ennaxor

A bit later than usual, but here's the report! The taping lasted until 11, and I didn't get home until midnight, and by the time this was typed up fanforum was down... And since I had to be up early this morning, I just went to bed.

I don't have the time right now to read through this, so there are probably some small mistakes and typos...

We very nearly didn’t get in! There were a LOT of VIPs, so they told us at first at everyone from number 32 onward was on standby. My group was numbers 56-59, so we figured we were out of luck, and I basically resigned myself to the fact that we wouldn’t get in, but at least we‘d get VIP tickets for a taping next season. They took back a lot of VIPs at first, then the first 31 of the regular ticket people, then after a long time, they took back more, but stopped right when they got to us!

They said that we still might get in, but just not with that group. But we were feeling better about our chances, now that we were right at the front of the line. After a while, they announced that they were still waiting on like 31 more VIPs, so everyone from number 80-something onward had to leave, since they definitely wouldn’t be getting in. Finally at like 6:15, they took our group back, and by the time we got to our seats the episode they start at 6:00 was just ending (it was The Psychic Vortex). I know at least a couple people behind us also got in, but I don’t think it was much more than that.

Oh, and Wil Wheaton was there! We saw him when he arrived (while we were still waiting at the benches), and then he was sitting a couple rows ahead of me, to the left a little bit. We got to sit in the fourth row this time (since we were in VIP seats where the people never showed up), and a couple rows ahead of us were a bunch of writers from the show!

Ok, so episode title is “The Lunar Excitation.”

Scene 1

The four guys are on the roof of the apartment building, with a big laser set up, and a telescope, and other equipment. Sheldon says that he should have brought an umbrella, because with his fair skin, the possibility of moon-burn is high. Howard asks if that was a Bazinga. Sheldon says it was, and one of his better ones.

Howard goes up to Raj, who is looking through the telescope into a building across the street. Howard tells him that millions of dollars were spent inventing the internet so you can look at naked women on there, and don’t need to peek into windows anymore. Raj says he’s not looking at a woman, he’s watching The Good Wife - it’s his new Grey’s Anatomy.

Sheldon points at something and asks it is. Leonard says it’s just a spare sock, the world is full of spare socks. Sheldon says that his isn’t.

Leonard says it’s too bad Penny wasn’t there, she would have liked the experiment. But he doesn’t want to go invite her, because it’s still been weird between them. Howard says something about since the break-up, and Leonard says they didn’t break-up, they were just at different points in the relationship. Sheldon doesn’t understand how relationships can have geographic properties. Howard says that Leonard was in the land of Don’t Leave Me, and Penny was on the Island of Bye-Bye. Leonard says fine, he’s going to go see if Penny’s home, and leaves the roof.

Howard goes back to Raj and asks if he can point the telescope to the moon now. Raj says no, the good wife is crying, something is very wrong!

Scene 2

Leonard knocks on Penny’s door, she answers, and he tells her they’ve got an experiment set up on the roof to bounce lasers off the moon, and asks if she’d like to come see it. She’s confused, so he explains it a little bit more. Then this tall guy, Zach, comes up to the door from in the apartment, putting an arm around Penny, and says that’s impossible, you can’t bounce things off the moon, there’s no gravity.

Leonard says oh, sorry, if he’d known she had company he wouldn’t have come by. Zach stops him, though, and says he wants to come see it. Penny asks, wait, what about the party? On the first take, Zach said, “The party doesn’t start till we get there, right?” Then the line was changed to, “It’s a surprise party, it doesn’t matter when we get there.”

So they leave the apartment, Leonard and Penny start to head up the stairs. Zach heads towards the elevator first, before realizing it’s broken, and following them. Leonard asks how they know each other - Zach’s business makes the menus for the Cheesecake Factory. Actually, it’s his dad’s company, Zach and his sister are just the VPs.

They continue up to the fifth floor… Leonard asks, so, menus? Zach says yeah, but there’s actually a lot of science involved in making the menus. Leonard and Penny share this look, where Leonard’s like, really?, and Penny’s kinda embarrassed.

Scene 3

Back on the roof. Howard is moving the dirty sock, and Sheldon tells Raj to keep an eye out for the other one.

Leonard, Penny, and Zach walk out onto the roof, and Penny introduces him. Zach immediately walks up to the laser, and says it’s bitchin’. Sheldon says, yes, when Einstein wrote his papers about the possibility of creating a laser (only this is all said in much more Sheldon terminology), his greatest hope that it would one day be bitchin’. Zach smiles and nods, and says mission accomplished!

