S12.E10: The VCR Illumination

[MissLucas]

Well, I do.

[illdoc]

22 minutes ago, BlossomCulp said:

I got the impression that Howard was using the same lines he used back when he originally wanted to try out for Magic Castle.

Or that Bernadette told him to say that (since maybe that's the sort of thing she would say at the pageants & she was "coaching" Howard based on her experience (hence the "glitter toss" on the "judge")).

[BlossomCulp]

25 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

Well, I do.

I meant no one listening to a 35 yr old man auditioning cares if he has siblings or likes grilled cheese.  If he was going to give them some info about himself you'd expect him to tell them he was a former astronaut (he certainly brings it up enough!) or that he has "two beautiful children and a lovely wife" .  

[shapeshifter]

5 hours ago, Gulftastic said:

Those videotapes really deteriorate over time, even if they're just sitting in a box somewhere. In fact, depending on where they're stored they can be rendered useless.

I got rid of some tapes from the late 90s and early 00s a few years ago, primarily because they were just poor quality to begin with, but also because the colors had mostly gone sepia toned. I think this is because I don't have a dehumidifier and don't turn on the AC in the summer unless it's over 80F.
So I didn't have a problem with a tape kept in an airtight wall safe still being in mint condition.

But, like mentioned upthread, I don't know about a coach recording himself talking about the plays to the team.
Does anyone know of this?
I've only heard of coaches showing the recorded games to the team to discuss what they did right and wrong.

[Bali]

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 5:12 PM, shapeshifter said:

I hated the smashed Rolodex even more than the rest of the B plot—if that's possible.

As a fan of The Golden Girls- I knew where that was going. Nice tribute though.

[Bali]

On ‎12‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 1:17 AM, LadyKenobi said:

Sheldon not having a VCR doesn’t connect with that absolutely terrible plot about him keeping everything he ever owned. Hopefully we can all pretend that didn’t happen.

 

Leonard had the tape. Amy was surprising Sheldon with it. She wasn't going to ask Sheldon to use a VCR so she could surprise him,

[ProfCrash]

I got the impression that Howard was trying out for the Magic Castle only because Bernadette got it in her head that she needed to support Howard's attempts to fulfill a dream and was not listening to Howard when he said he was done with that. Bernadette turned it into a pageant training program and Howard is too scared of her to stop her. In the end, he went ahead with the audition even if he changed what it looked like. But there is no way that Howard is would be accepted at the Magic Castle.

[Chaos Theory]

Howard’s father is a minor plot point and really not important unless the show wants to make a point about Howard.  Otherwise there is no point in bring in a new character at this point.  Wow...Howard has a father.!!!! I would rather see Penny’s family again.   

The only reason to need to show Howard father would be to show how much Howard never needed a father or how much a better man he is then his father.  Bring us a complete loser.   Someone like early Howard who never grew up.  That would be the only reason I could see to even need to bring in Howard’s father at this point 

Edited December 10, 2018 by Chaos Theory

[Gothish520]

On 12/7/2018 at 11:13 AM, ChitChat said:

I loved Sheldon's line about jazz music, something along the lines of 'sure, play all the notes at once!'  

Even though Leonard gets very annoyed with Sheldon, he does seem to come through when he's really hurting.  I was also happy to see that Sheldon recognized how much he had in common with his Dad.  It was nice to see the Young Sheldon crossover.  

Probably another political statement. Ugh.   He once said that he wasn't doing to put those in his vanity cards anymore, but it's still a regular thing.  He can't help himself.  

I never read the vanity cards unless they are only a few words or a picture and I can't help but notice them. I don't have any interest in Hollywood's personal opinion on anything - just shut up and entertain me.

That being said, the Stan Lee one was very sweet.

Edited December 10, 2018 by Gothish520

[Gothish520]

On 12/7/2018 at 9:03 AM, Chaos Theory said:

Normally I don’t nitpick and get more annoyed by people that do then by little mistakes....but I think I will uh nitpick.

