If Chekov never joined the crew...

[Gary7]

In the Sci-Fi Channel special edition extras, George Takei made quite a few appearances. So, he was able to elaborate on his views and experiences of Star Trek. There was one part where he talked about his time away from the show, in between the 1st and 2nd seasons, where he was cast in "The Green Berets", starring John Wayne. The shooting for the film went over schedule, and George couldn't make it back to Star Trek for the start of the 2nd season. So according to Takei, Koenig was brought in to help make up for his absence.

Well, if you look at his appearances, it looks like he is missing from some episodes in both the 1st and 2nd seasons, but fairly continuous from the end of the 1st season into the 2nd season. I realize that filming wasn't sequential with airing, but... Well, it makes one wonder if Takei is embellishing again.

I've heard the reason Walter Koenig joined the crew as Chekov was to extend audience appeal to younger women, and that it had nothing to do with Takei being absent.

In any case, what if the role of Chekov wasn't created? Do you think the role of Sulu would've been given more screen time? Or would good ol' Hadley finally get to say some lines while serving as navigator? Personally, I think Chekov worked out rather well. He and Sulu balanced each other nicely.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Well, Chekov also filled a vacancy in the cast when Grace Lee Whitney left in the middle of the first season. There was room on the cast for another recurring, so I can see Roddenberry killing multiple birds with one stone by getting another seat filled on the bridge, filling in for a contracted player who would be returning late, AND playing to the rampant Beatle/Monkee mania in the States at the time.

Mark

 

[Nerys Myk]

The first episode produced for the second season was Catspaw. Which features Sulu and Chekov. I think George is mistaken. The wiki on Green Berets says Troubles with Tribbles was the only episode George missed. Would Sulu have been in the barfight instead of Chekov?

If not Chekov, another character would have been created, so I don't think Sulu or Hadely would have gotten his lines or the "meatier" parts he had is some episodes.

 

[Redfern]

In David Gerrold's "Making of the Trouble with Tribbles", the early drafts had Sulu "helping" Uhura with her shore leave shopping, so it's reasonable to assume the "Russian-centric" observations would not have been written. I wonder how Takei would have performed the "He won't bite, will he?" I admit I loved the lil' stammer Koenig injected into that line.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Herbert1]

I liked Bruce Hyde as Lieutenant Kevin Thomas Riley. Maybe they would have made the character a series regular in Season Two?

 

[A beaker full of death]

Meh. If not Chekov they'd have found a Hispanic. Or a Frenchman. Or any other character type who was happy to have three lines every other show.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

I liked Bruce Hyde as Lieutenant Kevin Thomas Riley. Maybe they would have made the character a series regular in Season Two?

Me too. I agree. If not Riley then maybe Lt. DeSalle as a Season 2 regular character.


Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\

 

[Warped9]

If Chekov hadn't been created well...then he wouldn't have been there.

 

[Gary7]

^ I knew it! The Saint, incognito... all this time. Who would've thought it?

 

[Myko]

It would make the argument about Khan recognizing him in Star Trek II even more complicated!

 

[jk82]

It would make the argument about Khan recognizing him in Star Trek II even more complicated!

I was puzzled by this. How did they manage to recognize each other anyway?

 

[Duane]

Trek mythology assumes that Chekov was on the ship in the first season, but not with a bridge posting. So Khan had the opportunity to see him in another part of the ship. At least that is what I have always heard, and I think Koenig himself explains it this way.

 

[Redfern]

It's one of those "off screen" incidents. True in the real life production of Star Trek, Koenig had not yet joined the cast when Montelban played Khan in the first season episode "Space Seed". We as the audience must accept the notion that Chekov was already aboard the Enterprise when Khan "visited" and they must have encountered each other sometime between the presented scenes when we the audience "wasn't looking".

Now the details of that meeting, that's anyone's guess. A running joke in fandom is that Khan had to visit the "head" in a hurry and poor ol' Chekov had the misfortune of being the shnook to delay him. Upon exiting, Khan vows that he'll "never forget his face."

Sincerely,

Bill

Oops! Looks like Roger beat me to the punch. What he said.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Regardless of what George "Star Trek was an Ensemble Show" Takei likes to think, Sulu was a slightly more than minor background character and he missed a bunch of episodes even when he wasn't filming Green Berets. His absences wouldn't really require a regular actor to fill in; they'd just get some guest star to take over if stories required the helmsman to do anything other than drive. Chekov's creation had nothing to do with the lack o'Sulu. It was to capitalize on the Davy Jones/Monkees craze and bring in a larger number of younger (and presumably female) viewers. The whole Pravada thing was more Roddenberry bullshit.

