YOUNG AMY
Sheldon’s future wife, seen in her signature nightgown, was up late reading her beloved Little House on the Prairie. (Watch the scene and read our post mortem.)
SHELDON’S LORD OF THE RINGS FANDOM
Years before a Lord of the Rings film prop threatened to tear him and his friends apart on Big Bang, Young Sheldon in Season 3, Episode 4 dove into the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien and had dreams where he, too, had transformed into Gollum.
BIG BANG CAMEO NO. 1: KALEY CUOCO
TVLine was the first to confirm that Cuoco made an uncredited, voice-only cameo in Season 3, Episode 10, in which Sheldon had a nightmare where he was taunted by a bacteria-infested pool. She was the first of Jim Parsons’ former castmates to cross-over to Young Sheldon. (Watch the scene and read our post mortem.)
HOT BEVERAGE OF COMFORT (AND FUTURE REVEAL)
It was during the events of Season 3, Episode 12 that the “hot beverage of comfort” became Sheldon’s “go-to method of dealing with someone in emotional distress — and it always worked,” he said. Well, “except when my wife was in labor, where it was suggested that I throw it in my own face.”
When George stumbled upon Sheldon making tea for fellow pint-sized genius Paige, he told his son that he was proud of him. That was all the reason Sheldon needed to continue with this method for years to come.
‘A REAL EYE-TALIAN TREAT’
Sheldon first revealed his favorite childhood meal — spaghetti with cut-up hot dogs — to Penny during Season 3 of Big Bang. On Young Sheldon, the pasta dish is Sheldon’s designated Thursday-night dinner. We saw him attempt to make it for himself in Season 3, Episode 21, before Mary served it to the entire family in Season 5, Episode 4.
STEPHEN HAWKING
Long before Sheldon befriended the renowned theoretical physicist, he would score an all-expense paid trip to Pasadena, Calif., where he and George attended an (off-screen) lecture by his scientific hero….
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
That same episode — Season 3, Episode 16 — found Sheldon and his dad at his future alma mater Caltech. In the tag scene, father and son stood in the doorway of the cafeteria, where Sheldon would one day convene with his good friends Leonard, Howard and Raj. (Watch the prophetic scene and read our post mortem.)
MARY’S NASTY HABIT
In Big Bang‘s Season 2 premiere, a drugged-up Sheldon let slip to Leonard that Mary used to smoke in the family car. Her nasty habit carried over to the prequel, first when Sheldon’s mom was caught smoking in Season 3, Episode 21.
FUN WITH FLAGS
In the Season 3 finale, Sheldon made a videotape to convince Mary to let him go to college. Behind him was a chalkboard, the writing on which mirrored the writing on the whiteboards used as a backdrop for Sheldon and Amy’s long-running web series.
BIG BANG CAMEO NO. 2: MAYIM BIALIK
In the Season 4 premiere, Jim Parsons was reunited with Mayim Bialik, who reprised her role as Sheldon’s wife, Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler, in a voiceover….
LEONARD COOPER
In that same scene, as the Coopers gathered in the backyard to commemorate Sheldon and Missy’s respective graduations, Sheldon the Narrator (voiced by Parsons) said that “it was the best graduation party I had been to… until we had one for my son, Leonard Cooper.
“I wanted his name to be Leonard Nimoy Cooper, but Amy wouldn’t let me,” he revealed. That’s when Bialik chimed in as Sheldon’s better half and said, “Be lucky I let you name him Leonard.” (Read our post mortem.)
WIL WHEATON
Sheldon’s mortal enemy was first referenced in Season 4, Episode 11, when TV’s erstwhile Wesley Crusher caught Missy’s eye.
MISSY: “Wil Wheaton’s cute.”
SHELDON: “If you like him, you should watch Star Trek with me.”
MISSY: “He’s not that cute.”
CAR GAMES
In Season 4, Episode 13, a new tradition was born when Sheldon proposed a science-based car game to his mother: “I’ll say an element starting with the letter A, then you repeat that and add one starting with the letter B.” As our narrator would explain, this tradition “would eventually bring countless hours of joy to Leonard on our drives to work. Much like my mother, he never beat me.”
SHOW ME THAT SMILE AGAIN
Dr. Cooper first struggled to flash a grin in when Raj was profiled for People magazine. In Season 5, Episode 4 of the prequel, Sheldon found it difficult to convince George that he was happy having his own bedroom, separate from twin sister Missy.
WHY SHELDON SAYS ‘COITUS’
During Season 5, Episode 6, Adult Sheldon revealed why he’s always used an alternative word for sex. “Every culture has their taboos,” he said. “In the Ukraine, it’s rude to whistle in doors — and they’re correct. Not a fan,” he pointed out, reinforcing his no-whistling policy first cited in BBT Season 2.
“In our society, any discussion of human reproduction seems to be so upsetting that it causes chaos,” he continued. “Even the word ‘sex’ provokes an uncomfortable reaction. I thought ‘fornicate’ might work, but that seemed too judgy.”
It’s at that point that the 11-year-old reached for his thesaurus and landed on the perfect word — “a word so bland and clinical that it would be impossible to take offense to it.”
BIG BANG CAMEO NO. 3: SIMON HELBERG
Helberg reprised his role as Howard Wolowitz in a voiceover capacity during Season 5, Episode 7 — “An Introduction to Engineering and a Glob of Hair Gel” — which told the origin story of Sheldon’s “complicated relationship with engineering.” (Watch a clip here.)
TELLER
After Teller played Dr. Cooper’s father-in-law Larry in Seasons 11 and 12 of Big Bang, Penn and Teller popped up in Young Sheldon‘s Season 5 finale as dermatological duo Acne and Pus.
