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I was watching a recent review of Star Trek IV and noticed a very brief flash of this image during the review:

enter image description here

Link to video at the time where this occurs.

Thanks to Google image search I found out that the image is the character Link, from The Legend of Zelda game, holding the "Triforce".

What if any is the connection with the movie or with Star Trek? I'm not very familiar with Zelda and know very little about it.

Notes:

  • The image pops up during a discussion of how the film was screened in the USSR
  • It's shown at the moment the narrator says the word "biggest"
  • That's Spock in the background, the placement seems intentional (?)

I think Zelda came out in the 80s, maybe around the time of this movie.

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    With regards to the dates, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was 1986, that looks like the Link from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which was 1991.
    – notovny
    Commented Nov 23, 2020 at 14:21

1 Answer 1

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It's a simple visual pun, drawing attention to the fact that the design on the front of Spock's robe:

A cropped image of Spock wearing a white robe. Visible on the chest is a design consisting of 4 equilateral triangles outlined in gray, with the top one partially hidden by a robe's folded hood.

bears a resemblance to the Triforce:

A golden object consisting of three equilateral triangles emblazoned with symbols, joined at the corners, with a fourth triangle formed by the negative space between them

an iconic symbol of the Legend of Zelda franchise.

There's no deeper connection between Star Trek and the Legend of Zelda, or between Spock and Link. It just so happens that both feature triangles.

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    There are further connections: they both have pointy ears and very low empathy (Spock tries to live without emotion on purpose, and Link breaks and enters into other people's houses to break stuff for kicks).
    – Marvel Boy
    Commented Nov 23, 2020 at 16:17
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    @MarvelBoy Not for kicks. He's looking for Rupees, the Zelda currency. Which would probably make it even worse because it makes him a thief.
    – Nzall
    Commented Nov 23, 2020 at 16:34
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    @Nzall Not sure that thievery "breaking stuff to find money (to buy equipment to defeat a villain)" is in fact worse than psychopathy "breaking stuff because it's fun." Commented Nov 23, 2020 at 20:00
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    @Timbo But he has no reason to believe there's money in them until he breaks them for fun, so... Commented Nov 24, 2020 at 1:44
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    I totally missed the similar imagery, maybe because Spock's hood is covering a big part of it! Commented Nov 24, 2020 at 12:41

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