The Big Bang Theory – Intro (frame by frame)
After a few weeks (actually, a few months) of procrastination and research, I finally finished my “project” to split up the intro of the TV-series The Big Bang Theory frame by frame and find out what each snapshot meant.
I organized all 109 snapshots in a list with a short label of what the snapshot shows. Maybe community and fans will help to complete the work and compose nice descriptions.
You can find the list on a separate website here: http://www.haraldkraft.de/thebigbangtheory/
Enjoy 
UPDATE (09/29/09): As I am in Toronto atm without proper internet access, I will update all your comments and emails within the next two weeks.
UPDATE2 (09/29/09): To avoid further comments on the same issues, I updated the page (spending the last 2 hours in an Apple store 
).
Tags: big bang theory, intro, series
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:12 am
My best guess is that slide 70 represents the invention of the automobile (and possibly the assembly line as a means of production)?
73 is probably for the Wright brothers and the first successful airplane flight?
79 looks like a Jackson Pollock painting.
I’m guessing that 55 is supposed to represent Westward Expansion, and I’m guessing that 42 is supposed to be pilgrims?
Great job, it’s cool to see it slide by slide.
September 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 am
Thanks MP,
42 and 55 are hard to say, but you might be right.
The first car and also Wright’s airplane look different, that’s why I didn’t put it.
Jackson Pollock is correct, thanks.
September 28th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Cabecera de The Big Bang Theory fotograma a fotograma…
Siempre que veo la cabecera de The Big Bang Theory me entran ganas de verla a cámara lenta para observar en detalle las imagenes que aparecen en la misma en forma de fotogramas… Hoy me ha dado por buscar y he dado con esta web en la que resuelven mi …
September 28th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I’d swear number 18 isn’t Machu Picchu. Those Buildings draw a curve, Machu Picchu doesn’t. It also looks quite dessertive, opposite to Machu Picchu.
September 28th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
037 It’s a Viking Drakkar, but the date have no sense casue it’s written 1700 and drakkars usage had ended at 1100~
038 I suspect that he is Hernán Cortés… It has no sense again because the next photo it’s Colón and… this one (if it’s Hernán Cortés) maybe after Colón…
September 28th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Ah! And 025 seems like a Hindu Deity… She seems to be Saraswati
September 28th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
76:
http://nickseaver.net/dilettante/images/dollareinstein.jpg
September 28th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
077 probably british hurricane fighters
September 28th, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I think 020, are not Aztec pyramids, they should be Mayan Pyramids, they are oldest (almost 1000 A.C., just the frame says).
— A photo of Chichen-Itza, Mayan Civilization —
http://www.flickr.com/photos/esparta/193788469/in/set-72157594212293341/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization
September 28th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
I think 5 is referred to the growth of several species of vegetation, prior to the rising of the animal world.
29 Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition?
38 Francisco Pizarro
39 It’s not Christopher Columbus, it’s Hernán Cortés http://images.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=hernan%20cortes&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=es&tab=wi
41 I’m not sure but it seems to be Napoleon Bonaparte
61 It may be a symbol of the second industrial revolution
72 Theodore Roosevelt?
90 Maybe it’s about the absence of the WTC Towers
September 28th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
The 29 – The inquisition
September 28th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
#88
The 2 leftmost are IBM 3420 tape units.
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_3420.html
The others seems to be newer versions of the 3420:
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/storage/storage_PH3420B.html
Hannibal.
September 29th, 2009 at 12:40 am
May 73 be a Polikarpov I-15, from the Spanish Civil War?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polikarpov_I-15
September 29th, 2009 at 1:24 am
THE BIG BANG THEORY.
I´m sorry, if my english skills are not so good to explain this in your language.
25. Fresco de la ciudad de Ponpeya??
26. It is in the Vatican, It was maked for Miguel Ángel.
61. Máquina cosechadora.
71. 30´fashion. moda años 30.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Hi!
005 It’s a Prehistoric Fern.
The ferns were the first terrestrial plants that formed extensive forests on Earth’s surface. They were giant ferns from the Carboniferous period.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/g7MRTjPwSnON2QSvD3hARA
Greetings from Galicia.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:56 am
26 http://funkman.org/innerjourney/journeys/mythic/zeus.jpg
The actual picture. Don’t have the reference yet.
