Pop culture and Shenny

[cassiusmoriarty]

Can we please talk about how many pop culture references there are in Big Bang theory and how it reflects back on our beloved characters as well?
I mean every time I think of Penny watching Doctor Who with Sheldon I imagine she relates a lot to Rose even though she probably wants to be an Amy Pond with her very own Rory and Doctor. Plus we all know Sheldon practically would be the Doctor if we're keeping up with this analogy. Or we could talk about Star Trek and the fact that Sheldon quite obviously would be a Spock incarnate. If we go down this road Penny is something like Kirk or Uhura depending on if we're talking about the original series or the reboot. Feel free to add and expand upon this please!

[Idle Miscreant]

This looks to be an interesting thread indeed.
Personally I can't contribute, because when it comes to pop culture I'm about as useless as a cat-flap in an elephant house, to quote Blackadder. Is Blackadder pop culture? God knows...
Anyroad, in general I get Sheldon's twitch-face on.



But I hope the rest of you idlers contribute, and welcome Cassiusmoriarty, O ye of the extraordinary name. And SIGNATURE. My own favourite Shelley quote;

'Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.'

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Being a fan of both the original Star Trek and the new movies, I think I can help you out here Gripe.

In the original series Spock was completely Homo Novus. He was early Sheldon to a tee. They only ever gave him one fleeting pon farr (which is the closet Vulcans come to passion) but the rest of the time he was solitary and had no interest in relationships. This was most obvious when a certain nurse, Miss Chapel, fell in love with him and Spock didn't understand this and shied away from her affections. This caused Nurse Chapel constant heartache because he would never touch her, no matter how she tried. Notably, the Nurse Chapel costume was the one Amy donned in the episode where she played Star Trek with Sheldon. But as any good ST fan will knows, they never got together.

The writers had originally wanted to set Spock up with Uhura. Only William Shatner vettoed this. He wanted HIS character to have a relationship with Uhura so consequently the Vulcan/Human romance never happened in the original series. Then in the new movies it did! Spock and Uhura are having a committed relationship. And just for the record Spock is the Science Officer, he is all logic. Uhura is the Communications Officer and she's all heart. So yes, I can very much see Penny as the Communications Officer of BB!

[cassiusmoriarty]

This feels like quite the warm welcome! Wow I wasn't expecting this. I appreciate both of your posts. To respond to Major Gripe here momentarily, yes Blackadder can be considered pop culture(also doesn't that show share it's name with a snake? I can't remember if it's poisonous or not but I'm pretty sure that snake is native to Europe as well. Don't quote me on this it's been a long while since I've studied this stuff. Also I love your Shelley quote! As for Tuesday Pajamas your summary of Star Trek was fabulous! Couldn't have said it better myself (No. Honestly I couldn't. I suck at articulation.)
Moving onwards now! Some pop culture comparisons I thought of yesterday were Harry Potter and DC comics. In Harry Potter I can't quite think of specific characters they resemble but I can think of the houses they belong to. Penny would probably go to Gryffindor while Sheldon(although he has the huge potential to got to Slytherin) would go to Ravenclaw. As for DC comics I'd like to think that Penny is kind of like Stephanie Brown(on of the batgirls) actually, or maybe a little like Dick Grayson. I would say she resembles Dick because they're both pretty charismatic in whatever group of misfits they choose to hang out with and both seem to be the people with all the heart when it comes to batman(or Sheldon like he like to claim). Then again that seem to be the role of every Robin and batgirl. Be the obvious heart of Batman. Stephanie is also a comparison that comes to mind for Penny because she's someone who has been through her share of bad relationshipsor experiences and yet still manages to find something like the will to keep going an keep smiling. That, makes me think of Penny quite a bit.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Now I have pictures in my head of Sheldon and Penny at Hogwarts. I need a manip!

I agree that Sheldon would almost get into Slytherin. The sorting hat would skim through his various villainous thoughts and find the Death Ray but before it made it's final decision the word 'Moonpie' would crop up and then all the times he helped Penny, for little or no reward. So yes, he's a Gryffindor!

Penny as Supergirl!

[cassiusmoriarty]

I completely forgot about Supergirl!!!! My mind is going through all the DC canon relationships that have to do with Supergirl and I'm now replacing characters with the TBBT gang and I love it so much!
I'm pretty sure at one point I had a marvel crossover in mind but I forgot it completely with all this DC talk.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

The Flash is Marvel as well as far as I know. So two Marvel characters - the Flash and Supergirl. Who did you have lined up for the others?

[wellplayedpenny]

The Flash is Marvel as well as far as I know. So two Marvel characters - the Flash and Supergirl. Who did you have lined up for the others?

Supergirl and the Flash are DC like Bat-Man, Superman, Aquaman and Green Lantern. Marvel is X-Men, Avengers and of course Ben Affleck's Daredevil.

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Oh damn.

And Spiderman? he's Marvel right. He was my favourite before the movies. Don't mind the movies but the comics were amazing, he was like an alien.

[FranEssi]

Many Shenny shippers have already noted the similarities between Penny/Sheldon and Elizabeth/Mr. Darcy. There is also the Beauty and the Beast interpretation of their characters and their relationship.