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Wikipedia

MythBusters

MythBusters is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions.[1] The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internationally by many television networks and other Discovery channels worldwide. The show's original hosts, special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, used elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors, myths, movie scenes, adages, Internet videos, and news stories.

MythBusters
MythBusters title screen from 2003–2006
Genre
Developed byPeter Rees
Presented by
Narrated by
Composers
Country of origin
  • United States
  • Australia[1]
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons17
No. of episodes296 (list of episodes)
Production
Camera setupMultiple
Running time
  • 43–44 minutes (broadcast cut)
  • 48–50 minutes (original cut)
Production companyBeyond Television Productions[2]
Original release
NetworkDiscovery Channel
ReleaseJanuary 23, 2003 (2003-01-23) –
March 6, 2016 (2016-03-06)
NetworkScience Channel
ReleaseNovember 15, 2017 (2017-11-15) –
February 28, 2018 (2018-02-28)
Related
Head Rush
MythBusters: The Search
MythBusters Jr.
Savage Builds
Motor MythBusters

Filmed in San Francisco and edited in Artarmon, New South Wales, MythBusters aired 282 total episodes before its cancellation at the end of the 2016 season in March. Planning and some experimentation took place at Hyneman's workshops in San Francisco; experiments requiring more space or special accommodations were filmed on location, typically around the San Francisco Bay Area and other locations in northern California, going to other states or even countries on occasion when required.

During the second season, members of Savage's and Hyneman's behind-the-scenes team were organized into a second team of MythBusters ("The Build Team"). They generally tested myths separately from the main duo and operated from another workshop. This arrangement continued until August 2014, when it was announced at the end of "Plane Boarding" that Tory Belleci, Kari Byron, and Grant Imahara would be leaving the show. Savage and Hyneman subsequently hosted the final two seasons alone.[3][4] On October 21, 2015, it was announced that MythBusters would air its 14th and final season in 2016. The show aired its final episode with the original cast on March 6, 2016.

On November 15, 2017, sister network Science Channel revived the series with new hosts Jon Lung and Brian Louden, who were selected via the competition spin-off MythBusters: The Search.[5] The revival was filmed in Santa Clarita and on location in other parts of Southern California, airing for two seasons that lasted until 2018. Savage would later return in MythBusters Jr., a spin-off featuring children.

The most recent iteration of the franchise, Motor Mythbusters, was produced by Beyond Television and aired on MotorTrend in 2021. Belleci returned for the series, and was joined by engineer Bisi Ezerioha and mechanic Faye Hadley. The series focused on testing myths and urban legends about automobiles.

MythBusters refers to both the name of the program and the cast members who test the experiments.

History edit

The series concept was developed for the Discovery Channel as Tall Tales or True[6] by Australian writer and producer Peter Rees of Beyond Productions in 2002. Discovery rejected the proposal initially because they had just commissioned a series on the same topic. Rees refined the pitch to focus on testing key elements of the stories rather than just retelling them. Discovery agreed to develop and co-produce a three-episode series pilot. Jamie Hyneman was one of a number of special-effects artists who were asked to prepare a casting video for network consideration. Rees had interviewed him previously for a segment of the popular science series Beyond 2000 about the British–American robot combat television series Robot Wars. Adam Savage, who had worked with Hyneman in commercials and on the robot combat television series BattleBots, was asked by Hyneman to help co-host the show because, according to Savage, Hyneman thought himself too uninteresting to host the series on his own.[7][8]

During July 2006, an edited 30-minute version of MythBusters began airing on BBC Two in the UK. The episodes shown on the European Discovery Channel sometimes include extra scenes not shown in the United States version (some of these scenes are included eventually in "specials", such as "MythBusters Outtakes").

The 14th season, which premiered in January 2016, was the final season for the series with Savage and Hyneman.[9]

Adam Savage returned to TV with the show MythBusters Jr., without his original co-host Jamie Hyneman, but with a cast of teenagers, hence the name. The show debuted on the Science Channel on January 2, 2019[10] with rebroadcasts every Saturday morning on Discovery, as well as international broadcasts.

