Koenig Ready for 'New Voyages' as Chekov

Walter Koenig said that he agreed to reprise the role of Chekov in the internet series Star Trek: New Voyages "for the fun of it."

The actor told CBC that the amateur aspect of the fan-made internet episodes is part of their charm, but that some of those fans are very professional. The episode in which he will appear, "To Serve All My Days", is written by D.C. Fontana, a writer for the original Star Trek and author of several novels. Actors who appeared on the series, such as William Windom, who played Matt Decker in "The Doomsday Machine", will also appear in New Voyages.

Creator and star James Cawley, who plays Captain Kirk in the series, said that he had contacted Koenig via an acquaintance who appeared as a Klingon in a previous New Voyages episode. Koenig, who confessed that in the past he has "been known to weep and moan and carry on about how the character was never fully developed", said that the concept being developed for Chekov, which involves him aging prematurely, was "close to where I am in my life."

"As far as fan films go, we're among a very small group of maybe three or four that are just above a fan film but not quite a professional film," said Cawley, who explained that Paramount had given him a list of regulations for his fan films, which require him to credit the studio and prevent him from selling the downloads for a profit.

"It's a Star Trek that has not been attempted before," said Koenig, who said that he expected the studio to cash in on fan films in the future. Cawley believes that Paramount may eventually license fan films as the studio has done with published fan fiction; he said that he would be willing to give Paramount 75 per cent of profits if he were allowed to charge for the episodes.

"To Serve All My Days" is scheduled to film in September and will likely be released in January. The original item is at CBC.

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