1.06 The Middle-Earth Paradigm

[Tuesday Pajamas]

Week 7 of the Rewind Imperative.

This weeks vintage Big Bang episode on Thursday April 23, 2015 is:

The Middle-Earth Paradigm
Originally aired Monday, October 29, 2007
Written by Dave Goetsch


Penny holds a Halloween party at her apartment, which gives the guys a chance to unleash their cosplay.

"Gentleman, to the sewing machines."






Looks as though they had a lot of fun making this episode.


AND you gotta love this gif maximum slow mode, maximum Shenny.

[Louise]

Penny holds a Halloween party at her apartment, which gives the guys a chance to unleash their cosplay.

I've said this before, but I think Howard's Peter Pan/Robin Hood costume represents two sides of his personality: Peter Pan = child-like, Robin Hood = wants to be brave and heroic and dashing.

[Nutz]

Week 7 of the Rewind Imperative.

This weeks vintage Big Bang episode on Thursday April 23, 2015 is:

The Middle-Earth Paradigm
Originally aired Monday, October 29, 2007
Written by Dave Goetsch


Penny holds a Halloween party at her apartment, which gives the guys a chance to unleash their cosplay.

"Gentleman, to the sewing machines."






Looks as though they had a lot of fun making this episode.


AND you gotta love this gif maximum slow mode, maximum Shenny.

Damn, that gif of Sheldon is almost hypnotic.

I love that once they decided that they all couldn't go as the Flash that you really saw who they thought they were

Leonard- plucky underdog who wins the battle after lots of setbacks
Sheldon- its all about the Science
Raj- Alien hero from the stars
Howard- powerful, romantic and heroic lead who gets the girl (but winds up looking like the boy who won't grow up)

[Nutz]

This is the first time we see that the boys do have interests outside video and card games. We get a really funny moment as they try to figure out what to do after they all show up as the Flash, plus mute Raj being the only one who is able to hook up with a girl (since he's such a good listener)

The thing that is very noticeable only 6 episodes in, is the actors are spitting out their lines with glee, you can see how much fun they're having and the science terminology is prevalent through out the episode (unlike the current seasons)

Raj: Okay, if no-one else will say it, I will. We really suck at paintball.

Howard: That was absolutely humiliating.

Leonard: Oh, come on, some battles you win, some battles you lose.

Howard: Yes, but you don’t have to lose to Kyle Bernstein’s Bar-Mitzvah party.

Leonard: I think we have to acknowledge, those were some fairly savage pre-adolescent Jews.

Sheldon: You know, we were annihilated by our own incompetence and the inability of some people to follow the chain of command.

Leonard: Sheldon, let it go.

Sheldon: No, I want to talk about the fact that Wolowitz shot me in the back.

Howard: I shot you for good reason, you were leading us into disaster.

Sheldon: I was giving clear, concise orders.

Leonard: You hid behind a tree yelling “get the kid in the yarmulkah, get the kid in the yarmulkah.”

Penny (arriving): Oh, hey guys.

Leonard: Hello Penny.

Howard: Morning ma’am.

Penny: So, how was paintball, did you have fun?

Sheldon: Sure, if you consider being fragged by your own troops fun. (To Howard) You clear space on your calendar, there will be an enquiry.

---

Leonard: Is there a theme?

Penny: Um, yeah, Halloween.

Sheldon: Yes, but are the costumes random, or genre specific?

Penny: As usual, I’m not following.

Leonard: He’s asking if we can come as anyone from science-fiction, fantasy…

Penny: Sure.

Sheldon: What about comic-books?

Penny: Fine.

Sheldon: Anime?

Penny: Of course.

Sheldon: TV , film, D&D, Manga, Greek Gods, Roman Gods, Norse Gods…

Penny: Anything you want, okay? Any costume you want. Bye.

Howard: Gentlemen, to the sewing machines.

---

Scene: The apartment living room. There is a knock on the door.

Leonard (off): I’ll get it. (He enters, wearing a Flash costume. Opens door.)

Howard (Entering at speed, also wearing a Flash costume): Bjow (They stare at each other in shock.)

Leonard: Oh, no.

Sheldon: Oh no! (He is also wearing a Flash costume.)

Raj: Make way for the fastest man alive. (Enters, also in a Flash costume.) Oh no!

Sheldon: See, this is why I wanted to have a costume meeting.

Leonard: We all have other costumes, we can change.

Raj: Or, we could walk right behind each other all night and look like one person going really fast.

Howard: No, no, no, it’s a boy-girl party, this Flash runs solo.

Leonard: Okay, how about this, nobody gets to be The Flash, we all change, agreed?

All: Agreed.

Leonard: I call Frodo!

All: Damn!

---

Raj (Entering dressed as Thor): Hey. Sorry I’m late, but my hammer got stuck in the door on the bus.