Cast edit

Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are the original MythBusters, and initially explored all the myths of the series using their combined experience with special effects. The two worked at Hyneman's effects workshop, M5 Industries; they made use of his staff, who often worked off-screen, with Hyneman and Savage usually shown doing most of the work at the shop. The show is narrated by Robert Lee, though in some regions, his voice is replaced by a local narrator.

As the series progressed, members of Hyneman's staff were introduced and began to appear regularly in episodes. Three such members, artist Kari Byron, builder Tory Belleci, and metal-worker Scottie Chapman, were organized as a second team of MythBusters during the second season, dubbed the "Build Team". After Chapman left the show during the third season, Grant Imahara, a colleague of Hyneman's, was hired to provide the team with his electrical and robotics experience. Byron went on maternity leave in mid-2009, with her position on the Build Team temporarily filled by Jessi Combs,[11] best known for co-hosting Spike's Xtreme 4x4. Byron returned in the third episode of 2010 season. The Build Team worked at its own workshop, called M7,[12] investigating separate myths from the original duo. Each episode typically alternated between the two teams covering different myths. During the Build Team's tenure, Belleci was the only member to appear in every myth that the team tested. At the end of the 2014 season finale "Plane Boarding", Savage and Hyneman announced that Byron, Belleci, and Imahara would not be returning in the 2015 season. This was reportedly over salary negotiations due to the rising cost of five hosts. Hyneman and Savage returned to being the sole hosts.[3][4][13] Byron, Belleci, and Imahara went on to host Netflix's White Rabbit Project.

The series had two interns, dubbed "Mythterns": Discovery Channel contest winner Christine Chamberlain and viewer building contest-winner Jess Nelson. During the first season, the program featured segments with folklorist Heather Joseph-Witham, who explained the origins of certain myths, and other people who had first-hand experience with the myths being tested, but those elements were phased out early in the series. The MythBusters commonly consulted experts for myths or topics for which they needed assistance. These topics included firearms, for which they mostly consulted Lt. Al Normandy of the South San Francisco Police Department, and explosives, for which they consulted retired FBI explosives expert Frank Doyle and Sgt. J.D. Nelson of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. The MythBusters often asked other people, such as those supplying the equipment being tested, what they knew about the myth under investigation. When guests were on the show, the MythBusters generally consulted them or included them in the experiments.

Episodes edit

No consistent system was used for organizing MythBusters episodes into seasons. The program has never followed a typical calendar of on- and off-air periods. The official MythBusters website lists episodes by year.[14] However, Discovery sells DVD sets for "seasons", which sometimes follow the calendar year and sometimes do not.[15] In addition, Discovery and retail stores also sell "collections" which divide up the episodes in a different way; each collection has about 10 or 12 episodes from various seasons.

The following table is organized according to year of first broadcast. Including Specials and the revival series, a total of 296 episodes of MythBusters have aired so far.

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
Pilots3January 23, 2003 (2003-01-23)March 7, 2003 (2003-03-07)
20038September 23, 2003 (2003-09-23)December 12, 2003 (2003-12-12)
200417January 11, 2004 (2004-01-11)December 22, 2004 (2004-12-22)
200526February 2, 2005 (2005-02-02)November 16, 2005 (2005-11-16)
200628January 11, 2006 (2006-01-11)December 13, 2006 (2006-12-13)
200725January 10, 2007 (2007-01-10)December 12, 2007 (2007-12-12)
200820January 16, 2008 (2008-01-16)November 19, 2008 (2008-11-19)
200923April 8, 2009 (2009-04-08)December 28, 2009 (2009-12-28)
201024January 4, 2010 (2010-01-04)December 22, 2010 (2010-12-22)
201122April 6, 2011 (2011-04-06)November 30, 2011 (2011-11-30)
201221March 25, 2012 (2012-03-25)November 25, 2012 (2012-11-25)
201311May 1, 2013 (2013-05-01)October 17, 2013 (2013-10-17)
201415January 4, 2014 (2014-01-04)August 21, 2014 (2014-08-21)
201514January 10, 2015 (2015-01-10)September 5, 2015 (2015-09-05)
201612January 2, 2016 (2016-01-02)March 6, 2016 (2016-03-06)
20176November 15, 2017 (2017-11-15)December 20, 2017 (2017-12-20)
20188January 3, 2018 (2018-01-03)February 28, 2018 (2018-02-28) (UK)
Specials13March 21, 2004 (2004-03-21)May 1, 2013 (2013-05-01)

