"The Big Bang Theory" Miscellanea (4) Quiz

Answer: Neil Diamond

In "The Scavenger Vortex", the friends were originally going to pair off in couples for Raj's scavenger hunt but decided to pick names out of a hat instead. This was Leonard's suggestion; Penny thought he wanted to do that so he wouldn't get stuck on a team with her. Penny got paired with Sheldon and Leonard with Bernadette. Penny ended up being a strong competitor and she and Sheldon did well. Leonard saw a whole new side of Bernadette - a very competitive side.

She yelled at him a lot and drove like a madwoman to keep a fast pace in the hunt. Howard and Amy didn't get to the finish line with the other two teams - they were singing a Neil Diamond song at a karaoke bar.

Answer: Model trains

Sheldon's love of trains has been highlighted in several episodes, as has his model train hobby. In a season five episode, "The Pulled Groin Extrapolation", he stayed home to play with his model trains instead of accompanying Amy to a wedding. Some of his other hobbies and interests have included Tibetan throat singing (which Leonard banned under the roommate agreement), rock climbing (though that didn't go very well) and paintball.

Though Sheldon did drunkenly tell jokes on stage in season three's "The Pants Alternative", regularly attending an open-mic night would be out of character for him, as would line dancing though it was revealed in season four that he was good at ball room dancing. He is also scared of birds, so bird watching is not high on his list of fun things to do.

Answer: Loop quantum gravity vs. string theory

Leonard and Penny went out on a date at the end of the first season, but things didn't progress any further after Penny revealed that she hadn't graduated from community college. Leonard told her that he didn't mind dating someone not smart and being called not smart didn't go over well with Penny.

After that, Leonard decided to pursue a relationship with Leslie, with whom he'd previously had a one night stand. After that, she hadn't wanted to date him but in season two's "The Codpiece Topology", she agreed to give it a try. They had a few dates, mostly at Leonard's apartment, much to Sheldon's irritation. Sheldon even approached Penny about giving Leonard another shot, just to get rid of Leslie. In the end though, Leslie and Sheldon got into an argument about whether or not loop quantum gravity (Leslie's preference) had more validity than string theory (Sheldon's preference). The trouble came when Leslie looked to Leonard for support. After he sided with Sheldon and string theory, she broke up with him, in part because "How would we raise the children?!"

Answer: Howie Mandel

As Howard arrived at the airport, he heard people yelling "Howie! Howie!" and thought they were there for him, but it turned out that Howie Mandel had gotten off the plane behind him. Bernadette was really there for him, though he was a bit surprised his friends hadn't come too. Bernadette explained that she wanted him all to herself for his first night back and that she asked his friends to wait until the next day.

This didn't work out though, as it turned out Bernadette had a cold and she ended up falling asleep after taking a Benadryl. Howard then went to see his mother, figuring she'd be thrilled to see him but instead found her having an affair with his dentist. He then went to Raj's but Raj had plans with Stuart. Finally he went to Leonard and Sheldon's apartment but was shooed out because they were busing having a pie eating contest with Penny and Amy (long story). He ended up at a diner where the waitress recognized him and offered him a free piece of pie.

Answer: Sailor Moon

The other guys who toasted to Howard before Raj didn't really do much better. Sheldon told unfunny jokes about marriage (though did end up wishing Howard well) and Barry Kripke just complained about the lack of strippers. When Raj took his turn, drunk even though were no women present, he mentioned that Howard had had sex with his own second cousin as well as a prostitute in Las Vegas. He also talked about their threesome with a chubby girl in a Sailor Moon costume they'd met at ComicCon.

Wil Wheaton filmed Raj's toast and put it on YouTube, and Bernadette ended up seeing it that night. She was very upset that Howard had never told her about any of this and didn't know whether she could marry him. She was even angry with Penny for having set her up with Howard in the first place and not mentioning his past. Howard gave her a heartfelt speech about how he was embarrassed by some of the things he'd done and credited Bernadette with making him a better man. Bernadette accepted his apology and said the wedding was still on.

Answer: Rocket fuel was misused by Leonard

In "The Staircase Implementation" Leonard told Penny about how he came to live with Sheldon and how the elevator came to be out of order. Viewers experienced the story through a series of flashbacks to 2003. Leonard moved in with Sheldon despite being warned of Sheldon's craziness by his former roommate as well as Louie/Louise, the transvestite who used to live in Penny's apartment.

