Visual Crossovers with Other Series/Movies

by Bernd Schneider and Jörg Hillebrand

Other Series/Movies in Star TrekStar Trek in Other Series/Movies

 

Props, costumes and graphics from other TV series or movies have appeared in Star Trek, sometimes to save budget, sometimes as deliberate in-jokes or homages. Vice versa, visual cues to Star Trek can be found in a large number of otherwise unrelated series and movies. Please take the following pictures with a grain of salt. It is not our intention to endorse theories that any of the crossovers could be canon.

 

Other Series/Movies in Star Trek

Babylon 5

One ship in Abaddon's Repository in VOY: "Alice" is an Earth Alliance destroyer of the Omega class from Babylon 5.

A prop that had appeared as a Minbari assassin weapon in the episode "The Gathering" could later be seen in VOY: "Prototype" as a Pralor device. This prop, like several others that appear in the Voyager episode, was built by Ed Kline and could be rented from Modern Props.

Battlestar Galactica

The braid with the checker pattern on the left sleeve of Admiral Kirk's uniform in "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan" (and only in this movie) is the same material as the braids on practically all classic Battlestar Galactica Colonoial uniforms.

Blues Brothers

The registry BDR-529 of the Santa Maria in DS9: "Paradise" previously (and arguably more famously) appeared as the number plate of the Bluesmobile.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

The planet matte of Aldebaran II from Buck Rogers: "The Plot to Kill a City" was re-used for Relva VII in TNG: "Coming of Age". The painting was modified in a couple of details. A dish antenna left of the main dome was replaced with a ball-shaped structure, instead of the red palm symbol on the dome there is now a Starfleet arrowhead, there are additional blue lights around the landing platform and new details on the rearmost buildings, including a small dome and some sort of garden around them. The apparent mesa at the middle distance was reshaped to a hill chain, and the otherwise unchanged mountains in the background are partially covered by a layer of mist. The sky looks somewhat different too.

The toy-like rifle that Guinan uses in TNG: "Night Terrors" is another re-use from the Buck Rogers series, where it appeared as a laser weapon.

Yet another re-use from Buck Rogers can be found in the form of the Boslic vessel in TNG: "Babel". The miniature was originally built by Ken Larson as the "Ranger", Buck's own ship, but remained unused. It was purportedly visible in a throw-away shot at the end of the first season, of which we have no visual evidence though. In Star Trek, the model continued its career as Jaheel's ship on DS9 and formed the basis for Neelix's Baxial, albeit the latter is pure CGI.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

In "Star Trek Nemesis", both Shinzon and the Reman Viceroy can be seen fighting with knives of the model UC1169 Jackal that were produced by Kit Rae in 1999. We can see the same weapon again when Vadic cuts off her hand in PIC: "No Win Scenario". This knife previously appeared in the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1999, here used by Faith Lehane.

Coming to America

The characteristic "roof tile" wall and window decorations from the Eddie Murphy movie reappear in TNG: "The Measure of a Man".

Dirty Pair

There are several references to the anime series "Dirty Pair" on displays in TNG. For instance, "Op Kei" and "Op Yuri" appear beside the graphic of the Klingon BoP in TNG: "A Matter of Honor" and in the form of a "Kei/Yuri Submodule" in "The Measure of a Man". Kei and Yuri are the protagonists of that show. "Dirty Pair" returns the favor on a couple of occasions.

Event Horizon

Some of Tuvok's frightening dream images in VOY: "Random Thoughts" were originally filmed for the sci-fi horror movie "Event Horizon" (1997).

Gilligan's Island

The sorcerer's robe from the Gilligan's Island episode "Lovey's Secret Admirer" could later be seen as Korob's costume in TOS: "Catspaw". A few years later, this same costume would also appear in Bewitched.

In the same Gilligan's Island episode, the character Mr. Howell dons the same cloak (not the jacket) that previously appeared in TOS: "The Squire of Gothos", worn by Trelane (so technically this rather belongs into the category "Star Trek in other shows"). This costume was not designed by William Ware Theiss but rented from Western Costume Company, which easily explains why it would show up in unrelated series as well (such as also The Monkees, see below). According to Betty Jo and John Trimble, William Campbell loved his role as Trelane so much that he was given such a jacket purchased from the Western Costume Company by a fan at Equicon one year.

