Mythbusters 2016 - FINAL SEASON!
- Thread starter TheSeeker
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I guess technically it started last Saturday with a preview of the upcoming season, but the first full episode only airs this Saturday. Did anybody watch the preview?
Yeah, the preview was kind of interesting, though there's not much to talk about. It's not the first behind-the-scenes look we've gotten, but the first in quite a few years. And there were some tantalizing previews of what's ahead this season, and a sense of solemnity that it's all coming to an end.
I think I'm particularly looking forward to the episode they teased that's not about myths, just about letting Jamie cut loose and do the projects that interest him the most. It sounds like he really comes alive in that one in a way he rarely has before. And it's always interesting, and sometimes scary, to see what his evil-genius brain can cook up.
I think I'm particularly looking forward to the episode they teased that's not about myths, just about letting Jamie cut loose and do the projects that interest him the most. It sounds like he really comes alive in that one in a way he rarely has before. And it's always interesting, and sometimes scary, to see what his evil-genius brain can cook up.
Tonight: The Explosion Special. I'm with Jamie -- I wish the spectacle of the explosions hadn't shoved aside so much of the scientific exploration in this show. But maybe now they've gotten it out of their system (though I doubt it).
And the announcer was wrong when he said they'd handled every conceivable type of explosive except land mines. I'm pretty sure they've never set off a nuke. Or antimatter.
MacGyver cement truck: Nice that they revisited MacGyver again before the end. It's fitting that they had to do some MacGyvering of their own to fix the problem when the dynamite floated free -- but why was Adam the one going into the truck to handle the live explosives instead of someone from the bomb squad? Have the Mythbusters handled so many explosions that they finally just went ahead and got formally certified as bomb technicians?
And Adam actually got himself a pair of cement overshoes!
Ironic that the "confirmed" result turned out to be a misfire, and the corrected result with all the dynamite going off was so much more cataclysmic than the episode's outcome. But wait a minute -- wait a minute. The episode showed MacGyver pouring cement into a truck and preventing a large explosion. That's exactly what did happen in the first test -- it just didn't happen the way MacGyver thought. What if, in the episode, the cement did the exact same thing it did in reality, separating the dynamite from its firing pins or wires or whatever? How do we know that, when the bomb squad came to clean up after MacGyver, they didn't find that most of the dynamite was still unexploded?
The Mythbusters seem to have forgotten the old formula for testing myths: First test the alleged conditions, then replicate the depicted results. Their first test did, in fact, replicate the episode's results. It was only then that they went back to testing the alleged conditions.
Hovercraft on land mines: The technique for creating the fake mines was clever. But the total success of the hovercraft at avoiding them raises a bunch of questions. If hovercrafts are so great at skirting (ha) minefields, then why doesn't the military routinely use hovercrafts to get over minefields? And why doesn't that render minefields obsolete as a defense, and lead to the abandonment of this totally evil weapon that kills far more civilians than soldiers and is considered a war crime to use at all?
And the announcer was wrong when he said they'd handled every conceivable type of explosive except land mines. I'm pretty sure they've never set off a nuke. Or antimatter.
MacGyver cement truck: Nice that they revisited MacGyver again before the end. It's fitting that they had to do some MacGyvering of their own to fix the problem when the dynamite floated free -- but why was Adam the one going into the truck to handle the live explosives instead of someone from the bomb squad? Have the Mythbusters handled so many explosions that they finally just went ahead and got formally certified as bomb technicians?
And Adam actually got himself a pair of cement overshoes!
Ironic that the "confirmed" result turned out to be a misfire, and the corrected result with all the dynamite going off was so much more cataclysmic than the episode's outcome. But wait a minute -- wait a minute. The episode showed MacGyver pouring cement into a truck and preventing a large explosion. That's exactly what did happen in the first test -- it just didn't happen the way MacGyver thought. What if, in the episode, the cement did the exact same thing it did in reality, separating the dynamite from its firing pins or wires or whatever? How do we know that, when the bomb squad came to clean up after MacGyver, they didn't find that most of the dynamite was still unexploded?
