History TheBigBangTheory / TropesAToE

* ContraltoOfDanger: Bernadette usually has an adorably squeaky voice... until she gets pissed off. Then her voice drops low and the other characters know she means business.

* ADateWithRosiePalms:
** In the first scene of the pilot, while Leonard and Sheldon are at a sperm bank to make donations for extra cash:
---> '''Sheldon:''' "I can't do this."
---> '''Leonard:''' "Are you kidding? You're a semi-pro!"
** Season 4 premiere. [[spoiler:Howard had [[ADateWithRosiePalms A Date with Rosie]] [[InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha The Robotic Palm]] and then it got stuck.]] [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued]].
** When Leonard wonders how he can date someone who believes in psychics, Howard draws a diagram showing how few women will share his views, like him and be liked by him. When Leonard complains, Howard draws a dot on Leonard's palm.
--->'''Leonard''': What's that?
--->'''Howard''': Your new girlfriend. You two have fun tonight.
** Subverted in “The Love Car Displacement”: We see Raj, alone in his room, cheerfully step out of the bathroom with a box of tissues. He grabs two tissues and gets under the covers, shivers with anticipation and turns on the TV.
--->[[spoiler:'''Announcer''': Next on Turner Classic Movies: ''Literature/BridgetJones’ Diary''.]] \\
[[spoiler:'''Raj''': ''[sniffing]'' Oh God, I’m crying already.]]
** Female example with Amy:
---> '''Amy:''' And if the bar doesn't work out, we can always go to Walgreen's and get you a nice electric toothbrush. I call mine Gerard.
** Leonard muses that it's wonderful his girlfriend is 9000 miles away; he can do anything he wants.
--->'''Howard:''' You mean playing ''D&D'' with us then taking a suspiciously long shower?
** Amy once again in "The Werewolf Transformation", musing on Sheldon growing his hair out.
---> '''Amy''': I think you might look sexy with long hair. Be the kind that flows down to your shoulders and blows back while riding on a horse. Bareback and barechested... I-I'm going to go [[INeedToGoIronMyDog brush]] [[BlatantLies my]] [[ContinuityNod teeth]], it might take a while.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: During "The Werewolf Transformation", Amy imagines a long-haired, shirtless Sheldon riding a horse, then leaves to "brush her teeth".

*** They might have meant the autotrophs evolving into heterotrophs, though.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: InUniverse by Sheldon when he [[AFoolForAClient represents himself]][[note]]There's a saying when it comes to representing oneself in court: He who represents himself in court has a fool for a client. On top of this, Sheldon was photographed doing it, so he doesn't have a defense.[[/note]] and tries to fight a ticket for running a red light while driving Penny's car. His defense is little more than [[NeverMyFault blaming Penny]] for goading him into running the light and owning the car[[note]]Because he was driving, he is 100% at fault as he could have ignored her advice; Penny, as a passenger, cannot be held responsible for his actions -- the fact it's her car is irrelevant; she wasn't driving[[/note]], claiming it was necessary and therefore legal for him to run a red light because Penny's shoulder was dislocated,[[note]]It's not, and a dislocated shoulder isn't life threatening. A life threatening injury may have tipped the balance, but it's not likely, because the police and/or judge would probably say an ambulance should have been called[[/note]] and that it's unconstitutional for a camera to issue a ticket[[note]]it's not; red light cameras are entirely constitutional[[/note]]. The judge rules him guilty, which Sheldon tries to contest through ''incredibly'' disrespectful backtalking and ends up in jail for contempt of court.

* BareYourMidriff: Penny for the first 2-3 seasons, along with a bikini in one season 8 episode.

** In one episode Leonard mentions how he might end up half-eaten by crabs in the trunk of a car. This is exactly what happens to Johnny Galecki's character in I Know What You Did Last Summer.

** The theme song has the line "Neanderthals developed tools." Homo habilis developed tools long before Neanderthals evolved.

