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Old 03-03-2010, 01:46 AM
  #250
ennaxor
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Here are all the details from tonight’s taping - The Wheaton Recurrence! It turned out to be a very LP centered episode, and not really in a good way... The long road we heard about? It starts here.

So my friends and I showed up at a little after 3:00, and there were about 20 people in line ahead of us. We ended up sitting in the same section as before (in front of the guys apartment), but one row closer this time (5 instead of 6). The comic book store was set up to the far left (where the cafeteria has been for the last two tapings), and the remains of the bowling alley were to the far right (they’d done all the filming for those scenes yesterday, since the camera stuff was so complex).

Scene 1 - Penny’s bedroom

Penny and Leonard are in bed, breathing heavily, especially Leonard. He says if he knew that he was preparing for this, he would have tried harder in PE back in school. Penny says, “Do or do not, there is no try.” Leonard gets excited that she quoted Star Wars. Penny specifies that she quoted The Empire Strikes Back. Leonard can’t believe that he’s in bed with a beautiful girl who can quote Star Wars - and then he says the big words - “I love you!”

Penny’s like a deer caught in the headlights, says wow… and then, thank you. Leonard says he just wanted to put that out there. Then Penny says something like, yeah, that’s good. They sort of lie there, awkward, Penny suggests they go to sleep, Leonard agrees. She turns on her side away from him, he lies on his back, and they both have these really uncomfortable expressions on their faces.

They filmed the scene just twice, without any major changes between the two.

Scene 2 - Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment

Sheldon, Howard, and Raj are watching some movie with giant ants. Leonard walks into the kitchen (from his room) to get a drink, and Raj asks him his opinion on giant ants, and using them for transportation; Raj thinks it’s better than the Batmobile. Leonard doesn’t care. Sheldon says that a giant ant would collapse under the weight of its exoskeleton. He also gives his own opinion on the top modes of transportation, in which the Batmobile is better than the giant ant.

Leonard leaves and goes back to his room. The guys wonder what’s his problem, and Sheldon suggests that it’s his time of the month. On the first take, Howard asked if he meant that Leonard was PMSing. On the second take, Howard asked if he meant that Leonard was man-struating. Sheldon says that research has shown that men go through some 33 day hormonal cycle. Raj thinks maybe that’s the reason for his own weepy days in the middle of the month.

Scene 3 - Comic book store

As they’re looking through the comic books, Howard asks the others what their opinion is on giant rabbits. Raj says he doesn’t like any kind of rabbits, they always look like they’re about to talk, and they never do. Sheldon says that rabbits have a circulatory system (or something) that would actually support a large size. And they’re the only mammal where the scrotum is in front of the penis. Raj says maybe that’s what they don’t want to talk about.

Howard asks Leonard what his opinion is, and Leonard said he doesn’t give a rat’s ass. Howard or Raj asked if that was a giant rat, and Sheldon says that giant rats are possible. Howard says Leonard always has an interesting and controversial opinion when it comes to animal scrotums.

Leonard just wants to change the topic. Howard says sure, let’s talk about why Leonard’s acting like a giant douche - assuming giant douches are possible, of course. Sheldon says they are, Leonard’s being one. They ask if he had a spat with Penny, and he says no, there was no spat, and he doesn’t want to talk about it. Sheldon says that he thinks Leonard will talk about it anyway, and he doesn’t want to hear it, so he walks away.

Then Howard and Raj start asking Leonard a bunch of questions to try to figure out what happened between him and Penny. Howard’s first question was if Leonard tried to bring porn into the relationship, because that can be complicated / women don’t seem to like that (two different endings to the line on different takes). Later the first question was changed to, “Did you cover yourself with maple syrup, and ask if she was in the mood for a short stack?” Leonard just says no.

Raj then asked if Leonard put on her panties and danced around and freaked her out. He gets weird looks from Howard and Leonard, and Leonard says no. Howard asks if he asked her to wax - No. Raj asks if he waxed - No.

Cut to Sheldon, elsewhere in the store, who runs into Stuart. Stuart reminds him about the bowling match that night. Sheldon says that he’s been practicing his trash talk - “You bowl like your mother. Unless your mother is a good bowler, in which case, you bowl nothing like your mother.” Stuart feigns hurt. Sheldon informs him that is called a burn.

Back to Howard and Raj, still guessing. On the first take, Howard asked if Leonard said someone else’s name (it was some actress, I can’t remember who) while making love. On the second take, Howard asked if in the act of love, Leonard accidentally slapped his own butt instead of Penny’s and said “Mommy.” Leonard says he’s walking away now, and does. Howard and Raj look at each other, and one of them says, “Well, it wasn’t a no.”