Memo from Roddenberry to Joe D'Agosta:

Keeping our teenage audience in mind, also keeping aware of current trends, let's watch for a young, irreverent, English accent "Beatle" type to try on the show, possibly with an eye to him recurring. Like the smallish fellow who looks to be a hit on The Monkees. Personally, I find this type spirited and refreshing and I think our episodes could use that kind of "lift." Let's discuss.

I believe Gamesters of Triskelion was also an episode originally slated for Sulu and Chekov was plugged in as a replacement. Chekov was more memorable simply by virtue of having a personality. Sulu really had nothing other than what George brought to the role and maybe a plot-required hobby or two. The fact that Sulu was likable had more to do with George's own energetic personality than what he was given in the scripts (especially after the first half of the initial season). After the show ended, he endeared himself to the fans by being extremely accessible. This began The Legend of Sulu's Starring Role in Star Trek.

As for what the show would have been like sans Chekov: pretty much the same, with just a few episodic exceptions. His loss wouldn't have impacted the show's popularity to any great degree, if at all. And it probably would have helped Walter Koenig's career in the long run.

 

[A beaker full of death]

. A running joke in fandom is that Khan had to visit the "head" in a hurry and poor ol' Chekov had the misfortune of being the shnook to delay him. Upon exiting, Khan vows that he'll "never forget his face."

You mean the seven people on board that ship went to the bathroom? But how can that be? It was never shown on-screen and explicitly stated!

Exiting Berman mode now. If Berman had ever watched TOS, that is.

 

[T'Girl]

Would Sulu have been in the barfight instead of Chekov?

Maybe he could have used his fencing foil?

 

[Harvey]

Memory Alpha states that Takei was absent from nine consecutive episodes in the middle of season two due to going over-schedule on The Green Berets. This seems about right, judging from the last time I watched season two in production order.

 

[Therin of Andor]

There was one part where he talked about his time away from the show, in between the 1st and 2nd seasons, where he was cast in "The Green Berets", starring John Wayne. The shooting for the film went over schedule... Well, it makes one wonder if Takei is embellishing again.

There's embellishing - and there's reducing one's answers to a small-enough soundbyte that it will be usable. Any actor giving a long-winded, yet acurate, answer to "what really happened" is going to get cut short. They learn to encapsulate information. It's not necessarily embellishing.

David Gerrold's original script for "The Trouble with Tribbles" definitely had a role for Sulu, eventually rewritten for Koenig. IIRC, filming of "The Green Berets" was interrupted by bad weather and the movie cast was recalled to the outdoor sets for reshoots. (I think Gerrold also planned that Rand would still be around.) Koloth was supposed to be Kor, only John Colicos was unavailable.)

In production order:

39 "Mirror, Mirror"
40 "The Deadly Years"
41 "I, Mudd"
42 "The Trouble With Tribbles"
43 "Bread and Circuses"
44 "Journey to Babel"
45 "A Private Little War"
46 "The Gamesters of Triskelion"
47 "Obsession"
48 "The Immunity Syndrome"
49 "A Piece of the Action"
50 "By Any Other Name"
51 "Return to Tomorrow"

So, "Mirror, Mirror" had a meaty role for Sulu/Takei and "The Deadly Years" had a focus on Chekov/Koenig, and a lesser role for Sulu/Takei. Then Sulu is suddenly missing for ten episodes straight, and Chekov fills meaty intended-for-Sulu parts in both "Tribbles" and "Gamesters". The intention was also to build a rapport between the two characters, as they manned their consoles each week, but ten episodes in a row with Sulu missing made this impossible for a while, too. He's back for "Return to Tomorrow".

I've heard the reason Walter Koenig joined the crew as Chekov was to extend audience appeal to younger women, and that it had nothing to do with Takei being absent.

Chekov was added to appeal to young females (ie. Davy Jones analog), and was pushed as an interviewee in the teen mags of the day. Supposedly, he was made Russian because Roddenberry had received an angry letter from someone at Pravda, criticising the lack of Russian presence in a futuristic show about space - but no actual "newspaper article" was ever found. So Chekov ended up in more scripts than expected due to Takei's enforced absence from the TOS set.

Or would good ol' Hadley finally get to say some lines while serving as navigator?

When a two-line walk-on gets more than two lines in an episode, they move into a higher wages bracket, if I understand this correctly - and this can jeopardize their usefulness in future episodes if they want to go back to extra or walk-on work.

 

[Elder Knight]

Of course, Takei should have announced that he was returning to his station on The Enterprise, and if John Wayne doesn't like that he can jolly well shove it.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Of course, Takei should have announced that he was returning to his station on The Enterprise, and if John Wayne doesn't like that he can jolly well shove it.

Who is still standing?