Star Trek Easter Egg Snuck Onto Jeopardy

The long-running game show Jeopardy! is no stranger to sneaking pop culture references into the show, but a recent episode's Star Trek: The Next Generation reference was subtly brilliant.

Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that two of the otherwise ordinary-looking categories in Double Jeopardy were in fact a reference to Next Generation season five episode "Darmok" and shared their observation on Reddit.

Presented individually the categories "Shaka," which was dedicated to the Zulu king and conqueror, and "When The Walls Fell," which had questions about famous walls have nothing to do with Star Trek. But put them together they make up a phrase from the fan favorite episode.

In "Darmok" Captain Jean-Luc Picard learns to speak with an alien race called the Children of Tama. Their language is incompatible with the Starfleet's translator requiring Picard to have to work hard to find understanding, which only comes when he and the Tamarian captain find themselves in danger. One of the phrases spoken in Tamarian in the episode is "shaka, when the walls fell."

It's unknown if the references were deliberate nod as there were no other references in the episode, but it isn't the first time Jeopardy! has had Star Trek references. The show has gone so far as to have an entire category of questions dedicated to Leonard Nimoy.