September 29th, 2009 at 2:20 am
36 Salem witch trials.
Map of Massachusetts bay: http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wcarr1/Lossing1/Chap19.html
September 29th, 2009 at 2:27 am
51 It’s not USS Cairo, it’s USS Baron DeKalb: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Baron_DeKalb.jpg
September 29th, 2009 at 2:40 am
076. Israeli 5 lira note from 1968
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Einstein_paper_money.jpg
September 29th, 2009 at 3:17 am
# 101 It’s a radio telescope, maybe part of the VLA (shown in the movie “Contact”).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array
September 29th, 2009 at 3:51 am
58 Roosevelt with ticker tape machine?
60 Woman’s Christian Temperance Union?
80 Suburbanization
81 Woodie
1947 Chrysler Town and Country Convertible
96 1980’s Toy Robots
Mysta Bot, by PlayTime http://www.theoldrobots.com/light3.html
September 29th, 2009 at 7:23 am
Number 020 is not an aztec pyramid, it’s Mayan (find it as Chichén Itzá) in Yucatán, Mexico.
http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/blog-429569.html
Number 038 is Hernán Cortés, he conquered Mexico and caused the fall of the aztec empire
http://navegantecalifornio.blogcindario.com/2009/04/00278-hernan-cortes-fundador-de-la-paz-baja-california-sur-mexico-navegante-californio-biotiquin.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernan_Cortes
BTW, he should go after Cristopher Columbus not before
September 29th, 2009 at 10:10 am
39: Hernán Cortés: http://www.geocities.com/historiademexico3/dos.htm#cortes
38: Maybe Francisco Pizarro or Charles V & I (Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, Carlos I of Spain). I’m not sure.
As Esparta says, 20 is maya, exactly is Chichen Itza (Kukulcán): http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Chichen_Norte.JPG
September 29th, 2009 at 10:14 am
The 29 is definitely the Spanish Inquisition.
The 18 doesn’t seem to me as Machu Picchu, but as the ruins of Tucuman, in Argentina ( http://www.oni.escuelas.edu.ar/2001/bs-as/argentinos/imagenes/Tucuman.jpg )
The 72 seems to be Teddy Roosevelt
77 is not a fleet of Japanese Zeros?
September 29th, 2009 at 10:43 am
20. Moses?
39. He is Colon, painted by Theodor de Bry.
http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/histesp/obras/10005.htm
70. Ford model T, the first mass production car.
73. Looks like a Boeing F4B, probably a F4B-4.
98. Ibm Ps/2, probably a model 50
100. 1989 Motorola Micro TAC.
101. It’s a radio telescope array.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:48 am
038. Francisco Pizarro, Spanish Conqueror.
039. Hernan Cortes, Spanish Conqueror, disembarking in Mexico.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:22 am
What an amazing work you did!
I was sooo surprised seeing all the shots O_O I didn’t realise there were so many photos in the intro of the show!
I hope yo get all the info about the pictures
GOOD LUCK!l
September 29th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Nº 38: Hernán Cortés, a Spanish conqueror.
Nº 39: Francisco Pizarro, other Spanish conqueror.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gr41FEso034/SKYrtXKsJaI/AAAAAAAAF0w/OpeOCd1ohbs/s400/Fracisco+Pizarro.bmp
Hernán Cortés conquered México in 1519
Francisco Pizarro conquered Perú in 1533
September 29th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
19. Pre-Columbian sculptures in San Agustín, Colombia from around 200 b.c
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Agust%C3%ADn,_Huila
98. IBM PS/2
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=ibm%20PS%2F2&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
September 29th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Hi there,
Great idea and greater job
I did some research and these are my findings.
Rather than Acropolis, number 27 is the Parthenon (http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/2/eh251.jsp?obj_id=912)
Number 73 is a Boeing P-12 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-12)
Number 77 is not a bomber formation but a fighter one, maybe Hawker Hurricanes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hurricane_in_planform_arp.jpg).
Number 88 is a magnetic tape unit (http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/701/701_1415bx27.html)
Number 98 is an IBM PS/2, possibly a model 70 (http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/pc/index.htm or http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/mashtvguide/IBMSITE/indexfiles/1.jpg)
September 29th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
I guess it’s obvious right now, but TinEye could be very useful for this.
September 29th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
hey, the plane is a polikarpov I-3, you can read more info in the wikipedia, it is quite accurate.
Good job!
September 29th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
sorry, it was polikarpov I-5
September 29th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
19 It’s actually San Agustín, Colombia
http://www.flickr.com/photos/esquilar/210335849
September 30th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Number 73 isn’t a Polikarpov (russian aircraft) but a Boeing P-12. Observe the rudder painted with the colors of the United States Army Air Corps (check other examples in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Air_Corps).
Regarding denomination F4B-4, this was a Navy version of the P-12, but in this case it would have split axle landing gear (i.e. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boeing_F4B_VF5.jpg).
In short, it’s a P-12
September 30th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Definitively, number 77 isn’t a Mitsubishi Zero (have a look at the tail plane silouette in http://www.vectorsite.net/avzero_03.png).
Again, looking at the tail plane, it could be a Hawker Hurricane (http://www.vectorsite.net/avhurr_3.png) but snapshot’s resolution doesn’t help to distinguish if wing’s leading edge is straight or angled in two parts.
