MythBusters
| MythBusters | |
|---|---|
| File:Mythbusters.jpg MythBusters Adam Savage (left) and Jamie Hyneman. | |
| Created by | Peter Rees |
| Starring | Jamie Hyneman Adam Savage |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Running time | 50 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | Discovery Channel |
| Release | January 23, 2003 – present |
MythBusters is an American science television program on Discovery Channel starring Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, two special-effects experts who set out to test the validity of timeless myths and urban legends of popular culture. The show is narrated by Robert Lee and is set in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Format
Adam Savage has described the show as "Jackass meets Mr. Wizard". Adam and Jamie perform experiments to test and declare popular myths and urban legends as either confirmed, plausible, or busted, depending on their ability to reproduce the results of the myth.
Adam, Jamie, and their crew use their extensive engineering and construction expertise to construct devices with which to perform their experiments, often building complex machines for relatively simple tasks (such as an automated toast assembly-line). In cases when a myth involves the human body, the MythBusters use either their crash test dummy (dubbed with intentional irony as "Buster") or ballistics gelatin. (This unique substance is often used by ballistics engineers to test the effectiveness of firearms because the gel, once set, adequately replicates the consistency of human tissue.) Buster the Dummy has been rebuilt extensively over the series, with one or two experiments nearly destroying him. If the myth being tested is not too hazardous, the cast may also choose to experiment on themselves. One of the more dangerous myths involved Jamie being buried alive in a casket, although that myth resulted in no physical harm.
Myths that are tested are deemed either as confirmed, in which the cast are able to reproduce the outcome based on the circumstances of the myth, or busted, in which they are unable to reproduce both the outcome and the circumstances outright. In the second season, a third rating, plausible, in which the cast is able to reproduce the outcome but only under exaggerated circumstances, or in which the myth the outcome was greatly exaggerated given the circumstances. In the latter two cases, the MythBusters will often go out of their way to create conditions necessary for the desired result to occur. For example, in the "Exploding Port-A-Potty" myth, the MythBusters filled a portable restroom with so much methane gas that any person inside the structure would have immediately suffocated before any explosion could occur. While this was, in part, done to prove just how impossible the myth actually was, but mostly to provide an opportunity to watch the cubicle (with Buster inside) explode. Another example is the "Cement-truck dynamite" experiment, where upon becoming bored from experimenting, the crew filled the truck with 850 pounds of high grade explosives.
When the exact details of a myth are somewhat unclear, Adam and Jamie will often compete with each other to find and implement the best solution to that problem. Jamie often (but not always) has more success, due to his greater experience and technical expertise, and his more patient approach to situations.
The MythBusters typically perform their experiments within the confines of Jamie's M5 Industries special effects workshop or in the area around the building. They have also filmed in a variety of locations around San Francisco when the main M5 workshop is too small or if the experiment is too dangerous to perform in a populated area. For experiments requiring extensive safety zones, the decommissioned Naval Air Station Alameda or Novato's decommissioned Hamilton Air Force Base are regular venues. Several experiments involving rockets have been performed in the Mojave Desert. The Myths of Taxi Flip-Over and Airplane Decompression have been done at Mojave Airport (MHV).
The MythBusters
Although the show features Adam and Jamie, the two have been assisted both on- and off-screen by other crew members. Among the most notable is the staff of Jamie's M5 Industries workshop, from which most experiments are held. Starting in the second season, however, other members have shared screen time alongside Adam and Jamie, and are known as the Build Team (or, in the show's promotional material, the MythBuilders). The Build Team, comprising of Tory Belleci, Kari Byron, Scottie Chapman, and later Grant Imahara, would often assist Adam and Jamie in the main myth of a given particular episode, while tackling other myths on their own. In the later parts of the second seasons, the Build Team would also be referred to as the MythBusters' "second team", or even as full MythBusters alongside Adam and Jamie (although it would be the third season before the Build Team shared equal billing alongside Adam and Jamie as hosts). The second season of MythBusters also had Christine Chamberlain, the winner of a Discovery Channel contest, as the MythTern (a portmanteau of "MythBuster" and "intern"), who was also considered a key crew member, though not necessarily part of the build team. Scottie and Christine would eventually leave the series for their own personal reasons, with Grant replacing Scottie as the third Build Team member.
The MythBusters have also had a group of experts who are regularly called upon, who are considered "honorary MythBusters", and Buster the crash test dummy has sometimes referred to as a MythBuster. Also considered a MythBuster is Heather Joseph-Witham, a folklorist who, in the first season, explained the origins ofcertain myths being explored.
Tory, a film school graduate who learned his trade through working at M5 from the ground up, and Kari, an artist, both first appeared in the first season, helping behind the scenes. Kari, in particular, noted that she was "hired" for her behind, as her behind was used as a model for the testing of a myth. Scottie is best known as the MythBusters' resident metal worker, after having been a master welder and a metal shop teacher. Grant is an electrical engineer, best known for his Battlebots robot, Deadblow, as well as his work in operating R2-D2 and the Energizer bunny.
