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Is Chekov from Russia? In one of the books, Crisis on Centaurus, it was clearly stated that he's from a Russian lunar colony. Tualha 23:44, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
While we have both sounds (v and w, however written differently), I think only a very stupid Pole might mispronounce v as w. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.218.41.190 ( talk) 16:44, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
Incidentally, other sources state that he's from St. Petersberg.
I've got a list started of things Chekov has credited to Russia. I put the ones in that I remembered, if anyone has more I'd hope they would add them to the list.
JesseG
07:21, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
There is a section that has:
addendum: The Generations script was hastily written. The parts were intended for Captain Spock and Doctor McCoy. Nimoy refused to be a bit player, and Kelly is rumored to have said, "If he's out, I'm out." Chekov was given McCoy's dialog, Scotty was given Spock's. Hence the two mistakes: Calling Chekov "captain", and the dialog to Scotty, "I'm glad you're an engineer instead of a psychiatrist." Later, after the El-Aurian's are aboard the Enterprise-B, Chekov drafts the reporters into nurses. More McCoy dialog. Wiki-police: Reference the Starlogs and special "Generations" magazines of the time.
This is not properly formatted, but I have no time to fix it.
- jptdrake
The Koenig article indicates that his family is Russian, but they claimed Lithuanian heritage during the McCarthy era. $20 says, however, that the Koenig article is quoting from the IMDb biography, and IMDb isn't exactly always right. Has anyone here actually read his autobiography or have a more reputable source one way or the other? If not, I'd suggest omitting Koenig's ethnicity; anyone who's curious can look at that article, and we can avoid discrepancy between the two. -- EEMeltonIV 20:23, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
I've read his book, and he's from Lithuania, but is of Russian-Jewish descent [LMA].
The explanation in the text misses a possibility; that Chekov, a Russia, overcompensates for the lack of a 'w' sound in Russian, and thus makes the mistake of pronouncing 'v' as 'w'. Either that, or he learned English from someone with a specific working-class-London accent that confuses spoken 'v' and 'w'. Argyriou (talk) 17:32, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
The problem with the v-sound in Russian is that it is actually different from what English speakers perceive to be a v-sound. In Russian there is a sound 'v' (in Cyrillic 'B') which is like a 'v' in our language but is pronounced between both lips rather than with the top teeth on the bottom lip as in English. This means that Russian speakers can sound like they are mixing up the 'v' and 'w' sound when they are speaking English. In fact they are making the same sound, which sounds very much like a 'v' to English native speakers when we are expecting to hear 'w' and vice-versa when we are expecting to hear 'v'. In the examples given in the article 'Washington' will indeed sound to us like 'Vashington' but 'Vermont' will sound like 'Wermont'
As he is the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants I assume that Mr Koenig is pronouncing these sounds exactly as a Russian would. I have studied Russian and have spent time in Russian-speaking areas and would say that his pronounciation as Mr Chek(h)ov sounds convincing.
The name Chekov is a bit of a problem though. It could be a Russianisation of the name of someone of Turkic origin or a bastardisation of Chekhov, which is a moderately common name in Russia. As one of Russia's leading literary figures though, Chekhov's name suggests a slight laziness in the scriptwriting. Imagine a Russian Star Trek with an English Lieutenant Shakespeare or Dickens ...... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.41.187.219 ( talk) 01:26, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
This joke always falls flat with me. My Russian grandmother happened to name one of my uncles "Victor," and not once did I ever hear her mispronounce it as "Wicktor." -Greg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.84.8.94 ( talk) 11:22, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
As someone pointed out above, the Russian letter represented by Cyrillic В в can sometimes sound more "v"-like but sometimes more "w"-like, depending on factors like its position in the word. Notably, in the given name Pavel (Павел), the "v" typically sounds like a "w", so that the name more or less rhymes with "towel", and is a homonym with the English surname "Powell". (Rather than rhyming with "gavel" or "hovel".)