Leonard explains to them what will happen, how they’ll send up the laser, it’ll bounce off the moon, and then come back into this dish thing that they set up. But they won’t be able to see the laser with the naked eye by the time it gets back (Zack repeats “naked” and laughs) Penny smiles and says cool. Zach says he has a question, how will they be sure that it doesn’t blow up? Leonard asks, the laser? Zach says no, the moon. Everyone else has these really surprised, wow did he really say that, expressions on their faces. Sheldon comments to Leonard that this is the type of guy that Penny should be dating.

On one take, Penny made this really funny face after Zach’s line… So the audience was still laughing hard at that when Sheldon started to say his line. So he stopped, confused, and Jim asked, “What happened?”

They’re ready to go, so they pass out special glasses, so they can see the laser. Zach takes it and says, oh cool, it’ll be in 3D! The whole thing’s over in just a few seconds, and everyone’s excited, except for Zach, who asks, that’s it?

Leonard asks, don’t you realize the importance of what they just did? It’s the only way to prove that man really make it to the moon, and they put the reflector up there, and this all occurred only 60 years after the same species invented the airplane. (On one take, Johnny forgot the line, and said “man put… something up there,” and as they cut and he was checking the line, we heard him say sandwiches.)

Zack asks, wow, what species was that? Everyone again is like, did he really just say that? Sheldon says he was mistaken, even Penny can do better. So Penny says they really have to go, and practically pushes Zach towards the door. He asks if they should invite the others to the party, and she says no, just keep walking.

Once they leave, Sheldon says that Zach must be very good at coitus. Leonard just gives him a look, and Sheldon adds that maybe he plays the guitar instead. On the last take, the scene ended after the coitus line, and Leonard just walked away.

Scene 4

Leonard, Howard, and Raj are carrying equipment back into the apartment. Raj tells Leonard that the best way to get over Penny is to get “back on the whores.” Howard looks at him, and says no, the expression is to get “back on the horse, not whores.” Raj says that’s disgusting! Howard starts to explain, then gives up.

He tells Leonard he should check out this new dating website, they can find someone for anyone! Leonard asks if they found someone for Howard - Howard says he’s been on 6 dates in the past month, 12 if you count those that showed up and left. But Leonard’s not interested.

Sheldon comes in and says he can’t carry the propane (I think?) bottle down. Leonard asks why. Sheldon clarifies, it’s heavy, and he doesn’t want to. Leonard says he’ll help him, but after Leonard leaves, Sheldon just tells him to lift with his knees, and shuts the door behind him. (Johnny still stayed in character after he left the apartment as he was reacting to Sheldon, even though he wasn’t on camera, and behind the big dividers that were covering the hallway; I could just see him through cracks between the walls.)

Sheldon says goodnight to Howard and Raj, and goes to his room. Howard says that they should sign Sheldon up for a dating site. Raj asks why don’t they just create someone for him, like they did for Frankenstein’s wife. Howard says they didn’t just create her, they formed her using body parts from dead people. Raj says that can be their plan B. So I think the scene ended with them sitting down at the computer to set Sheldon up.

Scene 5

Later that night, still in the apartment, it’s dark, and there’s insistent knocking at the door. Leonard walks in, wearing his robe, answers the door, and it’s Penny. She says, “Damn you, you rat bastard.” He asks if she’s drunk. She tells him that Zach was a perfectly good guy, but Leonard ruined him. He asks how he did that, she says that he made her see how dumb he is. Leonard tries saying he wasn’t really that dumb. Penny tells him that at the party, Zack kept saying he invented the word “appeteeezers.” Plus he thought they were going to blow up the moon! Leonard laughs, and says yeah, he was pretty stupid. Penny says that in the olden days, she wouldn’t have known he was so stupid. Then she enters the apartment, grabs Leonard’s arm and pulls him along, and says that they’re going to have sex. Leonard starts to ask why, but then just says ok.

There was a lot of cheers and whooping from the crowd at this part at first, but then they asked us not to cheer. They had to film it a few times, Penny pulling Leonard along across the apartment, because people cheered at first, and then they still clapped, but they just wanted laughter there. On one take, as they were reminding us not to cheer, Kaley said something like, “It’s exciting!”

The past part of the scene was pre-taped - they pass Sheldon’s door, and Sheldon comes out to see them going into Leonard’s room. Penny tells Sheldon to put on his noise reducing headphones, because it’s going to get loud in there! They go into Leonard’s room, close the door, and Sheldon says, “Not this again.”

Scene 6

Next morning in the apartment. Sheldon pours orange juice, takes a drink, and asks “In what world is this light pulp?” Penny comes down the hallway, sees him, tries to tiptoe by, but Sheldon says, without turning around, “Good morning Penny.” She asks if he has eyes in the back of his head. He says no, that when one is beat up every other day in elementary school, out of necessity one acquires sensitive hearing. And it turns out one is more likely to be beat up while referring to oneself as one.