It is barely recognizable, but the label on a monitor in DS9 reads: "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship."

I Dream of Jeannie

In DS9: "A Simple Investigation" we can see the same type of bottle that is known from I Dream of Jeannie. The bottle as it appeared in the 1960s show was originally a Jim Beam special edition decanter "Dec. 25 bottle of Beam's Choice" from 1964.

Logan's Run

The Sandmen Headquarters from the science fiction movie "Logan's Run" (1976) appears on two occasions in Star Trek, in TNG: "Final Mission" and "Tapestry". A portion of the cityscape with is characteristic pyramids is visible on the Enterprise's viewscreen, behind Admiral Bennett, in "Star Trek V".

Look Who's Talking

VOY: "Someone to Watch Over Me" shows us shots of a human ovum from the opening credits of the movie "Look Who's Talking" (1989).

Lost in Space

The lamp-like device on the ceiling of the (fake) Romulan holodeck in TNG: "Future Imperfect" is a replica of the spacecraft Jupiter II from the original Lost in Space series, according to Ed Miarecki. Also, the Jupiter II purportedly appears in the form of a chessman in TNG: "Unnatural Selection" (reported at Timecon '89). It is not really verifiable on the screen capture.

The chess piece in TNG: "Conundrum" clearly based on the robot B-9, also from Lost in Space, confirms that the first one is meant to be the Jupiter II.

Metropolis

In Clara Sutter's quarters in TNG: "Imaginary Friend" we can see a small statue of Maria, the Maschinenmensch from "Metropolis" (1927). This particular replica was produced by Masudaya in 1984 at 1/5 scale and in purple color.

Murder, She Wrote

The neon sign "Bourbon Street Barn" in TNG: "11001001" previous appeared in the Murder, She Wrote episode S01E13 "Murder to a Jazz Beat". This one aired 03 February 1985, 1020 days before "11001001" shooting began. Bourbon Street Barn is the episode's crime scene, as seen and mentioned in dialogue. At 35:36, the camera pushes in toward the sign itself.

Night of the Creeps

The Promellian battlecruiser from TNG: "Booby Trap" originally appeared in the horror movie "Night of the Creeps" (1986).

Raiders of the Lost Ark

A replica of the fertility idol from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" can be seen on a shelf in Dax's quarters in DS9: "Dax". Dax's version is not as shiny as the original, possibly in order to cover up its origin in another franchise. The prop from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" is based on a real pre-Columbian artifact. It depicts Tlazolteotl, the Aztec goddess of licentiousness.

A very similar artifact, but now Klingon-style, can be seen in LOW: "The Stars at Night". Mariner steals it from Ferengi traders, with the goal of donating it to a museum.

Robocop

In TNG: "The Dauphin" we can see Wesley with the game "Nukem" from "Robocop". His figures are from a 3D chess game, instead of the original tall metallic ICBMs. The black cards with the atomic symbol, on the other hand, belong to the Trek version of the game as well.

seaQuest DSV

seaQuest DSV borrows many motives from TNG, and likes to cite Star Trek. There is one mention of seaQuest DSV in TNG too, the name "Seaquest" of Darien Wallace's ship on a list in "Eye of the Beholder". This mention was already in the original TNG episode and is clearly identifiable since the remastered version is available.

Seven Days

The same buildings (most likely actual aircraft hangars) appear in the science fiction series Seven Days and in ENT: "First Flight".

Spaceballs

We can see the same tunnel in TNG: "Too Short a Season" and, a few years later, in "Legacy". This painted extension was originally made for the access tunnels inside the "Mega Maid" in "Spaceballs" (1987)!

Star Patrol

"Star Patrol" was produced in 2000 as a Star Trek spoof and directed by Jonathan Frakes. See below for the make-ups and models that this series pilot re-uses from Star Trek. Vice versa, the Icarus starship design from the spoof made it to the real Star Trek and became a spectator ship in VOY: "Drive" and a Vojean/Wyngari ship in VOY: "Q2".