And incidentally, I suspect most native Russian speakers who study English would argue that the "th" sounds in "with" and "that" are actually the most difficult English consonant sounds to pronounce correctly -- so real-life Russians might have trouble with word pairs like "thick" and "sick" (or "then" and "den"), but by comparison, distinguishing "vet" from "wet" is pretty easy for them. Throbert McGee ( talk) 18:33, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
The snopes references doesn't go so far as saying this is outright false. Certainly it is a story that goes back a long way, appearing in a 1968 book, and the Inside Story by Solow/Justman doesn't really try to debunk it - indeed it reproduces a letter Roddenberry sent to Pravda. It might be an interesting project for someone to search Pravda back-issues. :)
But anyway, most sources are relatively open about the whole Monkees thing as well. Poor Koenig had to wear a wig at first! So the whole "Roddenberry made up this story to disguise an attempt to cash in on the Monkees" spin isn't really justified by the sources. Morwen - Talk 18:11, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
The first quote from "Mirror, Mirror" should either be taken out, or noted that the line came from Mirror Chekov and not Chekov himself. ST Intergalactic 04:43, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure that the name section is stated in quite the right way. "Chekov" (no "h") appears to be one of several ways in which Anton Chekhov's surname was historically transliterated into English, although it is no longer the most common way. Incidentally, babelfish.altavista.com seems to think that "Чеков" means "checks", although it isn't clear if it means bank checks, checkmarks, or to check on something. 70.20.207.70 ( talk) 06:03, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
I couldn't help but notice that the Gags section failed to mention the films. There is a running gag in the movie versions of Star Trek which feature Chekov, where he is always the member of the classic crew who manages to be seriously injured. In TMP, he is electrocuted. In II, he's got a sandworm boring it's way into his brain. I haven't seen III in ages, so I don't remember what happened to him in that one. In IV, he falls off one of the elevators of the Enterprise onto the dock and cracks his skull. In V, he gets brainwashed by whatshisname. I believe he managed to get through VI and Generations without incident, though. Am I alone in thinking that this is the sort of thing that warrants mentioning? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.66.146.104 ( talk) 22:55, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
Please restore this page to Pavel Chekov from Chekov (Star Trek) immediately. It was an entirely appropriate location consistent with the naming conventions for the other characters within the Wikiproject. The claim that the character is "better known" as just "Chekov" is a dubious and unsubstantiated claim. -- EEMIV ( talk) 03:23, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
Comment I've actually moved it back to Pavel Chekov, due to yet another undiscussed move (to Pavel Chekov (Star Trek)) by the editor who moved it in the first place. This should be OK, given the direction the discussion is going. However, if consensus does in fact select another location, please let me know and I (or any other admin) can move it there. -- Ckatz chat spy 03:26, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
Where did the name Pavel come from? I don't remember ever hearing it on Star Trek TOS. The Wikipedia articles on Hikaru Sulu and Nyota Uhura tell us how their first name got introduced into the Star Trek canon, but this one doesn't. Does anyone know? — MiguelMunoz ( talk) 04:01, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
Any IP editor keeps changing phrasing to call Chekov Czech. All the third-party commentary/sources, and the in-universe plot points, call him Russian. Whether that jibes with what "makes sense" in terms of real-world etymology really doesn't matter. -- EEMIV ( talk) 15:02, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
The article mentions that Chekov was born in 2241 but Memory Alpha and the official Star Trek webaite have it at 2245. 165.120.233.36 ( talk) 22:31, 23 August 2015 (UTC)
I think the content in the ‘Character Biography’ section needs some serious rewriting. Firstly, it specifically lists all the times Chekov loses his mind/is subject to mind control. However, I haven’t read anywhere that this happens to Chekov more than it happens to other characters. For instance:
- Sulu loses his mind in Catspaw, The Naked Time, The Return of the Archons, and in And the Children Shall Lead
- Spock loses his mind in This Side of Paradise, Amok Time, and in Spock’s Brain
- Kirk loses his mind in Dagger of the Mind and in The Paradise Syndrome
This is just a common recurring theme in Star Trek TOS, and does not constitute a significant part of Chekov’s character.
Also, I don’t think that Chekov losing fights to creatures stronger than him is a running gag, and I don’t think it’s particularly notable that Chekov was depicted as being attracted to beautiful women in a couple of episodes (the same is true of literally every male character).
Instead, I think this section should contain more actual info about the character’s history: e.g. was born in Russia, is an only child, had a romantic relationship with Irina Galliulin at the Starfleet Academy, his career in Starfleet throughout the show & movies (his time as Science Officer of the USS Enterprise), etc. Spaghettication ( talk) 04:16, 27 October 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Is Chekov from Russia? In one of the books, Crisis on Centaurus, it was clearly stated that he's from a Russian lunar colony. Tualha 23:44, 12 Dec 2003 (UTC)
While we have both sounds (v and w, however written differently), I think only a very stupid Pole might mispronounce v as w. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.218.41.190 ( talk) 16:44, 4 September 2007 (UTC)
Incidentally, other sources state that he's from St. Petersberg.