Format edit

Each MythBusters episode focuses typically on two or more popular beliefs, Internet rumors, or other myths. Many of the myths are on mechanical effects as portrayed in live-action films and television of fictional incidents. The list of myths tested by the series is compiled from many sources, including the personal experiences of cast and crew, as well as fan suggestions, such as those posted on the Discovery Channel online MythBusters forums.[16] Occasionally, episodes are produced in which some or all of the myths are related by theme, such as pirates or sharks, and occasionally these are dubbed as "[Theme] Special" episodes. As of May 2009, four myths have required such extensive preparation and testing that they had entire episodes devoted solely to them,[17][18][19][20] and four specials have been double-length.[21][22][23][24] Several episodes (including the 2006 Holiday Special) have included the building of Rube Goldberg machines. Before a myth is introduced by the hosts, a myth-related drawing is made on a blueprint. After the hosts introduce the myth, a comical video explaining the myth is usually shown.

Experiment approach edit

The MythBusters typically test myths in a two-step process. In early episodes, the steps were described as "replicate the circumstances, then duplicate the results" by Savage.[25] This means that first the team attempts to recreate the circumstances that the myth alleges, to determine whether the alleged result occurs; if that fails, they attempt to expand the circumstances to the point that will cause the described result, which often reveals that the claims of the myth are objectively ridiculous or impossible to achieve without specialized training or equipment. Occasionally, the team (usually Savage and Hyneman) holds a friendly competition between themselves to see which of them can devise a more successful solution to recreating the results. This is most common with myths involving building an object that can accomplish a goal (for example, rapidly cooling a beer, or finding a needle in a haystack).

While the team obeys no specific formula in terms of physical procedure, most myths involve construction of various objects to help test the myth. They use their functional workshops to construct whatever is needed, often including mechanical devices and sets to simulate the circumstances of the myth. Human actions are often simulated by mechanical means to increase safety, and to achieve consistency in repeated actions. Methods for testing myths are usually planned and executed in a manner to produce visually dramatic results,[26] which generally involves explosions, fires, or vehicle crashes. Thus, myths or tests involving explosives, firearms and vehicle collisions are relatively common.

Tests are sometimes confined to the workshop, but often require the teams to be outside. Much of the outdoor testing during early seasons took place in the parking lot of M5, and occasionally M6 and M7.[citation needed] A cargo container in the M7 parking lot commonly serves as an isolation room for dangerous myths, with the experiment being triggered from outside. However, budget increases have permitted more frequent travel to other locations in San Francisco and around the Bay Area. Common filming locations around the Bay Area include decommissioned (closed) military facilities (such as Naval Air Station Alameda, Naval Air Station Moffett Field, Concord Naval Weapons Station, Naval Station Treasure Island, Marin Headlands, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, and Hamilton Air Force Base, and abandoned base housing at Marina, California's former Fort Ord), and the Alameda County Sheriff's facility in Dublin, California, especially the firing range, emergency-vehicles operation course, and bomb range. Occasionally, mainly for special episodes, production is out of state, or even out of the country.

Results are measured in a manner scientifically appropriate for the given experiment. Sometimes, results can be measured by simple numerical measurement using standard tools, such as multimeters for electrical measurements, or various types of thermometers to measure temperature. To gauge results that do not yield numerical quantities, the teams commonly make use of several types of equipment that can provide other forms of observable effects. When testing physical consequences to a human body, which would be too dangerous to test on a living person, the MythBusters commonly use analogues. Initially, they mainly used crash-test dummies (usually, whatever form and function it possessed, it would be named Buster) for observing blunt trauma injury, and ballistic gelatin for testing penetrating trauma. They have since progressed to using pig carcasses when an experiment requires a more accurate simulation of human flesh, bone, and organs. They have also occasionally molded real or simulated bones within ballistics gel for simulations of specific body parts. They have also used synthetic cadavers (or SynDavers) such as in the "Car Cushion" myth.

