ennaxor

Ok, my report from today:

My friends and I showed up around 3:30. Last week we got there at the same time, and there were only about 20 people ahead of us, but this week there were closer to 50 already there. It didn't really matter, though, and we ended up sitting in the same row as the last time (back row, but in front of the guys' apartment).

I was really hoping they'd play the episode I saw filmed last week, so we could see the final cut, but instead it was from earlier in the season (as Krys said, "The Gorilla Experiment"). So slight disappointment, but it's still a good episode to rewatch!

And now for the filming itself:

Scene 1 - Cafeteria

Raj is talking about Avatar - when they have sex, they touch their ponytails together. But they also do the same thing with the birds and the horses. Howard asked him what his point was. Raj’s first answer was that in India, they barely even show kissing in movies. Then they changed the line, and Raj said that if he was the horse or bird, he’d feel very nervous around James Cameron. Sheldon can’t believe that Raj is complaining about fictional issues when there are more important, real life issues, like why William Shatner wasn’t in the new Star Trek movie.

Leonard walks up and joins them at the table, and says that he overheard who was receiving that year’s Chancellor’s Award. Poor Johnny flubbed his first line three times before he finally got it right. Then on one of the takes that Johnny got it right, Jim messed up his line right after that, and Johnny said something like, “Was it because I got mine right?”

Anyway, so Sheldon says something like he really doesn’t care, because they continually fail to recognize him - he’s like the William Shatner of science. But this year, Sheldon finally gets the award! He’s surprised (but not really, because it was inevitable that he’d get it eventually), and excitedly tries to decide what to do first. He runs out of the cafeteria, and Raj says “Good for him.” Howard says, with fake sincerity, yeah, cause he really needed an ego boost, then shook his head. On later takes, Howard said it much more sarcastically (which I thought worked better), and on the last one even brought back the William Shatner reference.

Scene 2 - Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment

The four guys are watching a 3D movie, but only Leonard, Sheldon, and Howard are wearing 3D glasses; Raj is sulking. At first Leonard said sorry, the box said that it came with four glasses. Then the line was changed to more of a too bad, you didn’t want a Slurpee at 7-Eleven, you don’t get glasses.

Sheldon gets a phone call informing him that he has to give a speech to accept the award. He decides that he doesn’t think he can accept it, because he can’t give speeches. Howard tells him he gives speeches all the time, he just doesn’t know when to stop talking. Sheldon says he can’t talk in front of a large crowd (determined by if the crowd is large enough to trample him - 36 adults, or 70 children).

Penny then comes in with a cheesecake to celebrate. She ends up telling Sheldon about some award she got in high school that she was nervous about, but it felt great once she accepted it. Kaley messed up on the lines a few times, and dropped the f-bomb. Sheldon then recalls when he was 14(?) and valedictorian when he graduated college, and went up to the podium to make a speech, and then he faints just at the memory.

Scene 3 - Penny’s bedroom

Leonard and Penny are in her bed, making out, and she suddenly asks if he’s thinking about Sheldon. Leonard had two reactions that they filmed. For the first, he said no, and if she was then they had to very different ideas of foreplay. For the second, he said no, and if she was than he was doing something very wrong. She says she thinks they should help them, he finally convinces her that they can talk about it later, but now Leonard can’t continue because he’s thinking of Sheldon!

Scene 4 - Hallway / Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment

Sheldon’s talking to his mom on the phone about his problem. He doesn’t think praying will help, he’s never heard of the song “Jesus Take the Wheel,” but fine, he’ll look it up on iTunes. He enters the apartment to find everyone else waiting for him - they want to help, be his team, like Xavier has his X-Men. Penny will help him shop for new clothes, to boost his confidence, Leonard will psychoanalyze him to try to get to the root of his problem, Raj will do some Indian medication, and Howard will pretend to care when he really doesn’t. Sheldon agrees, but they won’t be his X-Men; since X-Men was named for Xavier, and his last name is Cooper, they’ll be his C-Men.

