Category: Television

“Sing Soft Kitty.”

From: The Big Bang Theory

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Sheldon Cooper and Penny

The story behind the quote: The Big Bang Theory is a sitcom that tells the story of a couple of guys (who just happen to be kinda nerdy) notice that a cute blonde girl moves in to the apartment across the hall. One of them, Leonard Hofstader (played by Johnny Galecki), instantly falls in love with the girl, Penny (Kaley Cuoco). While the premise make it seem that only nerds and geeks will love the show, the characteristics of each person in the show made it into one of the most popular shows in recent history. Jim Parsons has actually won three Emmy awards because of his portrayal of Sheldon Cooper, Leonard’s roommate.

The quote is actually a running gag of the show. Soft Kitty was the song Sheldon’s mother sang to him when he was ill. Even though he is already an adult, he still feels the need for people to sing it to him. It appears that, now that he has taught the song to Penny, she has to bear the responsibility of singing it to him… most of the time.

Geek wisdom: Everyone has fond memories of their childhood. While we can outgrow some of the things we did as children, we still hold on to some of those practices and memories. Even though some of these things may be silly (much like Sheldon needing to hear Soft Kitty when he’s sick), if they do work in making you happy, you should keep doing them.

Adult life is so full of seriousness. There’s no harm in trying to relive your childhood joys when you feel the need to cheer yourself up. A good dose of nostalgia is always good if it keeps your spirits up.

“Challenge accepted!”

From: How I Met Your Mother

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Barney Stinson

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the hit CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother (abbreviated as HIMYM). The premise of the series is that the narrator, the future Ted Mosby, is telling his children the story of how he met their mother. However, he just doesn’t tell them the story about how they met (that would be a very short sitcom). Rather, he sits them down and relates the events in his life that led to him meeting his mother. Ted says it’s important to tell them all of that since, because of everything he went through, he became the man their mother fell in love with.

Anyway, the quote comes from Barney Stinson (played by Neil Patrick Harris). This is actually one of his catchphrases. Barney will utter these words when someone makes an off-hand comment about something that cannot be done. He will then try to perform the “impossible” (even though “the challenge” wasn’t even issuing a challenge in the first place).

Geek wisdom: People generally don’t want to tackle problems. They would rather not deal with issues and the problems of life. However, if we do not accept these challenges life gives us, they will always prevent us from getting better.

We should always be ready to accept these challenges and strive to overcome them. It is difficult but, once you do defeat the problem, then the problem doesn’t have to bother you anymore.

“The power is yours!”

From: Captain Planet and the Planeteers

Genre: Television and Cartoons

Who said it?: Captain Planet

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the animated series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers. It was one of, if not, the first cartoon to feature an environmental superhero. Captain Planet himself is not a person in the traditional sense. He is actually the personification of the four natural elements, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, as well as the power of caring, which is Heart.

These elements are carried by the Planeteers, four teenagers from different parts of the world. Kwame, from Africa, controls Earth. Linka, from the Soviet Union/Eastern Europe, controls the element of Wind. Wheeler, from the United States, is in charge of the Fire element. Gi, from Asia, manipulates Water. And Ma-Ti, from Brazil, controls Heart. In order to summon Earth’s greatest champion, Kwame, Linka, Wheeler, Gi and Ma-Ti have to combine all of the elements. These elements then form Captain Planet.

Captain Planet usually dispatches the villain for the week and, before splitting up into the elements, he usually tells the Planeteers the quote.

Geek wisdom: The power is indeed yours! We all have the power to make good and bad decisions. Claiming that we weren’t given any options is simply a cop out and shrugging off our our responsibilities of our actions. It is us who decides our fate and how much effort we put into a task and no one else.

“My cabbages!”

From: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Genre: Television and Cartoons

Who said it?: The Cabbage Merchant

The story behind the quote: Now, this is a quote that is fairly recent and wasn’t even given by any of the main characters of the show. In fact, the person who delivers this quote doesn’t even have an official name as far as I know. However, he does say it a lot and I realized there is some wisdom you can get from those two simple words of despair he exclaims often.

The quote comes from Nickelodeon’s animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The series tells the story of Aang, the latest Avatar of the world and destined to bring peace and order to it. However, since he is just a child, he runs away because of the pressure of the role and gets encased in ice for a hundred years. That is, until two children from the Water Tribes, siblings Katara and Sokka, release him from his icy tomb. The two help Aang try to fulfill his destiny of mastering bending of all four elements (water, earth, fire and air) while being pursued by the exiled prince of the Fire Nation, Prince Zuko.

