STARFLEET HISTORICAL DATABASE FILE: Chekov, Pavel

Mid-level Biography Brief Mode

Played By: Walter Koenig

Final Rank: Commander

Full Name: Pavel Andreievich Chekov

Serial number: 656-5827B

Year of birth: 2245

Education: Starfleet Academy, 2263-67

Marital status: Single

Starfleet Career Summary

2263 -- As ensign, took first posting on U.S.S. Enterprise under Capt. James T. Kirk as navigator

2269 -- Promoted to lieutenant, named security chief to Capt. Will Decker on refit of Enterprise

2277 -- Assigned to U.S.S. Reliant under Capt. Clark Terrell 2285 -- As commander and Reliant First Officer, witnessed Genesis incident and captain's death

2286 -- Charged and cleared of theft of Enterprise a year earlier with fellow officers

Chekov was the navigator on the original U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of James T. Kirk. An only child, his youthful career was so full of brash pronouncements of Russian ethnic pride and accomplishments he became a good-natured joke among his superiors.

Although he was always a promising officer with a career to bear it out, the young Chekov was prone to hot-heated actions and romantic attachments. While attending Starfleet Academy his involvement with fellow cadet Irina Galliulin broke off when she dropped out of the service before graduation in disdain for its structure. Years later they met again when she and other Eden-seekers with Dr. Sevrin were aboard.

Following the end of his first five-year mission, Chekov was promoted to lieutenant when he was assigned as security chief aboard the refit U.S.S. Enterprise. Assigned to the U.S.S. Reliant in 2377 and promoted to commander within eight years of that, he was first officer to the ill-fated Captain Clark Terrell during the Genesis Project incident and Khan Singh's grab for it. For the next few years he remained one of Kirk's trusted officers and stood with the group in the theft of the Enterprise to refuse Spock's body and katra, and then faced the UFP Council when those charges were dropped.

Chekov suffered serious wounds when time-traveling to 1986 during an attempted escape from the U.S.S. Enterprise naval aircraft carrier when suspected of being a Soviet spy of the time. He would have died if left to contemporary medicine, but was saved thanks to McCoy and went on to help secure the Khitomer Peace Accords - followed shortly by his shocked witness to Kirk's apparent death at the christening of the newest U.S.S. Enterprise, 1701-B.


Walter Koenig

Walter Koenig--actor, director, screenwriter, novelist, acting professor, and comic book creator-- was born in Manhattan in 1936 to Lithuanian Russian Jewish parents.

Bitten by the acting bug early in his youth, Koenig studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York where he worked with fellow students James Caan, Elizabeth Ashley, and Dabney Coleman. His stage career spans 30 years and includes stops in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and many other cities. He appeared in many plays and television shows of the late 1950's and early 1960's, including the Mr. Novak series, and even produced and wrote his own feature film in 1967, I Wish I May. In 1967 he landed the role of Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series.

Koenig has also appeared as Chekov in the first seven of the big screen Star Trek films and currently has a recurring role as Alfred Bester in the TV series Babylon 5. Aside from his role in Star Trek, he has appeared in 40 different TV series and television movies, including Anthony and Cleopatra starring Timothy Dalton and Lynn Redgrave.

A natural writer, Koenig has written for the television shows Family, Matthew Starr, Land of the Lost, Class of '65 and others. His first book, Chekov's Enterprise, which recounts the making of the first Star Trek movie, was published in 1979. He has also written a satiric fantasy novel, Buck Alice and the Actor-Robot, and a three-part comic book series entitled Raver. Koenig wrote and performed a one-character piece entitled You're Never Alone When You're A Schizophrenic, which was a finalist in the 1996 New York Film Festival Awards.

In a 1997 internet poll of favorite television bad guys, Koenig was the top choice of 12, 000 voters for his role as Alfred Bester on "Babylon 5." He was also voted the favorite guest star on "Babylon 5."

Koenig and his wife Judy Levitt have two children and live in Los Angeles.

FILMOGRAPHY

Babylon 5 ("Cat and Mouse") Alfred Bester TV 1998

Babylon 5 ("Rising Star") Alfred Bester TV 1997

Drawing Down The Moon Joe Merchant Film 1997

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Pavel Chekov CD ROM 1997

Viva Variety Himself TV 1997

Babylon 5 ("The Face of the Enemy") Alfred Bester TV 1997

Babylon 5 ("Moments of Transition") Alfred Bester TV 1997

Babylon 5 ("Epiphanies") Alfred Bester TV 1997

Space Cadets Himself TV 1997

Blonde Justice Film 1997

Maximum Surge Drexel CD ROM 1996

Almost Perfect Himself TV 1996

Babylon 5  ("Ship of Tears") Alfred Bester TV 1996

Babylon 5  ("Dust to Dust") Alfred Bester TV 1996

Babylon 5  ("A Race Through Dark Places") Alfred Bester TV 1996

Babylon 5  ("Mind War") Alfred Bester TV 1996

Star Trek: Generations Pavel Chekov Film 1994

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Pavel Chekov Film 1991

The Real Ghostbusters ("Russian About") Vladimir Maximov TV (cartoon) 1990

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Pavel Chekov Film 1989

Moontrap Jason Grant Film 1989

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Pavel Chekov Film 1986

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Pavel Chekov Film 1984

Anthony and Cleopatra Pompey TV 1983

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan Pavel Chekov Film 1982

Bring Them Back Alive (The Real World of Frank Buck) Toder TV 1982

Star Trek: The Motion Picture Pavel Chekov Film 1979

Columbo ("Fade in to Murder") Sgt. Johnson TV 1976

The Men From Shiloh ("Crooked Corner") TV 1974

Deadly Honeymoon Deputy Sheriff Film 1973

The Starlost Oro TV 1973

The Questor Tapes Admin. Assistant TV 1973

Ironside ("The Summer Soldier") Leo TV 1972

Goodbye, Raggedy Ann Jerry TV Movie 1971

Medical Center ("Between Dark and Daylight") Harry Seller TV 1969

Star Trek TV Series Pavel Chekov TV 1968-1969

Mannix TV 1967

Jericho ("Both Ends Against The Riddle") Paul TV 1966

I Spy ("Sparrowhawk") Bobby Seville TV 1965

Gidgel ("Foreign Policy") Gunnae TV 1965

Mr. Novak ("The Firebrand") Paul Ryder TV 1965

Ben Casey ("A Rambling Discourse on Egyptian Water Clocks") Tom Davis TV 1965

Mr. Novak ("With a Hammer in His Hand, Lord, Lord!") Jim Carsey TV 1964

The Untouchables TV 1962

Great Adventure TVCombat! ("The Prisoner") sentry TV 1962

The Norman Vincent Peale Story Film 1962

Strange Loves Robert Film 1961

General Hospital (pilot episode) TV 1961

Day In Court Various TV 1960-1963