Shenny HQ
Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - Printable Version

+- Shenny HQ (https://shennyhq.co.uk/dir)
+-- Forum: The Big Bang Theory (https://shennyhq.co.uk/dir/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Mint in Box (https://shennyhq.co.uk/dir/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Thread: Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion (/showthread.php?tid=430)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - Louise - 10-29-2014

[Image: ww0pro.jpg]

This is a thread with NO mention of the current season or generalized ranting/grieving about the later seasons and their many shark-jumping sins.

(I am totally mega-guilty of this, so this is not aimed at anyone else...)

I know we each have our own definition of where the dividing line is, between Old!TBBT and New!TBBT, but I am going to focus on S1 and S2 and make this primarily an "original 5 characters only" thread.

This week, I am starting with a re-watch and discussion of "The Codpiece Topology", which I chose because its costume theme is nice for Halloween Wink

If people enjoy this, I'll do it again on a weekly or monthly basis...

If people want to make graphics or fanfic or other types of responses based off that episode, that would be awesome, too Big Grin

I will post my own comments on this ep, soon.

General discussion of classic episodes is also great; the main point is that this is a Season 8-free zone.

[Image: ay97dl.jpg]


Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - Idle Miscreant - 10-29-2014

[Image: rutles-minstrels.gif]

And there was much rejoicing.

I shall return once the order of the day is attended to.


RE: Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - Louise - 10-29-2014

Thanks! Blossom

I am going to re-watch the episode in its entirety and then post my observations...

Happy gif:

[Image: ndr0r5.jpg]

LOL, these are not well-done, I would never buy them:

[Image: 2a8ovtl.jpg]


RE: Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - Louise - 10-29-2014

I am only one-third through the episode right now, and it is just a joy. Sheldon is on fire, right out of the gate. "In the Matrix, the food would be better" is prob. one of my all-time favorite lines. Leonard is noticeably whiny and the others are having none of it, they're like "Nope, Leonard, nope." Howard is the snarky voice of reason, as it should be. Also, I like Leslie a lot...

More observations:

Sheldon in his Spock costume is fun, and it emphasizes how elven-looking he is, he looks like Elrond or like Oberon the fairy-king or something.

Everybody is snarky to Leonard in this ep, and I can't say that I mind. I don't hate him, but he's just so ineffectual and weak and he seems literally uncomfortable in his own skin. The ep. ends on a fairly pleasant note with nothing majorly bad happening to anyone, though.

There's a clever comparison of science to religion when Leslie and Sheldon are debating string theory at the apartment. Nice little snippet of satire.

Sheldon sitting on the stairs with his laptop is like me, when I'm trying to steal my neighbors' Wifi Wink

Raj apparently had a romantic encounter with a guy dressed as a green Orion slave-girl. Oh, Raj, you poor naive devil.

Howard does not deny that he would be sexually aroused by mud XD

Penny's date, Eric, is not especially hot, IMO. He's just tall, which is something that has never particularly impressed me, personally.

The dialogue has a simplicity and naturalness to it which is nice. Leslie is quirky but not in a mannered, artificial type of way, and she seems believable. Leslie can be mean, but in this ep. it doesn't feel genuinely hostile or OTT.

There's not much Howard & Raj in this ep, but that's perfectly okay. Even though they're my fave characters, I would rather see them used sparingly but *well*, rather than being over-exposed and used badly. Their little zingers and witticisms and random weird stories have more punch when the scenes are brief. As much as I love them, they work well as secondary characters, and I'd choose that, over all the *redacted* we get later on.

I love Howard's jester costume so much, I *might* like it the most out of all his costumes, even more than Gothowitz. It's just adorable. And he's proud that his mother made the hat!

This ep. flows nicely and it's well-paced. Personally, I *still* find the Leonard-Penny-Leslie shippy stuff ever-so-slightly tiresome and I would've rather followed the guys around the Renaissance Fair and seen what kind of mischeif they got into, but the shippy stuff isn't even *really* shippy stuff, because it's handled in a light, facetious, non-serious way which makes it much more tolerable and comedic. At no point does the ep. get bogged-down. There are no scenes of Leonard and Penny alone together or even exchanging much dialogue at all.

Sheldon's historical nit-picking is fun, as is the confusion between Schrodinger and Schroeder from "Peanuts"...

There is a nice long Shenny scene for the Shenny people, with the now-famous "love trumps hate" line.

Sheldon's innocence, as a person, is very evident in this ep, and I mean that in a positive way. One doesn't sense much real hostility even when he describes Leslie as his "arch-enemy." The verbal banter doesn't carry an uncomfortable sting. There's some discussion of what it means to be a friend, and how a friend should behave, and Sheldon has a valid-to-him viewpoint which just happens to be at odds with the viewpoint of most people around him.

I found it interesting when Sheldon says that he doesn't like to go places alone. (the movies, a coffee shop.) The reasons he gives for this are practical, not social/emotional, but it makes me wonder whether Sheldon is truly an introvert. I suspect that "Is Sheldon an introvert, or not?" would make for a very complex and lengthy debate...

While there's a Shenny scene, there is none of Penny and the guys alone together as a group, in this ep, and I don't mind that, because I like the four guys as a unit. Not everything has to be centered around the 5 eating Thai food. I don't know how the Shennies feel, but "Penny becomes close to Sheldon but doesn't necessarily spend much time with the other three" would've worked for me, as a format. P/R and P/H interactions don't do much for me.

Leslie tells Leonard that being short is a genetic defect. Um...pot, kettle.


