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NOCC: Walter Koenig Q&A

Company: Wizard World
Product: Walter Koenig Q&A

Walter Koenig, better known as Commander Chekov, fielded many interesting questions from fans, the first of which involved whether or not he took lessons for his Russian accent. Since his parents were from Russia, his accent was modeled after his father, and not made up and over-exaggerated at all. His father truly did say, "Pass the wegetables." Another fan asked what he thought Gene Roddenberry's take would have been on the new Star Trek and he said he really didn't know. He loved it and thought it was really exciting, but he's not a proponent of the concept of "canon" and such. He enjoys the idea of reinterpretation and his only problem with the new Star Trek was that he was unable to follow all of it, but he really liked it and enjoyed the actors and thought they were delightful. Walter and Anton (the young actor who played Chekov) had talked about the character several times on set and Walter advised him to play the character his own way. After viewing the film, there was a party and he went up to Anton and told him how much he enjoyed his performance. Anton happily responded excitedly, saying "Walter, I have my own action figure!" Another fan asked about the legacy left by the character of Chekov on science fiction and while Walter downplayed his contribution, saying it was quite modest, he instead said that he rode the coattails of an amazing show. He said the character was an interesting one to do and while he made an impression of fans, the Star Trek legacy more falls towards the characters of Spock and Kirk. He says he's not so sure that people will still be talking about Star Trek 100 years from now, since names like Marlon Brando and Mickey Mantle are unknown to a lot of people under 30 today. He was then asked what it was like playing a Russian during the Cold War, and Walter stated that Star Trek's targeted demographic was 8-12 year olds. Also, the fact that the show took place in the future made it such that they could be above the whole Cold War thing because in this alternate future, it didn't apply. Walter, himself, grew up in a Communist household and his family was investigated and harassed as he was growing up, so it was more of a conscious thing in his mind, because of his background. But since Gene Roddenberry smartly set the show in a non-threatening future, current events like the Cold War and racial dissension just didn't apply. Had the show taken place in the 60's, things would probably have been very different. They got away with lots of stuff because they were set in the future, such as the kiss between Ahura and Kirk, which was merely a footnote in the show.

Walter was asked about his experience on Babylon 5 and he said it was a great experience and his dream come true. While he enjoyed his time on Star Trek and the experience shaped his life for 40 years and made it possible for him to do other things, Babylon 5 made him feel like an actor, like he was truly contributing something to a character that had depth, conflict and was dimensional. Each time he was asked to perform on that show, it was a thrill. Unfortunately, the spinoff, Crusade, was canceled two episodes before his role aired, but it was a very exciting one where he was an outlaw in space who was on the run and the episode he would have been in involved him making a deal with the powers that be to trade information for the return of his shuttle. In one of the last scenes, he gets in his shuttle and flies off into space and as he is flying off, a humungous spaceship looms, the mother ship, which opened up all sorts of wonderful possibilities. He said it was a sad day when the show was canceled. He was asked whether he thought Babylon 5 and his character, Bester, would have the longevity they did when he first started on the show and he said he didn't really have much of a feeling about it at the time. He was originally slated to play a different character, but that didn't work out because of time conflicts and then he had the opportunity to play Bester, which obviously worked out well. By the time they got into the second season, he started to realize that the character had some life.

He was then asked about a show he was in called The Starlost which didn't survive and he was asked what he thought about why it failed, despite the top names that played in it. He told the fan that he wanted to commiserate with him on the poverty of experience he must have had as a child if this particular show resulted in wonderful childhood memories for him, because they obviously didn't remember the show the same way, to which the audience erupted in laughter. Walter didn't recall it as state of the art technology, but more like a daytime soap opera since they mostly used soap opera directors. He liked what he did in Starlost, he just didn't feel it was a very well done show.

When asked about the shows and movies he has done and which ones he likes to watch the most and which were the most fun to do, Walter responded that he doesn't really like to watch himself that much anymore. He looks at himself and wonders who that baby is, with his whole life ahead of him. He tries not to dwell in the past, but prefers to focus on what he can do today, what challenges can he fulfill today. Philosophically, that's the way to go. He believes you stay younger thinking of the future rather than focusing on the "good ole days."


Walter was asked about the fan version of the show and he said he did it because it gave him the option of having the story go in any direction he wanted. He thought having that opportunity would be worth exploring. In the episode that was completely done by fans, Chekov grows old and is dying and he was able to explore all of these different processes and feelings. He said it was a lot of fun to do. In the more professional fan film, the storyline of what would have happened if Kirk had died was explored and how things would have changed. In this story, Chekov is a rebel and very passionate and violent character whose wife and child were stolen by a bad guy and he had an opportunity to really open up emotionally.

He was asked about current projects and he really only has one. He is doing graphic novels for a comic book company. He wrote an outline for a screenplay to be turned into a film, but decided the task was too monumental so he turned the project into a graphic novel. Since many movies stem from graphic novels, it just made sense. There are 4 comics with an epic, ongoing story. "Things to Come" is an homage to H.G. Wells about vampires after the apocalypse. It's about sentient beings on Earth who don't know their purpose here, whether they are a bridge to another species or whether they are simply what is left. There will be lots of sinking fangs, but Walter promises it will be a fresh and introspective take on things. The first is due out in May, so check out the link below for more info.


One fan asked about what his feelings were on Gene Roddenberry, as opposed to William Shatner's feelings, which seem to be less respectful and viewed Gene as simply cashing in on Star Trek. In contrast, Koenig wrote about a character on Land of the Lost originally named Eneg (Gene spelled backwards), indicating a higher level of respect. Walter felt that everyone had their own type of relationship with Gene and everyone had different feelings based on their personal experiences. He thought of Gene as the boss and he saw him infrequently, but had positive feelings towards him. Others may have viewed him as someone who was obstinate and set in his ways, but that wasn't his viewpoint. Since it would be conjecture on his part, he chooses not to speculate. He did mention that plenty of people had very strong feelings towards Bill (Shatner), whom he said was scene stealer.

When asked what the chances were of him having a guest role on Big Bang Theory, he asked what that was. The fan explained that Star Trek is a big part of the comedy series and he said he didn't really think so since he didn't even know what the show was. Walter was then asked if he had always been a science fiction fan and also about his opinion of Galaxy Quest. He said he wasn't a huge sci-fi fan growing up, although he read some Ray Bradbury. As for Galaxy Quest, he loved it. He especially related to the scenes where the characters are so bored signing autographs. He thought it was great.


When asked about doing voicework on Futurama, he said they all recorded separately, so he didn't get the chance to work off the other actors, although he thought the episode was delightful and very funny. Lastly, he was asked about the longevity of Star Trek and the fact that he has spent so much time around the sci-fi universe and was asked to speculate as to why we have sci-fi conventions and not conventions on other genres. Why has sci-fi endured so well? He attributes it in part to the fact that sci-fi allows us to stretch our imagination and live in a different world for a time. Since the world we live in most of the time is very pragmatic, people enjoy escapism and sci-fi conventions allow people to come together as a "family" and share these feelings and ideas.

Probably the funniest anecdote Walter relayed was surrounding a surgery he had on his knee. It was supposed to be a pretty simple procedure, but it turned out to be much more extensive and took three hours, plus he would have to be on crutches afterwards. As he was coming out of the anesthesia, the first thing he heard was the anesthetist (who was obviously a big Star Trek fan) say to him in a Scottish brogue, "I got a wee bit o' bad news for ya." The crowd went wild. Walter is a highly intelligent and well spoken man who was truly a delight to hear. I hope he elects to attend next year's show as I would love to see him again.



-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins

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