S11E08 - The Tesla Recoil

No: 239  |  Season: 11   Episode: 8  |  Air Date: 2017-11-16  |  Runtime: mins

Howard: But, your communication system was based on our guidance system. Sheldon: And sonar is based on bats. You don't see them hanging upside down in a patent attorney's office.

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Summary

Howard and Leonard become upset after they discover that Sheldon has been working with the military without telling them; Bernadette asks Raj to investigate her suspicions that Ruchi is attempting to take her job away from her.

Director and Writers

Director: Anthony Rich
Writers: Story by: Chuck Lorre & Eric Kaplan & Tara Hernandez / Teleplay by: Steve Holland & Maria Ferrari & Jeremy Howe

Script

Script: S11E08 - The Tesla Recoil

Quotes

Howard: Did you screw us over?
Kripke: Ooo, I can't tell you that. It's cwassified.

Leonard: Tesla was a genius who invented our electrical grid. Edison just wanted to get rich and famous.
Penny: Didn't he invent the lightbulb?
Sheldon: That's what he wants you to think. But without the foundational work of Ebenezer Kinnersley, Warren de la Rue and James Bowman Lindsay, you wouldn't know Edison any more than you know Ebenezer Kinnersley, Warren de la Rue or James Bowman Lindsay.
Amy: Isn't he sexy all fired up? He really gets my current alternating, if you know what I mean.
Leonard: Edison was kind of a publicity hog and a bully.
Raj: Yeah, he electrocuted an elephant named Topsy just to make himself famous. If I had an elephant named Topsy, he would want for nothing. Also, he'd be named Jumbo.
Sheldon: And worse than that, Edison filmed the first on-screen kiss, so he's basically a pornographer... Although every time I put that in Wikipedia, someone takes it out.
Howard: (to Amy) Is your current still alternating?
Amy: We're lucky there aren't any elephants in here.

Raj: All right! Who's excited to see a documentary?
Penny: Oh, I know this one. Nobody ever.

Howard: Sheldon went to the Air Force behind our backs.
Sheldon: I did nothing of the sort. I had an idea for a neutrino-based communication system, I presented it to them, and they were interested.
Howard: But your communication system was based on our guidance system.
Sheldon: And sonar is based on bats. You don't see them hanging upside down in a patent attorney's office.

Kripke: Whoa whoa whoa, you didn't tell me we were doing this just to stick it to Sheldon.
Leonard: Oh, well...
Kripke: I'm messing with you. This sundae just got a cherry on top.

Penny: You know, maybe you're all more like the guy who didn't invent the electric car and less like the guy who didn't invent the light bulb.
Sheldon: She's right. Maybe we're all a bunch of Teslas after all.
Amy: Didn't Tesla die penniless, forgotten and insane?
Howard: (to Sheldon) You may have a point about her social skills.
Sheldon: He wasn't insane.
Leonard: He did fall in love with a pigeon.
Sheldon: Well, if we're gonna call Tesla crazy for loving something small and unappealing, might as well put Penny in a padded cell right now.

Raj: (about his ex lover) I can't believe she dumped me.
Penny: This is tough for me, 'cause I can.

Sheldon: Can you believe they said I was just like Edison? Yeah, and in front of a lady, no less.
Amy: Well, you are building on their work and taking the credit for it. That's a classic Edison move.
Sheldon: Oh, yeah? Well, if I'm Edison and you love me, then what does that say about you?
Amy: I honestly don't know.
Sheldon: Okay. Well, I have to Google some stuff about Mrs. Edison. I'll be right back.

Howard: Why would the military want Sheldon?
Leonard: I don't know. Target practice?

Amy: What do you want to watch?
Sheldon: Oh, why don't you pick.
Amy: Okay, how about comedy?
Sheldon: Eh, I already laughed today.
Amy: I know. It was when I stubbed my toe.
Sheldon: (chuckles) Still funny.
Amy: Drama?
Sheldon: Nah, I've already seen someone cry today.
Amy: It really hurt, Sheldon!

Sheldon: This is about the rivalry between a cool renegade scientist, Nikola Tesla, and his arch-nemesis, Thomas Edison.
Leonard: It's the greatest scientific feud of all time. I mean, you can forget about Leibniz and Newton.
Penny: Done.

Notes and Trivia

Raj claims that Thomas Edison electrocuted the elephant Topsy. Topsy was killed in 1903 and her electrocution was filmed by the Edison film company. Thomas Edison does not seem to have even been present on Coney Island, where the electrocution took place, that day.

Title reference: Sheldon thinks of himself as a modern Tesla, and is shocked when his friends call him an Edison.

Goofs

None

Cast

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