Movie and Entertainment Sphere ·
“On Star Trek TOS, whose accent was more accurate, Scotty's Scottish accent, or Chekov's Russian accent? I've never heard a Russian say "nuclear wessels".”Well… to be fair, Walt Koenig’s Russian accent was frequently - as in that moment is ST IV - used as a joke. Chekhov was included in TOS’s second year because Russians complained (not without cause) that TOS was highly American, and that since they got into space first they should have some representation on Enterprise.
Not unreasonable, as far as I’m concerned.
Walt Koenig made an excellent Chekhov - he was funny, an excellent actor, enormously engaging and wonderfully charismatic. His early Pavel wasn’t meant to be realistic; he was meant as a bit of comic relief, and as an audience stand-in. (As a new ensign recently promoted from the lower decks onboard the Cruiser, senior officers could explain things to him and thus, to the audience.)
Fortunately, that didn’t really pan out. Walter’s natural humour and skilled presence onscreen made him an excellent fit as a Bridge officer. Pavel may be new and a bit naive but he’s brave, a quick thinker and a cool head in a crisis.
(Pavel Chekhov keeping a cool head in a crisis)
James Doohan on the the other hand is a totally different beast.
While it’s impossible to say just how ‘accurate’ his Scottish accent is, he had a lot of experience with his parents’ accent - Irish. While he himself displays little of the brogue, both his parents Sarah and William emigrated to Canada from Northern Ireland before he was born.
During the war, Lt. Doohan hit the beach at Juno during the Normandy Invasion as an officer of the 2nd. Canadian Division. He took out two German snipers single-handedly, led his Artillery battery through a German minefield on foot and was shot six times by a scared Canadian sentry, losing his right middle finger. After that, he trained as a pilot, flew as an Artillery spotter and earned the name as “The craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Force”. (If you have any idea of what Canadian pilots were like, that’s REALLY saying something. According to reports, he slalomed a recon plane between telegraph poles, because some buddies said it couldn’t be done.)
(Edit: Thanks to Cameron Fraser for the correction - I originally said Lt. Doohan flew for the Canadian Air force - which he didn’t. He still earned that moniker, though.
(Scotty - effin’ badass. The actor PLAYING Scotty? ULTIMATE Badass! Well…no surprise, really - he’s Canadian.
But on to Scotty’s accent. Scotty’s Scot accent was, from everything I’ve heard, pretty accurate. He didn’t play the accent for laughs like Walter needed to; while Scotty could be funny as hell he was a serious, highly skilled and commanding presence onboard the ship. James WAS a combat leader and war veteran; he know just how to play Scott. He also had the Irish background, and while I can’t confirm whether the 2nd. Canadian Div. was composed of Highland Infantry, his service uniform certainly seems to be Highland in nature.
So to sum up - I would say that Scotty’s accent is likely far more accurate than Chekhov’s. Doohan’s history was closer to the role than Koenig’s, and wasn’t being exaggerated for laughs.