Both for the purposes of visual observation to determine a result and simply as a unique visual for the program, high-speed cameras are used during experiments and have become a trademark of the series. Very fast footage of moving objects in front of a measured scale is commonly used to determine the speed of the object.

Testing is often edited due to time constraints of a televised episode. It can often seem as if the teams draw results from fewer repetitions and a smaller data set than they actually have. During the "Outtakes Special", they specifically stated that while they are, in fact, very thorough in testing myths and repeat experiments many times in many different configurations, it is simply impossible to display the entire process during a program. Beginning in the fifth season, episodes typically contain a prompt for the viewer to visit the show's homepage to view outtake footage of either additional testing or other facets of the myths being tested. However, Savage himself has acknowledged that they do not purport always to achieve a satisfactorily large enough set of results to overcome definitively all bias.[27] In response to criticisms they receive about their methods and results in previous episodes,[27] the staff produced several "Myths Revisited" episodes in which the teams retest myths to see if the complaints have merit. These episodes have sometimes resulted in overturning results of several myths, as well as upholding some results for reasons different from the original.

Occasionally, the MythBusters take the opportunity to test "mini-myths" during the course of one of the episode's main myths, usually in the name of satisfying personal curiosity. These can either be planned in advance to take advantage of the testing location—for instance, in the "Peeing on the Third Rail" myth Adam got permission to find out if placing coins on a train track was sufficient to derail a train (he found that the test locomotive was not affected at all)—or can simply take place without prior planning.

MythBusters refuse to test some myths. Paranormal concepts, such as aliens or ghosts, are not addressed because they cannot be tested by scientific methods, although one exception, pyramid power, prompted Adam to comment, "No more 'oogie-boogie' myths, please" and state at a tour show in Indianapolis in 2012 that it was a mistake. Another myth related to the paranormal was the "Haunted Hum" myth, which involved testing if a particular, inaudible sound frequency can lead people to believe that an area is haunted. The program generally avoids experiments harmful to live animals, though in one episode, they bombarded cockroaches and other laboratory insects with lethal doses of radiation; the cast addressed this, saying that the insects were specifically bred for experiments and would have likely died anyway. However, animal carcasses (including those of pigs and chickens) are often used, but the MythBusters have repeatedly emphasized that the animals have died of natural causes.

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 myths that are unlikely to be explored (although four were eventually tested). Savage has commented that testing myths that require them to disprove general claims is difficult because of the inherent difficulty in disproving a negative. As a result, when they do pursue such myths, they typically go about disproving specific methods that claim to achieve results.[28]

Additionally, certain myths are not tested due to various objections by Discovery Channel or their advertisers, most notably myths pertaining to radio-frequency identification vulnerability.[29][30][31][32] Through nine seasons, a total of 2,391 experiments were performed and 12 tons of explosives were used to test 769 myths.[33] The team has also expressed reluctance to test conspiracy theory myths such as the JFK assassination or 9/11 conspiracies, although they have tested some of the conspiracy theories relating to the Apollo Moon landings.

Outcomes of the experiments edit

By the end of each episode, the myths are rated "busted", "plausible", or "confirmed".

Busted edit

Myths are rated as "busted" when the myth's results cannot be replicated under either the described parameters or reasonably exaggerated ones. Often, when a myth is declared busted, the team will attempt to see what would be required to replicate the result of the myth through scientific means, discarding the original parameters of the myth itself. Going to absolute limits of what is physically possible to replicate the results is the origin of what is unofficially titled the Mythbusters motto, "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing." This is also commonly referred to in the series as "the MythBusters way", and often reveals that the circumstances required to accurately recreate a 'busted' myth are physically impossible or highly unlikely to occur with the scientific facts presented, or the equipment used in the myth used to gain the results is neither available to the general public, nor capable of producing the results. For example, when trying to see if diamonds can be made with a microwave, and the myth is busted, the team arranges with an expert to have diamonds created with a large quantity of explosives.

Some of these myths are retested if the viewers are dissatisfied with the results, and are declared "rebusted" if the results of this second attempt result in the same conclusions as the original attempts. On rare occasions, retested myths result in a conclusion different from the first attempt, usually going from "busted" the first time, to "plausible" or even "confirmed" on the retest.

