First Aired: Sep. 22, 2008 on CBS

Rate Episode: 4.64/5 (14 votes)
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Season 2 » Episode #01 - The Bad Fish Paradigm

The Big Bang Theory - 02x01 The Bad Fish Paradigm
Summary: Penny and Leonard go on a date, but when their night out goes awry, Penny finds a friend in Sheldon.

Who appeared in this episode?



Guest Stars:

Raj Koothrappali played by Kunal Nayyar
Mrs. Wolowitz voiced by Carol Ann Susi

Episode Quotes

Rajesh Koothrapali: You can't stay with me - I have a teeny, tiny apartment.
Sheldon Cooper: Excuse me, but isn't hosting guests an aspect of Manushya-Yajna, one of the five central religious duties or sacrifices of the Hindu house-holder?
Rajesh Koothrapali: I hate trains!
Sheldon Cooper: Don't be silly - you love trains.
Sheldon Cooper: You must release me from my oath. I can't keep your secret, Penny. I'm going to fold like an energy-based de novo protein in conformational space... like a Renaissance triptych... like a cheap suit.
Penny: Why is it so hard for you to keep one little secret?
Sheldon Cooper: I'm constitutionally incapable. That's why I was refused clearance for a very prestigious government research fellowship at a secret military supercollider located beneath a fake agricultural station 12.5 miles southeast of Traverse City, Michigan.

Sheldon Cooper: Which you did not hear about from me.
Howard Wolowitz: Are you having a second date?
Leonard Hofstadter: No. She said we would just wing it.
Sheldon Cooper: Oh, please. Even I know that's lame.
[More Quotes]


Mistakes/Goofs

  • Goof (factual errors): When Sheldon comes over to stay at Rajesh's place, Rajesh is watching a Hindi movie and a song is audible for a few seconds. Sheldon asks Rajesh if that actress is Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Rajesh says she is. But the song is from the movie Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000) which does not star Aishwarya Rai at all. At the start of the scene there is one more piece of music that is heard - a classical Indian tune. The music is never played in the movie, or at least, it is not played any time near the two occurrences of the song.
  • Goof (errors made by characters, possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): After Sheldon tells Penny he is not capable of keeping secrets, she tells him to "just forget about it". To this, Sheldon replies: "Forget? This mind does not forget" and explains how he has not forgotten anything since his mother stopped breastfeeding him. However, later in the episode he forgets about Lee Meriwether being one of the Cat women and about Professor X and Nightcrawler being two of the X-men.
  • Goof (continuity error): Sheldon is folding clothes in the laundry room. He puts down a blue t-shirt on his folder in a close up shot. Next shot is pulled back and there is a pair of socks on the folder. Next shot he is picking up the blue t shirt to fold again.

Trivia

  • Assuming Sheldon's slip about being denied clearance to a secret research facility is true, there's a secret government-funded military super-collider hidden beneath a fake agricultural station near here (12.5 miles southeast of Traverse City, Michigan); in the Traverse City Forest Area.
  • A Münchhausen Trilemma is a reasoning that no Truth can be proved, since any proof will ultimately fall into one of three unsatisfactory reasonings. In Sheldon's case: he's moving out, because he's moving out.
  • Watches indeed used to be painted with Radium to make their numerals glow in the dark, but that practice has been abandoned, since Radium is radioactive and has been found to be hazardous to one's health.
  • When Sheldon moves into Rajesh's apartment, they discuss the famous Indian actresses Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Madhuri Dixit while Alka Yagnik's voice is heard on the television.
  • Sheldon's shirt folder is sold at Amazon.com.