TOS Pavel Chekov is a rare command officer is here, and at long last, we have Chekov, a real Chekov, who looks like Chekov and is called Chekov in Star Trek Fleet Command.
Captain’s Maneuver
Young Genius – +10 impulse speed on Explorers
This one’s as straightforward as they come. Put him on an Explorer, and he adds 10 to your impulse speed. Not 10%, just 10.
With synergy, you can get this up to a max of 30.
TOS Pavel Chekov Officer Ability
Security Plans – (-30%, -50%, -75%, -100%, -150%) to opponent’s damage when attacked on a node.
So here’s an interesting one. TOS Pavel Chekov as captain will give you a speed bonus… but his officer ability only works when you’re stationary and on a node.
This seems like it would have been much more useful to have an officer you could put on your Sarcophagus to increase your speed in getting to the node, and then have a big defense bonus once in place, but that’s not what we got here.
As he is in the game, this is a great ability to pair with TOS Spock and his defensive ability, or any of the other officers who give you a node-defending bonus.
Walter Koenig Background
On September 14th, 1936, Walter Marvin Koenig was born in Chicago to Russian Jewish immigrants Isadore Koenig and his wife Sarah. The family name was changed from Königsberg when the family immigrated. The family then moved to Manhattan.
Koenig later attended Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, before transferring to UCLA graduating with a degree in Psychology. It was at UCLA that a professor encouraged him to get into acting. He then moved to New York, and joined the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. His fellow students there included Dabney Coleman, James Caan, and Christopher Lloyd. So yep, Chekov went to school with Kruge.
He made his TV debut in a 1962 episode of Combat!, as a sentry in World War II Germany. After a couple of appearances on General Hospital. He got his first Trek-connection, as did Nichelle Nichols and Leonard Nimoy, appearing on Gene Roddenberry’s first TV Creation, The Lieutenant.
From there, he made guest appearances on The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Ben Casey, and of course, Gidget.
Becoming Chekov
The character of Pavel Chekov was originally listed as “Jones.” Not because he wasn’t supposed to be Russian, but because the character of Chekov was both intended to make Star Trek more appealing to younger audiences. He was specifically supposed to have a Davy Jones-look. “Keeping our teenage audience in mind, also keeping aware of current trends, let’s watch for a young…Beatles type,” Roddenberry wrote. “Like the smallish fellow who looks to be a hit on The Monkees.”
Koenig’s first appearance as Chekov came in the first episode of the second season of TOS, “Catspaw.”
Apart from adding appealing to a younger audience, Chekov was needed as a character to fill in at times for Sulu actor George Takei was unavailable, as he was off shooting The Green Berets with John Wayne. In several episodes, lines that were written for Sulu just went to Chekov.
This did lead to Takei having some resentment towards Koenig, but this faded over time, and the two developed a close friendship.
Meanwhile, for those of you who don’t remember the Monkees, here’s Davy Jones for comparison.
By the way, when I was a kid in the 80s, reruns of The Monkees were appointment television after school. I’m tempted to go into a more complete history of the Monkees, but I think I’ll save that until someone comes up with a Monkees Fleet Command game. (Scopely, get on this, ASAP.)
And lastly, trivia that nobody but me will care about at all, The Monkees song Daydream Believer, seen above, was written by John Stewart. Not the comedian John Stewart, but John Stewart from The Kingston Trio, the Charlie on the MTA people. I’m pretty sure I was the only kid born in the 90s who ordered a Kingston Trio CD from Columbia House.