Like I said, the quote comes not from any of those characters that I mentioned but from a man simply known as The Cabbage Merchant. He pops in a lot of episodes, trying to sell and trade his produce by something always happens to them, which is why he always delivers the quote out of anguish.

Geek wisdom: Life can be full of misfortune and disappointment. This is displayed very prominently by the cabbage guy from the show as it seems to be whenever he encounters Aang and company, his harvested cabbages get devastated. However, it’s how you persist after these hardships that prove yourself as a person.

While the first series never really showed what happened to the cabbage merchant, the sequel to the series, The Legend of Korra shows that the cabbage vendor created his own company and his son is now prosperous because of it. If he didn’t pick himself up after all of the hardship he went through, the cabbage vendor wouldn’t have been able to build a successful company.

“Life is like a hurricane”

From: Duck Tales

Genre: Television and Cartoons

Who said it?: Opening Song

The story behind the quote: The song comes from the one of the most popular cartoons from the late 80’s, Disney’s Duck Tales. While we were generally familiar with Donald Duck and his animated shorts, Disney decided to put out new 30 minute adventures instead, with more complex storylines as well as more action. During the first episode, it’s explained that Donald will be out sea for an extended period of time (he’s a sailor, remember?) so he will not be able to take care of his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie. He leaves them in the care of Scrooge McDuck, his uncle and who also happens to be the richest duck in the world.

They all go on fantastic adventures around the world to find new treasures to increase Uncle Scrooge’s wealth. They come across new new friends like Launchpad McQuack, “ace” pilot and come in contact with new memorable foes such as Flintheart Glomgold, the second richest duck in the world who always schemes to eventually surpass Uncle Scrooge in wealth.

The quote, as you all probably know, comes from the extremely catchy theme song of the show, which you can hear below.

Geek wisdom: Life can be hard and unpredictable. It will throw various challenges and difficulties at you during the most unexpected times. The best thing to do is to take on these challenges as they come rather than just complain about them and do nothing about it.

Besides, when you do tackle them and succeed in overcoming your problems, like Uncle Scrooge and his friends, you’ll have your own fantastic tales to tell later!

“Six seasons and a movie!”

From: Community

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Abed Nadir

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the NBC sitcom Community. The idea behind the series is that Jeff Winger (played by Joel McHale) get caught practicing being a lawyer without having a proper law degree. In desperation, he decides to enroll in the Glendale Community College to get a college degree quickly.

Unfortunately, the school is filled with crazy people who don’t appear to be there to actually study. However, Joel actually manages to make true friends in the school, something he didn’t expect.

The quote is delivered by pop culture freak Abed Nadir. His favorite show was The Cape, an extremely short lived (and real) television show about a man who finds a cape that gives him superpowers. While pretending to be the superhero, he knocks over Joel’s lunch. Joel McHale angrily yells at Abed that the show will be cancelled early. Abed disagrees with him.

Geek wisdom: It’s nice to set goals. Even if they seem impossible, it’s important that, when you have a dream, you go after it. The great thing about setting goals is that it gives a person direction in life.

In Community, Abed Nadir is a dreamer. Hence, he and his friend, Troy Barnes, usually imagine things that are pretty difficult to implement in real life. In the show, however, they manage to do a lot of these impossible things, like building a pillow/blanket fort that covered the entire campus… in two separate instances.

Things may seem impossible. But they are only impossible if you don’t attempt to do them.

“Dead dove. Do not eat.”

From: Arrested Development

Genre: Television

Who said wrote it?: Gob Bluth

The story behind the quote: Arrested Development is a critically acclaimed sitcom. The show features the Bluths, a family of crazy characters. However, it is this craziness that made this show get a cult following. Arrested Development was initially cancelled at the end of their 3rd season. However, because of the show’s cult following, as well as gaining popularity after the series ended, a 4th season was developed by Netflix… 6 years after season 3 ended!

The quote comes from the second episode of the first season. Gob, the eldest of the Bluth siblings and failed magician, buys a dove but accidentally kills it as he is exiting the store. He, however, hopes to return the dead bird to the store so he stores it in a brown bag, puts a note on it,  in the refrigerator. Michael Bluth, the “responsible” brother, reads the note but is still astonished with its contents.

Geek wisdom: We can sometimes not trust a lot of things until we see it in front of us. Even when the evidence overwhelmingly supports something, we just have to see it for ourselves to believe it. And then when we actually do experience it, we think to ourselves that it was stupid to think otherwise.

