The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification

"The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification" is the second episode of the fourth season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. This episode first aired on Thursday, September 30, 2010.The Big Bang Theory - The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification (TV Episode 2010) - IMDb
==Summary==
Sheldon works out that he won't live long enough to download his consciousness into a robot body, and so he attempts to extend his lifespan by changing his diet and then resorts to developing a Mobile Virtual Presence Device.
==Extended Plot==
Sheldon works out that he won't live long enough to download his consciousness into a robot body. Elsewhere, Penny is low on funds to repay Leonard back for the Indian food, the pizza, the Thai food, the tank of gas, the frozen yogurt and her rent meaning she owes over $1,400. On the night Sheldon announces cruciferous vegetable night, and the next night where he introduces his MVPD, Howard and Raj make jokes about Penny living a free life without money, which only annoys Penny. Finally, she scares them off making jokes forever by sarcastically offering to sell her underwear for $1,400. They initially laugh it off, but immediately start to think it over with intrigued looks on their faces.
Sheldon determines that his best estimate for his life expectancy will cause him to miss, by only a few years, "the singularity... when man will be able to transfer his consciousness into machines, and achieve immortality". He therefore changes his diet and starts to exercise in hopes of extending his life expectancy. Since the diet of Brussels sprouts gives him a bad case of flatulence, and he tumbles on the stairs going down for a jog, Sheldon decides on an alternate plan to extend his life expectancy.
He builds a robotic replication of himself which he calls a "Mobile Virtual Presence Device" (MVPD) that would go through all the hazards of life that Sheldon would otherwise have to experience while he stays behind in a "secure, undisclosed location" (his room). The MVPD has a monitor showing Sheldon's face in real-time (or any other image that he wants to display at that moment), speakers so his voice can be heard, and a microphone and camera to allow him to see and hear in his "secure, undisclosed location" (his bedroom) what is happening at the MVPD's location. Sheldon can then react to the situation as if he was present (to the point of enforcing the rule that nobody sits on "his spot" on the sofa). The monitor sits on top of a fixture covered with the exact same clothing that Sheldon is wearing that day. The MVPD has wheels which give it mobility and comes with an override switch so if anybody turns the MVPD off, Sheldon can override and turn the monitor back on.
The guys dismiss the MVPD as a stunt (Penny calls it "Shelbot") and try to convince Sheldon to drop the idea, but he persists and proceeds to cite Section 74c of The Roommate Agreement requiring Leonard to assist him (by providing him transportation) "in the event one of [the roommates] becomes a robot." Leonard therefore takes the MVPD to work, though he regrets it, and later to Penny's restaurant for dinner.
At the restaurant, Sheldon's MVPD spots Steve Wozniak at a nearby table so he sends the MVPD over to meet Woz, telling him that he has a vintage Apple II computer, to which Wozniak says that if he had the Apple II there he would sign it. Sheldon then takes his Apple II and rushes out of the apartment, but trips and falls down the stairs, breaking the Apple II.
Later, Sheldon's MPVD goes to Penny's apartment door to help him fall asleep after the aftermath of falling down the stairs and the demise of his Apple II. He wants her to sing him a song to go to sleep by. At first she is reluctant, but he soon convinces her to do so. Sheldon plays "Soft Kitty" on his recorder while Penny sings.
==Credits==
* Guest starring:
** Steve Wozniak as Himself
** Janet Hill as Herself
* Teleplay: Steven Molaro, Chuck Lorre & Jim Reynolds
* Story: Bill Prady, Lee Aronsohn & Steve Holland
==Critics==
* The TV Critic: "The story is a solid idea. There is so much one can do with the Sheldon character and having him face his mortality, even in his own bizarre way, is one of them. The image of his smug face on a computer screen leering at poor Leonard provides obvious comedy. As did his attempts to diet and exercise which led to some sprout induced wind - the most obvious comedy of all...All his overbearing behavior would be funnier and more interesting to watch if it led to some kind of conclusive story...A typical Sheldon-centric story, your mileage may vary."The TV Critic's Review
* The A.V. Club gave this episode a B.The Big Bang Theory: "The Cruciferious Vegetable Amplification" - TV Club - The A.V. Club
* IMDb user reviews
==Notes==
* Title Reference: The title refers to the cruciferous vegetables (specifically, Brussels sprouts) that Sheldon adds to his diet that cause him a major case of flatulence.
* Chuck Lorre's vanity card.
* This episode was watched by 13.06 million people with a rating of 4.4 (adults 18–49).Thursday Finals: Grey's Anatomy, Big Bang Theory, $#*! My Dad Says, CSI Adjusted Up; Vampire Diaries, Private Practice, Apprentice Down.
* This episode aired in Canada on September 30, 2010, with 2.964 million viewers and a weekly ranking of #1.Top Programs – Total Canada (English) September 27 – October 3, 2010 - BBM Canada
* In the United Kingdom, this episode aired on November 11, 2010, with 1.061 million total viewers and a weekly ranking of #19.BARB via Wikipedia
* In Australia, it aired on November 10, 2010, with 1.151 million viewers and a weekly rank of #21.ONE holds up the main game at TEN - TV Tonight.
