Pilot
Comments7| “Pilot” | ||
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| First aired: September 19, 2005 | ||
| Director: Pamela Fryman | ||
| Writer: Carter Bays Craig Thomas | ||
| Barney's Blog | ||
Future Ted tells his two kids that he's going to tell them the story of how he met their mother. He introduces Barney, Lily, Marshall and Robin, telling his kids how Lily and Marshall got engaged and how the group meets Robin.
Contents |
Recap
Edit
The episode (and series) begins with a future Ted explaining to his children the story of how he met their mother. The story begins in 2005, with Marshall proposing to Lily, prompting Ted to begin a search to find his own soul-mate. At MacLaren's, alongside Barney, Ted meets budding news anchor Robin, with whom he is instantly smitten. After hitting it off, and after a successful date which concludes with Robin being called away for a news story, Ted decides to take the plunge and make his move. He symbolically steals the blue French Horn from the restaurant of their first date, and heads to Robin's apartment with the gang ("Suited up", much to Barney's delight). Things are going great until he inexplicably tells Robin that he loves her, prematurely destroying his chances with her. After a lingering goodbye, and with the afterthought that he may or may not have missed "the signal" (missing out for the second time on his first kiss with her), we then return to the future Ted telling his children that that's how he met their... Aunt Robin.
ContinuityEdit
- Robin's recently dumped friend from this episode reappears again in Zip, Zip, Zip.
- The format of Future Ted telling his children the story of how he met their mother is introduced, and continues throughout the series. Robin also uses this format to tell a story to her "imaginery children" in Symphony of Illumination
- Ted steals the Blue French Horn, which is shown and referred in various episodes througout the series.
- Ranjit is introduced and makes several appearances throughout the series.
- Marshall pulls off the robot, a dance move that he uses on several other occasions.
- Barney's phrase Suit Up!, is introduced. The origin of the phrase is explained in Game Night.
- Barney first uses his Have You Met Ted? game, as a way to introduce women to Ted.
- Barney begins insisting that he is Ted's best friend in this episode.
- Barney breaks up words by saying "wait for it" in between syllables during this episode and subsequent episodes.
- Barney first mentions his blog in this episode.
- Barney's love of Laser tag is introduced.
- Barney says "This just in" as a double entendre for sex. Robin uses the exact same line for the exact same reason in the season five finale Doppelgangers.
- Marshall is the first character in the show referred to as "Uncle".
GalleryEdit
- For a listing of all images on the wiki tagged as being from this episode, see Category:Pilot images.
Memorable QuotesEdit
Future Ted: Kids, I'm gonna' tell you an incredible story - the story of how I met your mother.
Son: Are we being punished for something?
Lily: Wow, you're cooking?
Marshall: Yes, I am.
Lily: Awww. Are you sure that's a good idea after last time? You looked really creepy without eyebrows.
Marshall: Oh, hey, look what I got?
(brings out bottle of champagne and hands it to Lily)
Lily: Aww, honey. Champagne.
(hands bottle back to Marshall)
Marshall: Yeah.
(hands bottle back to Lily)
Lily: No, you are too old to be scared to open a bottle of champagne.
Robin: I'm going to Orlando for a week on Friday. Some guy is attempting to make the world's biggest pancake. Guess who's covering it?
Ted: That's gonna' take a week?
Robin: Yeah, he's gonna eat it too. It's another record.
"Why are we still sitting here? Let's go, we can still make last call. What do you say, Lil? Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum? Coz you're a pirate?"
- —Barney can't resist joking about Lily's eye-patch.
Robin: Hold on, wait a minute. Promised you these.
Ted: Olives, thanks. I love you. What is wrong with me?
Ted: So, you're a reporter?
Robin: Sorta, I do those fluff stories at the end of the show, like... Monkey can play a ukulele. I'm hoping for some bigger stories.
Ted: Bigger... like, a Gorilla with an upright bass? Sorry, you're very pretty.