Star Wars

In TNG: "Sub Rosa" we can make out the grave of a Mr. or Mrs. Vader, next to that of a certain McFly (or one of his time-traveling incarnations). The criminal Ibudan from DS9 has listed the departure from a spaceport called Alderaan in his schedule.

In "Star Trek: First Contact" one of the Federation vessels fighting against the Borg cube is actually a Millennium Falcon, as was confirmed by ILM VFX artist John Knoll.

Another Star Wars ship appears in the form of the Talarian warship and the designs derived from it. The main hull was taken from an Imperial Star Destroyer.

J.J. Abrams included Star Wars Easter eggs to his Star Trek movies. The technology of R2-D2 from a long time ago in a galaxy far away was no help against the Narada in orbit of Vulcan though. R2-D2 reappears in "Star Trek Into Darkness" when the Enterprise is first attacked by the Vengeance.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

The DS9 episode "Equilibrium" has two references to the 1984 movie "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension". The first is another re-use of the oscillation overthruster prop from the movie, this time as a medical scanning device of the Trill. The second is the alleged name "Whorfin Dax" of a former Dax host on a monitor, as a homage to the character of John Whorfin, played by John Lithgow. We can spot other humorous names in the alphabetical list, such as "Batman Androbin", "Bedrock Townof" or "Bell Pacific".

Regarding "Buckaroo Banzai", the movie also appears in the form of the ship SS Buckaroo Banzai BBI-993, "commanded by Captain John Whorfin, launched in 2137 on a mission to Planet 10 (DIM 8) in the Ficus Sector". At least, this is listed on an Okudagram in TNG: "Up the Long Ladder". Whorfin is also the class name of the two passenger transports in "Star Trek Generations".

The Outer Limits

The stuntman and animal imitator Janos Prohaska worked for many TV productions of the 1960s, including Star Trek and also notably The Outer Limits. It appears that Prohaska brought a couple of costumes and masks to Star Trek, which benefited the show with its notoriously low budget. Prohaska shows up as soon as in the first pilot "The Cage", where he portrays the anthropoid ape and the humanoid bird. The mask of the former creature is definitely a re-use of Calco from the Outer Limits episode "Fun and Games".

It is quite possible that the humanoid bird in "The Cage" originates in The Outer Limits too, more precisely the Megasoid in "The Duplicate Man". The beak and some details are different though.

There is another possible re-use from The Outer Limits that is often hinted at. The famous Horta (TOS: "The Devil in the Dark") is said to have previously appeared as the microbe beast in The Outer Limits: "The Probe". However, while there is definitely a resemblance, the microbe beast has some sort of tentacles, unlike the Horta.

A hazard vest from The Outer Limits, more precisely from the episode "Production and Decay of Strange Particles", appears in two Star Trek episodes. It can be briefly seen in "The Corbomite Maneuver", and the dead Barnhart wears it in "The Man Trap" (here complete with the helmet).

UFO

We can see many CG models of ships that previously on Star Trek Voyager in Abaddon's Repository in VOY: "Alice". One model, however, is a UFO from the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson series from 1970.

V (1983)

The Batris from TNG: "Heart of Glory" re-uses the modules of a Visitor shuttle from V (the original series). The front section of the Batris, on the other hand, was ripped off from a ship that appeared in the shortl-lived Disney series Earth Star Voyager.

West Wing

The casualty list from VOY: "Imperfection" has three "real" casualties listed, namely those of Marie Kaplan, Lyndsay Ballard and Timothy Lang who all died in the course of the series. The rest of the names seem to have been taken from West Wing characters!

