Spock Would Handle Time Slowdown… Logically, Right?

A starship caught in slow time, a character who bridges generations, and the strange comfort of hearing a classic story with fresh eyes—that’s where our journey begins. We shine a light on The Time Stealer, the 1975 Star Trek radio drama that renders a temporal anomaly in audio, and we use that premise to ask what Star Trek does best: how do stories travel through time without losing their heart? From the captain’s log delivered at half‑speed to the hum of instruments that can’t quite keep up, the radio format makes you lean in and imagine the bridge for yourself.

Chekhov takes centre seat in our conversation. We trace the role from Walter Koenig’s spirited navigator—shaped in part by a family history rooted in Russian‑Jewish immigration—to Anton Yelchin’s 2009 reboot performance as a gifted, earnest prodigy. We speak candidly about Yelchin’s tragic passing and JJ Abrams’ decision not to recast, a choice that turned a production detail into a memorial. That legacy changes how we watch the reboot films and how we listen back to older recordings; performances become keepsakes, timelines become personal, and fandom becomes a living archive.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Episode Setup
• 0:40 Introducing The Time Stealer
• 1:19 Time Anomalies and Kirk’s Log
• 3:12 Spotlight on Chekhov
• 4:18 From Soviet Roots to the Federation
• 5:20 Mapping the Post‑Soviet World
• 6:02 The 2009 Reboot and Casting
• 6:35 Remembering Anton Yelchin
• 8:59 How We Make the YouTube Videos
• 9:58 Peter Pan Records and Production Facts
• 11:28 Channel Growth and Crossovers
• 12:31 Personal Takes on the Reboot Films

Transcript

Fran: 0:00

Hello everyone! Welcome to Melancholy Mentor, the classic literature. It's the vibrant world of radio plays. I'm Fran and I'm joined by Evan from Mystery Method. Together we're your guides on this creative journey. During each episode, we'll dive into stories featured on the Melancholy Mentor channel, allowing fresh ideas to flourish, inspiring you to dream big and unlock your creative potential. Get comfy, open your mind, and embrace your curiosity. Let's get started. Hello, I'm Fran. And I'm Mevin. And in this Melancholy Mentor podcast episode, we're highlighting an episode featured on our YouTube channel, and it's the episode is Star Trek the Time Stealer.

Evan: 0:57

Yes.

