Review "Big Bang Law"

[Gulliver63]

First off, I'd like to dedicate this story to my wife Nancy, who made me a fan of "Big Bang Theory." The plot is probably not the most original thing in the world, but it's a story mostly designed for the humorous gags. I just wondered what it would be like to get these two gangs of characters together in one story. One of the challenges was that there are so many characters on both ends to squeeze in. I did enjoy sneaking a couple of bits from Morbo in - I don't know if I've ever mentioned him before. Another tidbit is some Chinese Amy blurts out...shen jing bing is the equivalent of calling someone a mental case. Again, no serious life-changing stuff here...mostly a chuckle or two. Enjoy!

[missy_misery]

*Downloading for review later in the week!*

[missy_misery]

The plot's pretty adorable, honestly.

Spoiler

Robots worshiping Sheldon makes total sense.

Also:

Spoiler

Poor Sheldon. Killed by what he most feared.

I liked Leela's interaction with Sheldon; it was very affectionate and motherly. I liked Sheldon's stiffed-necked autocracy. You get both sets of characters well.

Spoiler

My favorite gag was probably the Howard's Unseen Mom gag.

Good fun all around, and you have a special affinity for Sheldon.

Letter Grade: A

[Gulliver63]

Thanks! One has to admit that this is pretty much a gag-driven story. This was pretty much the most fun I've had writing a story. I think my favorite part is

Spoiler

the scene where Leela threatens to pull the ship over and start slapping people. "I can still reach you..."

I liked cruising into the ending where everyone seems to get their just deserts. As a side note, I did a bit of study on the internet to find out about how jury duty actually worked; I've been sent the letters, but never actually had to do it. Wiki was where I stumbled across how jury duty worked in ancient Greece, perfect fodder for Sheldon's rant. My work associate Robert Stewart gave me the idea for what was wrong with the taxi cab engine, which worked better than what I came up with. I chose Griffith Observatory for the landing site because it sits in a fairly wooded area and is reasonably close to Pasadena; While I've been to LA a few times, I've never actually seen this place except in tv episodes.

[c_nordlander]

Typoes: "before heading out to the hanger" should be "hangar"; "'Who would you be?' asked the attorney barked."; "you're friends" should be "your".

Also, not a technical mistake, but "she stared at him with her eye" is a bit silly. It's kind of appropriate in the context, but there are other ways to draw attention to her single eye.

Full disclosure: I've never watched Big Bang Theory. Still, I had no problems following this story, so that's a good sign.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. The reason for the crew to go back in time is good, if not particularly original, but

Spoiler

the ending more than makes up for that.

All the Futurama characters seem to be in character, though no-one really stands out, and the Big Bang Theory characters are characterised clearly enough that I soon got a hang of their personalities. Callagorxis is a pretty good original character.

Writing is good, if a bit dialogue-heavy in places. Your descriptions are quite short, but get the job done.

The plot is simple, but fun. The resolution of the quest is what really lifted it for me, though I think it would have been even funnier if

Spoiler

the alien had called for Sheldon in order to return the action figure to him.

The very ending is funny. I wouldn't have minded if it had ended on the train scene, but the scene with Morgan is fun too. The scene with Leonard turning off the computer at the end felt quite emotional, which isn't a bad job given that I don't know any of the characters involved.

The comedy is the best part of this fic, with the characters from both shows getting plenty of great lines. The funniest parts were Morbo's lines and the repeated "Neil Armstrong" joke.

I don't have any real problems with this story. I didn't really suffer from my lack of familiarity with Big Bang Theory, except in one case: during the scene where they all meet up with Sheldon and his friends, you don't really specify which characters are there, and thus it took a while for me to realise how many characters were actually coming with them on the ship. I did have a bit of a problem with the Planet Express people deciding to stay for a game of Monopoly: sure, they're time-travelling, so it's not like they're on a deadline, but I still feel that they should be more keen to get the whole thing over with. Apart from that, the story felt a little bland and unmemorable in places, but again, it might have appealed more to me if I'd known the characters.

All in all, I think I'll dispense with a letter score this time, since I don't know Big Bang Theory. However, this is a nicely written story with some very good jokes, and a funny resolution. Recommended.

EDIT: Also, references to ancient Greece are the way to win me over.

[Gulliver63]

Thanks! The Greek reference to the way they did their trial jury was just something I stumbled across in Wiki as I was studying jury trials; it was just the kind of thing they would have had Sheldon blather out in the show, and no one around him would have gotten. Glad you enjoyed it.