Scene 4 - Walking up the apartment stairs

Still trying to figure things out, Howard asks if Leonard took a Benadryl and fell asleep during sex, because that can kill you. Then they run into Penny, who’s coming down with her laundry. Sheldon reminds her about the bowling game that night, but then Leonard says she doesn’t have to go if she doesn’t want to. Penny says she’ll be there, and they’d get crushed without her. Sheldon says that this is one case in which her lack of femininity works to their advantage.

Penny says something like, “It’s always fun chatting with you Sheldon,” and continues on past them. Sheldon asks if that was sarcasm, she says it was thinly veiled contempt. She goes down the stairs, and Sheldon yells a reminder that it’s at 7:00. She yells “Got it!” He clarifies that it’s Pacific Coast Time. She yells, “Bite me!”

He then asked if that was again thinly veiled contempt. I don’t remember her exact response the first time, but it had something to do with hatred. The second time, she said, “There’s no fooling you!” The third time, instead of asking about contempt, he said something like, “Save that butch attitude for the lanes!”

Scene 5 - Bowling alley

Everything here was pre-taped. Sheldon is spraying tons and tons of disinfectant on his bowling shoes. Howard asks why doesn’t Sheldon bring his own shoes. Sheldon says he does. Howard asks then why all the disinfectant. Sheldon says he knows where his feet have been.

Stuart shows up, and tells Sheldon that one of their teammates wasn’t able to come, so he got Wil Wheaton to fill in instead. Sheldon informs Wheaton that he was the captain of some East Texas Christian bowling team, 7 - 12 age division… plus Penny’s good too. We see Wheaton bowl and get a spare, then Sheldon bowls and gets a strike. Raj gets a beer and says to himself that now he can be the life of the party, but then the camera zooms out a little and there’s no one else around him.

There might have been a few other brief shots, but then we get to the important part… Leonard sits down next to Penny with some chili fries, and asks her if she wants some. She says yes, she loves chili fries! Leonard says he’s glad to hear that she has no problem saying that she loves things. Penny says that now’s really not the time to discuss this, and Leonard says no, the right time would have been when they were in bed. She gets mad and says that she doesn’t appreciate being told when it’s time to say “I love you,” and gets up and leaves.

Howard turns to Raj, and says he guessed premature, which was kind of right.

Scene 6 - Penny’s apartment

Sheldon knocks on Penny’s door (getting a little quieter with each “Penny”). She answers, and he tells her that just because she’s having problems with Leonard doesn’t mean that their friendship should be affected. He’s come to give her a shoulder to cry on - not literally, of course. He gives her a paper bag, which has ice cream in it. Sheldon’s been studying the female psyche by reading the comic strip Cathy - she says “Aack” and eats ice cream. (On one take, Jim messed up this line, and I think he said something like, “Oh good lord!”) Penny smiles, says “Aack,” and invites Sheldon in.

On the first take, as she’s putting it in the freezer, Sheldon advises her not to stand on a scale and weigh herself after eating the ice cream - that’s a mistake that Cathy always makes. On the second take, Sheldon says that if she was a cat, he would have brought lasagna.

Penny asks if Leonard had sent him. Sheldon says no, they hadn’t talked since Penny’s departure the previous night had caused them to forfeit the match to Stuart and Wheaton. Sheldon wasn’t proud to admit that he cried himself to sleep. Though it was hard to sleep, with Leonard listening to Alanis Morissette in the next room. Penny asks how any of that was supposed to make her feel better. Sheldon says that he has news to cheer her up - he’s arranged a rematch for the bowling game.

Penny says she’s not sure about it, since things are so awkward between her and Leonard right now. Sheldon says that he can kick Leonard off the team if necessary. Penny says no, she’ll talk to Leonard, and let Sheldon know how it goes. Sheldon asks when she plans on talking to him, and tells her that he’s currently in the laundry room. Penny says something like, “You won’t leave me alone until I talk to him, will you?” and Sheldon says, “I think we both know the answer to that question.” So she leaves her apartment, and Sheldon follows.

Scene 7 - Laundry room

Leonard’s folding his clothes. Penny enters and says that they need to talk. Leonard says no, everything’s fine between them. Penny reminds him how he got mad at her for saying something nice to the chili fries.

On the second take, early in the scene, Johnny sort of forgot a line, and turned to Kaley and said, “Do you see the tumbleweeds rolling through my head?” And as he said it, he moved a hand across his face, and Kaley mimicked and did the same thing. Then he messed it up again (just said, “I’m sorry”), but got it fine after that.

She says something like, “You have to know how much you mean to me,” and says that she’s said the L-word too early in a relationship before, and it didn’t turn out good. Leonard mutters something like, “Don’t know what that’s like.” Then she says something like, you know what I mean… He says yeah, and it’s not really a big deal that they’re at different places, and it actually makes sense because he’s been in the relationship for two years longer than she has. So he assures her that he’s fine. (The first take felt like he was slightly more awkward about it, the second a bit more sincere.)