We also saw Leonard become friends with Howard and Raj. Leonard had some rocket fuel in the apartment that Howard needed for an experiment. While using the rocket fuel, Leonard made a calculation mistake and needed to get it out of the apartment. He thought he had lots of time, but Sheldon knew otherwise. He grabbed the container from Leonard, pushed Leonard out of the way and sent the rocket fuel down the elevator. It exploded in seconds. While it was technically Sheldon who broke the elevator, Leonard admitted he was at fault because he had the rocket fuel and he made an error. He revealed to Penny that he stuck by Sheldon over the years because Sheldon saved his life and didn't rat him out to the landlord or to Homeland Security. Penny was annoyed that Leonard was the reason she had to use the stairs every day.

Answer: To make action figures of themselves

At the beginning of "The Cooper/Kripke Inversion", Raj mentioned a website he found where you could send in a picture of yourself and get an action figure made for $500. Leonard wanted one at first but Penny implied that it wasn't cool so he changed his mind, and Sheldon didn't want one if it didn't come with 'kung fu grip', so just Howard and Raj ordered them. When they received their action figures they were very disappointed. Raj's was African American and Howard's had a really huge nose.

They decided they could make better action figures of themselves if they had a 3D printer. They bought a used one on the internet for $5000; Howard's justification for the expense was that Bernadette earned a lot of money. They did make action figures; Howard made one of Bernadette as well and she loved it at first, but when she found out Howard had spent so much on the printer, she was really angry that it didn't even occur to him to talk to her about it. She took him off the joint chequing account until he could learn to be smarter with money. She also gave him a lunch allowance that he spent on Pokémon cards.

Answer: Made Sheldon spaghetti with cut up hot dogs in it for dinner

Making Sheldon dinner was part of Amy's first move in the campaign to make Sheldon happy. They spent their monthly date night at her apartment, where she explained her plan to Sheldon. He was skeptical and told her it wouldn't work, but it started to work almost immediately. She put on romantic mood music which was actually the "Super Mario Bros." theme, and Sheldon started humming along. She served him Strawberry Quik, Sheldon's favourite pink liquid, and spaghetti with cut up hot dogs in it, and Sheldon caught himself saying that they should do this more often. Sheldon's love for spaghetti with cut up hot dogs was also referenced in the season three episode "The Spaghetti Catalyst", in which he had Penny make the dish for him.

Other things that Amy did included arranging for Sheldon to be an Amtrak junior train conductor for a day (he even got to blow the whistle) and dressing up in a "Star Trek" medical uniform to play doctor.

Answer: Wii Fishing

While Penny's dad Wyatt was visiting, Penny wanted Leonard to pretend that they were still together. Leonard was the only boyfriend Penny ever had that Wyatt approved of, so Penny didn't have the heart to tell him that she and Leonard had broken up.

Wyatt really took a liking to Leonard, and the two were shown in Leonard's living room with Wii fishing rods. Penny called her dad during that scene and he informed her they were fishing indoors. During this call she told him the truth about her and Leonard's relationship. Wyatt was disappointed but still liked Leonard and begged him not to give up with Penny. Wyatt explained that he wanted grandchildren and didn't want them growing up in a house with wheels.

Answer: On the third floor landing in Sheldon and Leonard's building

In "The Proton Resurgence", while Sheldon was worried because Professor Proton was late, he received a phone call. It was Professor Proton. Sheldon told him they'd come get him. When Leonard and Penny inquired, Sheldon told them that Professor Proton was on the third floor landing. He'd been climbing stairs for half an hour and was exhausted (being in his 80s). They went downstairs to help him up to the fourth floor.

Professor Proton was a bit put off that there were no kids to perform for and that two professional physicists wanted him to do a show for them. He did the show and also took a liking to Penny, who he obviously thought was really pretty (though he clearly figured out that her science knowledge was very limited). He stopped the show early though and told the friends about how disillusioned he was about being Professor Proton and about not being taken seriously as a scientist. Leonard and Sheldon made him feel a bit better by telling him about how they'd idolized him as kids and how he inspired them to pursue their love for science.

Dr. Arthur Jeffries, a.k.a. Professor Proton, was played by Bob Newhart. Newhart won an Emmy for his performance and reprised the role in a season seven episode, "The Proton Displacement".