows. Who to human eyes where the ultimate Bug Eyed Monsters, were not really such bad guys. Their Nietzsche-esque strength thru war had the same misinterpretation the Nazi had.

    from Wikipedia :"has the joke goes, Nietzsche detested Nationalism, Socialism, Germans and mass movements, so naturally he was adopted as the intellectual mascot of the National Socialist German Workers' Party." He was also far from being a racist, believing that the "vigour" of any population could only be increased by mixing with others."

    Morden gets a bit more development in that Technomage series.

    Everybody had reasons and history for why they did stuff. The Bester character kept Garibaldi under his thumb because he was in such a perfect position to hear stuff. What malice there was was incidental, just bad blood between them.

    Overall Walter Koenig, is the only real actor to come out of the series. Later work by almost the whole cast had a 'Phone it in' feel. See Nimoy's role in Brave New World, (it stank on ice)

    --
    Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
  19. ...where no StarTrek has gone before... by moviepig.com · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...we started kicking around ideas for a Chekov story...

    Damn straight. Let's put the angst back into space-travel. Next stop, Dostoyevsky...

    --
    Seeing bad movies only encourages them. Watch responsibly
  20. ...in other words... by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 3, Funny

    500% of the profits!

  21. Um - well ... by DikSeaCup · · Score: 3, Informative
    Actually, she was the one that dumped them.

    If I remember correctly, he said:

    "We still have the mundane to deal with."

    She responded:

    "Can I do it?"

    And we see the body floating out in hyperspace.

    --
    I talk about stuff.