It turns out that Chekov was in the restroom all along.

That’s the excuse given by fans--and jokingly perpetuated by Walter Koenig himself--for why we never saw Chekov in “Space Seed” yet Khan Noonien Singh recognized him 15 years later in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (TWOK). It’s odd to think that the character’s legacy--and by extension the actor’s--is reduced to a joke about a continuity error, but that’s in keeping with how the character was often written.

Ensign Chekov was a junior officer introduced in the second season (1967-68) of Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS). He was added at the height of the Beatles and Monkees craze so he could appeal to teen viewers. The actor was even forced to wear a Beatle wig during his earliest appearances, a look that did not appear to be in keeping with Starfleet regulations.

However, there was more to the character. He was Russian, a nationality chosen to acknowledge Soviet contributions to the advancement of space exploration.…