MythBusters
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 the myths and urban legends of popular culture. The show is narrated by Robert Lee.
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 an Australian voiceover, but subsequent series feature narrator Robert Lee.
The version shown on Discovery Channel in the UK features an additional British voiceover.
The myth busters also 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 movie itself.
MythBusters' new season in the United States will start on October 12, 2005.
Format
Adam Savage has described the show as "Jackass meets Mr. Science". Adam and Jamie perform experiments to test and declare popular myths and urban legends as confirmed, plausible or "busted", meaning false.
Adam, Jamie and their crew use their extensive building and engineering knowledge to construct devices to perform their experiments. In most cases when a myth involves the human body, they use either their crash test dummy (named "Buster") or ballistics gelatin, which is used to make a jello-like reproduction of the human body. Buster the dummy has had to be rebuilt extensively over the series, with one or two experiments nearly destroying it. Because some of the myths tested involve explosives, the resulting experiment is usually quite destructive.
When an experiment proves a myth to be implausible, they will often go out of their way to create the conditions necessary for the desired result to occur, leading to many humorous moments. As Adam describes it: "We’re replicating the myth and duplicating the results". For example, in the Exploding Port-a-potty myth, they filled the cubicle with so much methane gas that the person inside would have died from suffocation before any explosion could occur. This was done partially to prove just how impossible the myth was, but mostly just to watch the cubicle (with Buster inside) blow up. In one episode, they even used huge amounts of explosives and had the FBI shut down a nearby highway in order to blow up a cement mixer, watching from a mile away.
When the exact details of a myth are somewhat fuzzy, Adam and Jamie occasionally compete with each other to find and implement the best solution to the problem. Jamie often (but not always) has more success, due to his greater experience and technical expertise, and more patient approach to situations.
Starting in season two, Adam and Jamie are assisted by a small team referred to as "The Build Team", or "The Mythbuilders". They often helped behind the scenes in the first season and became necessary on-screen hosts because of the volume of work required to produce a show that one never knows what the results will be. This team will tackle a separate myth on their own or assist in large scale mythbusting. During the second season the team was comprised of:
- Kari Byron
- Scottie Chapman
- Tory Belleci
- Grant Imahara, at the end of season two.
Toward the end of season two, Scottie Chapman left the show to be able to do more of her passion: metal working and, in her words, "Have a life." She was replaced by Grant Imahara, friend and sometimes co-worker of Jamie and Adam and, most famously, certified operator of movie icon R2-D2 for Industrial Light and Magic. Grant also participated in Robot Wars/Battlebots, and has an electrical engineering degree, a helpful asset for the show.
Also aiding the crew for most of the second season was "Mythtern" Christine Chamberlain, helping out when needed and providing her own ideas and suggestions. She won the "Mythtern" contest promoted by Discovery Channel. Christine, however, left the show at the end of season two, "for love," according to the producer.
Another personality from the first season and beginning of the second is Heather Joseph-Witham, who explains the origins of many of the urban legends explored on the show. Logistics of doing her segments and slight change of the show's format has ended her participation at this time.
The myth busters typically perform their experiments in a variety of locations around San Francisco when Jamie's M5 Industries workshop is too small or the experiment is too dangerous to do in a populated area. For experiments requiring extensive safety zones, the decommissioned Naval Air Station Alameda, or Novato's decommissioned air station 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).
Vehicles
When the MythBusters work with myths that involve vehicles, they often purchase an old, no longer needed vehicle to use for the tests (in one case, a fan donated his car). They typically give these vehicles pet names, which are painted on the sides. Many of the vehicles the MythBusters purchase do not survive the testing of the respective myths to which they are related. Earl the MythBusters Caddy, donated by "Cadillac Ben" was the most prominently featured of these test vehicles. Earl was destroyed in series two when it was dropped from 50ft. (15.24 m) up in the air by a crane in order to test Buster 2.0's various new features. Other notable vehicular victims of MythBusting have included a taxi cab, a police cruiser, a boom-lift, a Corvette, a cement truck and most recently a '66 Plymouth Fury.
Quotes
- "I reject your reality, and substitute my own." – Adam Savage
- "Am I missing an eyebrow?" – Adam Savage
- "Jamie wants big boom!" – Jamie Hyneman
- "I always enjoy seeing Adam in pain!" – Jamie Hyneman