The Hawking Excitation (5 Apr. 2012)

Sheldon uses any and all means to meet his hero, Dr. Stephen Hawking.

Director:

Mark Cendrowski

Writers:

Chuck Lorre (creator), Bill Prady (creator),

Stars:

Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Johnny Galecki	...	Leonard Hofstadter
Jim Parsons	...	Sheldon Cooper
Kaley Cuoco	...	Penny
Simon Helberg	...	Howard Wolowitz
Kunal Nayyar	...	Raj Koothrappali
Melissa Rauch	...	Bernadette Rostenkowski
Carol Ann Susi	...	Mrs. Wolowitz (voice)
Stephen Hawking	...	Stephen Hawking

Storyline

Renowned scientist Stephen Hawking is coming to the university for an extended guest lecture series, and an excited Howard has been asked to maintain the equipment on his wheelchair for his entire stay. Since Howard knows that Sheldon is enamored with Hawking considering him the only person on the face of the planet that is his intellectual equal, Howard plans on introducing Sheldon to Hawking, that is until Sheldon, who is yet unaware of Hawking's visit or Howard's connection, makes yet another of his condescending remarks about Howard's intellect or lack thereof. So Howard changes his mind. After Sheldon's pleading, Howard compromises: he will show Hawking Sheldon's just written paper on the boson particle, and if Hawking wants to meet him after that, he will arrange it. But first, Sheldon has to do a few favors for him, which Howard knows he can make as painful and degrading as he wants since this meeting is Sheldon's dream. Regardless, the paper will prove whether Sheldon really ...

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Plot Keywords:

black light | french maid costume | belt buckle collection | man in a wheelchair | reference to hercules | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 April 2012 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 25, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chuck Lorre Productions, Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

19 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

16:9 HD

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sheldon believes that Stephen Hawking is "perhaps [his] only intellectual equal."

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Quotes

[first lines]
Howard Wolowitz: So, I got the craziest e-mail this morning.
Raj Koothrappali: I don't mean to burst your bubble, dude, but those penile enlargement pills do not work.
Howard Wolowitz: Believe me, I know.

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Crazy Credits

CHUCK LORRE PRODUCTIONS, #383 For me, the epiphany came in my second season on Roseanne. At thirty-nine years old I finally woke up to the fact that the principles I was taught as a child, like fairness and justice, have no place in the world of power and money. The rules of the sandbox, strictly enforced by a wise and compassionate adult, are laughable when the sandbox is the television business and there are Mercedes and Bentleys parked alongside it. What's odd is that twenty years later, despite my belated awakening to the reality of amorality, that old schoolyard programming continues to insist on its rightness. Ideas like "play nice," "share your toys," "no name-calling," "take turns" and "misbehaving gets punished" still resonate inside me as if they were some sort of fundamental truths. Of course, I now know that they are not. At best, they're ideals. Lofty goals to aspire to. The truisms of the real world are more along the lines of, "my ball, my bat, my rules" and "money talks, bull$#*! walks." Which brings me to our impending presidential election. A classic showdown between the lessons we all learned as children and, well... reality. Further complicating the situation is our collective, unconscious desire to be supervised by that wise and compassionate adult. But there is no such adult. The truth is, we are alone in the sandbox. The game we play, seemingly forever, is called "Ideals vs. Money and Bats." For what it's worth, I'm betting on the latter, but there's a little boy in me who insists on voting for the former.

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Connections

Referenced in Conan: How Much for That Doggie on the Roof of Your Car? (2012)

User Reviews

Stephen Hawking makes an appearance in "The Hawking Excitation" ep of "The Big Bang Theory"

In this ep of "The Big Bang Theory": Howard is about to help fix Stephen Hawking's wheelchair which gets Leonard and Raj excited for their friend...and Sheldon as well as he wants to meet the person he considers his equal. But because of his constant condescension about Howard's job, Howard won't allow it...until Sheldon begs so Howard gives him some conditions to make him earn penance. I'll stop there and just say this was another excellent ep of "The Big Bang Theory". I mean, all the things Howard makes Sheldon do is really hilarious especially when Sheldon has to do some shopping with Howard's mother! Oh, and wait till you watch Sheldon and Hawking's meeting! Okay, so on that note, "The Hawking Excitation" is a way excellent ep of "The Big Bang Theory".