The Terminator Decoupling

"The Terminator Decoupling" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on Monday, March 9, 2009.

Summary
While the guys go to to a conference via, they share their coach with  actress Summer Glau whom everyone tries to hit on, except for Sheldon. Sheldon must rely on Penny back in their apartment to download and him a  he forgot.

Extended Plot
Howard is about to perform on a   when Sheldon objects to them breaking the seal and voiding the. It is pointed out that otherwise, Sheldon will have the first season of "Battlestar Galactica" to make more room on the drive, Sheldon opts to violate the trust. Penny arrives with the suitcase that Leonard wanted to borrow on their trip to for a  where there will be "discussions on bio-organic cellular  devices, advancements in multi-threaded task completion, plus a round table on the non-equilibrium [ approach to the  process in s." When Penny goes to San Francisco, she just gets hammered and rides the.

Leonard is excited since they will meet Dr. George Smoot, a winning, whose work in  form and anisotropy of the cosmic   completely altered our understanding of the. Their mode of transportation is by thanks to Sheldon’s insistence which will take 7 hours and is twice as expensive as.

Leonard and the other were going to go to the  Genius Bar to make fun of the ; however Sheldon is too busy spending three hours attaching  to every article of  he is taking and indexing them on his  referencing his clothes to by events, destination, duration of trip,, etc. thus overcomplicating things.

On board the train (about the time the plane would have landed at ), Sheldon has them sitting to see the panoramic vistas (without any 's or 's) and without feeling the train axles on this -built Superliner Deluxe Passenger coach. Raj prefers the American train over the coach on a train in India, whose bathroom consists of a hole in the floor of the train. The guys then notice Summer Glau, the actress from "Firefly" and "" getting on the train. Sheldon muses that she could be a from the  in disguise that has infiltrated shows and movies about Terminators to wreak havoc on the. Howard wonders how he can score with her. Raj thinks he has a better shot of scoring with. Also Raj is and  vs. Howard's pasty and frail. Leonard would try, but he figures failure with one gorgeous woman is enough in his. Raj heads to the lounge to get a.

Sheldon realizes that he has forgotten his and must go back right now. He has a paper concerning probes of  effects on the early universe that he planned to give to George Smoot. He can’t email it because he won't get to see Dr. Smoot's face light up. First he plans an alternate route to get back and then starts to really drive Leonard crazy. Leonard tries to tell him that there's nothing he can do about it, so he should just relax chanting to the rhythm of the train. Leonard tells him to contact Penny to get it for him. " don't go in my room!" Sheldon reminded him. Leonard replied, "Well, once again, it looks like you're caught between a and a crazy place."

Howard has his opening line: "It's hot in here; must be ," which is used by Raj after Howard chickens out on his first pass of Summer. She thinks his line is cute and Raj is going all-out, and it's actually working.

At Penny's apartment, she is trying to get some people to come to see her play over a. Putting him on hold, Sheldon starts to give her exact instructions while she has him on hold. She doesn't understand so Leonard interprets that he wants a without using the words "Penny," "Sheldon," "favor," or "please.”

Raj is describing to Summer the when he asks Howard to get him another beer. As Sheldon continues to give directions to Penny, Howard realizes that it was a. When Howard shows this to Raj, he stops talking immediately. Howard then slips in and starts talking to Summer. "Hi, I'm the small package good things come in."

In Sheldon's, Penny has found the wrong box full of s from Sheldon's grandmother who calls him "Moon Pie." When Sheldon gets upset, Leonard convinces her to put them back. She does, but addresses him as "What up, Moon Pie!" Penny finally finds the correct box, but it's a that requires 10 moves to open it. Penny just smashes the box with her foot.

Howard thoroughly bores Summer describing a he has about her including telling her that in her dream her legs turned into a loaf of. By the way, did you know the words "pumper" and "nickel," in German, loosely translate to "fart ?" Finally he asks if he has any chance with her and she turns him down. She does agree to have a taken with him; however off camera his behavior causes her to break his.

Finally, Penny is ready to send the paper to Sheldon. However, she wants to know why she called him Moonpie. ("I'm nummy-nummy, and she can just eat me up.") Finally, Leonard starts to talk to her, Summer reaches her stop and she retreats quickly.

Sheldon meets with Dr. Smoot who is very annoyed with Sheldon and asks him if he was on.

Critics

 * "A nice plug for the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles provides the guys with an enjoyable new setting to deliver the same old jokes." - The TV Critic's Review
 * IMDb user reviews.