Miscellaneous

In TNG: "The Neutral Zone" Deanna Troi sifts through Clare Raymond's family tree to find relatives of the woman who had been frozen since the late 20th century (actually the display claims she died as late as 2035 as opposed to the spoken dialogue). Clare Raymond learns that her two sons were married to "Ginger Grant" and "Maryann Summers" from "Gilligan's Island". Her four grandchildren were named "Jonathan Frakes Raymond", "Denise P. Raymond", "LeVar Burton Raymond" and "Cheryl Gates Raymond". Their spouses were "Brent Spiner Raymond", "Marina Sirtis Raymond" and "Wil Wesley Raymond". The next generation has "Charles E. Winchester", "Sherman T. Potter", "Francis J. Mulcahey", "Margaret Houlihan", "Walter O'Reilly" "Kelleye Nakahara" - all characters from M*A*S*H. In the fifth generation we can make out "William Hartnell", "Patrick Troughton", "Jon Pertwee", "Tom Baker", "Peter Davison", "Colin Baker" - all of whom played the Doctor in Doctor Who. In addition, we find "Mary Richards" und "Louis Grant" in this generation, from Mary Tyler Moore. The following two generations are almost illegible owing to the smaller font size, but eagle eyes may make out "Kermit T. Frog" and "Miss Piggy".

The screen displays were completely revised for the HD edition. The sometimes rather silly in-jokes referring to the TNG cast or to characters from other series were altered to be less obvious. The first generations are composed of: "Clare Raymond", "Donald Raymond", "Edward Raymond", "Ginger Summers", "Thomas Raymond", "Mary A. Grant", "Jonathan F. Raymond", "Marina S. Despina", "Denise C. Raymond", "Brent S. Jay Raymond", "Levardis B. Raymond", "Cheryl G. Raymond", "Wil W. Lachance Raymond", "Charles W. Raymond", "Sherman P. Raymond", "Francis M. Raymond", "Margaret H. Raymond", "Walter O. Raymond", "Kelleye N. Raymond", "Craig Weiss Raymond", "Nicki Kreitzman", "Chris Tezber Raymond", "Kiki Morris Raymond", "Sarah Paul Raymond", "Wade Felker Raymond", "Keven Scotti Raymond" and "Wendy Ruiz Raymond". The names of the crew working on the HD edition, such as Wendy Ruiz and also Niel Wray, were newly added. Also, the family tree now includes the place of birth and the dates of birth and of death for each member of the Raymond family. Finally, the spelling of Clare Raymond was changed from "Claire" to "Clare" on the first screen, and the date of her death was fixed.

 

Star Trek in Other Series/Movies

Airplane II

This hilarious movie from 1982 famously has William Shatner as the commander of the lunar base named "Alpha Beta", who gets mad about the "blinking, beeping and flashing lights" in his control room. When he looks into his periscope, he spots - the Enterprise. The "blinking tubes" and freezer spacer walls also appear in "Airplane II".

Back to the Future

In the year 1955, Marty McFly famously appears to his father as "Darth Vader, an extraterrestrial from the planet Vulcan" and performs a Vulcan salute.

Battlestar Galactica

We can see a vessel with two suspiciously long jump drives as a part of the ragtag fleet - the original USS Enterprise. A five-engined ship, which can be seen in two episodes, is composed of parts of the Hirogen ship from Star Trek Voyager. And in the 4th season episode "The Ties That Bind" the pivotal scene in which Cally learns that her husband, Chief Tyrol, is a Cylon, takes place in "Weapons Locker 1701D".

Bewitched

In the episode "Samantha's Bad Day in Salem" we can see a re-use of Korob's robe from TOS: "Catspaw" (that also appeared on Gilligan's Island).

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

We can see the often re-used Tillman Water Reclamation Plant as "Bill & Ted University" in the 1991 comedy film. After watching TOS: "Arena" earlier in the movie, Bill and Ted are transported to Vasquez Rocks, where they are tossed off the cliff and encounter Death (William Sadler aka Sloane).

Black Mirror: USS Callister

The virtual reality scenario in this Black Mirror episode is very obviously a parody of TOS, not only because of its look but also because of the story clichés that are incorporated. In the teaser of the episode, the "USS Callister" is still shown in standard definition and a narrow screen ratio, other than the scenes supposedly taking place in real life, as it used to be an old TV show in the Black Mirror Universe.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

In the 1977 sci-fi movie, we can see models of the original Enterprise and of a Klingon battlecruiser that belong to the character Roy Neary.

DC's Legends of Tomorrow

DC's Legends of Tomorrow, a series set in the Arrowverse, parodies Star Trek in its episode "The One Where We're Trapped On TV". The Waverider starship of that series becomes the "USS Faterider". Uniforms and sets are modeled after TOS. We see series regulars Sara Lance as "Captain Kirk" and Ava Sharpe as "Spock", commanding a crew of androids (all with short pants or skirts). They run into the "Gromulans" and some wrathful guy named "Dhan".

