S09E04 - The 2003 Approximation

No: 187  |  Season: 9   Episode: 4  |  Air Date: 2015-10-12  |  Runtime: mins

Summary

An impending change to his living arrangements inspires Sheldon to revert to 2003, before he met Penny and Leonard. Raj and Howard form a band for the comic book store.

Director and Writers

Director: Mark Cendrowski
Writers: Story by: Chuck Lorre & Steve Holland & Eric Kaplan / Teleplay by: Steven Molaro & Maria Ferrari & Tara Hernandez

Script

Script: S09E04 - The 2003 Approximation

Quotes

Sheldon: What happened to me Amy? Years ago I was completely disengaged from my feelings. I'd say It was a happier time, but I was disengaged from my feelings, so who can tell.

Howard: (singing) Indy's whip snapped. Thor's hammer missed.
Raj: (singing) It was Avenger vs archeologist.
Howard: (singing) Indy held his ground and straightened his fedora.
Raj: (singing) Thor said that's a nice look, in 1944-a.
(rhyme with fedora)
Howard, Raj: (singing) Thor and Dr. Jones, Thor and Dr. Jones. One plays with lightning, the other plays with bones. Thor and Dr. Jones, Thor and Dr. Jones. One plays with lightning, the other plays with bones.
Stuart: Play something we can dance to.

Bernadette: Hey, if you're open to living with someone great, I'll give you $1,000 to take Stuart.
Amy: You really should have gone on the internet and checked how long that kind of thing lives before you got one.

Sheldon: What a wonderful day; thank you.
Penny: Oh, we're glad you had fun
Sheldon: Blue Icees and a trip to the container store? It's like I died and went to the post-mortem neuron-induced hallucination commonly mistaken as heaven.
Leonard: I still don't understand why you bought that pill caddy; you're a young man.
Sheldon: Age is a state of mind, Leonard. In here,
(points to his head)
Sheldon: I'm 90.

Raj: (singing) Oh Indy, Oh Indy! The skies are so windy. Is that a flying man with a killer board? Wait! That's no man, it's a Norse god.
Howard: Oh yes! Definately! Hang on...
(singing)
Howard: Thunder clapped as Thor raised his mighty hammer. Indy rapped "that's one bad mama-jamma".

Howard: (Howard comes up with a name for the band) Footprints on the Moon.
Raj: I just got chills.
Howard: So did I.
Stuart: Me too, but I, uh, might have Lyme disease.

Stuart: Do you guys know any musicians?
Howard: Why?
Stuart: I was thinking it might be cool to have live music here a few nights a week, you know. Give this place more of a "staying in business" vibe.
Howard: What kind of music are you thinking of?
Stuart: I like all kinds of music. But my favorite genre is "free".

Raj: (singing) Thor and Dr. Jones, Thor and Dr. Jones. One runs from Loki, the other runs from stones.

Sheldon: It says here you're a chemist. Which element on the periodic table do you feel is too big for it's britches?
Candidate #1: Is that supposed to be a joke?
Sheldon: Looks like argon's not the only one with an attitude problem.

Raj: Remember the Ark of the Covenant?
Howard: Yeah.
Raj: That's how much we're gonna melt people's faces off.

Raj: We could play filk music.
Stuart: W-What's that?
Raj: It's been around for years. It's like folk music, but with a sci-fi/fantasy theme.
Stuart: I like it. Sounds exactly like something I shouldn't be expected to pay for.

Raj, Howard: (singing) Thor and Dr. Jones, Thor and Dr. Jones. One plays with lightning, the other plays with bones.

Sheldon: I was like the Tin Man, perfectly content until that evil wizard gave him a heart.
Amy: I don't think that was the point of the movie.
Sheldon: Fine! I was like Pinocchio who that jerk Geppetto went and made him a real boy.
Amy: There you go.

Sheldon: In general, would you say that you smell better, worse, or the same as you do right now?

Sheldon: I was going to ask you what is the best fruit, but then I realized what I want to ask you is why is there a band-aid on your forearm, but then I realized what I really want to ask you is can you just go?

Sheldon: So, like an operating system, I'm restoring my life to the last stable version, which was in 2003, the day before I met Leonard.

Notes and Trivia

Laura Spencer (Raj's girlfriend Emily) is now promoted to the main cast as her name appears in the opening credits, but is only credited in the episodes she appears in, just like Kevin Sussman as Stuart.

Penny has a hard time containing her laughter with Raj and Howard's song. This was not scripted but Kaley Cuoco breaking character, as can be seen in the blooper reel for season 9, where everyone bursts out in laughter at one point.

The Flash t-shirt Sheldon is wearing after he decided to get back to his lifestyle in 2003 before meeting Leonard is the same t-shirt that he wore when he met Leonard for the first time in the origins episode The Staircase Implementation (2010).

Title Reference: The title refers to Sheldon wanting to return to the unemotional state of his personality before he met Leonard in 2003.

Goofs

None

Cast

Johnny GaleckiLeonard Hofstadter
Jim ParsonsSheldon Cooper
Kaley CuocoPenny Hofstadter
Simon HelbergHoward Wolowitz
Kunal NayyarRaj Koothrappali
Mayim BialikAmy Farrah Fowler
Melissa RauchBernadette Rostenkowski
Kevin SussmanStuart Bloom
Laura SpencerEmily Sweeney
Craig WelzbacherCandidate #1
Kurt KoehlerCandidate #2
Arshad AslamCandidate #3