Mayim Bialik recently shared her love (and fear) of Star Trek with a throwback clip posted on TikTok. The Big Bang Theory actress is completely unrecognizable in the video, dressed as the character Data. Bialik underwent this transformation in honor of her Watch Magazine 2016 cover shoot. She also dressed up as some of Star Trek‘s most memorable characters at the time, including Spock, Captain Kirk, and Janice Rand.
Mayim Bialik Introduced Big Bang Theory Fans to Star Trek
The shoot marked the 50th anniversary of the beloved franchise, and Bialik took some time to reminisce about the series. As a star of The Big Bang Theory, the actress was a perfect choice for the cover.
“What’s really neat is that thanks to Big Bang, there’s a whole new group of fans who have been introduced to Star Trek,” she explained to Watch. “My thought is that maybe people who have always been into Star Trek have become Big Bang fans because of all of the love our characters have for Star Trek! It’s the perfect meeting of the minds!”
Fans Love Bialik’s Star Trek Cosplay
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight promoting the cover, the actress shared how terrifying Star Trek could be.
“I went and saw The Wrath of Khan when I was a very young child and the scene where they put that thing in his ear scared me so much that my brother and I had to go to a payphone in the movie theatre and call my parents to come pick me up,” she confessed in the clip.
The Jeopardy! host captioned the video, “Still haunts me to this day.” Fans were quick to praise her costume.
“Well, that’s an awesome Data cosplay,” one said. Another user commented, “Great costume. I didn’t even recognize you. I had to look and see whose TikTok this was.”
“I literally cannot look at the screen during this scene,” one user shared. Another added, “I remember seeing this scene on tv when I was young and I was terrified for months that things were going to crawl into my ear while I slept.”
The clip has gone viral, with over 37,000 views on TikTok. It’s a rare good bit of press for the actress, who has been receiving mixed reviews for her performance as a host on Jeopardy! Show executives are still looking for a permanent replacement for Alex Trebek, but Bialik is still reportedly the frontrunner for the position.