The Terminator Decoupling

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

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

Extended Plot


Howard is about to perform surgery on a hard drive when Sheldon objects to them breaking the seal and voiding the warranty. It is pointed out that otherwise, Sheldon will have erase the first season of "" 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 symposium where there will be "discussions on bio-organic cellular computer devices, advancements in multi-threaded task completion, plus a round table on the non-equilibrium Green's function approach to the photo ionization process in atoms." When Penny goes to San Francisco, she just gets hammered and ride the.

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

Leonard and the other guys were going to go to the to make fun of the employees, however Sheldon is too busy spending three hours attaching  to every article of clothing he is taking and indexing them on his laptop. As usual, Sheldon over does things cross-referencing his clothes to by events, destination, duration of trip, weather, etc.

On board the train (about the time the plane would have landed at ), Sheldon has them siting to see the panoramic ocean 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 third-class coach on a train in, whose bathroom consists of a hole in the floor of the train. The guys then notice Summer Glau, the actress from and  getting on the train. Sheldon muses that she could be a Terminator from the future in disguise that has infiltrated shows and movies about Terminators to wreak havoc on the human race. Howard wonders how he can score with her. Raj thinks he has a better shot of scoring with. Also Raj is foreign and exotic vs. Howard's pasty and frail. Leonard would try but he figures failure with one gorgeous woman is enough in his lifetime. Raj heads to the lounge to get a beer.

Sheldon realizes that he has forgotten his and must go back right now. He has a paper concerning astrophysical probes of M-theory 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. "People don't go in my room!" Sheldon reminded him. Leonard replied, "Well, once again, it looks like you're caught between a rock and a crazy place."

Howard has his opening line: "It's hot in here; must be Summer," 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 favor 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 an. When Hoard 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 bedroom, Penny has found the wrong box full of letters from who calls him "." When Sheldon gets upset, Leonard convinces her to put them back. She does, but addresses shim 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 dream he has about her including telling her that in her dream she turned into a loaf of. By the way, did you know the words "pumper" and "nickel," in German, loosely translate to "fart goblin?" Finally he asks if he has any chance with her and she turns him down. She does agree to have a picture taken with him, however off camera his behavior causes she 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 surprises him and asks him if he was on crack.

]

Quotes
Penny: [going through a box to find Sheldon's USB] 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.

Trivia

 * 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 . This is an in-joke referring to the fact that, when Kaley Cuoco was a cast member on , her character also played the role of Anne Frank in a drama production.
 * 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  in  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, creator of "Terminator: The Sarah Conor Chronicles" with the plan of casting Summer Glau as herself. [Friedman, impressed with the story, suggested it to Summer Glau.
 * This episode reveals that Raj doesn't need to be drunk to talk to women, but at least think he is drunk.
 * 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 -winning physicist is visible in Sheldon's room amid a stack of books on his dresser.

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