'Transformers: Dark Of The Moon': Behind The 'Star Trek' Nods

Sometimes Easter Eggs in movies — an intentional in-joke, reference or hidden message — are hard to spot, very blink-and-you-miss-it, and thus require repeat viewings to pick up on. Not so with "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," however. Even the most casual filmgoer should pick up on at least one of the many "Star Trek" references in the film. When MTV News caught up with director Michael Bay, we asked him to address the "Trek" connections, beginning with his enlistment of beloved actor Leonard Nimoy, a.k.a. Spock, to voice the role of Sentinel Prime. "He's actually related to me. He married Susan Bay [the director's cousin]," Bay said. "I was scared to ask him to voice. I saw him at Thanksgiving, and my mom was like, 'Ask him! Ask him!' I'm like, 'No, Mom, no!' " As difficult as it is to imagine Bay being afraid of anything, he eventually got over his Nimoy anxiety. Bonus factoid for the non-Transformer geeks: Nimoy also lent his vocal talents to the 1986 animated film, as the voice of Galvatron. Speaking to other "Trek" references, Bay said he didn't have anything to do with them; they all came from the film's screenwriter. "That was my writer, Ehren Kruger," Bay said. "[He] is a 'Star Trek' geek, so that wasn't my thing." So how many references did you count? Here are the three we spotted (minor spoilers ahead): 1. When Sam (Shia LaBeouf) meets girlfriend Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) at work and is introduced to her boss, Dylan Gould (Patrick Dempsey), he marvels at their workplace: "It's a beautiful building you guys have. Like the Starship Enterprise in here." 2. Refugee robots Brains and Wheelie, who are hiding out in Carly and Sam's apartment, watch an episode of "Trek," during which one of them says, "Hey, I like this episode. It's the one where Spock turns evil" — which also provides for a nice bit of tongue-in-cheek foreshadowing. 3. At one point, Sentinel Prime defends certain motivations with a fun little reverse quote of Spock's wise words to Captain Kirk in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." "Dark of the Moon" quote: "The needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many." Original: "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." What did we miss? Check out everything we've got on "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy) in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Photo: Paramount Pictures