Plausible edit

Plausible is given under a few 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 because of the myth having been altered slightly over time by it being told and retold by the time it was tested by the MythBusters. Also, certain materials may have had to be 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.
  • Plausible is given if no documentation of the myth occurred at the time of the episode's production, yet the MythBusters were still able to duplicate it very closely as to how the myth was described (such as the myth that pirates wore eye patches to keep their night vision, or an untrained pilot was talked through landing an airplane).
  • If the myth's results are achieved using the method described, but the underlying reason is different from the one described in the myth (such as in the myth of throwing a fire extinguisher into a fire to make it explode and extinguish the fire)
  • If it requires a highly improbable set of circumstances, yet is shown to be possible under similar yet artificial circumstances, plausible is used. For example, in the myth of "Can two colliding bullets fuse together?", two bullets were shown to fuse together, but would be exceedingly difficult to actually get two period guns with period ammunition to collide in the correct way to cause the result. The results can be created in a similar laboratory setting, but the chances of the myth actually happening as described are remote.
  • If the results stated in the myth are attainable, but in such a way as to make the process either highly dangerous or less efficient than more common methods of achieving the same result, it is used. For example, in "Car vs. Rain", the MythBusters declared the myth "plausible (but not recommended)", due to the danger in driving a car at high speeds on a wet road, though the myth was completely true.[34]
  • Plausible is used if a positive result is attained using surrogates for living creatures, but the procedure would result in injury or death if an actual creature was tested. For example, in "Holiday Special", two ballistics-gel replicas of pet dogs were used to test the myth that a falling frozen turkey would crush a household pet; both replicas sustained serious injuries, as determined by a veterinarian, and the myth was dubbed "plausible", as the Build Team was unwilling to test the myth on actual pets.
  • Occasionally, a myth is labelled plausible if the described scenario produces a result similar to, but of less intensity than, the one described in the myth.

Confirmed edit

The term "true" was used instead of "confirmed" in the first season.

  • The MythBusters are able to re-create or closely re-create the myth's purported outcome with the described circumstances. A "confirmed" myth is usually corroborated with documented evidence of actual occurrences.
  • If the myth lacks any specific scenarios, the MythBusters test every reasonable scenario, and just one scenario is enough for them to confirm the myth. For example, when testing to see whether shooting fish in a barrel was in fact very easy, in most tests, they could not hit the fish with a bullet, but the energy transfer to the water by the bullet was lethal to the fish; therefore, the myth was confirmed.
  • If no instances of the event are documented as occurring in real life, but the myth was taken from a specific scene or character in a specific movie, the myth is confirmed if they are able to replicate it with the same circumstances. For example, the Build Team gave a verdict of "confirmed" for a scene in Point Break where two skydivers—one without a parachute—jumped off the plane at different times, and yet the second jumper was able to catch up to the first jumper. Though no cases of this ever being attempted in real life were documented, it was confirmed nonetheless, since it only came from a single scene in a specific movie. The same applied to the myth about the Knight Rider driving his car at highway speeds into a semi-trailer truck via ramp, without any trouble; though Adam and Jamie found no real-life occurrences of the stunt other than movie or television productions, it came from a specific TV show, and thus was confirmed.
  • In rare circumstances, a myth is considered confirmed when the testing process is intentionally stopped but news reports or other documentation are available that confirm it has happened at least once; in testing the Jet Taxi Myth (in which a taxicab is flipped by the engine of a jet aircraft), both Adam and Jamie agreed that the myth could not be replicated accurately for insurance reasons, but news footage verified that such an event is possible. (In this case, three years later, they were allowed to return to the subject and confirm the myth using a Boeing 747.)

Warnings and self-censorship edit

Many of the myths tested involve purported household scenarios, so all episodes begin with a disclaimer against attempting the experiments seen on the series; most episodes also feature a second warning halfway through the running time. These disclaimers are not broadcast on SBS in Australia, in the Netherlands, Discovery Mix in Sweden, Samsung TV plus MythBusters channel in the United Kingdom, the Discovery Channel in Denmark, or on the Prime and Sky Discovery Channels in New Zealand. Often, they are presented with an element of humor, such as Savage wearing a padded suit as Hyneman hits him in the chest with a baseball bat, or Hyneman explaining that Savage and he are professionals before Savage slides into view and crashes into a barrier, while saying, "Don't try this at home!"

