The Werewolf Transformation

The Werewolf Transformation is the eighteenth episode of the fifth season of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. It aired on February 23, 2012.

Summary
Sheldon goes to get a haircut and finds that his regular barber is hospitalized in a coma. He tries to let the nephew cut his hair, but Sheldon bolts as soon as the barber starts to tell a story. As usual, Sheldon is driving the gang crazy since his world is out of order. Penny offers to trim his hair; however, Sheldon declines her “skills of the hill folks.” Howard gets a letter requesting him to report for astronaut training in Houston, which he is excited about; however, Sheldon’s hair problem seems to be the topic of the day.

While at Amy’s apartment desperately looking for a new barber, Amy suggests that he would look sexy with really long hair and riding a horse, shirtless. Then she leaves to have a long session "brushing her teeth."

Howard video chats with Bernadette about his first day of training and describes his experiences with zero G gravity and his vomiting reaction. Sheldon goes to visit his barber who is in a coma and brings him a bear, tries to get him to wake up but is chased out by the nurse, who thought he had escaped from the psychiatric floor.

Leonard teaches Penny how to play chess and she beats him the very first time. Sheldon comes in, first letting Penny sit in his spot and then lamenting how the order of his life is falling apart. Sheldon then says he should embrace the chaos and that it might be fun. Then, he decides to wear his Tuesday night pajamas on the wrong night.

Back in astronaut training, Howard describes his outdoor survival test that included sleeping in a hole with an armadillo and eating a butterfly. Bernadette takes pity on him and flies to Houston to take care of him, but quickly learns that Howard’s mother is already there.

Sheldon wakes everyone up at 3 AM playing the bongos as did the noted physicist Richard Feynman. Penny runs over, very annoyed. Sheldon keeps repeating what everyone says using the rhythm of his bongo playing. Since Sheldon’s world is now in chaos, he doesn’t even care when Leonard tries to invoke The Roommate Agreement. Sheldon leaves playing the bongos and ends up falling down the stairs.

The next morning Penny and Leonard find Sheldon asleep on Amy’s couch. Penny again offers to cut Sheldon’s hair, reminding him of all the other times she’s taken care of him. Sheldon asks Amy’s opinion and she says that there isn’t a hair on her body that she wouldn’t let Penny cut.

Penny finishes his haircut and though he thinks it’s a bit Hollywood, Sheldon is happy with it. As she tries to trim his neck, Sheldon giggles and then she shaves off some of his hair in the back. After Sheldon innocently leaves, Penny tells herself that she is going to have to move after that little discretion.

Title Reference
The title is derived from Sheldon missing out his haircut schedule, due to his regular barber being hospitalized and he refuses to get his haircut somewhere else, which leads to his hair growing out a little bit, thus equating this situation to a werewolf transformation.

Quotes
Sheldon:'' To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, this is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a nephew.''

Sheldon: Get well 'beary" soon!

Penny: If I were you, I'd be worried that a girl who never played chess in her life just kicked your ass.

Sheldon: Hello!

Penny: (sitting on Sheldon's spot, starts to move when she sees him) Hey, sorry Sheldon, I'll move.

Sheldon: (does not seem bothered by Penny) ''Why? My spot, your spot, what difference does it make? ''

(Penny and Leonard frown at him)

Penny: Okay, what just happened?

Leonard: ''I don't know... Between you playing chess like Bobby Fischer, and Sheldon being okay with you sitting in his spot... I'm guessing someone went back in time, stepped on a bug and changed the course of human events.''

Sheldon: It's been six days since I was supposed to get a haircut.

Leonard: Would you stop that!

Sheldon: (flips his hair) I can't help it, I feel like a teen-heartthrob.

Sheldon: I have spent my entire life, trying to bring order into the universe.

Sheldon: Let's embrace the chaos!

Leonard:'' What are you gonna do first? ''

Leonard: Don't be Sheldon with bongos!

Sheldon: (Playing his bongo and in a sing-song voice) Hel-lo Leonard, do you like my bongos? ''Bongo solo! ''(Hits on his bongos wildly)

Leonard: Stop it!

Penny: Where are you going?

Sheldon: Wherever the music takes me, kitten.

Sheldon: Never play the bongos walking down the stairs.

Howard: Tonight, when she's asleep, I'll spoon you like an armadillo.

Amy: There's not a hair on my body that I wouldn't let this woman trim.

Raj: (Reading Howard's travel orders out loud) Payload specialist Howard Wolowitz is requested to report to the NASA Johnson Space Centre, Houstan, Texas for astronaut training, Monday 8:00 am.

Howard: Yeah, but it's from NASA so its 0800.

