MythBusters

MythBusters

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There is some nudity and swearing.

I personally think it's not the worst thing but I don't want anyone to be bothered or have inappropriate thoughts from watching the clip.

If you don't understand the disclaimer you should go to a different page.

Now use your own discretion and parents should maybe watch the clip alone before they make up their minds on how bad the video is.





“Your idea of a safe stop is to shank me?” – Kari Byron; “More like harpoon. ...

(This was a recent funny thing that Kari said on the show. You have to see the show to know what she meant. Okay I'll say more about it so read on.)


The above quote is from the show where the Kari, Grant, and Tori decide to try to find different ways of using cars to stop cars. One of the ideas that Tori came up with was to use a harpoon type device to connect the rescue vehicle with the car in danger. The rescue car hits the other car from behind just enough for the harpoon to get stuck in the back of the car being rescued. The rescue vehicle then slows both vehicles down.

Kari's comment is hilarious. The comment has double meaning. If you are under 18 and don't understand what the meanings could be or if you're over 18 and still don't get it you might want to ask a 15 year old.

Lots of men and boys start watching Mythbusters because of Kari but soon enjoy the show for the other characters and activities. The producers know how to use Kari and the other women to hook newer viewers or viewers that might not be completely paying attention.

Keep it up Kari. (I sure will---don't put in final -- That was a good idea for double meaning though).

Category: Science, Reality, Humour

Created By: Peter Rees

Stars: Jamie Hyneman(Mr. Moustache), Adam Savage (The class clown--with a brain), Tory Belleci (The stuntman, fabricator, etc...), Kari Byron (The fabricator, she's cute too), Grant Imahara (The "calculator", the resident Geek, ....he's smart), Buster (The Dummy)---(the reason no animals have been hurt or killed during the taping of the show-----they are not responsible for kids picking up squirrels by the tail and tossing them for a world record........I would never do that or allow it to be done.),

Additional cast

Narrated by Robert Lee (USA), Robin Banks (Discovery UK), Rufus Hound (BBC Two), and Eduardo Robiera (Latin America)

Number of Seasons: 6 and counting

Number of Episodes: 116 and counting (as of February 20, 2008)

Original Run: January 23, 2003 to Present

MythBusters is an American popular science television program on the Discovery Channel starring special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who use basic elements of the scientific method to test the validity of various rumors, urban legends and news stories in popular culture



History

The show was originally called Tall Tales or True and pitched to Discovery Channel by producer Peter Rees from Beyond Television Productions in 2002.

Discovery allowed three pilot specials. Hyneman came to the show through Rees, who had previously interviewed him for his appearance on BattleBots. Savage, who had worked with Hyneman in commercials and on BattleBots, was approached by Hyneman to help co-host the show because (according to Savage) Hyneman felt himself too uninteresting to host the show on his own.

In July 2006, an edited thirty-minute of MythBusters began airing on BBC Two in the UK. The UK airings were sometimes different than the US airings.

Format

Each MythBusters episode typically focuses on several unrelated urban legends, popular beliefs, Internet rumors, or other myths. Occasionally episodes are produced in which some or all of the myths are related by theme. To date, three myths have required such extensive preparation and testing that they had entire episodes devoted solely to them, and four specials have been double length.

To make the testings more visually exciting the troup uses explosions, fires, and car crashes. When things get too dangerous for the group members they use Buster the crash test dummy. There has been more than one Buster. When they do shooting are puncture tests they use ballistic gel or dead pigs, or anything else they can use to simulate a person in the situation. Whenever possible the gang does their own stunts. There are a lot of injuries and near injuries.

Each cast member has his/her own expertise. Jamie and Adam basically can do anything from planning to making all the components for their experiments. Kari, Tori, and Grant can handle almost any task given to them but they are better at some things than others. Kari is artistically inclined and so makes things look more interesting to look at. She came onto the show as a bit of a subject for some experiments and ended up becoming a full member over time. There were two other girls that appeared on an off. One girl was nicknamed Sparky because she was an expert welder and I can't remember the other girl's name but she would team up with Jamie and Adam and would try different things in their experiments.

Tori is the main stuntman of the triO (Kari, Tori, and Grant). He's the bravest of the three and takes a lot of chances. The moment from the show that I think is the best example of who Tori is is the time the gang test "Hit the road running." I don't remember if that was the exact title but it should ring a bell for regular viewers. Tori is on a raised bike and is lowered to the ground. He is peddeling the whole time. He then takes off and heads towards some cushions. He ends up flipping over the handlebars of the bike. He comes out with just a few cuts and bruises and even has angry words in general. He has often had an angry comment for people who submit ideas that are so dangerous.







Some of the tests are done in the workshop from beginning to end other experiments need a safer, bigger "canvas" to properly explore the components invlovled. Sometimes they use the Alameda Naval Air Station, Novato's decommissioned Hamilton air Force Base, the Mojave Spaceport, the Mjoave Desert, and the Alameda County Sherriff's Bomb Squad and Firearm ranges. The cast occasionally travels to other cities and even countries.

