10 Times Star Trek Went Woke
3. Russians Are Navigating In The Future
Pavel Chekov arrived on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise in the show's second season, sporting an awful wig and a hammy Russian accent. The character was created in response to a scathing editorial that had been run in the Communist Russian national newspaper Pravda. What was this, if not Gene Roddenberry rushing to include a hot-button topic - the Cold War?
However, the truth is far less clear than myth would lead us to believe. Did Roddenberry truly create Chekov in response to an article decrying the lack of Russian inclusion, particularly at a time when the Russians were heavily involved in the space race? Herb Solow and Bob Justman produced a letter, allegedly written by Gene to Pravda, from 1967, apologizing for the delay in including Chekov.
William Shatner, on the other hand, would claim the story was entirely created by the PR department in his book Star Trek Memories. Who then to believe? Perhaps then it's best to believe one's eyes - Chekov was clearly an attempt to latch on to the excitement of the Beatles, and what would become The Monkees craze. There may be nothing Woke about his inclusion, or it may have been another attempt to show a better future - one where a Russian man is welcomed on the bridge of the ship and is proud of his Russian heritage.
How many things, after all, were invented by little old Russian ladies?