Trivia

 * When Sheldon mentions a round table on the non-equilibrium Green's function approach to photoionization processes in atoms, he is likely referring to the work by physicists in Kiel  , which had been submitted for publication a month before the episode aired.
 * When Sheldon initially calls Penny, she is talking to one of her friends about being in an upcoming play, which is her opportunity to portray Anne Frank. This fact is an in-joke referring to the fact that, when Kaley Cuoco was a cast member on "Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter", her character also played the role of Anne Frank in a high school drama production.
 * Leonard says that (Sheldon) '...he didn't use the words Penny, Sheldon, please or favor.' In fact, when Penny asked who was on the phone, Sheldon said 'It's Sheldon'.
 * Summer Glau also appeared on Firefly, a show that Sheldon was a huge fan of (and was devastated when it was cancelled.) Strangely, Sheldon makes no reference to this.
 * George Smoot had written to the producers of the show and requested to be featured on the series. Smoot, who received Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006, is an admitted fan of the series. The scene involving Smoot was shot at the Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank, California on February 18, 2009.
 * Summer Glau also appeared as herself in the episode. Summer Glau is part of the cast of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" which along with The Big Bang Theory is produced by Warner Bros. Television. Bill Prady, one of the creators of The Big Bang Theory, presented the script of the episode to Josh Friedman, creator of "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" with the plan of casting Summer Glau as herself. [Friedman, impressed with the story, suggested it to Summer Glau.
 * Raj doesn't need to be drunk to talk to women, it apparently suffices that he think he has drunk alcohol. This is plausible as Selective mutism is believed to be a psychological issue, rather than a neurological one (i.e., it is "in one's head", rather than the result of some sort of brain damage). While this makes it no less legitimate as a mental health issue, it improves prognosis, as psychological issues can be overcome by therapy or disappear in time (whereas neurological issues generally do not abate by themselves, although they may still respond to medication). Indeed, Raj eventually overcomes his mutism on his own later on in the show.
 * Before Penny opens Sheldon's Japanese puzzle box (a novelty he ordered on the Internet) to retrieve his flash drive, the Dover Publications text Atomic Physics by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born is visible in Sheldon's room amid a stack of books on his dresser.
 * Sheldon's room is frequently seen with different comics in the bins on the shelves, and framed above the bed. This episode got BOTH. The set include:
 * Justice League #82 (November 1993 issue) in the bins
 * Detective Comics #685 (March 1995 issue) in the bins
 * Green Lantern Annual #1 (June 1992 issue) in the bins
 * Legends of the DC Universe #38 (March 2001 issue) in the bins (2nd shelf)
 * Superman/Batman #13 variant, framed over the bed
 * Identify Crisis #1 (August 2004 issue) framed over the bed
 * Identity Crisis #4 (November 2004 issue) framed over the bed
 * Identity Crisis #7 (February 2005 issue) framed over the bed
 * Riding a train from Los Angeles to San Francisco is somewhat impractical, as one would need to transfer from Amtrak to a Caltrain commuter train at San Jose, which has very little baggage space (especially aboard the older cars). There used to be a passenger train going from LA to San Francisco called the Coast Daylight (and in fact, there is a proposal to restore the train).

Quotes
Penny: [going through a box to find Sheldon's USB flash drive] Okay, I've got a box, but there's no key in here. Just letters.

Sheldon: [edgy] That's the wrong box. Put it back.

Penny: Oh, Sheldon, are these letters from your grandmother?

Sheldon: Don't read those letters!

Penny: Oh look! She calls you Moon Pie! That is so cute!

Sheldon: PUT DOWN THE LETTERS!

Sheldon: Of course, if SkyNet actually did exist in the future, a perfect way to infiltrate and destroy mankind would be to send Terminators back posing as actors who have played Terminators in popular films and television series, lulling us into a false sense of security, i.e., that’s Summer Glau from The Sarah Connor Chronicles. No, Summer, don’t kill me! I’m pro-robot! Ahh!

Leonard: At least he’s off the train crap.

Sheldon: Whee!

Howard: Sheldon, I owe you an apology. Taking the train was a stroke of brilliance! I’ve actually got a shot at a Terminator.

Raj: Oh, please. When it comes to Terminators, you've got a better shot of scoring with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Howard: You’re overlooking something. I have 11 hours with her in a confined space. Unless she’s willing to jump off a moving train, tuck and roll down the side of a hill, she will eventually succumb to the acquired taste that is Howard Wolowitz.

Leonard: My money’s on tuck and roll.

Sheldon: It’s Sheldon.

Penny: Oh, hey, Sheldon! How is San Francisco?

Sheldon: I’m not in San Francisco. I’m on a train. Were you even listening to me?

Penny: Uh, no, I was talking to my friend, but what’s up?

Sheldon: What’s up? I’ll tell you what’s up. I’m in a crisis situation, and I need you to marshal your powers of concentration, limited as they may be…

Leonard: Give me the phone. Hi, Penny. It’s Leonard.

Penny: Hey, Leonard. What’s going on with Dr. Wackadoodle?

Leonard: He’s calling to ask you a favor. You might be confused because he didn't use the words, Penny, Sheldon, please or favor.