We all have these moments once in a while. The important thing to do is to realize is that there are going to be times that we have to believe something, not because we have seen it, but because logic tells us it’s true.

“How you doin'”

From: Friends

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Joey Tribbiani

The story behind the quote: Friends was a extremely popular NBC sitcom during the 90’s. Even today, all 10 seasons of the show are still replayed in syndication throughout the world. Each episode revolves around 6 friends: the fashion conscious Rachel Green, free spirit Phoebe Buffay, the sarcastic Chandler Bing, the perfectionist Monica Gellar and her somewhat arrogant brother Ross Gellar, and the struggling actor, Joey Tribbiani.

Please take note that the rundowns for each character is a pretty barebones description for all of them. One of the things that made Friends so memorable is that each and every one in this group of friends are all different yet interact well with each other. Not only that, they all grow to some degree and some of them even get romantically involved with each other.

The quote comes from Joey Tribbiani. He has an uncanny knack of picking up beautiful women because of his confidence. All he has to do to hook up with a girl is to walk up to her and say the quote in the way he says it and they will (most of the time) fall for him.

Geek wisdom: There’s actually two pieces of wisdom you can pull from these simple three words. First, let’s talk about the words themselves. Sometimes, simply asking someone how they’re feeling can make them feel better. It’s a simple act of concern that we tend to forget to do in our daily lives.

The second piece of wisdom we can derive from Joey catchphrase is by the way he delivers it. The reason why Joey manages to use these words so effectively when meeting women is not because of the words themselves. Rather, it’s the confidence he displays when delivering them. A lot of times, when you present yourself as a person with confidence, you can gain much needed respect from others. This in turn will also increase your self-respect.

“But, there is, unseen by most, an underworld. A place that is just as real, but not as brightly lit… a DARKSIDE!”

From: Tales from the Darkside

Genre: Television

Who said it?: The narrator

The story behind the quote: The show falls along the vein of other horror anthology programs such as Creepshow and The Twilight Zone. Each episode of Tales from the Darkside would be a self-contained story, usually delving in horror and science fiction. Most of the stories are actually adaptions of stuff that was written by popular horror authors, such as Stephen King and Clive Barker.

Since each episode usually doesn’t have any connection with any of the other episodes in the series, there is no steady cast of actors. The only real constant of the series would be the opening narration, which is where the quote comes from.

Geek wisdom: As with the quote, there is always a good and bad side to everything. Even the nicest person you know has some deep, dark, unspeakable secret he or she would like to keep hidden from everyone. I mean everyone, even you, the person that’s reading this right now.  But here’s the thing: we keep this part of us hidden.

Keeping this “darkside” hidden is something we all wrestle with as this is what actually gives order to society. Imagine if we just unleashed this part of ourselves to society. It’s not a pleasant thought.

We have to restrain ourselves from a lot of our most heinous thoughts because, if we don’t, anarchy would reign.

“Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

From: The Incredible Hulk

Genre: Television, Comics

Who said it?: “David” Bruce Banner

The story behind the quote: The Incredible Hulk television series was based on the comic book character of the same name. However, the TV series differs greatly from the comic version. While the origin for the Hulk is pretty much the same (the hapless scientist gets bombarded by gamma rays which alters his DNA), every thing else is different. Even the scientist’s name was changed from Bruce Banner to David Banner (Bruce became his middle name). The plot was altered so that The Hulk (played by Lou Ferrigno) is being hunted for the alleged murders of the scientist that was helping Banner. This causes David Banner (portrayed by Bill Bixby) to drift to different towns to escape law enforcement as well as trying to help people he meets along the way.

The quote actually comes from the very first episode, where David Banner catches a tabloid reporter snooping around near the place where the experiments had taken place. David Banner catches the reporter and delivers the quote, stating that he should stop looking into the story or else.

Geek wisdom: Don’t poke the bear! We all have the tendency to be bullies (yes, even the bullied will bully people even weaker people). We think there are going to be no consequences to teasing and riffing on people; we think they won’t do anything. We may think that but we have no way of thinking what they’ll do in the future.

We’ve seen movies, television shows and comics where the person being bullied becomes someone extremely powerful and then take it out on those who bullied them. In fact, we have even seen people just snap and go on shooting rampages just so they can get some form of “revenge” on society. We have no idea how they’ll focus their anger in the future. Sure, they may be in control of it now. But we have no idea how they’ll deal with it in the future.

David Banner may seem like a weakling but, well, don’t get him angry. That goes for other people as well. We have no idea if they will just Hulk out one day.