Injuries (or mishaps) sustained during experiments
- Adam lost some hair after an explosion test, which invokes an infamous quote by Adam: "Am I missing... an eyebrow?".
- Adam received a gash on his arm while working on a scaled-down metal bridge in the "Break-step Bridge" episode, and has the scar to prove it.
- Adam cut his lip after putting a vacuum cleaner motor too close to his mouth.
- Adam and Christine both suffered mild burns in the "Exploding Jawbreaker" experiment. Christine was hit the most; the hot liquid core of the jawbreaker splattered on parts of her face and neck.
- Kari, Adam and Tory slightly hurt themselves in the episode "Killer Brace Position", in which they volunteered to be seated in a set simulating aircraft crashing. They were dropped from 5 feet (1.5 m) by a crane, sitting in aircraft seats which were tilted 30 degrees facing down. They all felt that the brace position was stopping their heads and necks suffering major damage, but still they hit their legs against the seat next to them. Kari got a lovely bleeding momento of the test, which left a scar.
- Adam & Jamie seriously underestimate their homemade rocket's power and decide to test it indoors, resulting in Jamie almost getting caught in the explosion and several things catching on fire, including Adam's hovercraft.
Vehicles
When the MythBusters work with myths that involve vehicles, they often purchase a dilapidated vehicle to use for the tests. Fans have donated their own cars in several cases, including "Cadillac Ben", whose donated car became known as "Earl the MythBusters Caddy". Many of the vehicles the MythBusters have purchased do not survive the testing of the respective myths. Earl was destroyed when it was dropped from 60 feet (18.3 m) by a crane while assessing rebuilt crash-test dummy Buster 2.0's various new features.
In another episode, the MythBusters used an aging cement truck to test whether low grade explosives, suspended within the mixing tank, could be used to clean dried concrete off the inside of the barrel. After this myth was found to be plausible, the MythBusters moved a cement truck containing a thick slab of dried concrete to a quarry and filled it with 850 pounds of high grade explosives, overseen by experts from the FBI. All involved watched the blast from a mile (1.6km) away. The truck was effectively disintegrated into thousands of small fragments and a few large pieces.
Other notable appearances
The MythBusters hosted the 2005 edition of Discovery Channel's Shark Week. The opening episode for this was an episode of MythBusters in which they examined five urban legends in the movie Jaws. In Australia, this was aired in full on the Seven Network, before a screening of the orginal movie 'Jaws' itself.
Adam and Jamie appeared on Good Morning America on November 8, 2004. They tested the myth that an opera singer's voice could shatter glass, as hinted at in the 1970s Memorex commercial featuring Ella Fitzgerald. Jaime Vendera proved it could be done without the use of an amplifier. According to the narrator, this was the first time that this feat was caught on film.
Adam and Jamie appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on May 23, 2005. The team was testing whether helium party balloons could lift an adult person. Actor and auto racer Paul Newman was lifted up by more than 5000 balloons. Unfortunately, Dave's promised interview of them did not occur on that show.
Kari Byron also appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman on January 16, 2006, and gave a charming interview.
Origin of the show
MythBusters was originally pitched to Australian television networks by producer Peter Rees from Beyond Television Productions in 2002. It was rejected by all networks, with the Seven Network claiming that the show was not scientific enough. Rees then approached Discovery, which commissioned the three pilot specials.
Rees, who had previously interviewed Hyneman about a Robot Wars entry, tapped him to host the new show. Savage, who had worked with him in commercials and the same Robot Wars entry, was later approached by Hyneman to help co-host the show, who in his own words claimed that he wasn't dynamic enough to do it on his own [1].
Foreign broadcasts
In Australia, MythBusters also airs in full on SBS free to air television and as an abridged segment on the Seven Network show Beyond Tomorrow. SBS has recently retained the rights, although segments will still be seen on Beyond Tomorrow, as the deal is non-exclusive. The first season on SBS featured a voiceover with an Australian accent, but subsequent series feature narrator Robert Lee.
The German Discovery Channel airs the show every day including voice overs for the characters and the "narrator". The free to air station RTL II also shows it with German voiceovers.
One additional broadcasting is in Canada, on Discovery Canada. It is shown almost daily, with no voice overs or any other modifications, and is the same version that is shown in the USA.
Quotes
- "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" – Adam Savage
- "Am I missing...an eyebrow?" – Adam Savage
- "I don't think Jamie's an evil genius. I don't think he's evil, and I don't think he's a genius, but...*laughs*" – Adam Savage
- "Jamie wants big boom!" – Jamie Hyneman
- "Quack, damn you!" – Jamie Hyneman
- "I always enjoy seeing Adam in pain." – Jamie Hyneman
See also
- MythBusters debatable points
- Lists of episodes, myths examined, and their status:
- List of Discovery Channel programs
- Brainiac: Science Abuse - a more laddish, less scientific (often enhancing results and faking explosions for “entertainment” purposes) UK show.