Ted: She didn't even give me the signal!
Barney: What, is she gonna... is she gonna bat her eyes at you in morse code? (bats eyes) Ted... kiss me. No! You just kiss her!
Ted: Not if you don't get the signal!
(Barney spontaneously kisses Marshall)
Barney: Did Marshall give me the signal?
Marshall: No! (to Lily) I didn't, I swear!
Barney: So, Ranjit, you must have done it with a Lebanese girl...
Lily: Ok, that's my Barney limit.
Barney: ...Just once, when I say "suit up", I'd wish you'd put on a suit!
Ted: I did, that one time.
Barney: It was a blazer!
(giving a toast)
Marshall: To my fiance!
Lily: To the future!
Ranjit: To one hell of a night!
Future Ted: (voice over about seeing Robin for the first time) It was like something from an old movie. Where the sailor sees the girl across the crowded dance floor and turns to his buddy, and says, "See that girl? I'm gonna marry her someday."
Ted: Hey, Barney. See that girl?
Barney: Oh, yeah, you just know she likes it dirty.
Ted: I'm so happy for Marshall, I really am. I just can't imagine settling down right now.
Yasmin: So, do you think you'll ever get married?
Ted: Well, maybe eventually... some fall day, possibly in Central Park... simple ceremony, we'll write our own vows... band, no DJ, people will dance, I'm not gonna worry about it!
Marshall: (rehearsing with Ted) Will you marry me?
Ted: Yes, perfect! And then you're engaged, you pop the champagne, you do your toast, you have sex on the kitchen floor! Don't have sex on our kitchen floor.
Barney: (after Robin throws a drink in Ted's face) De -wait for it- Nied! Denied!
Barney: There's no such thing as the signal! But yeah, that was the signal.
Future Ted: That, kids, is the true story of how I met your Aunt Robin.
Son: Aunt Robin?
Daughter: I thought this was how you met Mom?
Future Ted: Will you relax? I'm getting to it. Like I said, it's a long story.
Ted: You know what? I'm done being single, I'm not good at it. Look, obviously you can't tell a woman you just met that you love her, but it sucks that you can't. I'll tell you something though, if a woman, not you, just some hypothetical woman, were to bear with me through all this, I think I'd make a damn good husband, because that's the stuff I'd be good at. Stuff like making her laugh and being a good father and walking her five hypothetical dogs. Being a good kisser...
Robin: Everyone thinks they're a good kisser.
Ted: Oh, I've got references.
Ranjit: Actually, I'm from Bangladesh.
Barney: The women hot there?
Ranjit: Here's a picture of my wife.
Barney: (whispering) A simple no would've sufficed.
"I love a Scotch that's old enough to order its own Scotch."
- —Robin
Robin: I think I like your olive theory.
Ted: I think I like your new French horn.
Robin: I think I like your nose.
Ted: I think I'm in love with you.
Ted: I gotta do what that guy couldn't, I gotta take the leap!...Okay, not a perfect metaphor, cause for me it's fall in love and get married, and for him it's...death.
Barney: Actually, that is a perfect metaphor...(to Marshall and Lily who just got engaged) By the way, did I congratulate you two?
"Hi, have you met Ted?"
- —Barney's classic wingman line
Marshall: I'm full of surprises tonight.
Lily: So there's more surprises?! Like what?
Marshall (screaming): BOOGADABOO!!! And that's all of em!!
Barney: (answering the phone) Hey, so you know how I've always had a thing for half-Asians? Well, now I have a new favorite: Lebanese girls. Lebanese girls are the new half-Asians.
Ted: I've been there for all the big moments of you and Lily: the night you met, your first date, other first things...
Marshall: Huh-uh-uh, yeah, sorry, we thought you were asleep.
Ted: It's physics Marshall, if the bottom bunk moves the top bunk moves too.
"You suited up! This is totally going in my blog!"
- —Barney, to Ted
Cab Driver: Woah woah woah. Did you hit her?
