There WAS an hour-long fan film (from CONTINUES?) in which Chekov saved Scotty and Uhura from exploding..................but only because Kirk and Spock were busy at Starbase Whathaveyou with Admiral Erin Gray.
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The Appeal Of Chekov
- Thread starter Spock's Barber
- Start date
Chekov's solo story in Phase II was great but he didn't do anything other than ruminate.There WAS an hour-long fan film (from CONTINUES?) in which Chekov saved Scotty and Uhura from exploding..................but only because Kirk and Spock were busy at Starbase Whathaveyou with Admiral Erin Grey.
Both Phase II and Continues did give him some wins to justify his transisition to security in TMP.
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Uhura gives a back handed compliment to Chekov’s acting ability.
Woohoo, it's essay time!
What you wrote is completely true and suggests rather a lot, for which I'll juggle that with a bunch of tangents in typical manner: Especially with "The Monkees" being a hit, they wanted Chekov to not just look like a Davy Jones knockoff, but to also sound as much Russian as British (with the cod accent, often overdubbed, for which the 1970s were more known for if you can sit through a bunch of drama/spy series of that decade, but I digress because Walter didn't need dubbing. And who came up with the word "dubbing", anyway? /SeinfeldMode)
Also, back then - and even into the early-90s - it wasn't uncommon to have upper-20 if not lower-30 year-olds playing teenieboppers if they looked youngish enough, possibly as they generally had more experience and able to take on more demanding and time-consuming roles than younger children but I'm just guessing. One TV show regularly cited with much ridicule and admonishment was "The Powers of Matthew Starr". Another might be the 1970s "Spiderman" show (1977-79, which means one also gets all that groovy disco fashion too!).
The fact they needed to do the "cousin Oliver" trope (albeit comparatively successfully, and eight years before Cousin Oliver himself created the trope) already suggests that few in the network were jubilant over the ratings that season one had, especially for the costs involved in making it. Yet they also moved the timeslot for season 2 to the ever-reliable Friday (you know, when the target demographic was out at a restaurant or park or forest or movie theater back row or hotel in Encino or cemetery or wherever they like to go because it's not dullsville at home) and thinking it would rake in tons of viewers then?
Lastly, thank goodness, with TOS trying to appeal to younger audiences by having younger looking folk act old, this may be why Wesley acts more like a teenager (albeit awkward type that the cool kids hated), Adric from Doctor Who being not dissimilar, and so on. Nowadays, regardless of age, it feels like so many shows now have adults acting like children?
There's a fun inversion of the juxtaposition...
Uhura gives a back handed compliment to Chekov’s acting ability.
There desperately needs to be a GIF of Norman (from that same story) dancing.
I wonder how things would have been different if Chekov had been established as an Academy student posted to the ship for a temporary learning assignment. I could easily imagine an episode where Chekov develops an unrequited interest in his female shipboard academic advisor.
Well, you have to remember that older actors used to routinely play younger characters. At least up through the eighties, you’d have high school kids played by 30-year-olds.
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THEM’S FIGHTIN’ WORDS. Erin Gray was my first major TV crush.
Jo Grant not bright? As introduced, the following is how she described herself:
"I'm a fully qualified agent, you know. Cryptology, safe-breaking, explosives--"
She was UNIT HQ when saying this, so anyone there could verify her qualifications--which means she was more than bright out of the gates, no matter how she was occasionally written thereafter.
Lol yes, but like many heroines in the seventies, now go on to look at all her plot-relevant dialogue and what she actually does.
She was a great escapologist though.
Seconded.
Yeah, "book smart vs street smart" - these being two different types, of course. Problem is, they took and ramped up the naivety and ham-fisted bun vending factors up to 11 when, since the Doctor was exiled on Earth, she could easily have been used more often for espionage missions as well as being a prototype Ace regarding explosives.
Lol yes, but like many heroines in the seventies, now go on to look at all her plot-relevant dialogue and what she actually does.
She was a great escapologist though.
True, but Jo had these attributes plastered to her from the start, creating expectations.
Barbara was just a teacher. Zoe was an astrophysicist. Both got to use their screen-told skills and more. Jo's naivety became "the" trait for a paternal relationship and all of her other traits forgotten about.
(On edit: combining posts.)
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Very true. Susan was similar in some ways. She very occasionally got to use advanced engineering skills but they spent far more time telling us how smart she was and very little time showing us.Seconded.
Yeah, "book smart vs street smart" - these being two different types, of course. Problem is, they took and ramped up the naivety and ham-fisted bun vending factors up to 11 when, since the Doctor was exiled on Earth, she could easily have been used more often for espionage missions as well as being a prototype Ace regarding explosives.
True, but Jo had these attributes plastered to her from the start, creating expectations.
Barbara was just a teacher. Zoe was an astrophysicist. Both got to use their screen-told skills and more. Jo's naivety became "the" trait for a paternal relationship and all of her other traits forgotten about.
(On edit: combining posts.)
I think Liz Shaw was smart and fought against the Doctor so making Jo young, naive, not science competent in any way, and generally compliant was a reaction to that. Sarah sort of hit the sweet spot between the two.
Chekov sits closer to Jo in terms of his role but also because he is low down a naval hierarchy.
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I completely understand. Were someone to mock Nancy Kulp, I would intervene as that's one of my unofficial jobs. Kulp could've played Lethe just as well as whoever did in DAGGER OF THE MIND.
He was quite effective in "Who Mourns for Adonais" and "Spock's Brain" as well as "Gamesters of Triskelion." He also had many smaller moments of competence and likability even where he wasn't featured prominently, in "I, Mudd," "Obsession," "The Apple," "Amok Time," "The Trouble With Tribbles," "Elaan of Troyius," "The Ultimate Computer" and "The Immunity Syndrome." Unfortunately, he was reduced to victimhood in "Spectre of the Gun," "The Tholian Web" and "Day of the Dove," and to some extent "The Way to Eden," blunting his S3 impact. In the movies, he fared quite well, rising to the high command track in Wrath of Khan, then teaming up with Kirk again, featuring in the command chain and becoming a valuable utility infielder at all bridge positions. (Except, oddly, the helm.) The TUC writers largely had him play the cabbagehead, but in his brief turn in Generations, he's very amiable and competent.
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Chekov operated a mean scope while looking for Spock aboard the Romulan wessel in Enterprise Incident.
GOT HEEM!
From TMOST, a memo from Gene Roddenberry to casting director Joseph D'Agosta, dated September 22, 1966:
"Subject: NEEDED CREW TYPE
Keeping our teen-age 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 reoccuring. 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."
(Emphasis added.)
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