I've got a list started of things Chekov has credited to Russia. I put the ones in that I remembered, if anyone has more I'd hope they would add them to the list.
JesseG
07:21, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
There is a section that has:
addendum: The Generations script was hastily written. The parts were intended for Captain Spock and Doctor McCoy. Nimoy refused to be a bit player, and Kelly is rumored to have said, "If he's out, I'm out." Chekov was given McCoy's dialog, Scotty was given Spock's. Hence the two mistakes: Calling Chekov "captain", and the dialog to Scotty, "I'm glad you're an engineer instead of a psychiatrist." Later, after the El-Aurian's are aboard the Enterprise-B, Chekov drafts the reporters into nurses. More McCoy dialog. Wiki-police: Reference the Starlogs and special "Generations" magazines of the time.
This is not properly formatted, but I have no time to fix it.
- jptdrake
The Koenig article indicates that his family is Russian, but they claimed Lithuanian heritage during the McCarthy era. $20 says, however, that the Koenig article is quoting from the IMDb biography, and IMDb isn't exactly always right. Has anyone here actually read his autobiography or have a more reputable source one way or the other? If not, I'd suggest omitting Koenig's ethnicity; anyone who's curious can look at that article, and we can avoid discrepancy between the two. -- EEMeltonIV 20:23, 6 August 2006 (UTC)
I've read his book, and he's from Lithuania, but is of Russian-Jewish descent [LMA].
The explanation in the text misses a possibility; that Chekov, a Russia, overcompensates for the lack of a 'w' sound in Russian, and thus makes the mistake of pronouncing 'v' as 'w'. Either that, or he learned English from someone with a specific working-class-London accent that confuses spoken 'v' and 'w'. Argyriou (talk) 17:32, 27 October 2006 (UTC)
The problem with the v-sound in Russian is that it is actually different from what English speakers perceive to be a v-sound. In Russian there is a sound 'v' (in Cyrillic 'B') which is like a 'v' in our language but is pronounced between both lips rather than with the top teeth on the bottom lip as in English. This means that Russian speakers can sound like they are mixing up the 'v' and 'w' sound when they are speaking English. In fact they are making the same sound, which sounds very much like a 'v' to English native speakers when we are expecting to hear 'w' and vice-versa when we are expecting to hear 'v'. In the examples given in the article 'Washington' will indeed sound to us like 'Vashington' but 'Vermont' will sound like 'Wermont'
As he is the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants I assume that Mr Koenig is pronouncing these sounds exactly as a Russian would. I have studied Russian and have spent time in Russian-speaking areas and would say that his pronounciation as Mr Chek(h)ov sounds convincing.
The name Chekov is a bit of a problem though. It could be a Russianisation of the name of someone of Turkic origin or a bastardisation of Chekhov, which is a moderately common name in Russia. As one of Russia's leading literary figures though, Chekhov's name suggests a slight laziness in the scriptwriting. Imagine a Russian Star Trek with an English Lieutenant Shakespeare or Dickens ...... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.41.187.219 ( talk) 01:26, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
This joke always falls flat with me. My Russian grandmother happened to name one of my uncles "Victor," and not once did I ever hear her mispronounce it as "Wicktor." -Greg —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.84.8.94 ( talk) 11:22, 23 November 2009 (UTC)
As someone pointed out above, the Russian letter represented by Cyrillic В в can sometimes sound more "v"-like but sometimes more "w"-like, depending on factors like its position in the word. Notably, in the given name Pavel (Павел), the "v" typically sounds like a "w", so that the name more or less rhymes with "towel", and is a homonym with the English surname "Powell". (Rather than rhyming with "gavel" or "hovel".)