* AthleticallyChallenged: The main cast are all very poor athletically. One episode that highlights this is "The Rothman Disintegration", where Sheldon and his SitcomArchNemesis Barry Kripke compete over a newly vacated office with a one-on-one game of basketball, on the reasoning that both being equally bad at sports gave them an even playing field. 45 minutes in, neither of them has sunk a single basket. They move on to a free throw contest, but that too is a bust. Sheldon finally wins when they resort to seeing who can bounce the ball highest. ("Who's 'unsatisfactory in PE' now?")

*** The RuleOfThree that later becomes part of Sheldon's SuperOCD also gets skipped when Sheldon gets the flu and he calls out for Leonard only twice.

** [[Creator/PennAndTeller Teller]] plays Amy's father in "The Bow Tie Asymmetry", and throughout the episode, Amy's mom keeps preventing him from speaking, [[spoiler:until they're gathered for Sheldon and Amy's wedding, when he says "Thank you" to Penny for telling off his wife]].

* ChekhovsGag: The ObjectCeilingCling in "The Classified Materials Turbulence"

* Dominatrix: when Sheldon considers moving out of his old apartment he has a nightmare where Leonard has transformed his former room into a sex dungeon with Penny as his dominatrix.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: [[http://www.mattyangel.com/2010/04/01/the-soft-kitty-song-from-big-bang-theory-is-real/ Turns out Soft Kitty is a real song, albeit some of the lyrics are reversed.]]
** There actually ''is'' a low budget exploitation horror movie [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_Wild_Woman about a beautiful woman/gorilla hybrid]].
** The device that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO4BhXaMpxs Howard was working on to allow anyone to kiss a partner via the internet,]] may seem silly and far fetched, but there have been [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PspagsTFvlg numerous]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=taALY5jlLfA attempts]] to do this in real life.

* TheChick:
** In most episodes, Penny is the token female, and as often as not, she acts the part. (Occasionally subverted, as when she kills cockroaches for the guys. In such situations, one or more of the guys will take on the role of TheChick.)
** Raj often takes the role of TheChick, being the most emotionally sensitive one of the entire group.
** Although she's a chick, Leslie Winkle is almost never TheChick. Whenever she makes an appearance, at least one of the guys turns into TheChick. She lampshades this when attempting a relationship with Leonard, "I believe you should take on the male role."

** Raj's father, who forced him through a fiercely competitive education in India and who remains ambitious for his son, is played by Creator/BrianGeorge. Who also payed the ambitious and competitive father of Doctor Julian Bashir in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', a man who in the 23rd Century actually had his son's brain genetically modified so as to give him a winning edge.

* Raj's father, who forced him through a fiercely competitive education in India and who remains ambitious for his son, is played by Creator/BrianGeorge. Who also payed the ambitious and competitive father of Doctor Julian Bashir in ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', a man who in the 23rd Century actually had his son's brain genetically modified so as to give him a winning edge.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Sheldon. Leonard's mother Beverly. Amy. They all have something going on, being exaggerated versions of every geek and aloof-genius stereotype you've ever heard of. This leads to a good amount of fan speculation that one or all have UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome in some form. Creator/JimParsons has also stated that Sheldon "could not have more symptoms of Asperger's" but also stated the writers have not done it intentionally and he hasn't played Sheldon that way.

[[folder:0-A]]

* DestructoNookie: Leonard once mentions that they ''broke'' Penny's bed.
** Implied when the entire building heard Penny's "[[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex rodeo]] [[TheImmodestOrgasm thing]]", after she had drunken, meaningless sex with Leonard.

** Throughout the series, Leonard is a huge fan of the ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' films. Sheldon's mom is played by Creator/LaurieMetcalf, who voices Andy's mom in ''Toy Story''.

** Bernadette took this trope UpToEleven in the same episode.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Amy started as a DistaffCounterpart to Sheldon but has received CharacterDevelopment into a more energetic and outgoing person. This showed that her closed off personality is a result of years of emotional trauma and romantic rejection causing her to cope by suppressing that part of her and now she is experiencing the emotional growth that was denied her.

--> '''Amy''': *''drunk''* What would it take for you to go into that liquor store, buy a bottle of hooch, then go to the motel over the street and ''have your way with me?''