The Mythbusters seem to have forgotten the old formula for testing myths: First test the alleged conditions, then replicate the depicted results. Their first test did, in fact, replicate the episode's results. It was only then that they went back to testing the alleged conditions.
Hovercraft on land mines: The technique for creating the fake mines was clever. But the total success of the hovercraft at avoiding them raises a bunch of questions. If hovercrafts are so great at skirting (ha) minefields, then why doesn't the military routinely use hovercrafts to get over minefields? And why doesn't that render minefields obsolete as a defense, and lead to the abandonment of this totally evil weapon that kills far more civilians than soldiers and is considered a war crime to use at all?
Lets see, hovercraft are big, noise, hard to control so the enemy is going to here it coming miles away - an put a missile or to in.
You have to get the hovercrafter to where the mines are located - great if it's a mined beach such as Normandy, no so easy if it's further in land.
I thought it was a good episode. I was shocked when the second explosion was so small, it didn't make sense to me as there's no reason why the still fluidic concrete would suppress the explosion like that. I'm surprised Jamie and Adam bought into it so quickly as well; you'd think given their extensive experience with explosions they'd know something was fishy with what had happened.
Though in talking with my friend afterwards we had the same thought that Christopher had, that the failed attempt at reproducing the scene may have accidentally proven what Mac did would have worked since the adding of the concrete disturbed the explosives enough to unwire them. Though, that's a question if that happened as a function of the concrete method or the wiring technique used by the MB crew? Maybe the bombs Mac dealt with were wired stronger?
Though in talking with my friend afterwards we had the same thought that Christopher had, that the failed attempt at reproducing the scene may have accidentally proven what Mac did would have worked since the adding of the concrete disturbed the explosives enough to unwire them. Though, that's a question if that happened as a function of the concrete method or the wiring technique used by the MB crew? Maybe the bombs Mac dealt with were wired stronger?
Normally I'd say this calls for a revisit. Unfortunately, it's the final season. Waaaaaah!!!
Does anyone know how the ratings were over the last few seasons? It seems to me they have plenty of myths left to explore. Ah well. C'est la vie.
I watched the after show last night and got a chuckle when Adam said the didn't test the myth that you could step on a mine and keep your weight on it to keep it from exploding. He said they didn't test it because the existence of that type of mine is a myth!
I watched the after show last night and got a chuckle when Adam said the didn't test the myth that you could step on a mine and keep your weight on it to keep it from exploding. He said they didn't test it because the existence of that type of mine is a myth!
They don't? I though some contact mines didn't exploded until the pressure was released (weight goes on, mine set to explode, weight comes off, mine explodes) or is that just a Hollywood trope?
Standing on a mine to keep it from exploding is a myth, but it is a partially correct myth. Some mines have a small delay built in after they are triggered. When they detonate, they launch themselves in the air and explode, spreading deadly shrapnel all around. Such mine was the German WWII era S-mine, also known as Bouncing Betty. There have been few others as well. So, standing on the mine won't prevent it from detonating, but prevents it from jumping up. It won't help you, you're going to lose a leg at least, but it will save your comrades.
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The later seasons make me miss the first few seasons, they were much more organic and less polished, which was part of the charm of the show for me.
Indeed. The Adam-Jamie solo seasons last year and this just seemed too polished, it feels off. I wonder how much of the ratings decline necessitating the ending of the series came from dropping the Jr. Mythbusters? I mean, how can you have this show with out a perky, busty, gorgeous red-head?
^Look, I appreciate Kari's physical charms as much as the next guy, but it's insulting to her as a professional to treat her looks as the only thing that made her worthwhile. She deserves better than that kind of objectification.
I know what you mean. When they started introducing the myths in what were clearly scripted bits it just felt a bit off to me. You could tell they were introducing the myths after they had already tested them.