The series employs various degrees of safety- or courtesy-related censorship. Vulgar language is censored, as the show is considered family-friendly, and most such language occurs spontaneously when the team is surprised or overexcited; at other times, a deliberate effort is made to keep the scripted material clean. In addition to the standard bleep, the show often uses a relevant or humorous sound effect. Euphemisms and scientific terminology are used for potentially offensive terms.[note 1] In the "Peeing on the Third Rail" myth, the show censored the valve used to release urine from the dummy. The names of ingredients used in the production of hazardous materials and some explosives are usually censored to prevent amateurs from recreating potentially dangerous substances. For example, in the "Hindenburg" special, Savage ignited thermite with a hypergolic mixture of "blur" (a syrupy, pale blue liquid) and "blur" (a dark powder). In a Civil War-themed episode, the ingredients for making a form of homemade black powder were censored in similar fashion.

In one extreme instance of self-censorship, the team explored an urban legend stating that a widely available material could be used to create an explosive. To their surprise, the seemingly unlikely legend proved true, but the material was so easy to obtain, and the resulting explosion so powerful, that the production team decided allowing such information to reach the general public would be irresponsible, instead electing to destroy all footage of the experiment and agreeing never to speak of the incident. Several years later, when DARPA solicited advice from the public regarding potentially unknown bomb risks, Savage contacted them about their discovery.[35]

In another episode that focused on myths surrounding electronic security devices, a segment was aired on defeating biometric fingerprint readers using various methods. One of these techniques involved creating a fake 3D fingerprint from a 2D image of the authorized print. After some trial and error, the team successfully cast a viable ballistics gel reproduction using a copper-coated circuit board, a picture of the fingerprint printed on acetate, and a photochemical acid etching process. After the reproduction was shown to defeat both fingerprint scanners, and although the chemicals used during the etching process are never identified, the narrator still hints at an important step having been edited out and discourages viewers from trying it themselves. None of the other techniques that successfully defeated the fingerprint scanners or the other security devices tested in the episode were censored or obfuscated, perhaps because the rest were all fairly simple and straightforward methods, such as holding up a bedsheet or moving extremely slowly to hide from ultrasonic motion detectors or holding up a pane of glass to defeat thermal motion detectors.

Brand names and logos are regularly blurred or covered with tape or a MythBusters sticker. Brand names are shown when integral to a myth, such as in the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment or Pop Rocks in the first pilot episode of MythBusters.

The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment is also an outlier regarding their safety warnings, as Savage and Hyneman stated on-air that this myth was perfectly safe for viewers to replicate on their own. Another example of this is the "Phone Book Friction" episode, in which they investigated the difficulty of pulling two telephone books apart after their pages had been interleaved. One episode from the 2014 season, "DO Try This at Home?", classified several myths as safe or unsafe for testing by viewers.

Accidents edit

Owing to the nature of the experiments performed on the show, many did not go as expected. Sometimes, these mishaps rendered the test equipment unusable, such as when the rocket in the "Rocket Car Revisit" episode exploded on ignition. Others even resulted in minor injuries to the personnel involved with the show, such as when Tory banged his knee falling off a fire tower; the fall was expected and prepared for using a safety harness, but the injury to his knee was unforeseen. The most common injuries were caused when moving safety equipment, which resulted in stitches and at least four broken fingers.[36] These kinds of incidents were usually included in the broadcast program, with little other media attention, but some things failed in more spectacular and newsworthy ways.

Esparto accident edit

On March 20, 2009, the town of Esparto, California, was shaken and windows were shattered by a blast created by 500 pounds (230 kg) of ANFO during filming of the myth "Knock Your Socks Off".[37] Some residents were upset that the blast took place without "telling anyone".[38] Chief Barry Burns of the Esparto Fire Department had several firefighters present for the explosion. He said he made the decision not to notify anyone in town for safety's sake. "MythBusters is supposed to be a really popular show. Everybody would have been out there. We would have had to cancel it because it would have been too dangerous."[39] Representatives from the show replaced some of the windows that same day.[37] The experiment did air, but the hosts recounted in a 2011 special episode ("Location, Location, Location") that they have never returned to the Esparto quarry as a result of the mishap.

