The Luminous Fish Effect

"The Luminous Fish Effect" is the fourth episode of the first season of the   ''The Big Bang Theory. ''This episode first aired on October 22, 2007.

Summary
Sheldon is fired from his and subsequently delves into numerous. Leonard sees this and decides that only one person can help Sheldon get back to his normal life: Sheldon's mother.

Extended Plot
Leonard and Sheldon are attending a to meet the new department head, Eric Gablehauser. Sheldon is displeased with Gablehauser because he feels that he is unworthy. After expressing this to him, he is swiftly.

Back in the apartment, Leonard is confident that Sheldon will get his back if he apologizes to Gablehauser, but Sheldon refuses, as he explains this is his first off day in s. He starts out by conducting  with. Penny comes in and asks if Sheldon needs any. As his demands for various types of eggs confuse her, Sheldon tags along. He manages to her after  her on the distance between, fun facts on , , and buying  in bulk. Leonard comes back to find Sheldon experimenting with (glow-in-the-dark). He plans to market them as. Next, he buys a, making , , and other.

Leonard brings Sheldon's Mother; Mary Cooper to Pasadena to help with Sheldon, who was making and. This angers Sheldon and he runs to his. Mary makes for the gang, and explains that Sheldon was always like this. Refusing to eat dinner with them, Sheldon does come out of his room for some. Mary says that "you have to let Sheldon come to you". Leonard clearly ignores her warning and soon enough, Sheldon has locked himself in his room again. Mrs. Cooper remarks that Sheldon has her eyes, but the stuff comes from.

The next day, Mary forces Sheldon to to Gablehauser after reminding Sheldon of a similar thing that happened when he was younger. It was fine to be er than everyone else, you just can't keep talking about it. At Caltech, Mary introduces herself to Gablehauser and prods Sheldon to apologize. Sheldon swiftly gets his job back in a manner suggesting  between Gablehauser and Mrs. Cooper. In the final scene, Sheldon asks his mother whether Gablehauser will become his new. Mary answers cautiously, "We'll see". Sheldon then goes to sleep and we see he has succeeded in making "Luminous Fish" nightlights.

Worn on the Show
Sheldon wears a celestial graphic t-shirt, often called "Goodnight" at merchants likeZazzle.com. After being fired, he spends much of the rest of the show in a pancho or his pajamas and robe.

Critics

 * "A strangely written episode. The story is passable as are the jokes but the focus is all wrong. The story should be about Sheldon’s place in the world and how he feels about it and yet we learn very little. The writers don’t seem to know what they were trying to achieve." - The TV Critic's Review
 * IMDb user reviews

Trivia

 * This is the first time we see the inside of Caltech in the series.
 * Johnny Galecki and Sara Gilbert previously costarred together in "Roseanne" (1988), which also featured Laurie Metcalf - a guest star in this episode.
 * Sheldon on the  is mentioned again in "The Toast Derivation", where it is revealed that he made matching  for Leonard, Howard and Raj, the latter most of whom still wears it when the  gets.
 * Sheldon's 'estimate' of 4,000 for Penny's  is grossly inaccurate. Modern midsize  average 3,200 pounds while her small  weighs closer to 1,900-2,100 pounds.
 * Sheldon's idea that he could simply a  in the, go back in time, and give it to himself, thereby eliminating the need to invent it, is impossible as this is would be a . A  like Sheldon should already understand this, as he points to such in "The Nerdvana Annihilation".
 * Penny misses the point of Sheldon's on the  when she says he should start heading out of the  then, as Penny intends to drive Sheldon home when she is ready.
 * Sheldon's family name Cooper is revealed for the first time in this episode.
 * Inconsistence: When Leonard, Howard, Raj and Penny are talking with Mary Cooper in the, a turned-on can be seen through the open door of the  - this lamp is more easily seen when Sheldon escapes from the living room; however, in the bathroom scene in the Pilot (when Leonard talks with Penny who is in the shower), there is no lamp on the wall opposite to the door.
 * This is probably because that the bathroom scene is filmed in a separated bathroom setting, while in the living room setting, the (supposed) bathroom door does not really open to the aforementioned bathroom setting.

Quotes

 * Leonard: Howard brought a date?
 * Sheldon: A more plausible explanation is that his work in robotics has made an amazing leap forward.


 * Mary: (To Raj) I made chicken. I hope that isn't one of the animals ya'll people think is magic.


 * Howard: (With a woman) Hey, what up, science bitches?


 * (Sheldon is sitting in his room, working on a genetic sculpture, when his mom walks in.)
 * Mary: Good Morning, Snickerdoodle!
 * Sheldon: Morning.
 * Mary: (Looking at Sheldon's sculpture) Aw, now that looks awful fancy - what is that?
 * Sheldon: It's my idea of what DNA would look like in a silicon based life-form.
 * Mary: But intelligently designed by a creator, right?
 * Sheldon: What do you want, Mom?
 * Mary: You know how your Daddy always used to say that you can only fish for so long before you've gotta throw a stick of dynamite in the water?
 * Sheldon: Yes.
 * Mary: (Picking out a shirt, pants, and shoes from Sheldon's closet) Well, I'm done fishing. You put those on.
 * Sheldon: What for?
 * Mary: Because you're gonna go down to your office, and you're gonna apologize to your boss, and get your job back.
 * Sheldon: No.
 * Mary: I'm sorry, did I start that sentence with the words, "If it pleases you your highness"?
 * Sheldon: I'm not going to apologize. I didn't say anything that wasn't true.
 * Mary: Now you listen here. I've been telling you since you were four years old, it's okay to be smarter than everybody else but you can't go around pointing it out.
 * Sheldon: And why not?
 * Mary: Because people don't like it! Remember all the ass-kickings you got from the neighbor kids? Now let's get cracking. Shower, shirt, shoes, and let's shove off. [Leaves]
 * Sheldon: Wouldn't have been any ass-kickings if that stupid Death-Ray had worked!


 * Sheldon: (Reluctantly apologizing to Dr. Gablehauser) We may have gotten off on the wrong foot when I called you an idiot. I was wrong... to point it out.


 * Sheldon: How’s this? Pleased to meet you, Dr. Gablehauser. How fortunate for you that the University has chosen to hire you, despite the fact that you’ve done no original research in 25 years, and instead have written a series of popular books that reduce the great concepts of science to a series of anecdotes, each one dumbed down to accommodate the duration of an average bowel movement. Mahalo.
 * Leonard: "Mahalo" is a nice touch.
 * Sheldon: You know, there are only eight consonants in the Hawaiian language.
 * Leonard: Interesting. You should lead with that.


 * Mary: Oh, you got yourself a loom. How nice.
 * Sheldon: Thank you.
 * Mary: Honey, why did you get a loom?
 * Sheldon: I was working with luminous fish, and I thought, "Hey...loom".