# The Big Bang Theory 9/23 8:00 CBS--"The Robotic Manipulation" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 23, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765 "2010-09-23T13:31:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/21 "2010-09-24T11:14:45Z")
The episode was OK but far from the best. Resorting to bathroom humour is never a great thing and the whole “b” plot was nothing more than something you’d see on “Two And A Half Men,” which is masturbation plus bathroom jokes. C’mon the writers should be able to come up with something better than this, and the actors are so far above it, they actually look uncomfortable saying the lines. Once again Penny and Sheldon show great chemistry. When you put those two together you get funny. Amy doesn’t matter much, 'cause all they do is put a Sheldon line in her mouth which she reads in monotone. So Amy is nothing more, so far, than a female Sheldon clone. If they’re gonna keep her around, they’re gonna have to do something with her, or she’ll get old quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/22 "2010-09-24T13:15:17Z")
If Sheldon and Amy do decide to go the petri dish route, think he’ll borrow the robot arm to get his specimen? ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/23 "2010-09-24T13:22:31Z")
I can’t imagine Sheldon going into a bathroom with a plastic cup and a magazine. There must be some way of extracting sperm with a hypodermic. However, since Sheldon has clearly seen the error of his ways, this will not be an issue. But now I can’t remember exactly what Penny’s deciding argument was: stupid brain. ETA: No, not the error of his ways. The incorrect data from which his evaluation of the desirability of reproduction was derived. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/24 "2010-09-24T13:24:32Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > However, since Sheldon has clearly seen the error of his ways, this will not be an issue. But now I can’t remember exactly what Penny’s deciding argument was: stupid brain. She would tell his fundamentalist Christian mother that she’s getting a bastard grandkid from a petri dish. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/25 "2010-09-24T13:27:19Z")
I expected them to spend the date texting each other at the table. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/26 "2010-09-24T13:40:39Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > > [@Oy](#): > > > > However, since Sheldon has clearly seen the error of his ways, this will not be an issue. But now I can’t remember exactly what Penny’s deciding argument was: stupid brain. > > She would tell his fundamentalist Christian mother that she’s getting a bastard grandkid from a petri dish. Thank you, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/27 "2010-09-24T13:42:00Z")
I do wish they had also included a reference to Sheldon’s “me-maw.” That always cracks me up (and if they ever show her, let’s continue with the Roseanne theme and have her played by Estelle Parsons). ---
**Author:** ![Minnie\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Minnie\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Minnie_Luna)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/28 "2010-09-24T13:54:54Z")
> [@](#): > > I can’t imagine Sheldon going into a bathroom with a plastic cup and a magazine. There must be some way of extracting sperm with a hypodermic. Electro-ejaculation. I am at work, so I am not going to google it for you, lest I stumble upon something I don’t want to see, but that was how we harvested sea urchin sperm for a lab in college. I have a feeling that properly applied electrodes could elicit a similar response in a human. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/29 "2010-09-24T14:08:06Z")
> [@Minnie\_Luna](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > I can’t imagine Sheldon going into a bathroom with a plastic cup and a magazine. There must be some way of extracting sperm with a hypodermic. > > Electro-ejaculation. I am at work, so I am not going to google it for you, lest I stumble upon something I don’t want to see, but that was how we harvested sea urchin sperm for a lab in college. I have a feeling that properly applied electrodes could elicit a similar response in a human. Well, Amy Farrah Fowler seemed to have found that electronically-stimulated orgasm was acceptable, so perhaps Sheldon would too. But I have trouble imagining he’d find it anything but distasteful. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/30 "2010-09-24T14:29:55Z")
And messy. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/31 "2010-09-24T14:31:36Z")
And way too distracting ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/32 "2010-09-24T14:33:41Z")
Well, presumably there would be a vessel at precisely the right position to trap all ejaculatory fluids as they exit the body, so not necessarily messy. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/33 "2010-09-24T14:50:11Z")
I suggest we get “Talk Like Sheldon Cooper Day” added to the calendar. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/34 "2010-09-24T15:02:31Z")
When speaking of Sheldon, I find that it comes automatically. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/35 "2010-09-24T15:28:40Z")
In my head, I hear Sheldon’s voice when you say that. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/36 "2010-09-24T15:30:10Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > I can’t imagine Sheldon going into a bathroom with a plastic cup and a magazine. Oh, I can imagine that only too well . . . but that’s just me. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I suggest we get “Talk Like Sheldon Cooper Day” added to the calendar. My ex talked like that. Believe me, it gets annoying very fast. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/37 "2010-09-24T15:30:16Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > I can’t imagine Sheldon going into a bathroom with a plastic cup and a magazine. But wasn’t that exactly what he and Leonard were going to do in the very first episode? (Or did I dream that – seems so out of character now…) Lots of great lines I thought, great season premier. Love the ‘Shamy’… ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/38 "2010-09-24T15:38:51Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > My ex talked like that. Believe me, it gets annoying very fast. I find it oddly comforting. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/39 "2010-09-24T16:11:22Z")
> [@Oy](#): > > I can’t imagine Sheldon going into a bathroom with a plastic cup and a magazine. A little ironic trivia for you: look around the intrawebs and you’ll find the unaired pilot episode of Big Bang. That Sheldon is intensely aware of sex and the episode opens with Leonard and Sheldon at the sperm bank selling their … “legacies” to make some money fast. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765/40 "2010-09-24T16:22:21Z")
Well, that’s just wrong. The Sheldon with whom I’m familiar has never even had an erection. Clearly, they had not thought this through at that time. Or that episode occurred on a different time-space continuum. Perhaps the infinite universes paradigm applies here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-big-bang-theory-9-23-8-00-cbs-the-robotic-manipulation/554765.md?page=3)