Arena (Star Trek: The Original Series) - Cultural References

Cultural References

• Bill and Ted watch the episode sequence involving Vasquez Rocks in the movie Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey; they are then kidnapped by their evil robot duplicates and taken to Vasquez Rocks itself (roughly 60 miles from their home town) and hurled to their deaths.

• The Star Trek fans in Free Enterprise do re-enactments at Vasquez Rocks.

• In the movie Tropic Thunder, Tugg Speedman, portrayed by Ben Stiller, can be seen watching the fight between Captain Kirk and the Gorn on his iPod. Stiller previously mentioned the Gorn at the Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond tribute special.

• British comedian Justin Lee Collins' documentary Bring Back...Star Trek centers around his efforts to reassemble as many of the original cast as possible in an effort to recreate the feel of the show. In the closing moments of the documentary, Collins and original Gorn actor Bobby Clark recreate the classic battle in a parody fashion, with Clark in a humorously fake Gorn costume.

• In the "Mini Myth Mayhem" episode of the popular science television series Mythbusters, experiments were performed to test whether or not Kirk's makeshift cannon would function as seen in "Arena." A real-life replica of Kirk's cannon failed in several respects. First, the crudely manufactured, unrefined gunpowder equivalent (made by grinding the individual ingredients together with rocks, as in "Arena") was not an effective explosive, burning and producing smoke, but lacking the explosive force upon ignition to propel ammunition any significant distance. Second, when the replica cannon was loaded with a genuine gunpowder charge, the force of the explosion destroyed the barrel and the dummy standing in for Kirk was severely damaged; when a second replica, reinforced with plywood, was fired, the resulting damage to the dummy was even more severe. In all cases, the Gorn stand-in (a cardboard cut-out resembling the character) either emerged unscathed or sustained far less damage than the Kirk stand-in.

• Within the first minute of the movie Coneheads, the radar operator is briefly distracted by Captain Kirk battling the Gorn captain, and is delayed in notifying Central Command of an incoming UFO.

• The Onion used a clip from the fight in the newscast: "Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film as Fun."

• In the movie Paul, they reenact the battle against the Gorn, before running away because of people watching them.

• Parts of the fight between the Gorn captain and Captain Kirk were parodied in the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before," pitting William Shatner against Leela (Katey Sagal). They end up making out.

• In the 1999 film Galaxy Quest, as actor Jason Nesmith ("Cmdr. Peter Quincy Taggart") battles the giant Rock Creature on a barren planet (with his shirt ripped off), Guy Fleegman ("Crewman #6") suggests he try to find the makings of a "rudimentary lathe."

• In the Season 4 episode of The Big Bang Theory "The Apology Insufficiency," Leonard points to a Gorn sitting in Sheldon's spot on the apartment couch as evidence that Sheldon is asleep and having a guilt-ridden dream. A Gorn also briefly appears as part of a dream in the Season 5 episode "The Transporter Malfunction".

• The fight between Captain Kirk and the Gorn was parodied in the season one episode of The Aquabats! Super Show!, "CobraMan!', in which superhero The MC Bat Commander battles the reptilian monster CobraMan in a rocky desert setting. It was also 'analyzed' by Neil Goldman in the Family Guy episode The Kiss Seen Around the World.