Cannonball accident edit

On December 6, 2011, while conducting the "Cannonball Chemistry" experiment, the MythBusters crew accidentally sent a cannonball through the side of a house and into a minivan in a Dublin, California, neighborhood. Although the experiment was being carried out at the Alameda County Sheriff's Bomb Range under the supervision of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, the errant projectile went over its intended target of water barrels and instead skipped up a hill that was intended as a secondary safety target. The cannonball soared 700 yards (640 m) into a neighboring community, striking a house and leaving a 10-inch (250 mm) hole, before striking the roof of another house and smashing through a window of a parked minivan. No one was hurt by the rogue cannonball.[40][41]

A show producer visited the homeowners to apologize,[42] followed by Savage and Hyneman; Savage later stated that the incident would not cause the series production to be suspended.[43] Savage and Kari Byron returned to Dublin High School on February 22, 2012, to participate in a moderated panel session at Dublin High School's Engineering and Design Academy Open House during National Engineers Week 2012, in part to help repair relations with the community. The sold-out event attracted over 1,000 attendees.[44][45][46]

During the airing of the experiment on November 11, 2012, the Build Team apologized for the accident and explained that they suspended testing after it occurred to assess damage and start an investigation. The testing resumed several months later at a rock quarry in a much more remote area.

Name lawsuit edit

In January 2005, children's author and adventurer Andrew Knight commenced legal proceedings in Australia against Beyond Productions, the producer of MythBusters, alleging passing off in relation to the use of the name "MythBusters".[47] Knight asserted that he had previously organized a team of "MythBusters" and had used the name continuously since 1988 in relation to pursuing myths, ghosts, monsters, goblins, and other such mysteries in an offbeat manner around the world. Knight wrote a series of self-published children's books under the banner "MythBusters" in 1991, 1993, and 1996.[48][49] In February 2007, the Federal Court of Australia dismissed Knight's claims against Beyond Productions.[50] A parallel action, relying on the same three books and a collection of short television appearances, was brought later that year in the Chancery Division of the High Court of England and Wales. Beyond Properties Pty Limited was again a defendant, as were two other Beyond companies and Discovery Communications Inc, the entity responsible for broadcasting the MythBusters program in the UK. These claims were also dismissed.[51]

Popularity and influence edit

 
Savage (left) and Hyneman as keynote speakers at Symantec Vision 2008

Hyneman and Savage have appeared on numerous entertainment programs, such as Good Morning America,[52] the Late Show with David Letterman,[53] NPR's news program All Things Considered,[54] the syndicated radio Bob and Tom Show, and in the movie The Darwin Awards (as two military surplus vendors who sold a JATO rocket to the main character). Skeptic magazine's Daniel Loxton interviewed the duo in a 2005 article titled "MythBusters Exposed".[55] Hyneman and Savage spoke at the annual convention of the National Science Teachers Association in March 2006, and the California Science Teachers Association named them honorary lifetime members in October 2006.[56] In 2009, they were the featured keynote speakers at RSA Conference.[57] They also are occasionally interviewed for articles by Popular Mechanics and are featured in that magazine's September 2009 issue.[58]

Hyneman and Savage occasionally appear at colleges around the United States to talk about what it is like to be a MythBuster; the show consists of an interview and discussion to give the audience the opportunity to ask the MythBusters questions. The Build Team members have sometimes made appearances in similar capacity. They hold lectures in both collegiate and corporate settings, though the technical colleges tend to be the most enthusiastic.[59][60] They have spoken at WPI, RPI, MIT, Michigan Tech, UC Berkeley and many others.