He asks her if she’d like something to eat, he has English muffins, but she says no, she’s not hungry (on the first take, she added that she might not ever eat again). On one of the takes, after her line, Jim looked down at the toaster and said something like, “They appear to be on fire.” I thought it was a line change at first, but they really were burning! So he stepped back, and we saw smoke start to come from the toaster, and the prop guys had to come up and fix it.

Penny heads towards the door to leave, and Sheldon tells her that his noise reducing headphones didn’t work well enough last night, they were still so loud he could hear them. Also, he’s never heard “yee-haw” used in that context. Penny just says “Oh God,” and leaves. Sheldon says to himself something like, “Oh God, that’s a phrase I’ve heard many times.”

Then Sheldon used a prong thing to get his English muffins out of the toaster, but on the take after the “fire,” they popped up or something, when they shouldn’t have, prompting in a “Damn it!” from Jim (the first time I’ve heard him swear, I think!). But Sheldon takes them out, and says, “In what universe is this lightly toasted? This is the worst day of my life.”

Leonard comes down the hallway, smiling, but before he enters the kitchen Sheldon says (again, without looking), “Good morning Leonard.” At first, I think Leonard just said, “I’ve told you not to do that.” Then it was changed to, “How many times have I told you not to do that?” Sheldon says, counting that one, 317 (or whatever the number was).

Leonard asks if Sheldon saw Penny, and he says that she just left. Leonard frowns, and wonders why she left without saying goodbye. Sheldon asks if Leonard’s asking his opinion on a human action (that’s a bad wording of it, but I’m too tired to figure out a better way to phrase it). On the first take, Leonard said that Sheldon might be able to offer an opinion from his outside view. Johnny messed this up a couple times, saying at first, “I thought maybe, no, there’s no maybe.” Then on the next take, he said maybe again, and then “Fu-!” (just the first half of the f-bomb, drawn out). On the last take, Leonard said, right, he’d be better off asking the shower curtain. So he ways down the hallway, saying, “Oh, shower curtain!”

Sheldon takes a bite out of his English muffin, and says, “I have no problem believing that that’s not butter.” The first time Jim tried to do this, he said something like, “Oh God, I can’t tear it!”

Then they brought Johnny back out, at the end, to just get audio of him saying “Oh, shower curtain!” He came out, and I don’t know what was said to him, but he was smiling, and said, “It’s the last day of school!“ So he said it once, and then was told to say it again, faster. Johnny frowned a little, and said, “You’re bossy.” But he said it again, a little faster, and they said to say it one more time, and he kinda made a face again (joking around), but said it.

Scene 7

Later that morning, Leonard crosses the hall to see Penny, but before he can knock on her door she opens it, wearing her work uniform. She says now’s not a good time, she’s got an early shift. He says he can walk down with her and they can talk. Leonard comments on how last night was fun. On the first take, Penny says she couldn’t really remember. On the second, she says sure it was, she threw up in her closet.

Down to the third floor, Leonard asks if she’d like to see a movie that night. She says it’s not a good night. He says another night would be fine, he’s free basically… whenever. Penny tells him that last night was a mistake. He asks was it a good mistake? Like the invention of penicillin? She says she was drunk, and lonely, and angry at Zach, and that’s it. Penny continues down the stairs, but Leonard stays by the door, yelling down at her. He says something like, “So you just used me for sex? Wham, bam, thank you Leonard?”

Then he turns around, and the older woman that lives in 3A is standing in her doorway. Leonard says, oh, good morning. She says, “Good morning, Leonard. Or should I say, yee-haw.” Leonard looks embarrassed/uncomfortable, and starts to go back to his apartment.

Scene 8

Back at Leonard and Sheldon’s, Leonard is lying on the couch, face down, Raj is at Leonard’s desk, Howard is getting something from the fridge. Raj is suddenly excited, the website found a match for Sheldon! It’s proof that there are aliens among us. Howard comes up and looks at it. Raj says she’s a real woman, she has breasts and everything. Howard says that that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s a woman. Raj asks why. On the first take, Howard just says it’s a long story, he’ll tell him later. On the second, he says he’ll show him a picture sometime of his uncle.

They tell Leonard to come look at the screen, but Leonard’s not interested. He says that she’ll just meet Sheldon, use him for sex, and then leave in the morning without saying goodbye. Raj asks Howard what that’s all about, Howard doesn’t know, and says to ask him. Raj asks, but Leonard says he doesn’t want to talk about it, and Raj says to Howard, oh yeah, great plan.

So they turn back to the computer, and start to type a message to this girl, starting with, “Greetings Earthling.”