Dirty Pair

The Dirty Pair episode 1 "How to Kill a Computer" shows a list with some familiar names. DeForest Kelley is not spelled correctly though. In episode 2, "Do Lovely Angels Prefer Chest Hair?", we see a random bit of decoration in the meeting room of a space cruiser company who are discussing why their ships are being destroyed in so many "accidents". On a further note, Dirty Pair forms sort of a symbiotic relationship with Star Trek as the latter returns the favor with several references to "Kei" and "Yuri" and with Rick Sternbach basing the design of the exocomp on the Dirty Pair character of Nanmo.

In the Dirty Pair episode "No Way! 463 People Disappeared?", there is a clear shot of Arthur having a model Enterprise hanging from his ceiling. On closer inspection, one can almost make out the full registry. The episode "But They're Only Children!" features a team of rowdy children taking over a military base and demanding that every station play only cartoons. Hidden within the generic kiddie stuff is the Enterprise transforming into some butt-kicking robot.

Firefly

We can see Trek vessels in the form of repurposed CG models in at least three episodes of the series.

In addition, an LCARS layout appears on a console. This prop could be rented from Modern Props, and at it has obviously retained the LCARS panel from its appearances in Star Trek Voyager, in "Life Line" and "Inside Man".

FishCenter Live

FishCenter Live is a talk show on Adult Swim. In the episode broadcast Thursday, 13 December 2018, hosts of the show featured the USS FishCenterprise NCC-1065. 1065 is the street number for Williams Street, which produces content for Adult Swim. In the episode broadcast Thursday, 13 February 2020, hosts of the show play a video clip from 2015 of co-host Drew. In his workspace, Drew has four Star Trek: Ships of the Line calendars and Hot Wheels models of the USS Kelvin and USS Vengeance.

Futurama

Futurama has Star Trek references in most of its episodes, from story concepts over character similarities to re-used sounds. The DOOP is a spoof of the United Federation of Planets, just like Zapp Brannigan is modeled on Captain Kirk (or rather, on a Kirk who is more like William Shatner). "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" is a whole episode concerned with Star Trek and its cultural impact in the future.

Heroes

The character Hiro Nakamura is fond of Star Trek and performs the Vulcan salute on several occasions. George Takei appears as Hiro's father in the episode "Distractions". The license plate of his car reads "NCC-1701".

James Bond 007 - Goldeneye

Hacker Boris Grishenko has a spinning cube graphic on his screen in the 1995 Bond movie. One of the images appearing on the cube as it spins is a communicator and the Starfleet logo.

Men in Black

The first "Men in Black" film from 1997 includes an abundance of blank metal style props that are also visible in various Star Trek episodes. They were all designed by Ed Kline and could be rented from the now defunct company Modern Props. The earliest appearance of such a prop in Star Trek is TNG: "Suspicions" (1993). Several of the props can be seen in VOY: "Prototype" (1996). Some of them appear in later Star Trek episodes as well, such as VOY: "Scientific Method" (1997), DS9: "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" (1999) and VOY: "Flesh and Blood" (2000). Only one of the devices is identified in the movie. It is the universal translator, which used to be a phase coil resonator in VOY: "Prototype".

See a complete list of Ed Kline's props in Star Trek episodes.

Men in Black II

Several Star Trek weapons can be seen in the first "Men in Black" sequel from 2002. The first screen cap from the movie shows an obvious Romulan disruptor pistol and a phaser that was designed by Ed Kline for "Star Trek V" but apparently remained unused. The third former Trek prop is a truncheon from VOY: "Time and Again" that was auctioned off by IaW in 2007. On the second screen cap we can see two standard phasers as they were used since the second season of Voyager and fourth season of DS9, as well as in "First Contact" and "Insurrection". Furthermore, a TOS phaser is visible in this picture.

MacGyver

In the MacGyver pilot episode we can see the torpedo hatch on the Enterprise as it first appeared in "Star Trek II".

