Stars in the Firmament

This week the world of Star Trek and Science Fiction in general is a bit emptier, as both Walter Koenig and Sir Patrick Stewart passed away.

Koenig's Pavel Chekov, the so-called "Nutty Russian" on the original Star Trek, was both comic relief and provided a baseline for everybody to understand what might be going on in episodes he was featured in.

Kirk: All right, here we are, birds in a gilded cage. The question is, how do we get out of here?

Chekov: I don't know, sir, but it's a very nice gilded cage. 

--From Star Trek S2, E8: I, Mudd 

 

I suppose most average moviegoers saw Chekov in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, given it was by far the most popular Star Trek movie. His humor played well there, because the overall comedic tone of the film led to broad audience appeal.

It feels weird to see both Nichelle Nichols and
Walter Koenig in this still from Star Trek IV, because
both have passed away. From Screenrant.

Like many genre actors, Walter found himself typecast into SF roles throughout his career. One of his later roles was in a show I didn't watch yet has a cult following: Babylon 5. 

I can't talk about Walter without acknowledging the tragedy when his son, the actor Andrew Koenig, committed suicide in 2010. This is something I really have trouble wrapping my head around, because I don't think I would handle it well if I were in the same situation. Walter turned his tragedy into another mission, to educate people about mental health and suicide prevention, for the rest of his life.

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It feels weird seeing the outpouring of emotion for Sir Patrick Stewart, given that I first encountered him in the David Lynch adaptation of Dune:

Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck.
From X.

Before that, my mom knew him as Lucius Aelius Sejanus in I, Claudius (courtesy of the PBS rebroadcast*):

From Reddit.

For a man who so embraced his roles in the Royal Shakespeare Company, pop culture had to have been a bit of a shock.

I remember when I heard that Star Trek: The Next Generation was coming out I was hopeful yet quite concerned it would be terrible. Anybody who watches the innumerable reboots of intellectual property these days probably understands my trepidation, but back then in the 80s this was kind of new territory. Who knew what we were going to get?

Apparently, that concern was shared by Patrick Stewart, who was hesitant at accepting the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Yet accept it he did, and we are all the better for it. 

In its own way, his later role of Professor X in the X-Men movies, acting opposite other stage actors Ian McKellen and Hugh Jackman, were closer in theme to his love of Shakespeare. Marvel's X-Men was originally conceived as shining a mirror on the two main reactions to the quest for Civil Rights in the 60s, with Charles Xavier embodying the side of Martin Luther King Jr.'s non-violent approach and Magneto's side embodying Malcolm X's Black Power movement, and both Stewart and McKellen embraced those opposing views in several iconic scenes.

Patrick and Ian developed a very close friendship over the years, where Ian officiated at Patrick's wedding and they shared the stage in Waiting for Godot:

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I guess I'm at that age when more and more of the people who I grew up with or informed my earlier adulthood are passing away. I'll miss them both, but I can also rest easy knowing both Walter and Patrick lived a full life. 

*PBS rebroadcasts of British productions are how I was introduced to Roger Rees (The Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby), David Suchet (Poirot), Joan Hickson (Miss Marple), Peter Davison (All Creatures Great and Small), Jeremy Brett (Sherlock Holmes), Jacob Bronowski (The Ascent of Man), and James Burke (Connections and The Day the Universe Changed). I guess you can tell that mysteries and documentaries were big in my past.