Leonard: You went with Thor?

Raj: What? Just because I’m Indian I can’t be a Norse God? No, no, no, Raj has to be an Indian God. That’s racism. I mean, look at Wolowitz, he’s not English, but he’s dressed like Peter Pan. Sheldon(entering in a body suit featuring black and white vertical lines) is neither sound nor light, but he’s obviously the Doppler Effect.

Howard: I’m not Peter Pan, I’m Robin Hood.

Raj: Really, because I saw Peter Pan, and you’re dressed exactly like Cathy Rigby. She was a little bigger than you, but it’s basically the same look, man.

---

Sheldon: So what time does the costume parade start?

Penny: The parade?

Sheldon: Yeah, so the judges can give out the prizes for best costume, you know, most frightening, most authentic, most accurate visual representation of a scientific principle.

Penny: Oh, Sheldon, I’m sorry but there aren’t going to be any parades or judges or prizes.

Sheldon: This party is just going to suck.

Penny: No, come on, it’s going to be fun, and you all look great, I mean, look at you, Thor, and, oh, Peter Pan, that’s so cute.
Leonard: Actually, Penny, he’s Rob…

Howard: I’m Peter Pan! And I’ve got a handful of pixie dust with your name on it.

Penny: No you don’t.

---

Raj: Mmmm, by Odin’s beard, this is good Chex Mix.

Howard: No thanks, peanuts, I can’t afford to swell up in these tights.

Sheldon: I’m confused. If there’s no costume parade, what are we doing here?

Leonard: We’re socializing. Meeting new people.

Sheldon: Telepathically?

---

Raj: Penny is wearing the worst Catwoman costume I have ever seen, and that includes Halle Berry’s.

Leonard: She’s not Catwoman, she’s just a generic cat.

Sheldon: And that’s the kind of sloppy costuming which results from a lack of rules and competition.

---

Howard: Hey guys, check out the sexy nurse. I believe it’s time for me to turn my head and cough.

Raj: What is your move?

Howard: I’m going to use the mirror technique. She brushes her hair back, I brush my hair back, she shrugs, I shrug, subconsciously she’s thinking we’re in sync, we belong together.

Leonard: Where do you get this stuff?

Howard: You know, psychology journals, internet research, and there’s this great show on VH1 about how to pick up girls.

Raj: Oh, if only I had his confidence. I have such difficulty speaking to women. Or around women. Or at times, even effeminate men.

Howard: If that’s a working stethoscope, maybe you’d like to hear my heart skip a beat.

Nurse Costume Girl: No thanks.

Howard: No, seriously, you can, I have transient idiopathic arrhythmia.

---

Leonard: I want to get to know Penny’s friends, I just, I don’t know how to talk to these people.

Sheldon: Well, I actually might be able to help.

Leonard: How so?

Sheldon: Like Jane Goodall observing the apes, I initially saw their interactions as confusing and unstructured, but patterns emerge, they have their own language if you will.

Leonard: Go on.

Sheldon: Well, it seems that the newcomer approaches the existing group with the greeting “How wasted am I?” which is met with an approving chorus of “Dude.”

Leonard: Then what happens?

Sheldon: That’s as far as I’ve gotten.

---

Leonard: Come on.

Sheldon: Aren’t you afraid I’ll embarrass you?

Leonard: Yes. But I need a wing-man.

Sheldon: Alright, but if we’re going to use flight metaphors I’m much more suited to being the guy from the FAA, analysing wreckage.

---

Penny: Oh, hey guys. You having a good time?

Sheldon: Given the reaction to my costume, this party is a scathing indictment of the American education system.

Kurt: What, you’re a zebra, right?

Sheldon: Yet another child left behind.

---

Leonard: Okay, I understand your impulse to try to physically intimidate me. I mean, you can’t compete with me on an intellectual level and so you’re driven to animalistic puffery.

Kurt: Are you calling me a puffy animal?

Penny: Of course not, no, he’s not, you’re not, right Leonard?

Leonard: No, I said animalistic. Of course we’re all animals, but some of us have climbed a little higher on the evolutionary tree.

Sheldon: If he understands that, you’re in trouble.

Kurt: So what, I’m unevolved?

Sheldon: You’re in trouble.

---

Leonard: What’s that?

Sheldon: Tea. When people are upset the cultural convention is to bring them hot beverages. There, There. You want to talk about it?

Leonard: No.

Sheldon: Good. There, There was really all I had.

---

Howard: Hey, have you seen Koothrapali?

Sheldon: He’s not here. Maybe the Avenger summoned him.

Howard: He’s not the Marvel comic story, he’s the original Norse God.

Sheldon: Thank you for the clarification.

Howard: I’m supposed to give him a ride home.

Sheldon: Well I’m sure he’ll be fine. He has his hammer.

Scene: A random bedroom. Butterfly costume girl is climbing off of Raj.

