# Big Brain Alien

Big Brain Alien is a reaction image and image macro built around a screenshot of a Talosian alien from the 1965 Star Trek pilot 'The Cage.' The bulbous-headed character is used to caption jokes about smug intellectual superiority, sitting alongside 'tfw too intelligent' as a fixture of ironic smart-guy humor on Reddit.

## Overview
Big Brain Alien is a reaction image built on a screen-grabbed shot of a Talosian, one of the enormous-skulled telepaths from Star Trek's original pilot[4]. Online, the picture is captioned with jokes about exaggerated intellectual superiority, closely paralleling the 'tfw too intelligent' template[5].

The alien's bulbous head is the visual punchline, translating the abstract idea of a giant brain into something almost cartoonish. Captions often lean on trivia victories, esoteric hobbies, or self-mocking claims of galaxy-brain thinking[3]. Some versions run straight, while edits like the Nicolas Cage face-swap push the format into full absurdity[2].

## How It Spread
Big Brain Alien crossed into meme territory on July 23rd, 2015, when a version photoshopped with Nicolas Cage's face was posted to the /r/onetruegod subreddit, a community devoted to ironic Cage worship[2].

The format hit its stride on March 19th, 2017, when Redditor webbandid uploaded a Jeopardy-themed Talosian image macro to /r/me_irl, pulling in more than 2,400 points at 99% upvoted before the thread was archived[3]. On October 20th of that year, another /r/me_irl user, Le_trollfacexd, posted a Talosian screen cap captioned 'When you're at a bar trivia night with the homies and a meme category comes up'[5]. The next day, Redditor tforpatato reposted the image to /r/memes, and within four months the two 2017 posts had gathered roughly 30,500 and 10,100 points respectively[6].

## How to Use
Big Brain Alien is typically used as either a straight reaction image or as a top-text/bottom-text macro. A common convention pairs the alien's face with a caption describing a moment of nerdy or trivial expertise, played as galaxy-brain triumph[3]. Edits often swap the Talosian's face with another character, with the Nicolas Cage version being one of the earliest reworks[2].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Big Brain Alien?
Big Brain Alien is a reaction image and image macro featuring a Talosian character from a 1965 Star Trek pilot, captioned with jokes about smug intellectual superiority[5].

### Where did Big Brain Alien come from?
The underlying footage comes from 'The Cage,' the 1965 Star Trek pilot[4]. The image first surfaced online in a June 2008 Ebaum's World gallery of 'Corny Star Trek Aliens'[1] before Reddit users started remixing it in 2015[2].

### What does Big Brain Alien mean?
It signals exaggerated intellectual superiority, similar to the 'tfw too intelligent' format, with the alien's oversized skull standing in for a comically large brain[3].

### How do you use Big Brain Alien?
Post the Talosian image with a caption describing a moment of nerdy expertise or trivia victory, either as a plain reaction shot or in top-text/bottom-text macro style[3].

### Is Big Brain Alien still popular?
Big Brain Alien had its main viral run in 2017 across /r/me_irl and /r/memes, where two posts collected roughly 30,500 and 10,100 points within four months[6].

## References
1. [https://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/corny-star-trek-aliens/80956/](<https://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/corny-star-trek-aliens/80956/>)
2. [https://www.reddit.com/r/onetruegod/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/onetruegod/>)
3. [https://www.reddit.com/r/me_irl/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/me_irl/>)
4. [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Talosian](<https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Talosian>)
5. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/big-brain-alien](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/big-brain-alien>)
6. [https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/](<https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/big-brain-alien
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