Fran: 0:59

It's a bit of a bit of a tongue twister for me that one. So it's featured, it's featured on the Melancholy Mentor YouTube channel, and the episode is Star Trek the Time Stealer. Okay. Yes. Do you want to hear about it? Get into it. I know, I know. Right, here we go. A thrilling Star Trek radio show that delves into the mysteries of time travel and the dangers it poses to the fabric of the universe. Join the Star Trek crew as they encounter a temporal anomaly that threatens to unravel the very essence of reality. We just hear it for that word again, anonymally. Anonymally. I know it's difficult. I am challenged with pronunciation. Anyone that's listened to our previous podcasts that we've got up will realize that. Yeah, it's a difficult one. Right, we've got a spoiler alert. Oh yeah. I know. I like this one. So the Time Stealer radio drama starts with Captain Kirk saying, Captain's log, stardate 6134.6. The mysterious time slowdown we're experiencing has affected not only every crew member on board, but all the enterprises, instruments, and computer banks. It's as if time itself were winding down and us with it. But I think he says it a lot slower than that. Yeah, I think so. And I wonder whether or not where it says all the crew, does this include Spock? Because he's a very logical Vulcan being, isn't he? So I feel like it wouldn't it wouldn't include Spock, but maybe it does. Yeah. So in this podcast episode, we're going to focus on Pavel Chekhov, which is one of the characters in the original series. So Chekhov is the navigator aboard this the Enterprise in the original series. He was played by American actor and screenwriter. Again, it's going to be pronunciation for me. It's Walter Koing. The spelling is K-O-E-N-I-G. So Walter, we just call him Water. He was born in 1936. His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union. And the this kind of made me think to just explain a little bit about the Soviet Union. Little caveat here. So the official end of the Soviet Union was in 1991, hence saying Soviet Union rather than Russia. After 1991, it's officially called the Russian Federation. The 15 former Soviet republics are now independent states. So these include Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. So a little personal bit about my work life here, and it is relevant. So when I first started out, I did 10 years of office temping because I quite like just moving around and not really having to get to know anyone. So I did office temping. After that, I did 25 years of care work. And then after that, I retrained to be an linguistic programming coach. So one of my office temping jobs, this was back in the day, and it was for a big company based in Cambridge. And then I had to reorganize the postal addresses after the Soviet Union dissolved. So let's just say it involved a massive map, like a physical map out on this these huge tables, and me trying to figure out where the borders were. None of this was done digitally or electronically or anything like that. It was all by hand. And bear in mind that as an office worker at that time, I was still using telex machines. Oh wow. So yeah, just trying to figure out where the postal addresses went after the after the uh it all dissolved. So that's really something, isn't it? Annually. So pretty much, isn't it? That's my little delve into Russia there. So in 2009, we're going back to Star Trek now. In 2009, Star Trek had a reboot. So by this, we're talking about the the original series was the television series, and the radio drama that we've got is a separate kind of entity with different actors and things like that. So this is just a little bit about Star Trek itself. So the original series then had a reboot in 2009, and the Star Trek film they created an alternative timeline in the franchise, which of course they can do because you know it's all space. In this timeline, Chekhov is a 17-year-old prodigy, and the actor that plays Chekhov is Anton Yelchin. So a little bit about Anton, um, that does come with the respect, and you'll you'll hear why in a moment. So Anton was an American actor, and he was born in the Soviet Union to a Russian-Jewish family. He immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was only six months old. And this this is where the trigger warning comes into it. So tragically, Anton lost his life in 2016. He was only age 27. And the friends found him pinned between a Jeep, like his Jeep, and a brick pillar gate, like gatepost outside his home in Los Angeles in America. That's a tragic, tragic accident. That the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office identified the cause of death again, trickle-born in with this a cause of death as blunt traumatic asphyxia. So it's just absolutely heartbreaking. Yeah. Now, somebody called JJ Abrams, which some of you may be familiar with, produced the reboot trilogy of Star Trek and directed the first two reboot films and has stated that the role of Chekhov will not be recast for future sequels. Now, bearing in mind that you know the reboot started to happen in 2009, we lost Anton in 2016. So they've said that you know Chekhov's just kind of faded out really. So as we remember Anton Yelchin, let's celebrate the unforgettable portrayal of Chekhov, the talented soul, whose spirit continues to inspire Star Trek fans around the world. And so anybody kind of interested in that that doesn't know about Anton, watch the reboot movies if you can get them. I actually really enjoyed them. Initially, I was one of these of like, oh no, that's not the original cast, and you know, because we all resist change, don't we? Um, but once I got into them, like I really enjoyed it. I remember this news at the time being just absolutely devastating. So moving on to the radio drama episode that we have on the channel. Now I usually go out with my tripod and mobile phone to film in Dorset and Hampshire, mostly. Sometimes, you know, there's other places, so especially along the coast or woodland areas, and then Evan adds the radio drama audio to the videos for YouTube. So this is the way that that goes. So when we're talking about the video, it's actually a video that we've created, and the audio is is created by other wonderful beings that when we get the audio. So Evan has a channel of Mystery Mythos, and on that one it's AI generated, and we've got other plans to kind of expand that channel as well. Yeah. So Evan, have you got any more information about the radio drama of Star Trek, The Time Stealer? Which is featured on the YouTube channel Melancholy Mental.

Evan: 9:56

Yes, I do. Okay, so this was the fourth of 11 stories produced by Peter Pan Records. It was initially released in 1975 as an audio production, along with three other stories, and it was set during Captain Kirk's first five-year mission aboard the Enterprise. And the video was filmed by you of some lovely trees in Hampshire. It's a really, really nice video, lovely and relaxing. We've got 456 views on this one, and it's not bad.

Fran: 10:31

Yeah. So repeat that again because I talked over you of it. 16 minutes long. Yeah, okay. Yeah.

Evan: 10:39

Yeah.

Fran: 10:39

Yeah, lovely. I like that amount of views. Um again at the time of this recording, because you know, ever hopeful. We're we're little channels. We've got little channels on YouTube, but we'd love to grow them more. So by all means go and find our YouTube channels. If you find Melancholy Mentor, the other two channels are linked at the at the bottom. So we've got Melancholy Coaching, which we'll be adding a podcast to of interviews, um, and that's for inspiration and motivation. So it's a little step away from the radio plays and dramas that we've featured on the other channels, and then Evan's channel, Mystery Mythos, is predominantly sci-fi but and mysteries, obviously. But there's a bit of a crossover within the classic literature on the Melancholy channel. Yeah. So did you know that information about Anton? No. You didn't know. No, yeah. That's why I said like it comes with a little bit of a warning on there. Did you actually watch any of the reboot movies?

Evan: 11:37

Yeah, I think I've seen two. I watched two of them because you'd recommended them. But I can remember.

Fran: 11:44

Yeah, they started again, didn't they, with the with the cast being quite young. So they started with the characters in their younger years.

Evan: 11:51

Yeah. Yeah. But I really liked them. I thought they were brilliant.

Fran: 11:55

Yeah, very, very good. So go check those out as well. We are passionate about sharing timeless stories with new audiences and even more passionate about igniting your creativity along the way. So thank you for joining us. Be sure to explore the radio dramas and plays featured on our YouTube channels. And until next time. Thank you, bye. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in. Contact us at melancholymentor.com. Until next time, keep your minds open and stay curious.