RE: Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - SpaceAnJL - 10-29-2014

Elizabethan Raj is rather cute, but yes, Howard's Alias the Jester get-up is wonderful. Trollboy looks like a chess piece. I did find the idea that Sheldon had nicked Leonard's pillow-cases to make authentic linen undergarments funny. (Commitment and attention to detail.)

I don't know why we couldn't have more Ren Faire interaction. The guys were utterly unself-conscious about pursuing something that they loved. I could see them getting into some kind of scrap with another bunch of costumed enthusiasts, very easily. (Yes, this episode was a major factor in sparking 'Paladin' in my brain.)

With Leslie, there wasn't real malice. I think her first interaction with Sheldon, like Gablehauser, she mistook his social obliviousness for true rudeness, whereas he was just ragging on her work, her gender was irrelevant to him. Now she knows him better, she just likes tweaking him, because she can. (Incidentally, while they pitch in on each other, I can't ever see either of them interfering with the other's work. Leslie corrected a whiteboard, she didn't deface it.)


RE: Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - Louise - 10-29-2014

Quote:Trollboy looks like a chess piece.

Please, Space, don't give the poor trolls a bad name:

[Image: jl6psx.jpg]


Quote:I don't know why we couldn't have more Ren Faire interaction. The guys were utterly unself-conscious about pursuing something that they loved.

Yes! I wanted to see more of what they were doing at the Ren Fair!

Quote:Elizabethan Raj is rather cute

I'm surprised Sheldon didn't tell him that carrying plastic bags filled with styrofoam takeout containers was ruining the authenticity Wink


RE: Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - Idle Miscreant - 10-29-2014

One of the first things Pajamas made to shut up the Vintage-obsessive, sepia-fondling constituent of HQ...
(I'm getting better. I own shirts with colours now!)

[Image: BozGQxxIYAABDFc.jpg]


RE: Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - Louise - 10-30-2014

It occurred to me, watching the first scene of this ep, when H & R are talking about Raj's supposed encounter with a green-costumed guy, that this was sort of a recurring thing with their characters, early on: H and/or R always have some wild story that we only get to hear about second or third-hand. It's an interesting technique, because it keeps their characters slightly mysterious. It's fun when they'll casually drop some reference to some bizarre adventure they had, and the audience can only guess at what really happened.

For a while, we were sort of kept at a distance from Howard and Raj, and the only things we knew about them were what they told us. IIRC, it's not until 1.07 that we see Howard at home with his mother, and we only see Raj's parents twice in all of S1 and S2; these two don't have much backstory at first.

That might've been an interesting direction to take, with them: H &R as the slightly mysterious "other guys" who have a world of their own that the audience isn't privy to, and we only get little glimpses of it, through their own, probably embellished, reportage.

One thing I find kind of tantalizing about this show is that the most interesting stuff often seems to be happening off-stage and we only get to hear about it, not see it.

While I don't love the idea of H & R being *only* the onlookers to the Penny-Sheldon-Leonard drama and never having an episode of their own, that would've been an interesting narrative technique and I'd certainly prefer it over what came later.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it; it's probably just that H&R were supposed to be minor characters and that's why there wasn't much focus on them, but IMO a bit more separation between S-P-L as one "group" and H-R as another "group" could've opened up some interesting possibilities. "Hey, guess what Raj and I did, this weekend..." followed by some tall tale, would've been a great running joke.

ETA: Raj's mutism, and the fact that our experience of him is often filtered through Howard, adds another interesting layer.


RE: Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - Gamma - 10-31-2014

[Image: eaca27ed6db9772145b88a0ca3b4fef7.jpg]



[Image: bbt-s2e2-800x450-800x450_092320140315.jpg]

Howard: Renaissance fairs aren't about historical accuracy, they're about taking chubby girls who work at Kinko's and lacing them up in corsets so tight their bosom jumps out and says, "Howdy".
Sheldon: Bosoms would not have said "Howdy" in the 15th century. If anything, they would've said "Huzzah".
Howard: I don't care what the bosoms say, Sheldon, I just want to be part of the conversation


[Image: The+Codpiece+Topologyf.jpg]

Penny: Well why don't you go to the movies then?
Sheldon: Because who would be there to perform the Heimlich maneuver if I choke on my popcorn?
Penny: So, don't buy popcorn.
Sheldon: No popcorn at the mo - listen to yourself!


[Image: 17a742b3a3c2f3c6810fa77e1e2cd542.jpg]

Sheldon: Leonard is upstairs right now with my arch enemy.

Penny: Your arch enemy?

Sheldon: Yes, the Doctor Doom to my Mr Fantastic. The Doctor Octopus to my Spiderman. The Doctor Sivana to my Captain Marvel.

Penny: Okay, I get it, I get it, I get it.

Sheldon: Do you know, it’s amazing how many supervillains have advanced degrees. Graduate school should probably do a better job of screening those people out.

Penny: Sheldon, come back, you’re losing me.

Sheldon: Leslie Winkle, Penny. She belittles my research.

Penny: Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry.



[Image: big-bang-theory-season-2-2-the-codpiece-...00x170.jpg]


RE: Vintage Haven: Strictly Old Episode Discussion - queenoftheDales - 11-01-2014

The Winkle-Cooper showdown




Back then Sheldon's cadence and tone is so much more tolerable.

I like Leslie going toe to toe with Sheldon. It seems Sheldon is in his element with he is up against someone equally strong-willed.

I couldn't find a clip, but I like the scene where Leslie was talking to Sheldon and Leonard in the University cafeteria and Sheldon slammed the tray on the trash but it fell on the ground. I bet that was a blooper but JP stayed in-character so it didn't get cut out. Big Grin