Raj: But it says 8 am. Howard: ''Y'know, it does have an 'o' in front of it... Oh my god, I'm an astronaut and you're dying of jealousy!''

Leonard: Sheldon, be nice!

Sheldon: I'm sorry, it's the bad boy attitude that comes with this hair.

Amy: Well, this isn't a crisis, why don't you just let your hair grow out a lil'.

Sheldon: ''Why don't I let my hair grow out?! Um, why don't a start wearing Birkinstocks, and seeking validation of my opinions by asking 'Can you dig it?".''

Amy: ''I don't know. I think you might look sexy with long hair. With the kind that...flows down to your shoulders, and blows back while riding on a horse. Bare back and bare chested... I'm gonna go brush my teeth, it might take a while.''

Penny:'' All right, Sheldon, this craziness has gone on long enough. Please come home so I can cut your hair.''

Sheldon Cooper: Penny, you're not trained, you're not licensed, and most importantly, you don't have access to my haircut records.

Penny: ''All right, honey, look. We've known each other for a long time now, right? I've taken you to Disneyland, I kicked a bully in the nuts for you, I sing you "Soft Kitty" when you're sick, you've even seen me naked once.''

Leonard Hofstadter: I'm sorry, what?

Penny: ''It's a long story. Anyway, Sheldon, I promise I know what I'm doing. Please let me cut your hair. ''

Sheldon Cooper:'' Amy, what do you think? ''

Amy Farrah Fowler: There's not a hair on my body I wouldn't let this woman trim.

Trivia

 * Sheldon claims he has haircut records, but in fact his mother invented them to stop him worrying when he moved to Pasadena.
 * Sheldon claims his hair grows at 4.6 yoctometers/femtosecond. That converts to 1.2 cm in 30 days which is consistent with normal hair growth rates.
 * Sheldon says he tried Supercuts once, noting they do men's and women's hair in the same room at the same time. In The Friendship Contraction, he mentioned Supercuts as a task to be undertaken.
 * Sheldon is not scared of the hospital in this episode, unlike in The Engagement Reaction. However, he doesn't show any concern in the Pilot and The Adhesive Duck Deficiency either.
 * Penny beats Leonard at chess the first time she ever plays. It might be because Leonard is really bad at playing chess, as Sheldon has claimed many times.
 * Analogous to Richard Feynman, Sheldon plays the bongo drums. In fact, playing the bongos was a defining characteristic of the former. In The Vacation Solution, Sheldon emulated the famed physicist when he went to work in Amy's biology lab after a forced vacation was imposed.
 * Leonard, while trying to get Sheldon to stop playing the bongos, mentions that there are no hootenannies, sing-alongs, or barbershop quartets after 10 pm which is part of The Roommate Agreement. In The Roommate Transmogrification, Sheldon quotes a similiar article (possibly a different statement of the same article): "Please note, it is now past 10:00 p.m. Per our roommate agreement, kindly refrain from raucous laughter, clinking of glasses, and celebratory gunfire."
 * With reference to Build-A-Bear Workshop, Sheldon said bears are terrifying in The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis, but he seems to have overcome this by giving his barber a stuffed bear.
 * After this episode, there was a one week hiatus, with a repeat. After episode 19, the show was on a two week hiatus, being replaced by a CBS sports special.
 * This is the first episode ever where Sheldon does not care that Penny sat in his spot; an occurrence that only happened because he is heartbroken over his barber.
 * The song Amy sings is Bon Jovi's "Wanted (Dead or Alive)".
 * Amy obliquely makes a reference to Gerard, her masturbatory aid toothbrush, after picturing Sheldon with long hair and bare chest, on horseback.
 * Penny makes a callback to The Zarnecki Incursion, when she kicked a cyber-bully who had stolen Sheldon's virtual treasure in the crotch.
 * Althea, a minor character, makes an appearance after an absence of a few seasons.
 * Penny states "I've taken you to Disneyland (The Spaghetti Catalyst), I kicked a bully in the nuts for you (The Zarnecki Incursion), I sing you Soft Kitty when you’re sick (The Pancake Batter Anomaly, The Vegas Renormalization, The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification), you’ve even seen me naked once (The Adhesive Duck Deficiency)."
 * The back of Jim Parson's hair was shaved bald or thin for the final punchline, however the show was then on hiatus so that the hair could grow back.
 * Astronaut Wolowitz would have had much more extensive training before enduring the dangers of spaceflight.

Video
thumb|left|300px|Sheldon playing on his bongos

thumb|left|326px|The Werewolf Transformation Canadian Promo

thumb|332px|left|The Werewolf Transformation Promo

Reference

 * Taping report by ennaxor
 * Press release by CBS