The Big Bang Theory ended its 12th and final season this year. But the show still lives on within our hearts, and through re-runs, of course. For diehard fans, there aren't may days that go by when we don't wonder what our favorite gang of nerds is up to. What would they be doing now?
Now that the show is done, though, there is plenty of time to dig through old episodes and take a look at things we may have missed. Like many long-running shows, there are tons of Easter Eggs and small references that make sense in retrospect. As a result, we've found plenty of hidden details throughout the show that takes a true, hardcore fan to truly notice. Take a look at these interesting hidden details about all of the main characters.
BERNADETTE'S VOICE CHANGES
Bernadette is known for her high-pitched, squeaky voice. In an interview on The Rubin Report, Melissa Rauch stated that she chose to model her signature squeaky voice after her mother's voice. But it wasn't always like that. When Bernadette first appears on the show, her voice is different. We first meet her in season three, episode five, "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" when Penny sets her up with Howard. At this point, she does not have her signature voice and is speaking in Rauch's regular voice. This goes on for a few episodes until she suddenly develops the squeakier tone. According to some interviews with Rauch over the years, she developed it to give her character a more fun edge. There's just no real explanation why it just suddenly starts like this when she originally spoke normally.
PENNY'S FULL NAME IS PENELOPE
This was a very small reveal that they mentioned just once, and if you didn't catch it you may have never realized it. In season two, episode three, "The Barbarian Sublimation," Penny becomes addicted to the online game Age of Conan. As with many addictive online role-playing games, her obsession consumes her life. Sheldon relentlessly tries to get her to stop bothering him. When Leonard heads across the hall to talk to her, Penny is clearly very annoyed and states, "Queen Penelope AFK." This reveals not only that her screen name is Queen Penelope, but that Penny is short for Penelope. However, it's only ever used this one time throughout the entire series.
ALL OF THE BLOSSOM REFERENCES
In season six, episode five, "The Holographic Excitation," Sheldon and Amy are trying to decide what couple's costume to go as for Halloween. They are arguing in front of a Venn diagram on Sheldon's whiteboard, and under Amy's column if you look closely you can see "Blossom and Joey" written down. Mayim Bialik, the actress who plays Amy, actually played Blossom Russo on the '90s sitcom. Johnny Galecki, who plays Leonard, was also part of the main cast of Blossom back in the day.
This isn't the first time someone mentions Blossom, either. In season one, episode three, "The Bat Jar Conjecture," the gang is trying to find a replacement for Sheldon on their Physics Bowl team, and Raj suggests getting "TV's Blossom" because he heard that she is a real-life neuroscientist and is actually really smart (she is). Leonard calls him out and tells him, "We're not getting TV's Blossom to join our Physics Bowl team." This takes place long before Bialik joins the cast, so it's either a super pre-planned joke, or a happy coincidence.
THE GANG IS ALWAYS WEARING DC COSTUMES
Every time the guys are shown dressed up in costumes, it's always a DC character. You've got Sheldon in his Flash costume, which shows up repeatedly over the years. During the first season, in episode six, "The Middle-Earth Paradigm," Penny invites the guys to a Halloween party. When they're getting ready to head over, they all realize they chose Flash costumes and argue over who has to change. In season four, episode 11, "The Justice League Recombination," the guys enter a contest at the comic book store dressed as the Justice League of America. Raj is dressed as Aquaman, which isn't the only time he wears that costume, either. Later on, when trying to earn money for Comic-Con tickets, Raj wears it to promote the comic book store.
All of this DC fandom isn't an accident. The Big Bang Theory is owned by CBS, which is part of Warner Bros., who also own DC Comics.
LEONARD'S GLASSES DON'T HAVE LENSES
If you look very closely, you may notice that Leonard's glasses never actually have lenses in them. That's because Johnny Galecki doesn't actually wear glasses in real life, but Leonard does wear them. Galecki told The Huffington Post that he originally wanted Leonard to wear glasses, and began showing up at rehearsals with fake glasses. The producers had originally thought he was just wearing them for rehearsals, but he insisted Leonard should have glasses. Perhaps it was to cement his nerdy stereotype. Either way, this was a character-defining accessory. However, Galecki soon realized that since Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon, is so much taller than him. So, there was a glare on the lenses every time he had to look up at him. He decided to pop the lenses out. From that point on, no lenses existed. And that's that.
PENNY'S FRIDGE HAS PICTURES OF KALEY CUOCO WITH ACTORS ON THE BIG BANG THEORY SET
Next time you watch a scene in Penny's kitchen, take a look at the fridge. You can see pictures of her with Johnny Galecki, Mayim Bialik, and Melissa Rauch. There are also a ton of the behind-the-scenes crew members. This works, since many of those people are characters on the show and it's realistic that Penny would want to have pictures with them on her fridge. The behind-the-scenes folks pass as Penny's friends. Once Amy and Sheldon moved into that apartment and Penny moved across the hall, the fridge became noticeably bare. However, those pictures did end up on Penny and Leonard's fridge and you can still see them in certain scenes.
ALL OF THE ACTION FIGURES IN HOWARD'S ROOM ARE FEMALES
This one shouldn't really surprise anyone. Howard's childhood bedroom is full of female action figures. There is a strong lack of male figures. Noticeable figures include Princess Leia, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl. Look closely at the side table on the right side of the bed, and you'll see tons of female heads sticking up. This is also on top of the posters of various women, from Marilyn Monroe to Betty Boop (and the infamous Halle Berry poster on the ceiling). For a guy known for being girl-crazy, this just fits the bill.
SHELDON AND LEONARD'S APARTMENT FLAG IS ON THE FRIDGE
Okay, so we all know Sheldon and Leonard's apartment flag. It's a blue background with a gold lion. They have it in a real flag form, but it's also on the fridge in magnet form. During tense moments, like when two characters are fighting, the flag magnet is actually shown upside down. In the flashback episode to the day Leonard moved in, Sheldon explains to him that the flag should never be upside down unless in times of distress. In season ten, episode ten, "The Property Division Collision," Leonard and Sheldon are arguing over their divided property and Leonard ends up draping himself in the flag naked to anger Sheldon.
PENNY BECAME A BARTENDER BECAUSE KALEY CUOCO BROKE HER LEG
Most people know that Kaley Cuoco is a huge horseback riding enthusiast and owns several horses. In 2010, she broke her leg in a horseback riding accident. According to Cuoco, she fell off her horse and was fine, until the horse stepped on her leg and broke it. Instead of writing it in the script, the producers chose to have her take on some bartending shifts at the Cheesecake Factory so they could shoot her from the waist up. So, if you're wondering why the sudden jump to bartending in season four, that's why. Seems like a pretty simple fix. We're glad she was okay – that could have been a lot worse.
AMY'S MOM WAS RECAST
For those who have watched the show all the way through, you know that the marvelous Kathy Bates played Amy's over-the-top mother. However, the first time we meet Amy's mom, it's a different actress. It seems as though the personalities changed as well, because the first time Amy's mom shows up, she's very quiet and timid. And we know that Kathy Bates' version was anything but that. This isn't something that a lot of people noticed, but it definitely happened.