Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification

Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification
Writers	Bill Prady (Story), Lee Aronsohn (Story), Steve Holland (Story), Chuck Lorre (Teleplay), Steven Molaro (Teleplay), Jim Reynolds (Teleplay)
Director	Mark Cendrowski
Starring	Steve Wozniak as Himself, Janet Hill as Herself
Air Date	30 September 2010
Vanity	Card #294
Guide	Episode #402
Quotes	Episode #402

Season 4, Episode 2 (0402)

Robotic Manipulation . . . << Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification >> . . . Zazzy Substitution

Summary

Sheldon realizes he won’t live long enough to download his consciousness into a robot body, and attempts to extend his lifespan. His first attempts involve eating Brussels sprouts instead of pizza and starting to jog. Each of these efforts fails, so he instead starts to use a robotic "virtual presence device" to hang out with the rest of the gang, go to work, go to restaurants, and so on. The episode ends without his dilemma being resolved.

Episode Outline

I. Living room

• Sheldon calculates when he is going to die.

Title and Opening Themes

II: Living room, Thursday evening

• Leonard got pizza for everyone. Penny doesn't have money to pay him.
• Sheldon announces that he changed "Thursday" night from "Pizza night" to "Cruciferous Vegetable Night" to extend his life span.

III. Leonard's bedroom, Thursday night

• Sheldon wakes Leonard because he has severe stomach pain and thinks he has cholera.

IV. hallway in front of apartments, Friday

• Sheldon picks up Penny to go jogging.

V. Living room

• The guys and Penny have Indian food. Penny still has no money to pay.
• Sheldon enters in form of a "mobile, virtual presence device", staying in his bedroom to prevent his body from accidents.

VI. Sheldon's bedroom

• Leonard tries to talk Sheldon out of his idea to stay in his bedroom.

VII. Leonard's car

• Leonard drives to work with the virtual Sheldon.

VIII. Physics department

• When Leonard refuses to open the door to Sheldon's office, the virtual Sheldon asks Raj to do it.

IX. Cheesecake Factory

• Penny refuses to serve food to the virtual Sheldon, when he spots Steve Wozniak. Steve Wozniak offers to sign Sheldon's vintage Apple computer, if he was there in presence.

X. hallway in front of apartments

• Sheldon runs down the stairs with his computer and slips.

XI. hallway in front of apartments

• The virtual Sheldon knocks on Penny's door and asks her to sing Soft Kitty.

Resources

List of entries from this episode

David Saltzberg's science blog about this episode

Notes and Trivia

Still to come

Timeline

This episode most likely starts on a Thursday morning. Towards the end we see the guys in the Cheesecake Factory, where they usually go on Tuesdays (see Schedule). The final scene either plays on the same night or the following day.

Title

Cruciferous vegetables include cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, horseradish, radishes, and cauliflower. The name comes from the shape of the flower, (Cruciferae, New Latin for "cross-bearing"), whose four petals resemble a cross. Cruciferous vegetables tend to cause gas and therefore flatulence, as Sheldon found out the hard way.