And incidentally, I suspect most native Russian speakers who study English would argue that the "th" sounds in "with" and "that" are actually the most difficult English consonant sounds to pronounce correctly -- so real-life Russians might have trouble with word pairs like "thick" and "sick" (or "then" and "den"), but by comparison, distinguishing "vet" from "wet" is pretty easy for them. Throbert McGee ( talk) 18:33, 18 January 2011 (UTC)
The snopes references doesn't go so far as saying this is outright false. Certainly it is a story that goes back a long way, appearing in a 1968 book, and the Inside Story by Solow/Justman doesn't really try to debunk it - indeed it reproduces a letter Roddenberry sent to Pravda. It might be an interesting project for someone to search Pravda back-issues. :)
But anyway, most sources are relatively open about the whole Monkees thing as well. Poor Koenig had to wear a wig at first! So the whole "Roddenberry made up this story to disguise an attempt to cash in on the Monkees" spin isn't really justified by the sources. Morwen - Talk 18:11, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
The first quote from "Mirror, Mirror" should either be taken out, or noted that the line came from Mirror Chekov and not Chekov himself. ST Intergalactic 04:43, 9 April 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure that the name section is stated in quite the right way. "Chekov" (no "h") appears to be one of several ways in which Anton Chekhov's surname was historically transliterated into English, although it is no longer the most common way. Incidentally, babelfish.altavista.com seems to think that "Чеков" means "checks", although it isn't clear if it means bank checks, checkmarks, or to check on something. 70.20.207.70 ( talk) 06:03, 14 August 2008 (UTC)
I couldn't help but notice that the Gags section failed to mention the films. There is a running gag in the movie versions of Star Trek which feature Chekov, where he is always the member of the classic crew who manages to be seriously injured. In TMP, he is electrocuted. In II, he's got a sandworm boring it's way into his brain. I haven't seen III in ages, so I don't remember what happened to him in that one. In IV, he falls off one of the elevators of the Enterprise onto the dock and cracks his skull. In V, he gets brainwashed by whatshisname. I believe he managed to get through VI and Generations without incident, though. Am I alone in thinking that this is the sort of thing that warrants mentioning? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.66.146.104 ( talk) 22:55, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
Please restore this page to Pavel Chekov from Chekov (Star Trek) immediately. It was an entirely appropriate location consistent with the naming conventions for the other characters within the Wikiproject. The claim that the character is "better known" as just "Chekov" is a dubious and unsubstantiated claim. -- EEMIV ( talk) 03:23, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
Comment I've actually moved it back to Pavel Chekov, due to yet another undiscussed move (to Pavel Chekov (Star Trek)) by the editor who moved it in the first place. This should be OK, given the direction the discussion is going. However, if consensus does in fact select another location, please let me know and I (or any other admin) can move it there. -- Ckatz chat spy 03:26, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
Where did the name Pavel come from? I don't remember ever hearing it on Star Trek TOS. The Wikipedia articles on Hikaru Sulu and Nyota Uhura tell us how their first name got introduced into the Star Trek canon, but this one doesn't. Does anyone know? — MiguelMunoz ( talk) 04:01, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
Any IP editor keeps changing phrasing to call Chekov Czech. All the third-party commentary/sources, and the in-universe plot points, call him Russian. Whether that jibes with what "makes sense" in terms of real-world etymology really doesn't matter. -- EEMIV ( talk) 15:02, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
The article mentions that Chekov was born in 2241 but Memory Alpha and the official Star Trek webaite have it at 2245. 165.120.233.36 ( talk) 22:31, 23 August 2015 (UTC)
I think the content in the ‘Character Biography’ section needs some serious rewriting. Firstly, it specifically lists all the times Chekov loses his mind/is subject to mind control. However, I haven’t read anywhere that this happens to Chekov more than it happens to other characters. For instance:
- Sulu loses his mind in Catspaw, The Naked Time, The Return of the Archons, and in And the Children Shall Lead
- Spock loses his mind in This Side of Paradise, Amok Time, and in Spock’s Brain
- Kirk loses his mind in Dagger of the Mind and in The Paradise Syndrome
This is just a common recurring theme in Star Trek TOS, and does not constitute a significant part of Chekov’s character.
Also, I don’t think that Chekov losing fights to creatures stronger than him is a running gag, and I don’t think it’s particularly notable that Chekov was depicted as being attracted to beautiful women in a couple of episodes (the same is true of literally every male character).
Instead, I think this section should contain more actual info about the character’s history: e.g. was born in Russia, is an only child, had a romantic relationship with Irina Galliulin at the Starfleet Academy, his career in Starfleet throughout the show & movies (his time as Science Officer of the USS Enterprise), etc. Spaghettication ( talk) 04:16, 27 October 2023 (UTC)