EXCLUSIVE -- Walter Koenig Reveals He Was Almost in THE NEXT GENERATION as Chekov!

[@dhaang126]

I've always had a special place in my heart for Walter Koenig. He seems like such a gentle soul.

[@purefoldnz3070]

his best role was in Babylon 5

[@jamie514]

Its interesting he pitched Chekov on TNG thru Worf having visions from being ill; a few years later they'd get Sulu (and Rand!) to appear on Star Trek Voyager through visions from the past, as experienced through Tuvok caused by an old injury he sustained.

[@justachick9793]

That would have been amazing! Also, as a HUGE fan of Andrew Koenig, it's incredibly comforting to see Walter looking and sounding so good. ❤🖖

[@pikadroo]

Gawd, that is brilliant. Can you imagine Chekhov yelling at worf about satisfying his honor for some reasons or a lecture that keeps him fighting… omg 🤯🤯🤯

[@miller-joel]

Imagine a Star Trek exec saying "we can't use time travel." Sounds like Berman.

[@MrSheckstr]

Probably didnt want it too close to the series finale or the plot to generations

[@Brendissimo1]

What it demonstrates to me is that they were well aware by then that they had thoroughly worn that trope out. And yet its a well that Trek writers can't stop going back to.

[@miller-joel]

@@Brendissimo1 So TNG never used time travel? Did you watch the show?

[@Brendissimo1]

@@miller-joel Please re-read my comment until you actually understand it before coming at me with such rudeness. My comment is explicitly about the fact that TNG used time travel TOO FREQUENTLY as a crutch when writing. As has the entire franchise. It's probably why they had that rule in the writers room.

[@miller-joel]

@@Brendissimo1 The first proper TNG movie was about...time travel. So much for that "rule."

[@thegeniusofthecrowd354]

7 writers couldn't come up with an idea between them? Welcome to television! He's a ghost; a recording; AI backup hologram; shapeshifter; teleporter accident; a memory; rescued from a ship in the eddy of a black hole; signal from the past through a wormhole; really really old like Dr Mccoy, rescued from a dead ship in hypersleep; a clone, an android, his own son, living on a frontier in a filament of unstable spacetime, his consciousness is backed up in an exotic crystal/digital immortality; he got stranded in ancient Egypt and encoded a message with his tricorder in the atomic structure of the blade of Tutankhamun's dagger; he joined the Q; he left a post on social media; the list is kind of endless.

[@greyeyed123]

I think they were looking for a good idea they hadn't already used.

[@thegeniusofthecrowd354]

@@greyeyed123 Hypersleep pod in a crashed spaceship would have been best.

[@greyeyed123]

@@thegeniusofthecrowd354 If you say so.

[@thegeniusofthecrowd354]

@@greyeyed123 I am a great novelist so, yes, I do.

[@greyeyed123]

@@thegeniusofthecrowd354 Is that what your mother told you?

[@MaestroDrake]

No time travel and no holodeck appearances. I remember James Doohan didn't want to be a 100 year old invalid like Admiral McCoy when he returned.

[@autecheee]

This is an amazing reveal by Walter. It was such a wonderful homage to hear his voice again and finally be involved in TNG playing Chkov’s son who likely knew Worf’s adopted parents on Earth???. I wish Nichelle Nichols could’ve been a part of TNG in some way….eg discovered Log file with her voice on a mysterious alien communication in the TOS past ???

[@miller-joel]

Yet another reason Generations sucks.

[@MrReubenTishkoff]

Interesting because in TNG 1st season, they meet a McCoy in his 130s. Now Picard ends with Chekov's son.

[@alfredvalrie5541]

Disrespectful as hell for the writers, producers, and show runners to just leave the room when Walter was there.

[@jrherita]

Loved Walter in Babylon 5

[@JosephDavies]

Thank you for uploading these clips! I haven't watched the full episode yet and it's nice to be able to hear from Mr. Koenig in a spoiler-free way!

[@sevadaj]

From the original series, a very old Dr. Mcoy was in the very first episode of TNG. Also, Montgomery Scott was in one episode, Mr. Spock was in 2 episodes and Sarek was in 2 episodes. Of course. Majel Barrett was playing Nurse Chapel in the original series, and in the Next Generation she was the voice of the computer and Lwaxana Troi.

[@davidevans3227]

..and sulu in voyager and Kirk in that film.. would've been good to include chekov somehow in something.. and uhura seen Picard? 🙂

[@MrOmnisun]

Could have had two stories, one set in the past and one in today. The past story following Chekov. As the episode progresses it turns out the two stories are connected. No time travel needed.

[@GeorgeyTheApe]

I remember coming across a rumour that there was to be a TNG episode where the Enterprise travels to the Cardassians to exhange prisoners of war and one of them turns out to be Chekov.

