Walter Koenig's Mr. Chekov isn't Star Trek's only connection to The Monkees. No, three Trek guest stars "Monkeed" around, too.
Captain Kirk and his crew encountered a variety of different aliens across many timelines and universes during their five-year mission, most of whom had the power to travel to other places and times with the snap of a finger or some powerful technology.
Now, imagine if these three aliens from the Star Trek universe, Korob, Jojo Krako, and T'Pring, traveled to Earth, specifically Southern California in the 1960s, where they took on new lives and identities and got themselves involved with a zany rock 'n' roll combo called The Monkees. This unique premise is based on guest stars Theo Marcuse, Vic Tayback, and Arlene Martel crossing over and appearing on two popular NBC programs: Star Trek and The Monkees.
Theo Marcuse (Star Trek: "Catspaw" | The Monkees: "Royal Flush")
Korob (Marcuse) and Sylvia, whom the crew of the Enterprise met on Pyris VII, appeared to take on the forms of incomplete-looking Muppets (they were actually marionettes) before lying motionless at Captain Kirk's feet when he destroyed the duo's transmuter wand. In his human form, Korob is a rather benign being who wants to continue exploring the galaxy while his companion, Sylvia, becomes enamored with human sensations, and perhaps Korob's essence picked up on those delights as it left his body and traveled to another time and place — and made him royalty.
In Southern California, a young musician named Davy Jones saves a girl from drowning when the rubber raft her uncle gave her popped and left her to the mercy of the Pacific Ocean. The girl turns out to be Princess Bettina, who will become queen of her people on her 18th birthday. However, little does she know that her uncle, Otto, is plotting to kill her.
Could this man, who looks exactly like Korob, have traveled there to grab the power he couldn't have on Pyris VII? He might have seen it as a simple coup without Sylvia there to interfere, but he probably didn't count on Davy and his friends, Peter, Mike, and Micky, who trip him up every step of the way.
The late Theo Marcuse was a prolific TV actor in the 1950s and ‘60s before his untimely death in a car accident in 1967. He appeared in dozens of television shows, from Batman to The Twilight Zone, and his talents enabled him to portray a variety of characters, often as nefarious villains. Marcuse appeared in The Monkees season 1 episode “Royal Flush,” in which he played the scheming Archduke Otto in the very first installment of the musical sitcom, which aired in September of 1966.
In 1967, Marcuse appeared on Star Trek in the Halloween-themed episode “Catspaw,” where Captain Kirk and the crew encounter his character, Korob. Between his appearances on these two vastly different TV programs alone, Marcuse exhibits an acting range that reminds us that we lost a fine performer much too soon.
Vic Tayback (Star Trek: "A Piece of the Action" | The Monkees: "Son of a Gypsy")
It isn't hard to imagine Jojo Krako (Tayback) wanting a piece of the action from The Monkees, given their musical and television success. Perhaps the clever Iotian took advantage of Dr. McCoy's careless mistake when he accidentally left his communicator behind on Sigma Iotia II. And maybe, just maybe, Krako was able to figure out how to utilize the transtator in order to end up on Earth in the 1960s.
While most people remember actor Tayback as Mel Sharples from the smash hit comedy Alice, he was a character actor who appeared in a variety of other shows, including the Star Trek episode, “A Piece of the Action,” and The Monkees episode, “Son of a Gypsy."
Tayback was a fine character actor and a delight in both episodes. As JoJo Krako in Star Trek, he was a temperamental but likeable gangster who made an excellent foil for the Enterprise crew, walking the line between moderately threatening and comedic.
In The Monkees, he played Rocco, one of four sons to Maria, who kidnaps Peter and blackmails the others into stealing a priceless “Maltese Vulture” from a rich woman’s mansion. Tayback’s comedic timing in this episode is excellent, and while we lost him in 1990, fans of both shows remember him fondly.
Arlene Martel (Star Trek: "Amok Time" | The Monkees: "The Monstrous Monkee Mash")
When Spock's ex wife T'Pring (Martel) discovers that Stonn isn't exactly a day at Mount Seleya, she meditates and astral projects herself to Earth to seek a life that is vastly different from the one she lives now. A distant castle beckons, and she reinvents herself as Lorelei, who just happens to be the niece of Count Dracula. She snares victims with her magic necklace and captivating kisses, including Davy Jones.
T'Pring's desire to have complete control over the men in her life is probably what drew her to vampirism on Earth. However, a part of her likely found the antics of Mike, Peter, and Micky, who show up at the castle to rescue Davy from her clutches, most illogical.
In Star Trek’s “Amok Time” (1967), Martel plays the lovely but scheming T’Pring, who was betrothed to Spock in childhood yet uses Vulcan traditions to force Spock and Kirk to fight to the death so she can marry another Vulcan, Stonn. It’s a stellar performance that fans still talk about today! In 1968, Martel returned to NBC to play Lorelei.
Both Star Trek (1966-1969) and The Monkees (1965-1968) ran on NBC, and the studio saved money by reusing props and hiring actors who’d worked for the TV network in the past. The latter was a smash hit comedy in its own time, garnering two Emmy wins in 1967: Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Comedy. Meanwhile, Star Trek's original series wouldn't dominate the sci-fi universe until its syndication and massive expansion in the years to come.
The Monkees TV show was such a global sensation that it even inspired Gene Roddenberry to cast a character for Star Trek who resembled Davy Jones, the “cutest” of The Monkees. Roddenberry hoped this would attract younger female viewers. That character was Pavel Chekov, and actor Walter Koenig had to wear a Beatles wig before his hair grew out.
Chekov appeared in seasons 2 and 3, as well as the six movies that starred the original cast. Plus, Chekov was there with Scotty when Captain Kirk was supposedly killed on the USS Enterprise-B at the beginning of Star Trek Generations (1994). Koenig, now 89, still appears at fandom conventions and other Star Trek events.
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