Butterfly Girl: Wow, I have to say, you are an amazing man. You’re gentle and passionate, and my God, you are such a good listener!

(Raj puts hands behind head with a smug expression on his face.)

[Gamma]

In this episode I like the guys interactions with each other and how excited they were to get to break out their costumes and go to this party.


The three guys sitting on the couch observing the party around them- Sheldon because he has no interest in joining and Leonard and Raj because they lack the confidence ( or ability) to talk to anyone.





Meanwhile the prospect of getting shot down never stopped Howard. I loved his (misplaced) confidence.




I have to say this was one of the first episodes that Leonard kind of annoyed me. In his effort to score points and battle with Kurt he just put Penny in the middle of it. Yes, Kurt was a total Neanderthal, but Leonard was trying to provoke him to make himself look better. In the middle of Pennys party. Making her have to break it up. That's when I really knew that Leonard would never be my favorite character.

[Nutz]

I have to say this was one of the first episodes that Leonard kind of annoyed me. In his effort to score points and battle with Kurt he just put Penny in the middle of it. Yes, Kurt was a total Neanderthal, but Leonard was trying to provoke him to make himself look better. In the middle of Pennys party. Making her have to break it up. That's when I really knew that Leonard would never be my favorite character.

Leonard is definitely a mixed bag in this one. In one scene he's clearly instigating a confrontation he can't win physically and puts Penny smack in the middle of it, but then they do have him be a gentleman (even if its reluctantly) and you think maybe he is a good guy who just doesn't know how to deal with what he's feeling regarding this girl (This rationalization of Leonard went on until season 3 where I finally realized he really was just an ass).

Leonard: Penny?

Penny: Yeah.

Leonard: How much have you had to drink tonight?

Penny: Just…. a lot.

Leonard: Are you sure that your being drunk, and your being angry with Kurt doesn’t have something to do with what’s going on here?

Penny: It might. Boy, you’re really smart.

Leonard: Yeah, I’m a frickin’ genius.

Penny: Leonard, you are so great. Why can’t all guys be like you?

Leonard: Because if all guys were like me, the human race couldn’t survive.

[Gamma]

Yes, he was a gentleman at the end. But that was season 1 Leonard. Wanna bet by season 3 or 4 he might have at least let it go on a little longer before he stopped her. But he would have still patted himself on the back about what a good guy he was.

[devilbk]

And season 5 Leonard would have walked her to his bedroom.

[Nutz]

Yes, he was a gentleman at the end. But that was season 1 Leonard. Wanna bet by season 3 or 4 he might have at least let it go on a little longer before he stopped her. But he would have still patted himself on the back about what a good guy he was.

The problem with Leonard is they turned him into a character that has no consequences happen when he does something wrong. I know Lenny's never want to hear this, but we aren't making up that he sabotaged the friend who trusted him the most to have his back and instead of getting put on probation or fired, or even having him give a sincere apology to Sheldon, the writers decided his punishment was he got to "catch a break" and have sex with Penny and later in the season the writers decide to reward him further by Leonard getting a very prestigious and coveted invitation to the Large Hadron Collider.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Season 7 alone had him showing naked pictures of Penny to strangers on the Hawking Expedition, Not having Penny back with her career time and time again and lying about it and ended by Leonard getting Penny fired from her movie which resulted in the horrible punishment of Penny giving in and becoming engaged to him.

Season 8, same story. He sent Bikini photos of Penny to all the people he knew "to announce their engagement" proving he got a "hot Girl" and at this time it looks like his cheating on Penny is going to end up with him being "forced" to marry her in Vegas. Poor, poor Leonard.

Time and time again Leonard has been shown to make bad life choices and then gets rewarded for it with the joke being "Living with Sheldon" is his punishment. That is not a punishment, nobody has chained him to the apartment, and nobody is forcing him to live with Sheldon.

I know that People (and characters) aren't perfect, they make stupid mistakes, and hurt people they care about, But it's how you handle those mistakes that either make you a better person, or make you an entitled ass-wipe that thinks you can do no wrong and no matter what TPTB say, we clearly know which direction they had Leonard go.

[lewstonewar]

Maybe it's just me being nitpicky of the sitcom format, But it kinda bugs me when the joke supercedes logic. Yes the joke is funny but it wasn't organic or true the characters.

Four Cosplay nerds are super excited about an opportunity to dress up (hanging out with cool people is just an extra bonus or burden depending on character). They depart with the cry "to the sewing machines."

Cut to the four of them in identical cheap store-bought costumes so new they were obviously just purchased that day. (visually funny but not true to character)

Imagine they had the same conversation in four vastly different home-made Flash costumes. There would be more depth of character revealed in the details of their individual versions of the Flash. There would another layer to the joke, to them they are address identically but to the norms the costumes are as different as night and day.