Mork & Mindy

In the episode "Mork Goes Public" Mindy's father is wearing the protection suit from TOS: "The Naked Time" with the helmet from "The Tholian Web".

Mork is wearing Colonel Green's uniform from "The Savage Curtain" with slight modifications, most notably a big silver triangle. His helmet, by the way, originates in the Outer Limits episode "Soldier".

Pastewka

In the German series Pastewka (2005-2020) comedian Bastian Pastewka plays himself (sort of). He is a TV junkie and Star Trek is among his favorite series (also in real life, as far as I can tell). It is no surprise that in the series, Pastewka owns several Star Trek paraphernalia. "Der Tricorder", for instance, is a whole episode dedicated to the trouble that the eponymous device causes in his life. Other fan items include ship models such as of the Enterprise-D and a bobble head figure of Scotty.

Please Stand By

This charming road movie (2017) is about an autistic young woman, who travels to Los Angeles to deliver a Star Trek script to Paramount Pictures. Unsurprisingly, it has many visual Star Trek references.

Ready Player One

This movie from 2018 has several Star Trek references, of which the Federation flag on James Halliday's torpedo coffin is the most obvious one. We can also see a poster of Wil Wheaton and finally a TMP poster and a bat'leth in Parzival and Art3mis's apartment. Simon Pegg appears in the role of Ogden Morrow.

Schlag den Raab/Henssler/Star/Besten

The German game show "Schlag den Raab" (famous for usually lasting over 5 hours) stole adopted the olive (or laurel) leaves around its logo from the Federation emblem. The design is almost perfectly congruent. The three spin-offs "Schlag den Henssler", "Schlag den Star" and "Schlag den Besten" use very similar logos with the Federation-style wreath.

seaQuest DSV

seaQuest DSV is also known as "Underwater Star Trek" as the series borrows many character and story concepts from TNG, but usually without direct references. There are two exceptions, though. The episode "Hide and Seek" has William Shatner as a guest star. When he appears on the viewscreen, we can spot James Tiberius Kirk's initials "JTK" along with a familiar starship registry at the bottom. On the top of the screen we can also see "WS" for William Shatner. In "Dream Weaver", we can see a commemoration plaque for Nomad Mk-25A, the "first interstellar probe to seek out evidence of new life-forms".

Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202

The first episode of this series, titled "A.D. 2202 - Revive, Space Battleship Yamato", shows two ships in the Earth fleet that are most likely nods to Star Trek, one being named Kirk and another one named Defiant.

Star Patrol

"Star Patrol" was produced in 2000 as a Star Trek spoof. Besides a number of costumes, props and sets that are similar to those in the original, we can see several definite re-uses, such as the Defiant viewscreen, presumably the Tygarian make-up, a metallic headband from TNG: "The Most Toys" and "Aquiel", the ship of the cytoplasmic lifeform from VOY: "Nothing Human" and the Bajoran subimpulse raider from DS9: "The Siege". The CGI re-use is easy to explain because many people working on Star Trek helped out with this project. Vice versa, as seen above, the Icarus starship design made it to the real Star Trek and became a spectator ship in VOY: "Drive" and a Vojean/Wyngari ship in VOY: "Q2".

Stargate

There are references to Star Trek in various Stargate SG-1 episodes. In the Stargate Universe, Star Trek is "only" a TV show and is quoted as such. For instance, in the episode SG1: "Unnatural Selection" Jack O'Neill suggests the name Enterprise for the spaceship X-303. In SG1: "Children of the Gods" the character Louis Ferretti can be seen doing the Vulcan hand salute. SG1: "200" even shows the crew in a Star Trek parody with according uniforms.

SG1: "The Other Guys", however, has a genuine in-joke, as we can see a bat'leth behind Khonsu's throne. The episode also features John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox) as a scientist who loves to quote Star Trek.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

Leonardo watches the show "Space Heroes" that is very blatantly a Star Trek knock-off, specifically The Animated Series. The show is done in 2D ink & paint style almost distinguishing it as animated within the show. Further adding to this is the various nuances (limited animation particularly) actually serving as homage to TAS itself versus a cut & paste TOS parody. In one episode, we can also see a movie poster for "Space Heroes III", which is obviously based on the "Star Trek III" poster.

