Walter Koenig's Sole Star Trek Writing Credit Was For A Spin-Off That Cut His Character

Ensign Pavel Chekov, played However, when Koenig wrote the seventh episode of the debut season, 'The Infinite Vulcan,' it followed a giant clone of Spock who nearly kills the original.

Koenig penned ten drafts for the episode but had to deal with Gene Roddenberry's insistence on including 'talking vegetables.' This added stress made Koenig's experience writing for the series difficult, as he felt 'abused'

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Despite facing challenges, Koenig became the first Star Trek cast member to write an episode for the franchise. However, due to budget constraints, his character Chekov was not included in the animated series.

Leonard Nimoy threatened to quit if he wasn't brought back as Spock, which led to George Takei and Nichelle Nichols being reinvolved. Unfortunately for Koenig, Chekov was written off the cartoon spin-off.

Koenig eventually returned to Star Trek as Chekov in the first five films. He also went on to write for other shows, including the NBC sci-fi series 'Land of the Lost.'

Broader Impact and Sector Outlook

In the end, Koenig would return to "Star Trek," playing Chekov in the first five films.

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He would write for other shows, too, including perhaps the best episode of the NBC sci-fi series "Land of the Lost."

Ensign Pavel Chekov served aboard the Starship Enterprise for most of "Star Trek: The Original Series." When the actor who played Chekov, Walter Koenig, wrote one of the Enterprise's adventures in "Star Trek: The Animated Series," however, Chekov wasn't aboard. Koenig's character had been written off the cartoon "Trek" spin-off for cost-cutting reasons.

Koenig penned the seventh episode of the debut season of "TAS," which premiered on NBC in the fall of 1973. Titled "The Infinite Vulcan," the plot follows a giant clone of Spock who nearly kills the original. Reviews for "The Infinite Vulcan" were mixed.

"Obviously, the writing was better than the animation," Koenig informed StarTrek.com. "That put it in a very untenable place because the people [adults] who could appreciate the storylines had to sit through some primitive animation and those [children] who were happy with the animation were not likely to absorb the storylines as well as their grown-up counterparts." Koenig also stated the experience of writing the episode was not enjoyable.

He penned ten drafts and had to deal with "Star Trek" creator, Gene Roddenberry, calling for that he include "talking vegetables." Given that the opportunity to write for the series could almost be seen as an attempted make-good after a painful snubbing, it's not hard to see why Koenig didn't love his time with the cartoon.