10 Huge Revelations From Star Trek: Khan
8. Chekov Has More Strength Than We Ever Knew
Commander Pavel Chekov was a singular officer by The Wrath Of Khan. While behind the scenes, the story of Walter Koenig's accidental exchange with Ricardo Montalban's Khan is now legendary, the audio drama further muddles this already puzzling piece of canon.
Nicholas Meyer has long since joked that Chekov was indeed on the Enterprise in Space Seed, and had held Khan up while waiting for the bathroom. This, he contends, would make anyone memorable. By the time Chekov had been promoted to first officer of the Reliant, he had clearly taken some incredible strength tests, excelling in all of them. He remains, to date, the only person to ever survive infection by a Ceti Eel.
Star Trek: Khan establishes that infection is always fatal, with several of Khan's people - genetically engineered to be stronger than average humans - falling victim to these small parasites. Lt. McGivers, with no such augmentation to even give her a hope, never stood a chance.
When Chekov and Terrell unwittingly beam into Khan's lair, they are deliberately infected with these larvae, making them susceptible to suggestion, leading to their betrayal of their comrades. While Terrell fights back, turning his phaser on himself rather than Kirk, Chekov is seemingly saved - by the larvae's self-sacrifice. With no apparent explanation, that particular larva chooses to leave his body, saving him from certain death. While this is good for fans of Walter Koenig and Chekov, it does leave us scratching our heads as to the altruistic nature of that eel.