Scene 9

This scene was pre-taped. Leonard’s walking down an unfamiliar apartment hallway, muttering to himself that if Penny can do this, he can do it too. He knocks on a door, decides that he can’t do it and starts to walk away, but Leslie Winkle answers it before he gets too far.

So they talk a little, he says it’s been a while, and she says 18 months. He rambles about how they’d hooked up before, and Leslie viewed sex as a non-commitment thing, and basically asks if they can do that again. She says, hold on, let me think about it, and shuts the door. He stands there for a couple seconds, says to himself, “She’s not coming back,” and leaves.

Scene 10

Fourth floor hallway. Before this scene started, Johnny was spinning and walking around in lots of circles, and I was amused at first, but soon found out why…

Leonard walks up the stairs, stumbling, and he’s drunk. He takes a swig out of a small glass bottle, stops and looks at the elevator, then pulls the door open a crack to drop the empty bottle in. He hears the bottle break, and on the first two takes he said, “Oopsy!” On the last take he said, “Huh, 30 feet.”

So he knocks on Penny’s door, she answers, and he goes off saying how he was a perfectly happy, lonely, little guy, and then she ruined him! (And how he says this is really funny, by the way, all slurred.) She asks if he’s drunk. He just says that they’re going to have sex, and enters her apartment, but she pushes him back out and shuts the door. On the first take as she did this, I think she asked if he was out of his mind. After that, it was changed to her telling him to go home and sleep it off. Dejected, he walks towards his apartment, muttering how he thinks there’s an unfair double standard.

Scene 11

Later in the guy’s apartment, Howard and Raj are at Leonard’s computer. Then Raj says, uh-oh, “She wants to meet us!” Howard says not us, she wants to meet him. Raj says, “Him doesn’t know about her.” Howard says, “Him needs to be told,” and Raj says something like, “Is us gonna tell him?”

Sheldon comes in, and asks who needs to be told about whom. Howard and Raj ask how he’d respond if they told him he’d been matched up by a dating site to his perfect match. Sheldon says with a snort of derision and throw his hands in the air. They tell him it’s true, and he responds as such.

Howard says they answered all the questions as if they were him. Sheldon says that the dating sites are all just hokum. Raj says that’s what they put on the site, for the question that asked what you thought of dating sites. Raj says Howard wanted to put some mumbo jumbo, but Raj knew “our Sheldon” would say hokum.

Howard says that even Spock dates once every seven years. Sheldon says that’s not dating, it’s pon farr. Howard asks Sheldon to just meet her for coffee, Sheldon says he doesn’t drink coffee. Howard asks what about hot chocolate. Sheldon says that since he won’t be meeting her, his choice of drink is irrelevant, but for future reference, he only drinks hot chocolate in months that include the letter R.

Howard gives up. Raj tells Sheldon, very seriously, that he’s hidden the sock from the roof somewhere in his apartment, and unless he meets the girl, it will stay there forever. This got such a huge reaction from the crowd, even Kunal ended up laughing! Sheldon guesses that Raj is bluffing, but Raj asks if that’s a chance he wants to take. Sheldon says “Curse you,” defeated, and gets up and leaves to go to his room. Then Raj turns to Howard, says, “Give me your sock!” and Howard hurriedly tries to take his shoe off.

Scene 12

Howard, Raj, and Sheldon in a coffee shop. Sheldon asks how they’d like him to respond when he turns out to be right - I told you so, neener neener, his something look… Raj tells Sheldon, “You don’t know that we’re wrong, yet” an on the first take Sheldon says, “YOU don’t know that you’re wrong yet.” On the second, Sheldon says the look it is, and gives it to them.

Then Amy Fowler, Sheldon’s “date,” comes up and introduces herself. She basically asks like a female Sheldon, but not as severe as Leonard’s mom. Sheldon says that the only reason he’s there is because he’s being blackmailed by a dirty sock. On the first take, Amy just says she doesn’t know what that means. Later, she said “If that’s slang, I don’t understand it. If it’s literal, I share your aversion to spoiled hosiery.”

She says that she’s only there because she has a deal with her mom that she goes on one date a year. Sheldon says he has the same agreement with his mom regarding church. Amy says that she doesn’t object to the possibility of a God, but she doesn’t believe in one that takes attendance. Sheldon tells her not to visit East Texas. She tells him, before this goes any farther, she will not take part in coitus, or anything leading up to it. Sheldon’s pleased, asks if he can get her a drink, and she says a tepid water.

So Sheldon and Amy go up to the counter, and Howard and Raj stand and watch them, surprised and a little scared. On the first takes (and on the last one), Howard said, “Oh God, what have we done.” But on one of the takes in-between, he said, “It’s alive!”