Finally, it was the one with Leonard Nimoy! Star Trek fans rejoiced as Nimoy made his highly-anticipated guest appearance to the nerdy fanboys on The Big Bang Theory in this week’s episode titled “The Transporter Malfunction.” But it was far from your typical cameo. When I first heard last month he was doing a voiceover and not an actual appearance, I was more than a little disappointed. However, after watching the episode, I think it was an inspired choice!
When Penny suddenly found herself with some extra cash, she decided to treat Sheldon and Leonard to mint-in-box collectible 1975 Star Trek transporters “with real transporter action,” as a neighborly gesture of good will for letting her mooch their food over the years. The look on Leonard’s face when she teased him by giving him a label-maker before presenting him with his very own transporter was comical. Their reaction of absolute horror at the thought of opening their “MIB collectibles, not toys” was also priceless. As a collector of collectible toys myself, I understand the dilemma of “do I preserve its value by keeping it in the box or open it up to play with it?” all too well. My solution has usually been to buy two of said item and then you don’t have that dilemma, although that’s certainly not always an affordable option.
Surprisingly, it’s Sheldon who is more tempted to open the toy once he discovers it was made to accommodate his vintage but not still-in-the-box Mr. Spock doll. The temptation haunts him so much that he’s paid a visit in his dreams by the tiny Spock voiced by Nimoy, who encourages him to open the toy. Sheldon finally caves in to the Vulcanic pressure after Spock appeals to both his “human half” and his “logical half” by presenting the argument that it is most logical to open a toy and play with it. Unfortunately for Sheldon, the minute he opens it, he also manages to break it just as quickly.
How many times has that happened to you? As a child, you’re so eager to get home and play with your brand-new shiny toy, only to discover that it’s either not as great as you were expecting it to be or it’s shoddily-made and it breaks right away. That’s probably a tale as old as time and yet we never seem to learn. But was anybody really surprised when Sheldon did the dishonorable thing afterwards and tried to switch transporters without Leonard knowing? Sheldon is my favorite selfish five-year-old trapped in an adult body. Thank-you, Mr. Nimoy, for being a “green-blooded buzz kill” and finally putting Sheldon in his place by making him more accountable for his egocentric actions. Is tiny Spock more representative of Sheldon’s inner child or his conscience? I’m still trying to decide.
Clacked by Kim Tibbs
on Mar 30, 2012 @ 09:04 EST5EDT
great show ilove how they show some old startrek props from old episode;s like that big rock with hole in the middle from city on the edge of forever in the back ground in sheldon dream with tiny spock that was way cool
*POST AUTHOR*
They always have the neatest collectibles and props every week, Dale :)
The second comment confuses me as I did show Raj much love…did you read both pages of my review post? The second page talks about my love for Raj :)