Lily (laughs): Hit me? Please! This guy can barely spank me in bed for fun. He's all like "Oh honey did that hurt?" and I'm all like "C'mon let me have it ya pansy!" Wow, complete stranger.
Cab Driver: No, no, no, no! It's OK! Go on. So, these spankings, you in pajamas or au naturale?
Barney (on the phone): Hey, loser. How is not playing laser tag? Because playing laser tag is awesome! (to a kid) Oh, I killed you, Conner! Don't make me get your mom!
Ted: Hey, listen, I need your help on something.
Barney: Okay, meet me at the bar in 15 minutes. And suit up!
Ted: I could end up marrying this woman; I want our first kiss to be special.
Lily: Aw, that's sweet. So you chickened out like a little bitch?
Future Ted: Son, a piece of advice: when you go on a first date, you really don't want to say "smurf penis." Girls don't ordinarily like that.
Ted: That was not the signal!
Ted's Voice-Over: I asked her about it years later, and, yes, that was the signal.
Robin: My friend just got dumped, so tonight all men are "the Enemy".
Ted: If it would make your friend feel better, you can throw a drink in my face.
Robin: She would love that!
Notes and TriviaEdit
Goofs and ErrorsEdit
- In the scene where Ted meets Robin, Robin first has her hair covering her ears, but in the next shot, she has her hair behind her ears.
- In the scene where Robin was covering the "jumper story", instead of saying Metro News 1 she says Metro 1 News.
Allusions and Outside ReferencesEdit
- When Ted sees the blue french horn, he calls it a "Smurf Penis," which he tells his son is typically a bad idea on a first date. The Smurfs were a fictional group of small sky blue creatures who live somewhere in the forests of medieval Europe. They began in a Belgian comic strip in 1958, but gained the most popularity from the Hanna-Barbera television series, which ran from 1981 to 1989.
MusicEdit
- Otis Redding - Cigarettes and Coffee
- The Pretenders - Back on the Chain Gang
- The theme song for the show is 'Hey Beautiful' by The Solids, which includes writers/producers/co-creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas.
Other NotesEdit
- In his audition, which included the laser tag scene, Neil Patrick Harris did the dive roll that he does in this episode. Alyson Hannigan, who was in the next room during Harris's audition, asked Harris to bump the wall when he did the dive so that she knew that he had done it. Harris misjudged the space and he hit the wall harder than he intended knocking himself out.
- The champagne that the group drinks at the end of the episode was real champagne, but the actors (including Marshall Manesh, who plays Ranjit, who doesn't drink alcohol because of religious reasons) didn't know that fact until they drank it.
- This is the only episode (except for Hopeless) to forgo the traditional opening (the green-tinted montage of the photographs containing all five main characters). Instead, you see a series of non-tinted photographs of Ted, Marshall, and some unnamed female friends.
- The yellow bus (introduced in the 100th episode) does not appear behind Ted's kids, this episode.
AwardsEdit
- This episode was nominated for the 2006 Excellence in Production Design Award for Television - Multi-Camera Television Series.
- This episode won the 2006 Emmy Award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Multi-Camera Series.
GuestsEdit
- Saba Homayoon - Yasmin
- Marshall Manesh - Ranjit
- Joe Nieves - Carl
- Jack Shearer - Cab Driver
- Monique Edwards - Producer
- Sarah Loew - Dumped Friend
- Gary Riotto - Waiter #1
- Tony Rossi - Waiter #2
- Randy Spire - Boyfriend (uncredited)
ReceptionEdit
The episode received generally favorable reviews, garnering a score of 69 from Metacritic.[1]
Nielsen Media gave it a viewership rating of 5.2/8 for households with 3.3 rating for adults age 18-49.[2]
ReferencesEdit
External LinksEdit
- Pilot at the English Wikipedia
- Pilot at the Internet Movie Database
- Pilot at TV.com
- Pilot Transcript at TV Transcripts DB
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