I really liked Sheldon’s line “I’ve been acting like the game is over but it’s only halftime.   There’s a lot more physics left to play.”  So when Amy asked about sports metaphors and he made a baseball one instead of a football one I got a little more annoyed then I should have.  Either he was joking or it was a bad joke.  Dude lived in East Texas as he is prone to saying even he would know what a touchdown is.    Plus there was that episode where he bonded with Bernadette’s father because he knew sports and Howard didn’t.  

I know nitpicking a dumb joke in an otherwise fun episode and I hate nitpickers so I will stop.  

Sheldon has indeed used a sports metaphor before, in one of my favorite episodes, The Panty Pinata Polarization:

Sheldon: Why would you do that?

Penny: I don’t know. I was hungry? What’s the big deal?

Sheldon: The big deal is that nobody touches food on my plate.

Penny: All right. Look, I didn’t know, I’m sorry.

Sheldon: Well, I’m sorry, but that is your second strike.

Penny: What?

Sheldon: You have two strikes. Three strikes and you’re out. It’s a sports metaphor.

Penny: A sports metaphor?

Sheldon: Yes, baseball.

Penny: All right, yeah, I’ll play along. What was my first strike?

Sheldon: March 18th. You violated my rule about forwarding email humour. Penny: I did?

Sheldon: The photo of the cat who wants to “has cheezburger”?

Penny: Oh, come on, everybody loves LOLcats. They’re cute and they can’t spell ’cause they’re cats.

Sheldon: I trusted you with my email address, and you betrayed that trust by sending me Internet banality, strike one. Touching my food, strike two.

Read more at: http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=159&t=8564

One of the funniest scenes of the series.

[TV Diva Queen]

On 12/7/2018 at 8:03 AM, Chaos Theory said:

Normally I don’t nitpick and get more annoyed by people that do then by little mistakes....but I think I will uh nitpick.

I really liked Sheldon’s line “I’ve been acting like the game is over but it’s only halftime.   There’s a lot more physics left to play.”  So when Amy asked about sports metaphors and he made a baseball one instead of a football one I got a little more annoyed then I should have.  Either he was joking or it was a bad joke.  Dude lived in East Texas as he is prone to saying even he would know what a touchdown is.    Plus there was that episode where he bonded with Bernadette’s father because he knew sports and Howard didn’t.  

I know nitpicking a dumb joke in an otherwise fun episode and I hate nitpickers so I will stop.  

I think he was just using a different sport. Sheldon knows football. Remember he was teaching Leonard about it when Leonard was attending a Penny football Sunday party. Sheldon says something like “I’m from Texas, we know football”. 

[Driad]

Sheldon's jazz line reminded me of the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey, who once heard jazz and asked whether any of the musicians knew what the others were playing. I wonder how she and Sheldon would get along.  Sheldon might enjoy olden days if he were rich enough to be considered eccentric. Fanfic, anyone?

[hnygrl]

Know who'd make a great "Howard's Missing Father?" Danny DeVito!  Total charming asswipe type. I'd love for him to show up wanting something. Like maybe he's dying and wants Howard's forgiveness or his health insurance or his car or something...and gets canceled. Never gonna happen but still...

This was a cute cross-over episode and I'm glad to know they didn't just give up on a really great idea simply because some Russian guy 40-something years ago wrote a paper that one time.

And never again.

B-storyline was a mess. Howard auditioning for Magic castle simply because he's too scared to tell is wife no.

I'm so over mean bossy unsupportive spouses. Well, at least it's almost over...

[Wanda]

I’m almost positive that the show has told us Howard’s father died. That’s when the brother showed up. A lawyer with the estate mentioned he had a brother in Pasadena and the younger wolowitz looked him up.

[BlossomCulp]

33 minutes ago, Wanda said:

I’m almost positive that the show has told us Howard’s father died. That’s when the brother showed up. A lawyer with the estate mentioned he had a brother in Pasadena and the younger wolowitz looked him up.