The A-Team (2010)

In the movie "The A-Team" we can see the credits of a movie in which an actor named "Reginald Barclay" is credited. Of course, this is a reference to Dwight Schultz, who played Reginald Barclay on TNG as well as Murdock in the A-Team series.

The Big Bang Theory

No other TV series is so full of references to Star Trek as "The Big Bang Theory". The perhaps most noteworthy episode in this regard is "The Bakersfield Expedition". Here we can see Sheldon dressed as Data, Leonard as Captain Picard, Raj as Worf and Howard as a Borg. Vasquez Rocks also appears in the episode.

The Haunting of Bly Manor

A movie poster of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" can be seen in Miles Wingrave's bedroom in the second episode of the Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor.

The Monkees

As already mentioned, in TOS: "The Squire of Gothos" Trelane wears a cloak and jacket that could be purchased from the Western Costume Company. Besides Gilligan's Island, parts of the costume (this time the jacket, not the cloak) would also appear in the following year in an episode of The Monkees titled "The Prince And The Paupers".

The Orville

The whole look and feel of The Orville is clearly modeled on Star Trek, and specifically on the TNG era. Definite Star Trek references, on the other hand, are comparably rare. For instance, in the season 2 premiere, "Ja'loja", we can see a Map of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is very similar in its style and segmentation to the one from TNG: "Conspiracy". The original Star Trek map already appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures (see below).

The Real Ghostbusters

The episode "Ain't NASA-sarily So" is full of references to Star Trek. It begins with the captain's log (of the space station). The emblem of the station is a slight variation of the familiar Starfleet arrowhead and the communications officer looks conspicuously like Uhura.

The Sarah Jane Adventures

In the pilot episode of this Doctor Who spin-off series a map of the Milky Way Galaxy can be seen, which was originally produced for TNG: "Conspiracy". Unlike the Trek-inspired map that would be created for The Orville (see above), we can see the original map (or a reprint thereof).

The Simpsons

Owing to the extremely long lifespan of The Simpsons, there are many Star Trek references in the series. Several of them are related to the Comic Book Guy, who is an ardent Trek fan and has become a (mostly negatively connoted) stereotype in this regard. Some references include cameos of actors, such as notably Leonard Nimoy in "Marge vs. the Monorail" and "The Springfield Files". There are also many in-jokes and off-topic mentions with a Star Trek theme. More recently, the episode "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner" shows Simpsons characters in Star Trek guise in its end credits, whereas "Lisa with an 'S'" features a Trek-related couch gag.

The Time Machine (2002)

In this remake of the classic film based on the novel by H. G. Wells, the time traveler arrives in a public library of the future where he asks the holographic guide questions about time travel. The guide, however, claims that this is science fiction and says goodbye with the Vulcan greeting. We also hear a TOS door noise when he disappears.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

In this Michael Bay movie from 2011, Wheelie is watching the Star Trek episode "Amok Time", "the one where Spock goes nuts". Furthermore Leonard Nimoy voices Sentinel Prime in the movie, saying "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".

Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy

The light columns from Enterprise-E engineering (that would later appear on Risa) could also be seen in the TV movie "The Osiris Chronicles" aka "Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy", produced for the UPN network in 1998. Its production design is very reminiscent of that of Star Trek anyway.

West Wing

In the West Wing episode "Manchester, Part I" the Botany Bay is listed on a situation chart along with several actual US Navy ships. This is no surprise, considering that no one else but Mike Okuda made this display.

Other Anime

Star Trek is referenced in several more Japanese anime series. In "Daphne in the Brilliant Blue" we look at the motor in a character's car. The dialogue actually mentions the names as it refers to the type of engine. Note that "NC1701D" is missing a "C".

In "Gunsmith Cats", surprisingly a non-sci-fi instance, we can see a license plate with a rather out-of-this-world registry.