* Episode transcript 
==Costume Notes==
ManBot
Flash Run Bolt
Green Lantern
Philips/Stouble Test
==Trivia==
* There is no guest appearance by Mayim Bialik as Amy in this episode until the next episode "The Zazzy Substitution" (S4E3) to which she does appear in.
* This episode and the next isode (S4E3) are the final two episodes where Melissa Rauch has no more guest appearances as Bernadette before she becomes a main cast member in "The Hot Troll Deviation" (S4E4).
* Sheldon's android form is called the Mobile Virtual Presence Device (MVPD).
* Bernadette does not appear as the Cheesecake Factory waitress with Penny in the scene with the three guys (Leonard, Raj and Howard) and their "Shelbot" (who Penny is not waiting on Sheldon's face on the screen) at the table of the Cheesecake Factory. She might have one or two different shifts.
* Sheldon introduces 24 anachronisms to a photograph of the 1911 Solvay Conference on the theory of radiation and quanta. (Photograph taken by Benjamin Couprie © International Institutes for Physics and Chemistry. Courtesy: Emilio Segrè Visual Archives, American Institute of Physics.
::Seated (L-R): Walther Nernst, Marcel Brillouin, Ernest Solvay, Hendrik Lorentz, Emil Warburg, Jean Baptiste Perrin, Wilhelm Wien, Madame Curie, and Henri Poincace.
::Standing (L-R): Robert Goldschmidt, Max Planck, Heinrich Rubens, Arnold Sommerfeld, Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell, Maurice, 6th duc de Broglie, Martin Knudsen, Friedrich Hasenöhrl, Georges Hostelet, Edouard Herzen, James Hopwood Jeans, Ernest Rutherford, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Albert Einstein, and Paul Langevin.)
* Sheldon says, "You don’t get it, Leonard. I’m going to miss so much, the unified field theory, cold fusion, the dogoctopus." In "The Jerusalem Duality", he mentions cold fusion, "Look, I've decided that if the three of you drop whatever it is you're working on and join me, we could lick cold fusion in less than a decade, twelve years tops."
* Sheldon wants to fuse his consciousness with cybernetics, but this fact was not always the case, perhaps getting the idea from Raj. In "The Cooper-Hofstadter Polarization", Sheldon postulates, "You know, in the future, when we're disembodied brains in jars, we're going to look back on this as eight hours well wasted." Raj then responds, "I don't want to be in a jar. I want my brain in an android body."
* When Shelbot is in the car, he plays an Elizabethan English song called "Greensleeves" on a wooden recorder.
* Loophole: Leonard was technically not required to do anything for Shelbot since the wording of the section in the Roommate Agreement mentions becoming a robot, not using one to get around while the original body is still in use and intact.
* Steve Wozniak is the sixth guest-star who played himself.
* Sheldon had an Uncle Carl who was "KBB" (killed by badger). He believes such a possible death is coded genetically.
* Sheldon's family tree shows that he is 29 years old. Also, "fusion" is misspelled as "fushion".
* Sheldon says, "That’s what I was going for." In "The Wildebeest Implementation", he similarly states, "That's what I strive to emulate." Sheldon ended his sentence in a preposition, something Leonard was ridiculed for in "The Jerusalem Duality" by Dennis Kim. In "The Staircase Implementation" when Raj says "You’re the guy we’re trying to get away from.", Sheldon corrects him saying "And for the record, the correct syntax is 'I’m the guy from whom you’re trying to get away'."
* Longest episode title until "The Contractual Obligation Implementation" in March 2013.
* When Sheldon's MVPD knocks on Penny's door, he does perform a triplet knock, but only one knock each with the MVPD instead of his usual "knock-knock-knock, Penny; knock-knock-knock, Penny;  knock-knock-knock, Penny".
* In the Queeg episode of British sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf, the ship's computer Holly is deposed from his position by an emergency back-up personality with all the charm and human kindness of the sergeant instructor in Full Metal Jacket. Queeg claims Holly's computer senility makes him a danger to the ship, but allows him to continue in the lowly position of night watchman. Holly's new persona takes the form of a ramshackle mobile unit with a screen mounted on a chassis, wearing a drab brown overcoat, which looks in essentials identical to the MVPD. Was this the root inspiration? After all, the boys are very familiar with the Red Dwarf continuum - Sheldon owns all sixty-one released episodes, so how he can have failed to notice this...
* This is one of the few episodes in the entire series where Sheldon is wrong on multiple occasions, first is fusion being spelled "Fushion", then there is him adding KBB (Killed By Badger) as genetic disposition, thinking it is healthy to eat only vegetables for a meal (This is extremely unhealthy) this also goes against the roommate agreement which states that any changes to the aforementioned meal has to be brought up in the weekly meeting, thinking he has cholera and that one summer he thought he had malaria according to Leonard, going jogging without stretching first as well as running on the stairs, he also distracts Leonard while driving driver. Then there is the fact that Sheldon believes that it is healthier to sit in his room on his bed all day than to take his chances outside even though all the accidents up till then was his own fault. He distracted the driver.
