Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Pavel Chekov



I grew up at a time in history where there was always Star Trek. I was born in 1988, the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation was on the air, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier just came out of theaters... So I was never without Star Trek in my life, so I cannot speak to the whole not having Star Trek thing, that many on the crew of Phase 2 remember.

During the run of TOS, the Chekov character was never really fully explored as it was the (Kirk+Spock, later +McCoy) show. So that the characters like Sulu, Uhura and Chekov were just expository characters, something to play off of Shatner (Kirk) and Nimoy (Spock).

Personally I rather enjoyed Walter as Chekov, he was the comic relief when needed and who can forget that He provided one of the biggest mistakes in Continuity in the Movies, I speak of course of the fact that Chekov was not apart of the cast when Khan was introduced during "Space Seed". Of course it is possible that Chekov was on the ship, but we didn't see him until the season 2 episode "Amok Time".

- I should note that one of the things I had to do on the Phase 2 sets was to have people and things in their proper place, so that when the dailies editor or even The Executive Producer cuts the episode together, it flows well and doesn't look funny.

Something that is hardly touched on about Chekov is that he is a genius, forgive me for this comparison but a Wesley Crusher type character. We actually learn that Spock is Chekov's mentor, in "Who Mourns For Adonais", when McCoy comments on the fact that Spock was contaminating Chekov when he was giving Kirk "complete information". He is a lovable character and it is my opinion that he and the other Members of the Crew (Scott, Uhura and Sulu) should have gotten more story lines.



-------------------------------------Star Trek: New Voyages-----------------------------------

Notice that it says New Voyages and not Phase 2.... Well there is a story behind that but that is for a different time.

Alright, now... when Phase 2 started it was actually called Star Trek: New Voyages and had two actors play the role of Chekov, one was in the proof of concept "Come What May" and the other was in 4 episodes before departing. This Second Chekov was Andy Bray, I personally never met him, but I thought his performances especially in "To Serve All My Days" where he played against Walter himself as Chekov was good. He brought all those qualities that we came to know and love about Chekov in his performances.

------------------------------------------Star Trek: Phase 2------------------------------------

Now, I have a personal bias since I have worked with him and am friends with him, but Chekov was both the same and yet different when we hit "Enemy: Starfleet!" the latest Phase 2 episode. The man behind the role is Jonathan Zungre. I have to say he is a special person as is everyone that works on the set of Star Trek: Phase 2, and once he is in uniform----- He IS CHEKOV! Down to the Russian accent.

Without giving away the plot of the episode, Chekov is a part of Peter Kirk's growing up as his mentor and once again brings to the table that he is a genius and extremely unorthodox in his methods... and this is a side of Chekov we have never seen. Because in TOS he was the young and naive officer on the bridge, even in Blood and Fire, we saw that Chekov deferring to Scott and Uhura in the briefing room.

What his strength is as an actor playing an iconic role is that he is able not to do an impression of Walter while trying to act what is on the page.

Jon made the role his own in that appearance, and on subsequent shoots/episodes that you will have to wait and see when they are released

Next time... Lieutenant Uhura

2 comments:

  1. what people tend to overlook is that since Khan stated ON FILM that he saw Chekov on the ship it is now canon that Chekov was, in fact, on the ship. ON FILM = CANON. and, of course, for the people who believe stardates are consecutive.. "Space Seed"'s stardate is much later than many of the episodes Chekov is in!

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  2. This is what this family is all about, I forget something and someone goes ahead and corrects me on this one... Awesomeness

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