September 30th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Number 97 could be an Aiwa XP-560 (http://images.quebarato.com.br/photos/big/9/2/57FE92_1.jpg)
September 30th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Number 39 is Christopher Columbus landing in Hispaniola, engraved by Théodore de Bry, Grands Voyages, 1594. Several links confirm it:
http://historyproject.ucdavis.edu/ic/standard/7.00/7.9_6.00/
http://www.sip.uiuc.edu/people/melendez/span442/SPA442-images/Columbusimages/columbusarrival.gif
http://www.diputaciondevalladolid.es/diadellibro2006/.printer?idboletin=1293&idarticulo=26403&imp=1
September 30th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Last train seems to be a Maglev
October 1st, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Lower part in number 39’s flag seems a Spanish coat of arms showing the Order of the Golden Fleece, maybe Philip II’s (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Escudo_de_Armas_de_Felipe_II_a_Carlos_II.svg).
In such case, the soldier couldn’t be Pizarro becase he died before Philip II’s coronation.
Flag’s upper half depicts a child and a woman. I bet for a religious banner with Virgin Mary and Child in full glory (the glowing rays radiating from the image).
As usual, a more detailed screenshot would be helpful.
October 3rd, 2009 at 12:30 am
Hi, I’ve just seen this “project” and when I saw the #75 I thought I have had seen that photo before (I don’t remember now where).
But, it’s a Red Cross Volunteer, I don’t think he was a famous person, but if I look at his clothes I will say he was a volunteer in the WW2…I’ve tried to show it with a photo…but I cannot find it…
However, some of these photographs are in the icrc.org website
October 10th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Number 7 looks like Marine iguanas (found only in the Galapagos Islands)
October 17th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Picture #52 is (based on the fact that the timeline is accurately displayed in accordance to the picture displaying at that time frame) is indeed in fact the “Oklahoma Landrun” because that took place around the 1890 while Lewis and Clark is earlier in the 1800s
In addition, picture #20 (if people are still confused between “Zeus” and “Moses”) also implies the same notion as picture #52 with the provided timeline. After some quick googling, it has been verified that “Moses” was the icon in the 1200s (twelfth century) as oppose to “Zeus” who was supposedly born back before the 1st (first century). And, I, came to that conclusion based on the assumption that the slide show is a factual timeline in chronological order.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Number 18 isn’t Machu Picchu but the ruis of Pisac, in Cusco, Perú (not too far from Machu Picchu anyway).Check:
http://www.jacekphoto.com/peru/peru10.htm
or:
http://www.perutraveloperator.com/cusco-machupicchu/informacion-util-algunos-circuitos-sugeridos.htm
October 30th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Perhaps, #29 is not a painting about the Spanish inquisition. I believe it is Savonarola preaching. However, I haven’t found the original yet.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:00 am
Hi,
Great project idea! Trying to decipher what each photo is…
Here’s my contribution:
055 is a photo of The Leader building in Regina, Saskatchewan Canada. The Leader was a newspaper started in 1883, so that makes this photo from right around that time. The Leader was the first newspaper in Regina. It still exists today as the Regina Leader-Post.
Here is a link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_Leader-Post
I noticed the photo flying by within the first few times I saw the intro during the first season of the show. I was sure that I was imagining it, as it seemed unlikely that a historical photo of our daily paper’s humble beginnings would show up in an American sitcom. It was bugging me so much I had to record the intro and play it back frame by frame. I still can’t believe I ever spotted it.
The formally attired man in the top hat in front of the building is Nicholas Flood Davin, the founder of the paper.
I did a school project on the man and recognized the photo from my research about 17 years ago…
More info than you wanted likely…
November 21st, 2009 at 4:16 am
Hi!
About the picture 026, I believe it is an esculpture of Moses.
Since the medieval times Moses was often represented with a couple of “hornes” in his forehead. They where suposed to be a symbol of the glow (like an intense bright shimering light) that Moses presented after descending from the Mount Sinai.
Around the baroque period, and given the counter-reformation, that iconography was restaured, but it evolved and they replaced the hornes with two sets of rays, which is what this statue presents…
(I’m sorry for the bad english, but I’m spanish and quite rusty with my grammar)
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:00 am
La imagen es de mi país Colombia. Sí, pertenece a la época… the image is from my country. Is located in San Agustín, near of the village “Pitalito”. Every sculpture has a different expression. They were made 2500 years ago.
Bye.
http://www.tripadvisor.es/LocationPhotos-g445060-San_Agustin.html#1885697
November 22nd, 2009 at 4:22 am
019 San Agustín, Colombia Precolombian Culture Confirmed
http://media.lonelyplanet.com/lpimg/2651/2651-4/preview.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2628577993_4b7d9b574b.jpg
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:00 am
#24 is the Hindu goddess Kali in her aspect as Mahakali.
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:35 pm
You did a very good job. Congrats!
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:53 pm
84: Can also be found here http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1434361071
if that helps … I
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:54 pm
84: Can also be found here http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1434361071
if that helps … I believe this was taken at Cape Canaveral, FL
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 pm
51: can be found here
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Flibrary.thinkquest.org%2F06aug%2F01591%2Fironclad-s.html
and
http://vincent-bernard.chez-alice.fr/XIXe/3secession.html
November 24th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
#24
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_guardian_lions
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:P1090513.JPG
January 16th, 2010 at 5:36 am
#61 Dust bowl?