They do most tests in two parts. The first part of the experiment is about trying to replicate the results that the myth describes. The second part of the process involves "Mythsizing", or upscaling the ingredients so that they actually get the same results as the original myth. The troup usually competes with each other to see who comes up with the better designs. Sometimes time runs out and they don't get to do everything they were hoping to do. Sometimes they just can't show the footage of everything they do. On specials or as sidenotes they sometimes show the behind the scenes stuff.

Starting in Season 5 the show has posted less edited versions of myths on its site. With these extra items they also have more scientific explanations and unaired items or other experiments for each episode.

Every so often the show does "Myths Revisitede" episodes to retry myths that the viewers think were done wrong or not as well as they could have. Sometimes the viewers are right and other times the Mythbusters prove the viewers wrong.

There are some myths and urban legends that the Mythbuster won't do. They won't deal with topics like aliens or ghosts. These topics can't be tested using scientific methods. They did do the one myth about pyramid power. Adam had a comment about these kinds of things. "No more 'oogie-boogie' myths, please."

The show won't do any experiments where animals or people could get hurt, unless they can do tests safely. There was an episode where they exposed cockroaches and other lab insects to radiation. They explained this by saying that the insects were specifically bred for experiments and would have likely died anyway.

The book MythBusters: The Explosive Truth Behind 30 of the Most Perplexing Urban Legends of All Time (ISBN 1-4169-0929-X) also gives a list of a dozen urban legends that are unlikely to be explored (although three were eventually tested).


Conclusions of the Experiments

By the end of each episode, each myth is rated Busted, Plausible, or Confirmed.

Busted

The myth's results cannot be replicated via either the described parameters nor reasonably exaggerated ones. Often, when a myth is declared Busted, the team will try to see what would be required to replicate the result of the myth, regardless of the facts within the myth itself. This is commonly referred to in the show as "the MythBusters way".

Plausible

Plausible is given under two circumstances: The myth's results can only be replicated by expanding some parameters of the myth by a realistic and reasonable margin. This may have been due to facts within the myth having been altered slightly over time by it being told and re-told by the time it was tested by the Mythbusters. Also, certain materials may had to have been substituted for others in some cases as a matter of necessity during the course of the myth being tested, but the new materials are almost always very similar to the materials specified and usually are readily available, so as to prevent it from being prohibitively costly or impractical. If there is no documentation of the myth occurring, yet the MythBusters were still able to duplicate it very closely to how the myth was described (such as the myth that states that pirates wore eye patches for enhanced night vision). The Plausible rating seems to have fallen out of favor somewhat in later seasons, especially in cases where the team could replicate the results within the parameters even if there are no documented incidents replicating the myth, such as "Exploding Tire of Death" in Season 5.

Confirmed

The MythBusters are able to recreate or closely recreate the myth's purported outcome with the described circumstances. A Confirmed myth is usually corroborated with documented evidence of actual occurrences. The term "True" was used in the first season.

Other

Occasionally, the MythBusters give more than one designation to separate aspects of a single myth. In "Bullets Fired Up", they tested whether a bullet fired straight up can fall and kill the shooter or innocent bystanders. They gave the myth all three designations: "Busted", "Plausible", and "Confirmed," based on different circumstances and technicalities they encountered. Other alternate determinations have been used on occasion where results have defied any of the three existing classifications.


Materials and Equipment

While a wide range of myths are tested, the MythBusters regularly use certain items as part of their experiments due to their versatility, property simulation ability, or usefulness in evaluations. These items include:

Ballistics gel is used by various agencies to test performance of firearms ammunition, as it approximates some of the physical properties of human muscle tissue. The MythBusters also use special mixtures of it to simulate certain properties of flesh, such as conductivity or blunt impact resistance. The Mythbusters also use blood mediums and even animal (usually pig) body parts such as spines (in the "beheading tyre rubber" myth) or hearts (in the "killer cigarette butts) myth, added to the ballistics gel to simulate what would happen to different body parts when conducting their experiments.

Cars and other vehicles are often obtained from a scrapheap but are sometimes donated by a fan or purchased in running condition. Crash test dummies, such as Buster, are used to depict the effects of certain — usually hazardous — myths on the human body.Firearms and explosives are used to test myths involving these devices.

High speed cameras are often used to record moving objects during a test and (with the help of a scale ruler) measure the objects' speeds.

Pig carcasses are used as test dummies in place of Buster the dummy and ballistics gel to more accurately simulate responses of human flesh and bone to certain types of trauma, for example, decomposition, spall or shrapnel damage, and potential dismemberment.

Pneumatic actuators and servos are used to help remotely control vehicles and other potentially dangerous machines during testing. Polycarbonate sheets are used extensively as barriers for potentially explosive or dangerous experiments. The integrity of the sheets themselves was the subject of one experiment. Shackles or quick-releases are used frequently in experiments involving falls or mechanisms under tension. Theater shackles designed for quick release are often used.

