Walter Koenig's Favorite Star Trek Episode Is A Classic That Had Virtually No Budget

As Ensign Pavel Chekov, the late Walter Koenig became a crucial member of the USS Enterprise's crew after joining "Star Trek" in Season 2. However, Chekov was rarely a main character in an episode, which might explain why one of Koenig's favorite "Star Trek" episodes was the low-budget, Wild West-inspired "Spectre of the Gun."

Originally airing on October 25, 1968, "Spectre of the Gun" sees the Enterprise attempting to make contact with a reclusive telepathic race of aliens known as the Melkotians, only to be transported to a bizarre psychic recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral where the sky is red. Instead of a full Western set, there were just false fronts of buildings without any sides.

"It was an interesting concept mandated by economics," Koenig recalled in an interview with StarTrek.com. "Our budget was very small and they didn't have the wherewithal to be a complete, detailed Wild West town, so they did it in a sort of abstract manner, which I thought gave it some class and some style."

As the episode's showdown looms, Chekov draws the attention of a barmaid named Sylvia and is shot dead by a jealous Morgan Earp. "I got to go to the planet, I got to get the girl, and I got to get killed, all of which were high points," Koenig told The Television Academy. Of course, Chekov ultimately survives because of the illusionary nature of the gunfight.

"Spectre of the Gun" was Walter Koenig's favorite "Star Trek" episode in part because Chekov got something substantial to do, but the actor also liked episodes of the show that he had nothing to do with. In his aforementioned interview with The Television Academy, Koenig praised the Season 1 episode "The City on the Edge of Forever," which was penned by the great sci-fi author Harlan Ellison.

In "The City on the Edge of Forever," Doctor McCoy (DeForest Kelley) accidentally injects himself with the stimulant cordrazine due to a time distortion. He's not in his right mind as a result and ends up beaming himself to a mysterious nearby planet, leading to the formation of a rescue party led by Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy). It was before Koenig's time, but he loved the episode all the same.

"'City on the Edge of Forever' was a terrific episode," Koenig said. "I thought it was done with great heart and very touching." Koenig added that Joan Collins, who plays social worker Edith Keeler and has one of the saddest deaths in all of "Star Trek," was "excellent," and that William Shatner "did a terrific job." He wasn't alone in his praise for "The City on the Edge of Forever" – TVLine ranked it as the second-best episode of the entire "Star Trek" franchise.