* It is hinted in this episode that Sheldon's gym teacher attempted to sexually assault him when he was younger, although he doesn't realize it.
==Quotes==
: Leonard: What'cha doing there, working on a new plan to catch the Road Runner?
----
(Sheldon falls down the stairs while trying to jog with Penny)
: Penny: Oh my God, are you OK?!
: Sheldon: I think so.
: Penny: (sighs) Let me help you up.
: Sheldon: Thank you.
(Sheldon farts in Penny's face due to his dinner of Brussels sprouts from the previous night)
: Penny: Oh, Sheldon!
: Sheldon: If it makes you feel any better, Thursday is no longer cruciferous vegetable night.
----
: Howard: Really? That's your question? "When did he put a ramp in?"
----
(Leonard is driving Sheldon to work, who is in his bedroom and using his mobile presence device ("Shelbot") to go around places)
: Shelbot: This is delightful.
: Leonard: Uh.
: Shelbot: It's much easier to enjoy the picturesque roundly travel to work when you remove the specter of fiery, vehicular death.
: Leonard: Refresh my memory, why didn't I just put you in the trunk?
: Shelbot: Because I called riding shotgun|shotgun, remember?
: Leonard: Right...
(Sheldon turns his screen around to Leonard)
: Shelbot: You seem tense. Perhaps this will relax you.
(Sheldon plays a clip of German women doing a dance, while he is playing his recorder)
: Leonard: I don't wanna listen to music, Sheldon!
(Sheldon's screen goes back to his face)
: Shelbot: Very well. I don't understand why you're not enjoying this. Together, in this car, with my enhanced capabilities, we're like Knight Rider.
: Leonard: Except the Knight Rider of the car isn't a yammering sphincter.
(Sheldon again turns his screen back to Leonard)
: Shelbot: You mock the sphincter, but the sphincter is a class of muscle without which human beings couldn't survive.
(Sheldon shows a picture of all the sphincters in the human body)
: Shelbot: There are over 50 different sphincters in the human body. How many can you name?
: Leonard: I was wrong. This is exactly like Knight Rider.
: Shel-Bot: Perhaps you'd be interested in a different game.
: Leonard: No!
: Shelbot: (shows another picture) This is a photograph of the 1911 Solvay Conference, on the theory of radiation and quanta. Using Photoshop, I've introduced a few anachronisms. See if you can spot all 24. I'll give you the first one: Madame Curie}} should not be wearing a digital watch. And go.
(Sheldon plays his recorder to the theme of Jeopardy)
: Leonard: That's it, bye-bye.
(Leonard turns the screen off and continues driving, until the screen suddenly turns back on, with Sheldon being up close to the camera)
: Shelbot: BAZINGA!
(This scares Leonard, who swerves the car and almost crashes until he can control it)
: Shelbot: I have an manual override|override switch.
: Leonard: I almost died!
: Shelbot: And I'm safe and sound in bed. Who's crazy now?
: Leonard: I'm still gonna go with you!
(Sheldon turns his screen around and grins)
----
: Shelbot: He's a lamb. You're not.
==Gallery==
1911 Solvay conference.png|The historic picture without Sheldon's changes.
Bot1.jpg|Hanging out with Shel-bot.
Bot2.jpg|Sheldon wants to extend his life so he can be downloaded into a robot.
Bot6.jpg|The gang spots "The Great and Powerful Woz."
Penny with Shelbot.jpg|Singing "soft Kitty" to Shelbot.
Shelbot with Steve Wozniak.jpg|Steve Wozniak of Apple Computer.
Sheldon and Penny Stretching.jpg|Penny warming up by touching her toes.
Sheldon and Penny Stretching2.jpg|Penny stretching using a yoga position.
Steve Wozniak with the writers.jpg|Steve Wozniak, Jim Parsons and TBBT creators.
TBBT.S04E02.The.Cruciferous.Vegetable.Amplification.000010301.png|Sheldon at his whiteboard.
The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification - Leonard.png|Playing games with Leonard while driving.
The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification.jpg|Leonard confronting Sheldon at his Shel-bot central control.
Vlcsnap-2011-11-20-00h27m03s209.png|Shelbot is in the kitchen.
Cruf1.jpg|Walking Shelbot to his office.
Love3.jpg|Virtual Presence Device
Vanity Card 294.jpg|Chuck Lorre Productions, #294.
A14.jpg
==References==
de:Der sicherste Ort der Welt
Category:Episodes
Category:Sheldon Cooper
Category:Leonard Hofstadter
Category:Rajesh Koothrappali
Category:Howard Wolowitz
Category:Penny
Category:Robots
Category:Season 4 (The Big Bang Theory)
Category:The Cheesecake Factory
Category:Machine
Category:Transcripts
Category:Soft Kitty
Category:Games