Tonight's tank car implosion episode was the best one they've done in years. Really impressive stuff, aside from the weird and pointless opening montage. First off, there's the drama of the Mythbusters finally getting to hunt down their white whale, to do a myth they've been yearning to do for a dozen years, never managed to pull off, but have moved mountains to realize now that it's their final chance. Then there's the fact that they devoted a whole episode to one myth, so that we got a nicely thorough overview of the whole process, both the experiments and the physics discussions and even the behind-the-scenes logistics and acquisitions -- the sorts of things that used to be routinely covered but have fallen by the wayside in favor of spectacle and polish. And after all the countless explosions they've done, it's interesting to see them tackling implosion. (Although it wasn't quite right to say it was their first. They even showed a clip of the diving suit implosion myth that Kari, Grant, and Tory confirmed.)
And it was great that it's such a nice, solid physics myth, with such a simple but powerful principle at the heart of it. It's all just heat and pressure and structural strength, pure physics all around. The small-scale tests with the drums were really startling and impressive. The graphic demonstration of the power of atmospheric pressure was kind of chilling. I'm actually kind of scared to be surrounded by air right now.
And then we get the massive undertaking of the full-scale test, and the whole procedure to test the conditions of the myth and then replicate the result. The spectacular results of the small-scale tests raised the tension, and made sure we knew just how enormous the forces were and how seriously to take this. So the tank car's failure to, err, fail didn't seem like a disappointment -- it just drove home how impressively well-built those things are, which is reassuring given all the hazardous things they transport. And it was more physics, because it demonstrated the strength of the cylindrical design as opposed to a less symmetrical shape like the dented tanker.
Man, that final implosion was striking. It was like Invisible Godzilla stepped on it.
You know, I'm disappointed they showed this one so early in the season. It's hard to see how they'll top it.
And it was great that it's such a nice, solid physics myth, with such a simple but powerful principle at the heart of it. It's all just heat and pressure and structural strength, pure physics all around. The small-scale tests with the drums were really startling and impressive. The graphic demonstration of the power of atmospheric pressure was kind of chilling. I'm actually kind of scared to be surrounded by air right now.
And then we get the massive undertaking of the full-scale test, and the whole procedure to test the conditions of the myth and then replicate the result. The spectacular results of the small-scale tests raised the tension, and made sure we knew just how enormous the forces were and how seriously to take this. So the tank car's failure to, err, fail didn't seem like a disappointment -- it just drove home how impressively well-built those things are, which is reassuring given all the hazardous things they transport. And it was more physics, because it demonstrated the strength of the cylindrical design as opposed to a less symmetrical shape like the dented tanker.
Man, that final implosion was striking. It was like Invisible Godzilla stepped on it.
You know, I'm disappointed they showed this one so early in the season. It's hard to see how they'll top it.
I know what you mean. Although if they redo the cement truck explosion with high-speed rolling this time I can see it being pretty spectacular.
I don't have much more to add other than to echo your thoughts that it was great to see just one myth so thoroughly explored. I wish we had more like this.
I don't see how it would be all that different from the hundreds of other high-speed explosion shots they've shown since then. Explosions are old hat now. What was great about this implosion episode was that it showed us something new. And that it wasn't just spectacle, it was science.
Besides, the best part of the cement mixer explosion was the sound. I've never heard another Mythbusters explosion with such a unique and unforgettable sound.
My biggest regret about Mythbusters is that it hasn't had the impact on the special effects industry that I hoped it would. I got tired of the sameness of Hollywood explosions decades ago -- all the same big orange fireballs, all looking and sounding the same and differing only in how big they were and how much they were slowed down and how many camera angles were shown. I'd hoped that Mythbusters would inspire Hollywood's pyrotechnicians (and sound-effects editors) to get out of their lazy rut and experiment with simulating more varied and realistic and interesting types of explosion. But no such luck.
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