“The Big Bang Theory” had some excellent guest stars over the years, and thanks to the main characters’ pop culture interests, quite a few of them were major “Star Trek” names. Wil Wheaton’s turn as a malignant version of himself is a recurring character worthy of a spin-off, while folks like George Takei and William Shatner also have fun “The Big Bang Theory” cameos in their résumés. However, there’s one “Star Trek” titan who’s largely absent: Leonard Nimoy. This is explained in-universe by Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) being such a Spock mega-fan that he has a restraining order from the actor.
Entertainingly, Nimoy’s absence is almost a character in its own right. Sheldon’s ultimate idol was referenced on the show several times, and Nimoy ended up making a fitting cameo in “The Big Bang Theory” season 5, episode 20 (“The Transporter Malfunction”) … by voicing Sheldon’s Spock action figure. In a 2012 interview with Collider, Nimoy explained how his involvement with the episode came to be:
“They asked me to appear on the show. For various reasons, a physical appearance didn’t work out, but when they came up with this idea of voicing the Spock character with Sheldon being given a ‘Star Trek’ transporter, I thought the whole idea was wonderful. It was a way for me to deliver an appearance on the show and to work with that very, very talented bunch of people.”