In "The Irresponsible Captain Tylor" the English dub mentions phasers and photon torpedoes as two of the weapons that the two warring factions use. However that can only be noted for the dub and may not hold true for the original dialogue. There's even a point where the characters are enthralled by some nebula and The Blue Danube plays in the background as an obvious homage to "2001: A Space Odyssey" (again this can't be confirmed from original Japanese). Also of note is the fact that the UPSF and the Ralgon Empire in the anime looks like the Federation versus the Romulan Star Empire, also because the Ralgon have pointed ears. Anyway, an obvious visual reference is in the ship designs, of which one is clearly inspired by Klingon cruisers such as the Vor'cha.

Speaking of Easter eggs on monitors, there is one on the SDF-1's bridge in Robotech season 1 (or "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross"), mentioning "Klingons", "Enterprise" and "Ph Torps". Also note that it takes "09 years to repair" the damaged computer. ;-) More specifically, this is a reference to the BASIC computer game "Star Trek" that was popular in the late 70s. The screen imitates the text-based interface of that game.

There are a couple of Trek references in the Tenchi Muyo series, among them a one-eyed Spock in the Episode 4 prologue.

A clear Trek reference in the form of the Galileo shuttle with the registry "NCC-1701-A" can be found in "The Darkest Day" of the Dragon Ball Z series.

In "Sonic: The Movie" we can see a ship inspired by the Enterprise as part of the wreckage on Sonic's island.

In the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series from 1993 on ABC, Princess Sally's personal computer, NICOLE, looks like the tricorders from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager.

During a trippy hyperdrive flight in "Heavy Metal", we come across the wreckage and debris of many spacefaring objects including an unmistakable Enterprise.

In "Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou" ("His and Her Circumstances"), episode 8, time index 11:45, we can see the Enterprise registry on the big bottle in the lab.

In episode 12 of the anime "I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job", we can see a flying chariot with a familiar registry and an equally familiar looking character sitting in the captain's chair.

The Mega Man NT Warrior episode "The Covert Operations of World Three!" features a door whose security code is "1701E".

 

See Also

Re-Used Planet Sets - including the buildings from "Logan's Run"

Re-Uses of the Vasquez Rocks Location - observations about Star Trek's most famous filming location

Re-Used Props - Engineering Tools - including the oscillation overthruster

Visual In-Jokes - deliberate in-jokes on displays and props

 

Credits

Some screen caps from TrekCore. The information about Trelane's cloak comes from an article at startrek.com. The information on the knife in "Nemesis" and Buffy is taken from the Kit Rae website. Thanks to Robert Heckadon, Paul Eisner and Michael Minnick for several contributions! Special thanks to Michael Minnick for tending to the Japanese anime. P.O. Holland found the "Tenchi Muyo" reference, Branden Lee Wilson saw the shuttle in "Dragon Ball Z", Josh Wagner discovered how "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" mimics the interface of the old Star Trek game, Artur A. Tello spotted the NCC-1701 in "His and Her Circumstances", Andrew Friden found the references in "The Real Ghostbusters", SonicJordan noticed the tricorder in the Sonic series, Jörg Drückhammer saw the NCC-1701-D in "I Couldn't Become a Hero...", Kieren found the Trek names in Space Battleship Yamato, Nathaniel Hoover noticed the "1701E" in MegaMan NT Warrior, Shaun Aki spotted the Trek ship in West Wing, LearnedHand found the references in seaQuest DSV, Spike and Nachum1 discovered the uniform braid in BSG, Greg Tyler noticed additional in-jokes in seaQuest, s47 found the NCC-1701 number plate in Heroes, Kiel Bryant spotted the light columns in "Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy", Joe pointed out the Trek references in "Transformers" to us, Sastrei87 found the five-nacelled ship in BSG, TechniMyoko spotted the Trek map in The Orville, DrWho42 noticed the USS FishCenterprise. Lee discovered the real-life origin of the Indiana Jones idol, Michael Zock spotted the hangars in Seven Days, Greg Price found the rifle in Buck Rogers, Matt Wright pointed us to the Star Wars references in the movies, Jochen provided the screen caps of the Millennium Falcon. The "Mega Maid" corridor was found by Dan Carlson, and the Mork & Mindy references are from a thread at the TrekBBS, with an additional hint from Frederick. The costume in Gilligan's Island was found by CRM-114 at the TrekBBS. Finally, special thanks to Fabio Passaro for digging up old files to identify CG models!

 


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