J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies continued a running joke that began in Star Trek: The Original Series in regard to Pavel Chekov’s (Walter Koenig, Anton Yelchin) Starfleet career path. Chekov joined the cast of TOS in season 2 as an Ensign fresh out of Starfleet Academy. As is customary with junior officers, Chekov performed various tasks aboard the USS Enterprise as part of his duty shift rotations. Under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Chekov would be assigned to various positions throughout TOS and its subsequent movies.
Most often in Star Trek: The Original Series, Mr. Chekov served as the USS Enterprise’s navigator and sometimes joined away missions. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Lt. Chekov served as the Security Chief and tactical officer on the refitted Enterprise under the command of Captain Will Decker (Stephen Collins). After being promoted to Commander, Chekov was assigned to the USS Reliant as its First Officer in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He served as the Science Officer in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, but was back as navigator by Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
Star Trek Into Darkness Continued TOS’ Chekov Running Joke
Throughout the six Star Trek films featuring the original cast, Pavel Chekov serves in whatever position the plot requires of him, and J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness continues this running joke. When Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller) orders the USS Enterprise to use new long-range stealth torpedoes, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg) protests bringing unknown weapons aboard the ship. After being overruled by Captain James Kirk (Chris Pine), Scotty resigns his position as the Enterprise’s Chief Engineer. Kirk then appointed Chekov as the new Chief Engineer since he’d been shadowing Scotty in Engineering.
As Star Trek Into Darkness‘ new Chief Engineer, Chekov approaches every new job with enthusiasm, throwing himself into his new position, but he’s not quite the engineering miracle worker that Scotty is. Scotty’s skills prove to be more useful elsewhere, though, as he later infiltrates the secret Starfleet warship, the USS Vengeance, that Section 31 has been building. Although Chekov does not hop from position to position in J.J. Abrams’ movies as much as did in the original Trek films, Star Trek Into Darkness still manages to add another job to Chekov’s impressive resume across the Multiverse.
What Is Chekov’s Starfleet Career Path Anyway?
All of Pavel Chekov’s jumping from job to job makes it unclear what his actual career path was supposed to be. The various Star Trek writers seemed to use him to fill whatever position needed filling at any given time, without any really thought as to his eventual career. Chekov dreamed of becoming captain of a starship one day, and his many jobs over the years provided him with experience in several departments. This would likely be an asset for any starship captain, but there is no canonical indication whether Chekov ever gets there. However, Chekov did briefly act as Captain of the Enterprise-A to negotiate with Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
The last we saw Pavel Chekov, he was a Commander visiting the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-B as a guest of honor. Regardless of whether Pavel achieved his dreams of being a “keptain,” Mr. Chekov has an impressive Starfleet legacy and will likely be remembered as an enthusiastic officer and a jack of all trades. Plus, Star Trek: Picard season 3 revealed that Chekov’s descendant Anton became President of the United Federation of Planets by the year 2401. Both Walter Koenig and Anton Yelchin’s embodiments of Pavel Chekov will always hold a significant place in Star Trek history.
