If you ever dreamed of Bob Newhart with a light saber, then get ready for May the Fourth!
As you probably know, May the Fourth is also known as Star Wars Day. Fans from around the world celebrate the legendary movies. However, this year, the hit TV show, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ has teamed with Lucasfilm to air a Star Wars – themed episode.
The episode is entitled “The Proton Transmogrification” and will feature the cast celebrating May the Fourth. Meanwhile, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) sees visions of his childhood idol, Professor Proton (Bob Newhart).
The TV show teamed up with special effects technicians from Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they re-created Dagobah, the swampy planet where Yoda goes during his exile. Showrunner Steve Molaro states that the idea to use Dagobah as a setting came from the Big Bang writers, and the team from Lucasfilm was completely on board.
“This was all from us. They’re excited about everything we’re doing, and they’re going to help us with the special effects. Bob is going to be swinging a light saber around and they sent us a real one to use. They’re going to help make it look and right right. It’s an amazing crossover for us.”
Furthermore, Bob Newhart will be appearing as one of the characters from the franchise, but producers are keeping mum as to who the character will be. Newhart did inform ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ that he had to do some research to prepare.
“I talked to [co-creator] Chuck [Lorre], Steve and [co-creator/EP] Bill [Prady] about it and they gave me the ‘Phantom Menace’ so I know what [Dagobah] would look like. They explained to me what the light saber was and what it could do – – and not to point it at Jim because it would kill him!”
So, who do you think Newhart will be?
This episode of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ will air on May 1 at 8pm on CBS.