Scene 5 - Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment

Raj is trying to help Sheldon meditate. He tells him to close his eyes (which Sheldon does, after making sure Raj isn’t planning on punching him), and think of the place where he feels most at home. Sheldon decides on Sim City, or more specifically, Sheldonopilis (home of the Fighting Sheldons!). Sheldon is very much into it, and then suddenly a Godzilla-like creature is attacking Sheldonopolis. He starts giving directions to the citizens (if the children can’t keep up, leave them behind!), and Raj just gets up and leaves.

Scene 6 - Men’s clothing store

This scene was pre-filmed, and just played on the TVs. Penny is helping Sheldon shop for a new suit. She picks up an all black one, but Sheldon doesn’t like the lack of color, and says it’s far too expensive to only be one color. He then tries on some very colorful suits, before Penny finally gets him to put on the black one. He still doesn’t like it, and says he looks like a clown, and does this hilarious bending thing to try to look at himself in a mirror that’s a little too short for him.

Scene 7 - Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment

Leonard’s trying to act like a psychologist, but Sheldon’s not very impressed. Sheldon shares a dream he had where he was a giant, but everything else around him was giant also and to scale, so it seemed normal. Leonard asks if maybe Sheldon feels he doesn’t deserve the award, and that’s why he’s not accepting it. Leonard then ends up talking about a science experiment when he was a kid, with his mom not approving, and ends up crying (so sad!), with Sheldon acting as the psychologist. Sheldon then decides if Leonard, with so much damage, can get up every morning, then he can get on stage to accept the award.

On the first take while Leonard was talking about his experiment, he messed up the lines at first, and said something like, “Let me just go through the sound of it in my head.” So everyone’s silent as he just sits there, nodding his head a little as he things though his lines. A few people in the audience laughed a little, and he looks up and says, “You try it!”, which earned great laughter and applause from the audience.

Scene 8 - Award Banquet

This was all pre-filmed, though we could see the set that they used off to the right (where the Cheesecake Factory was set up last week). Leonard is at the podium, introducing Sheldon, but ends up ranting about his mom again. Meanwhile, Sheldon is getting nervous again at the table. Penny offers him wine to help him relax, and he refuses at first, but then she says something (can’t remember what) to get him to drink it. He does, and says he doesn’t feel any different, so she grabs another glass and says to try that one instead (he downs that one too).

So he’s basically drunk when he goes up for his speech. He makes some funny science jokes, says some other ridiculous stuff, and then starts singing (naming all of the elements, I think? can’t remember for sure). Completely hilarious!

Scene 9 - Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment

It’s the next morning. Leonard and Penny are in the kitchen, and Sheldon walks in, still wearing his tux, but missing his pants! He says he has some questions he’d like to ask about last night. Leonard directs him to his computer, which already has the video loaded and ready to play on youtube. Sheldon watches (and so do we) himself on stage, as he takes off his pants, all the while saying something about dimensions. He’s horrified (though Jim was trying not to smile), and Leonard and Penny are just cracking up next to him.

And just some general observations now of the cast between takes... I honestly really didn't notice much of a difference between their interactions this week and last week. Johnny and Kaley hardly interacted, but really none of the cast did very much. Jim and Johnny both had their scripts that they kept nearby, and they'd frequently reference them. Jim, Johnny, and Simon all just walked around a lot (Jim mouthing his lines), not really talking much to anyone. Kunal basically just stayed put on the couch, sometimes watching whatever the host was up to with the audience, dancing a little in his seat. Kaley was talking to various crew members, and she seemed happy enough.

I did see Kaley and Johnny talking briefly a couple of times between takes, but there wasn't really any joking around. What did seem a little strange was for the last scene, where they start off in the kitchen together, and there were times when they were both just standing there at the counter, waiting to start, and not talking at all to each other. Though at the start of one take, Johnny had just started pouring a cup of coffee when they stopped for some reason. Kaley said something like, "You suck," or "You're really bad" (regarding his bad coffee pouring skills, which of course really wasn't the reason why they stopped), and his sort of made this face like he agreed and nodded. So that surprised me, and was kinda cute.

Anyway, after everything was finished, I got Kunal to sign my little program-thing, and Simon to sign my season 1 DVD set. Simon would sign for a few people, then start to leave, but then others kept calling him back.

Again, if you have any more questions, I'm happy to answer them!