[@joshuamacdonald4913]

Make Worf's foster mothers maiden name Chekov. Grandpa Chekov!

[@Grim2]

I'm confused. Why couldn't they have just done old Checkov like they've done with McCoy?

[@worldsgreatestimpressionis6462]

Walter is articulate and intelligent

[@kevinsmith2666]

Shatner found out and called the writers and said "Look, You've had McCoy, Scotty and Spock on TNG. You can't have Chekov until you've had Kirk. And I'M CAPTAIN KIRRRK!!!

[@Romulan2469]

Shatner never wanted to appear on the show. In fact he has even admitted that he never watched TNG. His egotism wouldn't allow another man in the captain's chair continuing the voyages of the Enterprise.

[@holgol00]

This is so cool! I love Walter!

[@johnpotts8308]

Maybe the Star Trek Executives heard about his role on Babylon 5 (Bester) and nixed Chekov returning? Though it would be rather petty (OK, that doesn't mean it couldn't happen!) as they didn't have a problem with other Trek actors appearing (Patricia Tallman had appeared on Trek, as had Andreas Katsulas), but both of those were relatively minor Trek roles.

[@jC-kc4si]

Plus Majel Barrett was in one episode of B5.

[@RA10H56]

That would have been really really something to see Chekov on TNG. Sorry we didn't get to see it

[@Scripture-Man]

"No time travel" he says, while cosplaying as Old Biff from BTTF2 :D

[@cdbutler1204]

Yet Voyager beat that time travel trope to death.

[@001SpecialAgent]

Wait, the Rozhenkos were related to Chekov!? That's news for me

[@RJSRdg]

I don't think he means necessarily related, but as the Rozhenkos were Russian, maybe they knew the Chekovs. (Though of course Russia is a very big place!)

[@prestonnewcomb5991]

Bester was a much better character. I'm glad he had the time for B5.

[@rlh-okharvark]

I realize this is an old video - but if I could get hold of Walter I have a small project that would be neat.

[@manlyscents]

Bones was 137 when he appeared on TNG. So it wouldn't have been a stretch for Chekov to have known Worf's Russian adoptive parents and Worf himself.

[@putinscat1208]

Putting him around 70 at the end of his movies. If Chekov had a child even late in life, I am estimating he would be over 100 at the time of this finale. While possible, would he also be the current president of the Federation? Then again, maybe he was just part of the administration that got wiped out in all the chaos?

[@chrispalmer7893]

Can't remember whether it was Brannon Braga or Rondald D Moore - think it was Braga - but one of them is on record as having tried to get a story off the ground where Chekov returns as a special envoy on a mission to a planet where he'd been held and tortured for years. Chekov was supposed to be there to broker a new peace, but his real plan was to use the Enterprise D to lay waste to the planet to both revenge himself on his former captors and to discredt the Federation whom he felt had left him to rot. The story didn't have him having a change of heart or redemption, it would have been Chekov as full-on villain. Seems to me - (a) that's a pretty cool story and I've have loved to see it, but (b) it isn't remotely surprising it never happened. Gene was dead by then, but there were plenty of people in charge who would make damned sure it never happened. Can't see either Berman or Piller allowing such a story (and they didn't), and I'm not even sure Koenig would have agreed to it; would have been a great part for him to play but it's hard not to see it as a pretty ignoble end for the character.

[@benjauron5873]

According to Memory Alpha, Pavel Chekov was born in 2245. The events of the series finale of "Picard" take place in 2401. So it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY Anton is Pavel's son. Even if Anton was ridiculously old to be a president -- like, age 81 -- that means that Pavel would have had to sire him when he was 75 years old. Certainly not impossible, but not bloody likely. It would make much more sense for Anton to be Pavel's GRANDson. The quote Anton gave of his "father" could just have easily been said by Pavel's son.

[@robwebnoid5763]

Why not have Walter in some kind of cameo on Picard then? I don't watch the show, so I don't know if he's been on there already. But hurry up, Walter is not young anymore, he could croak at anytime. It would be an opportunity missed by the execs if he didn't have anymore opportunities to be on the franchise one last time.

[@lucashamilton4674]

The second condition was probably no descendant of Chekhov, they’ve definitely done that a lot.

[@jamesboston7457]

Well honestly it would have been awesome dr McCoy was on there once with data and so was Scotty

[@johnabrams8148]

I would have had Q do it by mistake. Maybe by sneezing while thinking about the original Enterprise. Later to return, set things right and blame the sneeze on Worf.

