32 Years Later, Walter Koenig's Best Sci-Fi Role Isn't Star Trek
Be seeing you, Mr. Bester.
Millions of sci-fi fans will always remember Walter Koenig for his role as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek: The Original Series and the first seven Star Trek feature films. Following his death, it’s natural for fans to want to list their favorite Star Trek moments featuring Chekov. Perhaps his gunslinger moment in “Specter of the Gun”? His capture in The Wrath of Khan? Or could it be his hilarious antics in The Voyage Home? All of these are great examples of wonderful performances from Koenig. But the truth is, and hardcore sci-fi fans know, Koenig’s greatest role wasn’t on Star Trek at all. Instead, as an actor, his best character ever was that of the mercurial and scheming Psi Cop named Alfred Bester.
First introduced in Babylon 5 Season 1 in the episode “Mind War,” Koenig’s Bester utterly redefined what sci-fi assumed the actor was capable of. And because Babylon 5 was airing, at the time, in direct competition with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the fact that this independent and original sci-fi series was using a Star Trek legend in an unexpected way certainly made longtime fans, and perhaps some Babylon 5 naysayers, pay attention.
Named for the Hugo Award-winning author who (quite literally) wrote the book on telepaths with his groundbreaking novel The Demolished Man, the Psi Cop Alfred Bester was a kind of mishmash of different science fiction concepts and archetypes. Bester’s oft-repeated mocking farewell — “be seeing you” — was a nod to the controlling nature of Number 2 in The Prisoner. Meanwhile, aspects of the rules of telepaths are inspired by the real Bester’s The Demolished Man, but also some Harlan Ellison stories about telepaths, like “Deeper Than Darkness.” In fact, the whole reason Koenig was cast in B5 is that series creator J. Michael Straczynski met Koenig through Ellison, a mutual friend. In a recent social media post on Koenig’s passing, Straczynski noted that he had originally written a different part for Koenig in the episode “A Sky Full of Stars,” but because Koenig had a bypass surgery following a heart attack, plans changed. “I told him not to worry,” Straczynski recalled. “I’d find something even better for him.”
And find something better he did. In the status quo of Babylon 5, Bester was a sinister force, but one working with legitimacy and support from Earthforce. In “Mind War,” he’s hunting down an all-powerful, but sympathetic telepath named Jason Ironheart (William Allen Young), a man whose psi powers have been enhanced to the point of making him into a weapon. Bester doesn’t care about other people’s mental privacy, nor does he really think much of “normals” or “mundanes”; humans who aren’t telepaths. While Bester only appears in 12 of the 110 B5 episodes, his presence and influence make it feel like he’s in even more episodes than that.
One of the reasons why this role was so incredible was because it allowed Koenig to play with sardonic humor, something that was impossible for the naive, loyal, and generally happy character of Chekov. Not that Bester wasn’t a happy character; he was, which is exactly what made him so terrifying. His power as a telepath was only matched by his ability to quip and mock anyone who was trying to do the right thing. “I mean, being a freedom fighter, a — a force for good, it’s — it’s a wonderful thing,” Bester said in the episode “Moments of Transition,” in Season 4. “You get to make your own hours, looks good on a resume, but the pay sucks.”
Whether brainwashing people over the course of an entire season, or scheming to take ultimate power, Koenig played Bester as a villain with a smile and twinkle in his eye. The only thing more terrifying than a bad guy who seems unpleasant and says brutal things is a bad guy who is smiling and making jokes. Whenever Koenig showed up on Babylon 5, you knew you were in for a great episode. People talk a lot about villains that fans love-to-hate, but Koenig’s Bester remains the gold standard of that hyper-specific trope.
For sci-fi fans, and Star Trek folks in particular, if you’ve still slept on Babylon 5 all these years later, you owe it to yourself to watch the show, if only to see Walter Koenig’s at his best. And for loyal Babylon 5 fans, well, it’s never a bad time to rewatch one of the greatest sci-fi shows of all time.
