"To Serve All My Days"
Star Trek: New Voyages
reviewed by Diane Doyle

The Star Trek: New Voyages episode, "To Serve All My Days," is a sequel of sorts to the original series episode "The Deadly Years" in which all the members of the landing party aged rapidly, except Chekov. It turns out Chekov still harbored the virus in his body, which was activated when he was exposed to a burst of radiation in engineering, while saving Scotty’s life. This time, McCoy is unable to find an antidote. The episode examines Chekov’s reactions. First, we see his anger about how unfair it is, and later we see him coming to terms with his fate.

In addition to the rapid aging of Chekov, Captain Kirk and the crew have other conflicts to deal with. They learn from Ambassador Rayna Morgan that the most recent Babel Conference did not go well. Many planets are considering secession from the Federation, due to economic problems. This would make the worlds more vulnerable to takeover by the Klingons. Meanwhile, the ship is attacked and damaged by what appears to be a Klingon vessel and the Enterprise sends out a distress call. They are contacted by Kargh, a Klingon commander who reveals the attacker was not a real Klingon ship and offers his assistance to Captain Kirk to combat that particular ship. After initial mistrust, Kirk agrees to his offer.

Overall, the story and its various plots are engaging. It is interesting how the ambassador had been acquainted with Chekov’s grandfather. D.C. Fontana wrote a very good, character and action driven story, as always. The main criticism is the downbeat ending that seems to contradict Star Trek canon. Also, there should have been more scenes about the reactions of Chekov’s fellow crewmembers and friends to his impending demise, such as Sulu, Uhura, and especially Scotty, whose life he had saved. McCoy should have shown a better bedside manner to Chekov than merely saying "I’m a doctor not a..." And the title, "To Serve All My Days," is in keeping with the Star Trek tradition of titles taken from lines in Shakespearian plays.

Andy Bray did a great job portraying young Chekov while Walter Koenig did an excellent job of portraying the aging Chekov. Viewers saw the range of emotions that Koenig displayed as he dealt with his impending fate. Mary-Linda Rapelye, the actress who had portrayed Irini Galluilin in the original series, did an excellent job of playing Ambassador Rayna Morgan. While the trio of James Cawley, Jeff Quinn, and John Kelley are not as good of actors as the original trio, they are not bad. Cawley’s love for the series is obvious. John Kelley looks like a younger version of DeForest--gee, I wonder if they are distantly related.

All in all, this episode would be a great addition to the original series episodes.

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