[@NoName-eo2mv]

Last season it was probably they got the film coming up

[@cash5627]

You know, human life expectancy in TNG seams to be fluid. One episode we see a cameo by a century and a half old Dr. Bones then in Picard, Patric Stuart's character is wishing for his youth. But the character is "only" 90. So which is it? Has life expectancy been dragged out a few more decades by the 24th century or are we still only good for 80 or 90 years?

[@odysseusrex5908]

I don't see how Worf could possibly have known Chekov's grandparents. Maybe he meant Chekov's grandchildren, or possibly that Chekov knew one or more of Worf's grandparents, either his Klingon biological ones or his adoptive human ones. Here's my idea for the story. During or slightly after the time period of the movies, Captain Chekov is in command of a starship not too far away from Federation space, maybe fifty or a hundred light years, but in an area where, for whatever reason, there is not regular traffic. Some mishap irreparably damages the warp drive and subspace communications. Thus, they are forced to make their way back to Federation space at sublight, but relativistic speed. Thus, due to relativistic time dilation, while only a short period of time passes aboard the ship, mere days or even hours, decades go by around them and they reach home in time to be encountered and rescued by the Enterprise D. One can imagine the smile of relief and satisfaction on Captain Chekov's face upon being hailed by a ship named Enterprise. It seems exceptionally weird that everybody would have just gotten up and walked out without a word, and then not even sent somebody in to tell him the suits had changed their minds and the meeting was over. I wonder how long he sat there before he finally realized what was up? I would have loved to have heard his speculation as to what in heck had happened.

[@Mysticales]

To those who never knew this. There was a crowdfunded episode which has Nichol and Water as their ST roles again. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZOQhn9ujdaZqrM

[@joshuacalkins]

He should’ve been a recurring hologram like Vic Fontaine!

[@wuwu1504]

I think that it's really stupid that they don't simply want to use koneigs character as himself pavel chekhov, its the future and anything is possible there are so many planets that they have discovered which surely could provide ways of prolonging peoples lifespans. For example they could've easily hinted that he went to the planet Iraqis and drank spice. After all Picard himself os no stranger to the planet as a field commander for House Atreides

[@JoseMoreira-vo8cu]

Plausible, cause lifespans would be longer right? Wow, revelation indeed!

[@waltciii3]

I guess Deep Space 9 tribbles happened later.

[@AndrewChapman]

Maybe this was why he agreed to do Generations instead then.

[@ram64man]

It’s a real shame they didn’t use Chkov in tng , whoever ordered the writers out due to a feud between ost cast was sadly wrong as this could have been one of the best eps in tng

[@wuwu1504]

@The Complaining Channelthat does sound like something he would do 😆

[@jasontodd9]

Worf had a relationship with Chekov's grandparents? How? Shouldn't they be very dead?

[@autecheee]

I think he meant Chekhov & family & Worf’s family were friends….whatever generation or offspring of Chekhov it was

[@djco5782]

I suspect he meant grandchildren, as Worf was raised by Russian adoptive parents, so maybe Helena Rozhenko was a Chekov by birth or something.

[@FREEUS1776]

I'm guessing it was his involvement with Babylon 5. There was some bad blood between both teams. Good that it didn't happen though, the idea doesn't work for me.

[@walterblock5082]

I hate to be the one, yet I liked Babylon 5 more, the Bester nemesis was amazing and more nuanced of a character than Chekov ever could be.

[@putinscat1208]

Chekov's son would be 115 minimum, unless he waited to seer a child at the age of 70 like Picard. Unless he married a Romulan or Vulcan, this seems a bit much.

[@joshuaprideaux1281]

Chekov was 48 in Undiscovered Country. He was the baby of the crew. If he had a son at 70. His son would the same age as Walter Koenig in Picard S3. Late 80s.

[@putinscat1208]

@@joshuaprideaux1281 Assuming Chekov had a kid 7 years after Undiscovered, the kid is over 100. If he had a kid 27 years after, at the age of 75, the kid is over 80. It's possible, but requires Chekov to wait, or the kid to be really old. If Chekov did it with an alien, it's more possible.

[@wuwu1504]

Hey yo y'all it's the future anything can happen and so the life expectancy of people living in that time could have been raised drastically for many different reasons and they can say just about any reason for Chekhov himself to appear on the show at any old age they can even allude to such things such as that he managed to get some spice from planet Iraqis to help prolong his lifespan

[@JohnSmith-2koolaid]

That would have worked

[@jamesboston7457]

That would have made it better even though it was pretty good anyway

[@eddyeroyal6024]

Nope that wouldn’t work

[@The_Mariner]

EXCLUSIVE -- I also was almost in TNG. I met with Ron Moore and we had it all planned out but then I opened my eyes and I was back in my bed.

[@alfredvalrie5541]

Disrespectful.