^ George Whatsisname is still standing. John Wayne died a painful death of cancer. Point being...?
If Chekov never joined the crew...
- Thread starter Gary7
- Start date
I dunno. Every thread on TrekBBS ends up fraying at the end?
Sorry about that!
Maybe they could have worked out a deal wherein Takei went back to Star Trek and they loaned out Koenig to replace him on Green Berets.
I'll bet that would have put Col. John Wayne out of character:
"My Gawd, this man isn't 'Vietnam-ese,' he's 'Russian.' See ... we been telling you that they were behind it all along!"
I'll bet that would have put Col. John Wayne out of character:
"My Gawd, this man isn't 'Vietnam-ese,' he's 'Russian.' See ... we been telling you that they were behind it all along!"
If it had not been Chekov, they would've created another character for the show. For whatever the reaon for Chekov, it worked and settled in to the show and subsequent films.
That's it, go and inject logic into the discussion! 
We would still have the humor from the Triskelion drill thrall, only it would be "Solu" instead of "Cheekooov".
Navigator NCC-2120 USS Entente
/\
Touche.
I hate lame humor in the middle of what could have been (was) a really dangerous, scary situation: separated from ship, no idea they're gonna find you, slave for life possibly. Cue the funny alien and silly music. Woof. But that's just me. I will write the abbreviation I just had to look up . . . YMMV.
I hate lame humor in the middle of what could have been (was) a really dangerous, scary situation: separated from ship, no idea they're gonna find you, slave for life possibly. Cue the funny alien and silly music. Woof. But that's just me. I will write the abbreviation I just had to look up . . . YMMV.
^ Agreed... TOS didn't have very many "dark" episodes. This could've easily been one of them. Somehow, when you stroll into a TOS episode, it always feels like there's nothing to worry about, because the favorites will always live and the ship will always avert disaster. It would've been more interesting to test the boundaries.
For one thing, make it so that there was absolutely NO TRACE of the transporter beam. So, the crew is left with no bread crumbs at all. Eventually, Spock continues on as Captain and everyone is mournful, thinking Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov were lost for good. When Kirk makes the wager with the Providers and wins, the Enterprise is signaled by them and is then able to come to the rescue. But before that... it would be a nearly hopeless situation with slavery being the likely outcome. Very unnerving and entertaining.
For one thing, make it so that there was absolutely NO TRACE of the transporter beam. So, the crew is left with no bread crumbs at all. Eventually, Spock continues on as Captain and everyone is mournful, thinking Kirk, Uhura, and Chekov were lost for good. When Kirk makes the wager with the Providers and wins, the Enterprise is signaled by them and is then able to come to the rescue. But before that... it would be a nearly hopeless situation with slavery being the likely outcome. Very unnerving and entertaining.
Well, if Sulu was on extended shore leave and Chekov was still in Starfleet Academy, the logical thing to do would be to assign Lt. Leslie as Helmsman and Lt. Uhura as Navigator.
Chekov's inclusion, aside from all the Davy Jones stuff, really helped push the "radical" nature of the show - that, in the future, most of our current prejudices and conflicts would disappear. He was distinctly "Russian," even "Soviet" (claiming that the Russians were responsible for all great inventions) but he was an ally, and his loyalty to the crew or the cause was never questioned. I mean, when he came on the show, the Russians/Soviets were the enemy, big time, and most people assumed we were going to go to war with them over completely irreconcilable differences. So the idea that someday Soviet v. American would be completely irrelevant, reduced to a couple of cultural anomalies, was radical, and really helped give the show something that almost all other shows at the time lacked - a vision of the end of the Cold War.
And would he have fared any better than Chekov?
"Just because I'm of Japanese ancestry, you assume I know Karate. Have I ever led you to believe I have Studied Karate?"
"Just because I'm of Japanese ancestry, you assume I know Karate. Have I ever led you to believe I have Studied Karate?"
Uh..."Catspaw"? While under the influence of Sylvia and Korab, Sulu's fighting stance was distinctly asian. Of course, one can debate how effective it was since Kirk so easily dispatched him.
Sincerely,
Bill
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.
Sulu would have suffered an early death if he had confronted John Wayne over this. The Duke would have come to the fight dressed like Genghis Khan and George Takei would have died laughing.
Similar threads