Shock sensors and digital accelerometers are used to measure sudden impacts.




Cast

The show started with Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. They used their knowledge from the special effects industry to explore myths. Jamie's staff helped out. Savage and Hyneman are sometimes like Abbott and Costello. Hyneman plays the straightman and Savage is the sidekick or comic foil. Jamie is very serious and he almost never reacts to things in a big way. Savage giggles at the thought of what might happen and then explodes when the action happens. Robert Lee narrats the show. He was the one that brought Hyneman to the show. Hyneman brought Savage to the show. Sometimes the narration is done by local talent at the location.

Over time a "Build Team" was chosen and had it's own workshop. Now on most shows Hyneman and Savage cover one item and then Kari, Tori, and Grant do other items. Other support characters are used as necessary. The "Build Team" often did the labour and setup for Hyneman and Savage. Kari is the first member of the "Build Team." She was an artist Hyneman needed as a model for a myth. Tory Belleci does the main construction of the aparatus needed for experiments. At the beginning he had just assisted Hyneman and Savage. Grant Imahara is a colleague of Hyneman. He was brought in because of his expertese with electronics and robotics.

Some of the support workers have left the show and have sometimes returned for certain projects. Scottie Chapman was a metal worker and welder in the shop. She did the work that Grant now does in the Build Team. She has returned in later episodes. There are two interns, otherwise known as "Mythterns." One of these Mythterns is Discovery Channel contest winner Christine Chamberlain and the other is Jess Nelson, who was discovered during a Mythbusters viewer building contest. Originally the show used Heather Joseph-Witham, a folklorist, to introduce the myth or urban legend before the gang went at it. They also had people who had first hand experience with the myths or urban legends tell their story. Heather and the first hand accounts were taken out of the show early in the series. Guests and semi-regular experts are used, as needed.

One of these experts is firearms expert Sgt. Al Normandy of the South San Francisco Police Department. Another expert is retired FBI explosives expert Frank Doyle. Doyle is used a lot because the Mythbusters love explosions. J.D. is another explosives expert that helps out a lot. At first he just did his part and didn't say much but in later shows they gave him funny things to say or do. There are many nonhuman characters used to help with myths. Buster, the crash-test dummy is one. He has been put through so much that he had to be remade, almost from scratch. Female versions of Buster were also used. There was "Jane", "Simulaid Suzy", and "Rescue Randy". These last three were introduced in the "Killer Brace Position" myth. If it is likely that the subject will be completely destroyed then they used full-body ballistics gel dummies. The first of these used was nicknamed Ted (for bus'ted).

Warnings and Self-Censorship

The Mythbusters always think about safety first and always, well almost always, warn viewers about doing these experiments at home. They remind the viewers that they are experts and take all kinds of precautions that are not available to most viewers. Warnings are given at the start and in the middle of the show. These warnings are not aired in the UK or Australian channel SBS. The show employs various degrees of safety- or courtesy-related censorship. Instead of the standard bleeping, vulgar language or the names of ingredients used in the production of hazardous materials are usually covered over with sound effects which are humorous or relevant to the myth. Other potentially offensive subject matter is glossed over with euphemisms, addressed in a strictly scientific sense. As with audio, visible chemical labels used to produce dangerous materials are blurred out. In one such episode where dangerous chemicals were used, Adam described how to make a compound by "mixing blur with blur", comically recognizing the censorship of the chemicals. In certain scenarios (such as building a bomb), they also admit that even professionals such as themselves are required to seek special permission/assistance from the government or prohibited from engaging in a certain activity and take the opportunity to reinforce the disclaimer.

Many brand names of items used in the show are also edited out, usually by blurring or covering up the branding with a MythBusters sticker.

Name Lawsuit

A guy named Andrew Knight sued Beyond Productions, the company that makes Mythbusters. He said that he has done projects using the name Mythbusters. The Federal Court of Australia dismissed Knight's claims against Beyond.

Popularity and influence

Hyneman and Savage have been on a lot of shows, such as Good Morning America, The Late Show with David Letterman, NPR's news program All Things Considered, the syndicated radio Bob and Tom Show, and in the move The Darwin Awards. Hyneman and Savage were interviewed by Skeptic magazine.

The duo occasionally talks at colleges. They tell the students what it's like to be a MythBuster.

Kari Byron was interviewed on the Late Show. She has done a photoshoot for FHM magazine. In the photoshoot she did the Mentos and Diet-Coke experiment while wearing a red bra and lab coat.

Sometimes people have credited the MythBuster for helping them survive adventurous situations. One viewer accidentally drove her car into a drainage ditch full of water and using what she learned from the MythBusters she opened the door as it entered the water and so she and her child were able to escape to safety.


International Broadcasts

MythBusters is broadcast in several countries, primarily on each country's edition of the Discovery Channel. All measurements are converted to metric.


Dramatic explosions have become a MythBusters tradition. Note the use of a containing barrier