Read next: Patrick Stewart dies at 86: a life remembered, from the RSC to Picard and Professor X
Walter Koenig, who played Pavel Chekov, an ensign in the original Star Trek series and a commander in the early Star Trek films, has died at the age of 90. For anyone who wants to spend an evening with him, five episodes of the original series make the best place to start.
Koenig was born on 14 September 1936 and joined the series in its second season, in 1967. Chekov quickly became a regular on the bridge, at the navigation station for missions against Klingons and Romulans and for first contact with civilizations no one had met before.
CBS
CBS
CBS
Five episodes to start with
All five are from Star Trek: The Original Series:
- “Amok Time” (season two, episode one). Koenig’s first appearance as Chekov in broadcast order. He takes his place at navigation while the crew juggles conflicting orders and Spock’s medical emergency.
- “The Trouble With Tribbles” (season two). Chekov heads to the space station with Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and ends up in a bar fight after a Klingon insults the ship and its captain.
- “The Deadly Years” (season two). On Gamma Hydra IV the colonists are ageing at a frightening rate, and soon Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty show the same symptoms. Chekov, also in the landing party, does not, and the reason why drives the story.
- “The Tholian Web” (season three). Chekov is among the crew affected by a strange region of space, and turns violent enough to need restraint.
- “The Way to Eden” (season three). The Enterprise takes on a band of young idealists searching for a mythical planet called Eden, among them Irina Galliulin (Mary Linda Rapelye), a former romantic interest of Chekov’s.
If time allows only one, start with “Amok Time”: it is where Chekov first takes the navigator’s chair in broadcast order, and it opens the season that made him a regular. For a lighter second helping, “The Trouble With Tribbles” gives him a trip to the station with Uhura and a bar fight with the Klingons.
After the series
Koenig carried Chekov onto the big screen across six films with the original cast, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Commander Chekov is serving aboard the U.S.S. Reliant rather than the Enterprise. He appeared again in Star Trek Generations in 1994.
His voice turns up much later, too: Koenig is heard in “The Last Generation”, the season three finale of Star Trek: Picard. Outside the franchise, he left another mark as Alfred Bester in Babylon 5.
The franchise he helped build is still adding to its crew lists: Starfleet Academy returns for its second season in March 2027, on Paramount+.
Where to watch
- Star Trek: The Original Series: Paramount+ (available in Canada, the US, the UK and Australia; check the app in your market)
- Star Trek: Picard, season three (“The Last Generation”): Paramount+
- The films: availability varies by market and changes often; The Remote‘s film-by-film guide tracks where each one streams.
- The full franchise: see The Remote‘s guide to every Star Trek series in order, with streaming homes by market.
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