Walter Koenig reveals he almost became a writer onStar Trek: The Next Generationuntil he realized"It was never going to happen.“Koenig portrayed the iconicPavel Chekov inStar Trek: The Original Seriesand in sevenStar Trekmovies. Koenig is also a talented writer who has penned episodes of television series likeLand of the Lostand theStar Trek: The Animated Seriesepisode, “The Infinite Vulcan.”
While reviewingStar Trek: The Original Series' season 2’s classic episode, “The Trouble With Tribbles” onThe 7th Rulepodcast, Walter Koenig told hosts Cirroc Lofton and Ryan T. Husk about issues he once had with the episode’s writer, David Gerrold. After becoming friends with Gerrold, Koenig wrote for David’s show,Land of the Lost,before Walter was invited to pitch stories forStar Trek: The Next Generation. Unfortunately,Koenig’s bid to write forTNGgot as far asStar Trekcreator Gene Roddenberry. Read Walter’s quote and watch the video below:
He and Dorothy [Fontana] tried to get me on as a writer on Next Generation. So I pitched some stories to them, and they loved them. They loved the stories. No matter the friendship that’s involved, you say, well, they’re friends, so they liked them, it’s their ass on the line if the story isn’t good [and] they’ve supported the writer.
My sense was they really liked the stories, they thought they were worth doing. I bring this all up because the other producer, who I didn’t know… He also very much liked them. I pitched two or three stories. He said, “We’re going to do one of the three, for sure.” And so I went home saying, ‘That’s great.’ And then I get a call: “Gene [Roddenberry] wants to meet with you.” I said, “Okay.”
So I went back to the studio. Gene was very pleasant. We walked the lot. We sat down in the cafeteria, and I pitched the stories again. I finished one, then he went for his drink that he had. He sat a moment, then he said… “How do we get [Data] to the planet?” There’s a million ways you can get him to the planet… And then he asked me to tell the second story. And by now, I knew it was never going to happen. It just wasn’t going to happen. So that was the end of that. But both Dorothy and David Gerrold, and this other producer, were very, very generous in their approbation.
Why Walter Koenig Didn’t Become A Star Trek: The Next Generation Writer
Being An Icon Of Star Trek: The Original Series Might Have Worked Against Koenig
Walter Koenig’s bid to joinStar Trek: The Next Generation’s writers' room must have come around 1987, perhaps during production of season 1, which was afterStar Trek IV: The Voyage Homein 1986. It’s possible that Koenig being part ofStar Trek: The Original Seriesworked against him. At the time, Gene Roddenberry wantedTNGto establish its own identity and didn’t want references to 1960sStar Trek.Perhaps Walter Koenig was too closely tied toStar Trek: The Original Series,no matter how good hisTNGepisode ideas were.
Star Trek: The Next Generationseason 1had an infamously tumultuous writer’s room, with multiple scribes joining and leaving the fledgling series. As Ryan T. Husk noted onThe 7th Rule,Walter Koenig might have dodged a bullet by not joiningTNG’s troubled writers' room in season 1.TNGgradually righted the ship, first with Maurice Hurley becoming showrunner in season 2 before bringing in Michael Piller, who ledTNGstarting in season 3 to eventually become one of the greatest science fiction series of all time.
Our Take On Walter Koenig Not Becoming A Star Trek: The Next Generation Writer
What Were Walter’s TNG Story Ideas?
Considering how appealing the idea of Leonard Nimoy directingStar Trek III: The Search for SpockandStar Trek IV: The Voyage Home,and how well that worked out for Nimoy and forStar Trek,it’s disappointing thatStar Trek: The Next Generationdidn’t tap into the idea of Walter Koenig writing forTNG. Koenig has long been a treasure and resource thatStar Trekhas not fully utilized, either as anactor as Chekov,or, we learned onThe 7th Rule, as a writer.
DID YOU KNOW:Walter Koenig’s final appearance as Commander Chekov was inStar Trek Generations, the first movie starring the cast ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.
I’d love to know what Walter Koenig’sStar Trek: The Next Generationpitch ideas were. One seemed to involve Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) on a planet. Koenig seemed to be caught in the behind-the-scenes politics ofTNG, and it’s a shame his attempt to contribute stories about the USS Enterprise-D came to nothing. Meanwhile, Walter Koenig provides his memories and insights aboutStar Trek: The Original SeriesonThe 7th Rule, and it’s regrettable that he couldn’t creatively be a part ofStar Trek: The Next Generation.