I saw this episode recently and the father is not dead.  Josh, the brother finds out about Howard because a lawyer for the estate contacts his father about the title to the house Howard inherits.  It's the first time Josh finds out he has an older half brother.  So it looks like Sam (the father) went off and started a second family and never told them about the first family and of course we know that he never contacted Howard again (well except for that letter that time from another episode).  Sounds like Howard's dad was a real jerk and I hope they don't bring him on the show -- well except to see Bernadette tear him apart - that would be nice.

[Gothish520]

4 hours ago, BlossomCulp said:

I saw this episode recently and the father is not dead.  Josh, the brother finds out about Howard because a lawyer for the estate contacts his father about the title to the house Howard inherits.  It's the first time Josh finds out he has an older half brother.  So it looks like Sam (the father) went off and started a second family and never told them about the first family and of course we know that he never contacted Howard again (well except for that letter that time from another episode).  Sounds like Howard's dad was a real jerk and I hope they don't bring him on the show -- well except to see Bernadette tear him apart - that would be nice.

Bernie would bring him to his knees!

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Gothish520 said:

Bernie would bring him to his knees!

Yes, but I just don't see how that would be watchable. IMO, watching Bernadette emasculate Howard's father would make this episode's Bernie The Pageant Mom Forces Howard To Enter The Magic Castle Competition look like a sequel to Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. 

But now I'm wondering if either Howard or Bernadette sabotaged the Rolex watch trick on purpose because Howard didn't really want to do magic anymore.

[chaifan]

I didn't understand the basis of the plot with Howard no longer being into magic.  Just a few episodes ago he was doing magic tricks for Amy's dad. 

[LoneHaranguer]

On 12/9/2018 at 8:26 PM, shapeshifter said:

I got rid of some tapes from the late 90s and early 00s a few years ago, primarily because they were just poor quality to begin with, but also because the colors had mostly gone sepia toned. I think this is because I don't have a dehumidifier and don't turn on the AC in the summer unless it's over 80F.
So I didn't have a problem with a tape kept in an airtight wall safe still being in mint condition.

My own experience suggests that the most important factor is the quality of the tape. I have tapes over 30 years old that are just fine, but have seen bargain-bin movies recorded on cheap tape become worthless after just a few years.

I'm surprised that nobody fooled with the VCR to try to watch the rest of what Sheldon had recorded. Taping over something doesn't get rid of what was already there; the VCR is just less apt to automatically lock in on the old signal.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, LoneHaranguer said:

I'm surprised that nobody fooled with the VCR to try to watch the rest of what Sheldon had recorded. Taping over something doesn't get rid of what was already there; the VCR is just less apt to automatically lock in on the old signal

I thought of that too and figured that if the show had more than 17 minutes of dialogue that it would've merited a line or two. 

[Bort]

They kind of covered that with Sheldon saying that he remembered what he'd originally said. So there was no need to try and salvage it.

[illdoc]

6 hours ago, chaifan said:

I didn't understand the basis of the plot with Howard no longer being into magic.  Just a few episodes ago he was doing magic tricks for Amy's dad.

It's not that he's not into magic---it's that he's no longer interested in being a member of the Magic Castle.

[shapeshifter]

10 hours ago, illdoc said:

 

16 hours ago, chaifan said:

I didn't understand the basis of the plot with Howard no longer being into magic.  Just a few episodes ago he was doing magic tricks for Amy's dad.

It's not that he's not into magic---it's that he's no longer interested in being a member of the Magic Castle.

True, but I wish they'd had Howard say that in this episode. Or did he and I missed it?

[ProfCrash]

9 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

True, but I wish they'd had Howard say that in this episode. Or did he and I missed it?

He did, Bernie didn't accept that

[chaifan]

21 hours ago, illdoc said:

It's not that he's not into magic---it's that he's no longer interested in being a member of the Magic Castle.

