MTV interviewed Anton Yelchin who will portray Pavel Chekov in J.J. Abram’s upcoming “Star Trek” movie.

In the years since the original “Trek” depicted Vulcan Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) working alongside a human crew, various incarnations have occasionally shown nonhuman crew members, like android Data or half-Borg Seven of Nine. But according to Yelchin, Abrams’ depiction of the “Trek” crew’s early days will reveal dozens of distinctive-looking aliens helping to run the ship.

“The aliens are people that sit through, like, three hours of makeup to become that oh-so-special alien in the shot,” Yelchin grinned, adding that they’re much more than generic creatures with green skin and big eyes. “They’re good; they’re Enterprise aliens.”

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But even though 71-year-old Walter Koenig won’t be reprising his role as Russian Starfleet officer Pavel Chekov, he did give Yelchin the thrill of meeting up to compare notes. “He was on set, and I talked to him for a while, and I was really nervous,” Yelchin admitted sheepishly. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, he’s gonna come on set and say I suck!’ But, he was really gracious and happy about what we were doing. I talked to him about a couple of things.”

Their discussions included Koenig’s accented line deliveries over the last few decades, which — depending on whom you ask — are either beloved, all wrong or a combination of the two. “That’s a trademark Chekov thing, the V’s [being pronounced as W’s], so there’s a lot of that in the film,” revealed the Russian-born Yelchin. “I did take the V/W thing, because I thought that was really [iconic]. We are doing our own thing, we aren’t remaking the old show, but the whole goal is to do your own thing and be original, while being respectful.”