Best Star Trek References on The Big Bang Theory

You’d practically need a tricorder to measure all the Star Trek references in The Big Bang Theory episode “The Russian Rocket Reaction,” including fun cameos from Wil Wheaton and Brent Spiner (Star Trek royalty at its finest). For fans who grew up collecting those old Playmates action figures, there is also some great comedy involving old Star Trek toys. Our favorite bit was Sheldon’s horror at Brent Spiner’s willingness to open one of those old figures, which highlights the eternal debate between geeks who leave everything mint in box and those who simply want to tear into their toys.

Once again, “The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis” is an episode that manages to cram some really great Star Trek references into the usual storytelling shenanigans of The Big Bang Theory. Sure, the early gag of seeing Leonard jealous over Penny’s relationship with a handsome boyfriend makes is a bit of cringe comedy that mostly showcases how different they are from normie neighbor Penny. But the best bit involves Penny actually getting Sheldon a napkin that was autographed by Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy, effectively demonstrating her growing intimacy with the nerds next door as well as her growing knowledge of geek culture.

“The Bakersfield Expedition” has a heavier Star Trek focus than most episodes of The Big Bang Theory because most of the gang is dressed in Star Trek cosplay the entire time. Their nerdy road trip to a nearby convention in Bakersfield is cut short when their car gets stolen, so we get plenty of hilarity as they try to make their way back home with no phones, money, or normal clothing. The funniest moments come before that, though, when the gang drives to the iconic Vasquez Rocks so they can take pictures of themselves as Star Trek characters in one of the franchise’s most famous shooting locations.

One of the things that kept the Star Trek references in The Big Bang Theory pretty fresh was that they often contained nerdy meta-humor, and that’s on full display in “The Wheaton Recurrence.” Because some fans had so negatively reacted to Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation (often echoing Picard’s “shut up, Wesley” dialogue), the producers of Big Bang transformed Wil Wheaton into an unconventional and recurring nemesis for Sheldon. He plays himself as a pitch-perfect douche whenever the script called for it, and in this episode, we couldn’t stop laughing as he and Sheldon squared off in the last place we’d expect to find either of them: a bowling alley. 

Star Trek is best used in The Big Bang Theory to advance our characters and move the plot along, and we get plenty of that in “The Opening Night Excitation,” though in unexpected ways. For example, much of the episode focuses on the release of a new Star Wars movie as well as Sheldon deciding to finally have sex with Amy. But the standout joke comes from Wil Wheaton dressing as Mr. Spock to attend the Star Wars film: he tells a legion of booing fans to “live long and suck it,” and we might just have to borrow this bit the next time Star Wars is in theaters.

The running gag that Star Trek star Wil Wheaton is a bitter rival of Sheldon was set up early on in The Big Bang Theory with the episode “The Classified Materials Turbulence.” We find out that Sheldon swore Wheaton was his enemy long ago when the actor didn’t show up at a convention to sign the figure that Sheldon wanted to have autographed, which is why present-day Sheldon wants to see Wheaton defeated in a tabletop gaming tournament. This episode kept making references to The Wrath of Khan, and we lost it when Sheldon screamed “WHEATONNNN” in his best imitation of William Shatner.