Ah, you're right.  I just rewatched that part, and the discussion is about him auditioning for the Magic Castle, not doing magic in general.  My bad.  (It really did confuse me for the entire episode, though.) 

[SmithW6079]

On 12/11/2018 at 6:48 PM, illdoc said:

It's not that he's not into magic---it's that he's no longer interested in being a member of the Magic Castle.

Is Magic Castle a real thing -- not just Disney?

[chitowngirl]

Magic Castle

13 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

Is Magic Castle a real thing -- not just Disney?

[SmithW6079]

34 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Magic Castle

Thanks! 

[Frost]

Part of the dress code at the Magic Castle:   Exceptions to the “tie rule” are: full turtlenecks (no mock turtlenecks), bow ties, bolo ties, ascots, and banded collars when worn correctly.

I presume that would mean no dickies allowed either.  If Howard had done a little research, he would have realized this was not his crowd.

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, Frost said:

I presume that would mean no dickies allowed either.  If Howard had done a little research, he would have realized this was not his crowd.

Nah, there's no way they would know if it was a dickie (unless they used x-rays). He would've been fine with that.

 

3 hours ago, Frost said:

full turtlenecks (no mock turtlenecks)

And, just to clarify for any who might not know: a mock turtleneck is not a dickie. A mock turtleneck is a neckline midway between a turtleneck and and crew neck.

Edited December 15, 2018 by shapeshifter
verb tense

[TV Diva Queen]

On 12/10/2018 at 1:31 PM, Driad said:

Sheldon's jazz line reminded me of the Dowager Countess on Downton Abbey, who once heard jazz and asked whether any of the musicians knew what the others were playing. I wonder how she and Sheldon would get along.  Sheldon might enjoy olden days if he were rich enough to be considered eccentric. Fanfic, anyone?

God I miss that show...

[John Potts]

I hate it when people assume they must be wrong because somebody else says they are. Amy & Sheldon had a hypothesis and the Russians (presumably) had a different one - you'd need to check their theory/methodology before determining whether you're right or they are. So actually a nice resolution to say they were both right - from a certain perspective, because that fits with current scientific theories (for example, Relativity says that the speed you're moving at will affect how you perceive both time and distance).

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 1:40 AM, Spartan Girl said:

"Thanks, Dad. We're gonna give them hell." Sniff.

I have to agree that tea really is just leaf soup.

I like the rehabilitation of Sheldon's dad. Yes, he may have left the family, but that doesn't mean he was a complete villain.

And tea IS leaf soup!

On ‎12‎/‎8‎/‎2018 at 1:09 AM, ams1001 said:

Anyone else surprised Sheldon doesn't have a VCR of his own?

He probably does, but it would be in his storage locker.

On ‎12‎/‎7‎/‎2018 at 4:31 PM, NutmegsDad said:

I cringed all throughout the Howard magician subplot, as soon as Howard said he wasn't interested in reapplying. Bernie went into full Stage Mom Mode, and I mentally FF'd, Even the last scene at the Castle with the Rolex, I could see coming a mile away.

The last part was just ridiculous. Howard would know whether he'd palmed the Rolex or not before he brought the hammer down. That joke would only work if he had Bernadette was his assistant and she hit it too soon (OK, I know I'm bringing logic to a throwaway gag, but it bothered me!).

[Frost]

I wanted a new episode, but since I couldn't have that, I was happy to see this one again!  Barring the stupid Howard the magician even being allowed to audition for membership to the Magic Castle subplot, this is one of my favorite episodes.  I loved George's speech in the locker room about how someone deals with facing certain defeat shows their character.  That should be mandatory messaging to every youth sports team.   You're not a loser, you don't give up, you go out there and give 'em …..your BEST!!!!  hee hee  (Message edited depending on the age of the youth sports team)

The visual of Sheldon face down on the too short, bright turquoise couch will never not be funny.