The Extract Obliteration Season 6, Episode 6 -  Aired November 1, 2012

The Extract Obliteration

Penny has started taking a history class at the local college but she doesn't want Leonard to know. Meanwhile, Sheldon worries about his friendship with Stephen Hawking after a game of "Words with Friends".

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Guest Stars: Stephen Hawking as Himself (V.O.)

Writers: Chuck Lorre (Story), Bill Prady (Story), Steve Holland (Story), Steven Molaro (Teleplay), Jim Reynolds (Teleplay), Eric Kaplan (Teleplay)

Director: Mark Cendrowski

Viewers: 15.9 million Households Rating: 10.9/17 Adults 18-49 Rating: 5.2/15

Available on iTunes

Episode Notes

  • The title refers to the word 'extract' played by Sheldon in the Words with Friends game.

> Sheldon's Knock

As Sheldon desperately waits for Stephen Hawking to play another round on Words With Friends, Sheldon knocks on his iPad, calling for Stephen Hawking.

Episode Quotes

Leonard: I did a bad thing.
Sheldon: Does it affect me?
Leonard: No.
Sheldon: Then suffer in silence.

Stephen Hawking: What does Sheldon Cooper and a black hole have in common? They both suck.

Sheldon: Steven Hawking's a genius and he talks like a robot. It's everything I ever wanted in a friend.

Sheldon: Leonard, come back. Leonard, come back. Leonard, come back.
Leonard: What?
Sheldon: Oh, of course, it only works on the weak-minded.

Howard: One time when I was working with him, he said that Johnny Depp was in The Matrix. I told him he was wrong, but he kept insisting. So I looked it up online and showed him. Well, the next day, he had a pizza party, and everyone got invited but me. And then he was all, your invitation must have gotten lost in the matrix.

News Stories

Title Date Posted
Episode 6.06 Ratings November 2, 2012

Last night's episode of The Big Bang Theory rose to a season-high in the key adults 18-49 demographic and dominated the night despite tougher competition from ABC with the Country Music Association Awards.  Full story

CBS Announces Episode 6.06 October 11, 2012

CBS has issued the press release for the sixth episode of the season, "The Extract Obliteration", which will air Thursday, November 1. Renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking lends his voice to the episode.  Full story

Recap

As Howard and Raj play a dance game in the apartment, Sheldon announces that Stephen Hawking accepted his challenge to play Words with Friends, offering it as confirmation that Sheldon and the Professor are now officially friends. Meanwhile, as Bernadette and Amy hang out with Penny in her apartment, Bernadette finds a textbook. Penny admits she has been taking a college history class, but she's kept it a secret as she doesn't want Leonard to obsess over it.

In Amy's lab, Sheldon plays a game of Words with Friends against Stephen Hawking and is trouncing the Professor. When Sheldon gets stuck on a word, Amy helpfully offers extrACT, though Sheldon thinks it would be cheating to accept a word from somebody else. Sheldon deftly gets around the moral conundrum by playing EXtract. Elsewhere, Leonard is having dinner with Penny in her apartment. Penny tells Leonard how she's been taking a college class for a few months. When Penny mentions she turns in her first paper soon, Leonard tries to help her on the subject. Penny doesn't want Leonard's help and doesn't want him to look at her paper.

A few days later, Sheldon is obsessing over why Stephen Hawking hasn't played another word in their game. When Sheldon mentions how well the game was going for him, Howard reveals that Hawking hates to lose and acts like a big baby. Later that night, Leonard sneaks out of Penny's bedroom and opens up her laptop to read her paper. Back in the apartment, Sheldon is trying to use mind control to make Stephen Hawking play another word. When Leonard arrives, feeling guilty about looking at Penny's work against her wishes, the two share their problems. When Leonard offers Sheldon advice about Hawking, Sheldon refuses to reciprocate.

The next morning, when Penny wakes up, Leonard hands her a rewritten paper for her to hand in. Penny is outraged that he assumed her paper would be bad, read it against her wishes, and then rewrote it. At the university cafeteria, Sheldon still hasn't heard back from Hawking. Raj suggests Sheldon's better off without a sore loser like that, but then Hawking finally plays. Howard suggests Sheldon should throw the game and let Hawking win to avoid upsetting him again. Sheldon struggles to be deliberately bad at the game, but ultimately decides his friendship with Hawking is more important.

Penny shows up at Leonard's apartment to show her the B- she got on her paper, impressing Leonard. Back at her apartment, Penny tells the girls not to tell Leonard they helped her with her paper. Meanwhile, Sheldon receives a call from Stephen Hawking, gloating over beating Sheldon in the game.