"The Military Miniaturization" is an episode of The Big Bang Theory that first aired on September 26, 2016. Directed by Mark Cendrowski. Teleplay by Steven Molaro, Steve Holland and Maria Ferrari, based on a story by Chuck Lorre, Eric Kaplan and Jim Reynolds.
Last week, Howard got a call from Colonel Richard Williams (Dean Norris) of the U. S. Air Force. The military likes Howard's guidance system invention but wish he could make it smaller.
Howard worries that if the Department of Defense takes over his invention, he will never be able to make money from it in the private sector. So he calls his lawyer cousin Marty (Josh Zuckerman) for advice.
As he feared, Howard's project is taken over by the Department of Defense and becomes classified. On the plus side, he and his team get a secret lab with a retinal scanner at the door.
Meanwhile, Bernadette is angry that the whole office knows about her pregnancy because it means she won't get an important research project. Bernadette wants to know who leaked, and blames Barbara Chen. Turns out Penny was the leaker.
Tropes
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Leonard and Howard are concerned about their invention being used for military applications.Colonel Williams: Let me put your mind ease, gentlemen. What we're going to use it for is... none of your damn business!
- Bee Afraid: Raj isn't in on the meeting. There's a bee in his office.
- Berserk Button: Sheldon is exasperated by several things the Colonel says, but is clearly pushed over the edge by his referring to "the Death Star from Star Trek."
- Consummate Liar: Invoked. Amy is fascinated by how good Penny is at lying.
- Continuity Nod: Sheldon doesn't think engineers (or MIT grads) are real scientists.
- Distinction Without a Difference:Sheldon: I am not a know-it-all. I am a person who knows lots of things and likes to correct other people when they're wrong.
Leonard: That's the definition of being a know-it-all.
Sheldon: Or in German, a Besserwisser. - Foreshadowing: Leonard warns that the military could deem their project classified ruining their chances of selling it commercially.
- Groin Attack: Discussed.Bernadette: I learned when you're four-foot-eleven and eye level with every guy's crotch, that's where you punch.
- Insufferable Genius: Discussed. When it's suggested they get a lawyer, Sheldon says they don't need one, because they have him.
- Literal-Minded: When told not to "sign anything," Sheldon asks if he were to make a painting, would he be forbidden to sign it?
- Loophole Abuse: When Sheldon is forbidden to speak in the meeting, he tries to find a way around it by using text-to-speech software.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: To Leonard and Howard's dismay and fury, Sheldon blurts out to Colonel Williams that they will have the gyroscope done in two months instead of four months, whilst disobeying Leonard and Howard's order that Sheldon is not allowed to speak. Needless to say, they were still mad at him in the next episode.
- Not Hyperbole: When Raj asks Howard if he has a relative who is a lawyer, Howard takes offense due to seeing it as a Jewish stereotype and compares it to him asking Raj if he has a cousin who works at a Call Center. Raj responds by saying that his cousin really does work at a Call Center. Howard withdraws his offense and admits that his cousin is a lawyer.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Colonel Williams refers to "the Death Star from Star Trek."
- Recursive Reality: Discussed. Sheldon talks about Elon Musk's theory that our reality is really a game created by hyper-intelligent beings.Leonard: So some alien kid spent his money on the glasses and inhaler upgrade for me?
Sheldon: Well, he doesn't say its a good game. - Rooting for the Empire: Sheldon is excited about becoming a "cog" in the military wheel.Sheldon: In Star Wars, when the Stormtroopers would march in perfect formation harassing civilians, didn't you ever think "Hey, that could be me"?
- Running Gag: The guys playing with the retinal scanner at their new lab.