Then Sheldon comes in, says great, the fence is fixed, problem solved, and of course he was eavesdropping because it was important. On the second take Jim messed up his line (started with “problem solved”), and said “Oh shoot” as he turned around to go back into the hallway.

Also, on the first run of the scene, Leonard said some awkward things about his laundry whitener (pointing out that it really wasn’t making his whites whiter, and then later saying they were extra white fine, or something like that), but I think they cut those when they ran the scene the second time.

Scene 8 - Bowling alley

All pre-taped again. Sheldon shows them team shirts that he made, that say “Wesley Crushers.” Because they are crushing Wesley. Next is a discussion of what else it could mean, and how placing the emphasis in different places changes the meaning… Then Wheaton enters, and says, “They named their team after me!” and Sheldon just tosses the shirt aside.

Before the match starts, there was some talk between Sheldon and Wheaton… I can’t remember what Wheaton said, maybe this was where they clarified the rules of the rematch? Whoever lost would be publicly humiliated by the winners, who got to choose how. Sheldon ended the conversation by asking Wheaton how good of a bowler his mother was.

Next came lots of clips of them bowling. In one, Sheldon and Wheaton were both ready to bowl at the same time, and Sheldon tells Wheaton to go first. Wheaton says no, it’s conventional for the player in the right lane to go first. So Sheldon said, ok, and begins to bowl, but then at the last second Wheaton bowls at the same time, throwing Sheldon off. Wheaton says it’s convention, but it’s not mandatory.

There was one of Howard getting ready to bowl, and Sheldon telling him to be the ball. Howard throws the ball, doesn’t do well, and Sheldon tells him he wasn’t the ball.

In another Sheldon was getting ready to bowl, and the others are chanting “Sheldon! Sheldon!” He turns around and says he doesn’t know who they’re chanting for, there is no Sheldon, he is the ball. So they awkwardly start to chant, “The ball, the ball.”

At one point Penny and Stuart were sitting next to each other, and Stuart says something about how he hopes they can still be friends, even though they were on opposite sides. And he starts naming examples of pairs that were on opposite sides… I can’t really remember, but basically it was more of him being awkward around her.

Later Penny’s sitting next to Wil. He says something about how he’s glad she’s worked things out with Leonard, then says he knows what it’s like to be in a relationship where “I love you” was said too early. He once was in some relationship with a girl, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about him, so she strung him along for two years before finally breaking it off. He wishes she’d have just ended it sooner to save him the pain.

Penny’s startled, and thinking about this, when Sheldon comes up and asks if Wheaton’s gotten into her head. He asks if he told her his grandmother’s dead, cause he’s not afraid to play the Mee Maw card.

So then Penny’s up, and Leonard tells her to concentrate, cause they really need a strike (all said very supportingly). She snaps and tells him to stop pressuring her. He apologizes, says he’s sorry, and asks her to just tell him what to do and he’ll do it. She shakes her head, and says something like, “I can’t do this to you,” and leaves again. Sheldon tells Leonard to go after her, or it’ll all be over (referring to the game), and Leonard sadly says, “I think it’s already over.”

Sheldon confronts Wheaton, and asks if he interfered with Leonard and Penny. Wheaton asks if Sheldon really thinks he would break up a couple just to win a bowling game. Sheldon reconsiders, and says no, and Wheaton says, “Keep thinking that.”

Then I think it was here (but it might have been earlier… since we only saw the bowling stuff once, it was hard to keep track), Sheldon said something about how he hates Wheaton. Wheaton tells him to embrace the dark side. Sheldon says that he’s not even quoting his own franchise.

Scene 9 - Comic book store

Stuart’s on the phone, talking about the difference between chicks from match.com and eHarmony, and then says he’s gotta go, he won a bet and is about to cash in on it. Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, and Raj enter the comic store - dressed like Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, and Catwoman, respectively. The first three are all clearly uncomfortable, but Raj is smiling, and says he feels very empowered. On later takes, instead he says, “This definitely brought me out of one of my weepy days.” At first it ended after Raj’s line, but then they added Stuart taking their picture with a camera (Raj happily poses, while the others are still all awkward).

Even though all of Wil Wheaton’s scenes were pre-taped, he was still on set (we saw him looking around in the comic store at one point), and he came out for the curtain call. All the guys were still in their skimpy superhero costumes for curtain call, too, and Kaley came out wearing Leonard’s blonde Supergirl wig.

None of the main cast stayed out to sign, but Wil Wheaton did, and he signed my little episode program thing. And while we were waiting for him, I noticed Bill Prady nearby, so I called to him and asked him to sign my season 1 DVDs, which he kindly did.

The whole cast seemed to be in good spirits. No visible tension between Johnny and Kaley, and they talked some between scenes.
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Last edited by ennaxor; 03-03-2010 at 01:34 PM
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