I’ve been rewatching TOS recently, and I noticed that Chekov’s hair had a mind of its own for a while. I took a few screenshots, looked up the story behind it, and made this really quick for anyone like me who wasn’t aware.
Roddenberry wanted Chekov to bring in the youth audience, so they gave him a wig to try to make him look like he’s from the Monkees or the Beatles… absolutely hilarious.
I like his performance as Mr Bester on Babylon 5. He did a great job.
His hair was very thin by then
When I think of Walter Koenig, I don’t think of Chekov. I think of Bester, he was great.
Back when I was a wee kid, I loved watching TOS reruns. At that time Babylon 5 was first aired and my older brother was a huge fan. I remember walking into the living room one day during an epic crew roasting of Alfred Bester and not realising it was a different show, my first thought was:
“Wow, why’s Chekov so mean all of a sudden?”
I somehow never knew this or noticed this… WOW. That’s hysterical.
Somehow I didn’t notice until this rewatch! I had to pause for a bit to figure out wtf they were thinking.
I don’t blame you. I’d be laughing my ass off too. The Monkees though… I see where they were trying to go. They got close but missed by a few parsecs.
Hey hey we’re the Monkeeeeees, Where can your nuclear wessels be found?
Interestingly enough, The Monkees show started the same month (as all shows did back in the day) in '66. I think he was just covering his bases - if it didn’t work out on Trek, he could transition over to be a Monkee.
That makes even more sense then! They didn’t bring Chekov in until the second season, so they were probably trying to hastily compete with The Monkees.
They went a bit too far and at some points instead of creating a character for the Monkees … they were starting to create an actual monkey.
I loved watching The Monkeys
Bester would’ve been even more sinister with that hairstyle.
Why would preteens care about his hair?
It was considered counter-culture at the time to have “long” scruffy hair like that as a guy. It was a little bit of youthful rebellion when the Beatles or The Monkees did it, so kids loved it.
Teens I get, but preteens?
Meaning middle-schoolers
I thought all the comments about “Bester” were about Bester from the Firefly episode “Out Of Gas”. Guess I need to check out Babylon 5.
Babylon 5 tells a big story over the seasons. Characters grow and change through out it’s run. You see people doing something in season one and don’t know why/what it means. But they eventually come back to it and it weaves a great story. You’ll love it.
Checkov was the original Wesley Crusher.