 
At the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge posing with Skulls Unlimited International, Inc.'s Jay Villemarette and Joey Williams in 2004

Adam Savage has written a primer on mold-making for Make magazine, and has been featured guest at the San Mateo Maker Faire since 2008. Kari Byron was interviewed on The Late Show, on January 16, 2006.[61]

People involved in survival stories reported in local newscasts have sometimes mentioned previous viewings of MythBusters as an influence to their actions. Twenty-three-year-old Theresa Booth of St. Martin, Minnesota, credits a MythBusters episode for her infant child and her survival. On April 3, 2007, she skidded off the road into a drainage ditch, which had filled with flood water from the Sauk River. Unable to open the door, Booth recalled the "Underwater Car" myth and waited until the pressure equalized to open the door.[62] On October 19, 2007, in Sydney, Australia, a teenager named Julian Shaw pulled a fainted middle-aged man off the railway tracks near a train station to safety below the platform. He pulled back as the train passed, citing that the "Train Suction" episode affected his response.[63]

The 3rd Annual Independent Investigative Group IIG Awards presented an award to MythBusters recognizing the promotion of science and critical thinking in popular media on May 18, 2009.[64]

On the May 1, 2008, episode of CSI, "The Theory of Everything", Hyneman and Savage appeared in a cameo as observers taking notes during a test to determine whether a stun-gun bolt can set someone on fire under various circumstances (which was later tested on MythBusters itself).

During August 2008, Hyneman and Savage appeared on the stage of NVISION 08, an event sponsored by Nvidia, having been asked by Nvidia's creative director, David Wright, to provide a visual demonstration of the power of the graphics processing unit vs a central processing unit. They did this by creating an image of the Mona Lisa with a giant parallel processing paintball gun, setting a world record for largest paintball gun in the process.[65][66][67] An encore of the demonstration was given at YouTube Live featuring Hyneman standing in the path of the paintballs wearing a suit of armor.[68]

On the April 17, 2012, episode of NCIS, "Rekindled", the character Abby Sciuto demonstrates a thermite fire to her boss, Jethro Gibbs, by playing a clip from the MythBusters episode "End with a Bang". Gibbs asks if the men in the clip are pyromaniacs, and she replies, "Scientists, Gibbs! Okay, yeah, they're kind of pyromaniacs too".

Hyneman, Savage, and others from the MythBusters crew have appeared at The Amaz!ng Meeting, and subsequently were interviewed by Steven Novella and the "skeptical rogues" for the podcast The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.[69][70] On April 16, 2010, Hyneman and Savage received the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism from the Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy.[71]

 
At the White House

On October 18, 2010, President Barack Obama, as part of the White House Science Fair, announced he had taped a segment of MythBusters and would appear on December 8, 2010. Obama's segment covered the Archimedes solar ray myth.[72][73]

Both men appeared at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on October 30, 2010, in Washington, DC. They had an experiment with the crowd involving the wave. They had the audience make various noises (e.g. popping their cheeks or laughing) all at the same time. They also had everyone in the crowd jump up at the same time to see if it would register on a seismograph.[74]

Hyneman and Savage received honorary doctorates from the University of Twente in the Netherlands for their role in popularizing science, on the occasion of the university's 50th anniversary, on November 25, 2011.[75]

As of November 2011, all five MythBusters have also appeared in new shows, segments or specials for Discovery's Science Channel, including Head Rush (Byron, 2010–present); Punkin Chunkin 2010 (Hyneman and Savage); Flying Anvils 2011 (Belleci); Road to Punkin Chunkin 2011 and Punkin Chunkin 2011 (Belleci, Byron and Imahara); Large Dangerous Rocket Ships 2010 and Large Dangerous Rocket Ships 2011 (Byron); "Killer Robots: RoboGames 2010" (Imahara); Curiosity (Savage); Punkin Chunkin 2012 (Belleci, Byron and Imahara). Savage and Hyneman are judges on the game show Unchained Reaction which premiered in March 2012. Belleci and Byron are also hosts of the 2015 Science Channel show Thrill Factor.

Aired on February 12, 2012, Hyneman and Savage lent their voices to The Simpsons episode "The Daughter Also Rises" to be featured on a show similar to MythBusters called Mythcrackers in which Hyneman and Savage take on the classic myth that a cat always lands on its feet. In the episode, they do not want to harm a real cat, so they took a Build A Bear carcass, stuffed it with ballistics gel, shot it with a 20-foot barrel steam cannon, then made a scatter plot of the remains. By the end of the experiment, Hyneman asked, "What was it we were trying to prove again?", to which Savage replied, "Don't know, don't care." