Star Trek's Walter Koenig Guest-Starred In An All-Time Classic Crime Series

Walter Koenig worked in the entertainment business for over sixty years, and one of his greatest achievements was playing Pavel Chekov in the "Star Trek" franchise. Koenig joined the "Trek" cast as a way to help the show's appeal to younger audiences in Season 2 of "The Original Series." Nearly a full decade later in 1976, the star appeared in an all-time classic crime series, "Columbo." Koenig guest-starred in the Season 6 premiere of the detective series, "Fade in to Murder." The episode is a little ironic as Peter Falk's Columbo is trying to catch a famous TV detective turned murderer, Ward Fowler.

Fowler staged the murder as a robbery and assisted Columbo on the case, hoping to divert attention from himself. Koenig has a small role as a detective investigating the crime scene. When Columbo comes round, Koenig's character runs through what the police think happened on the night of the murder at the deli. But the more memorable guest spot is Koenig's "Star Trek" co-star William Shatner, who plays Fowler. Unfortunately, Shatner and Koenig don't share any scenes in the episode, so there wasn't an on-screen reunion.

In 2019, "Star Trek" star Walter Koenig told The Television Academy Foundation that the cast hit a snag while filming his scene in "Columbo." "Falk had listened to it and listened to it and listened to it, and he took the director aside and said, 'His explanation isn't different enough from mine, so we got to give him some new dialogue,'" Koenig explained, adding that they gave him some new lines but allowed him to improvise since he wouldn't be able to learn them accurately.

According to Koenig, the scene was shot in one take because it was improvised, so they couldn't restage anything for close-ups or redo a section. "It was the first time that I had worked in a long time. I felt inordinately proud," Koenig said. At the time, he hadn't appeared in either a TV show or movie in two years.

Unfortunately, the excitement turned to disappointment. "You could hardly tell it was me," Koenig added. "Fade in to Murder" charts relatively high in rankings of "Columbo" episodes, so Koenig was part of a memorable piece of TV history. Several "Star Trek" stars ended up appearing in "Columbo" throughout its run, but "Fade in to Murder" was a rare episode with two stars from the hit sci-fi show.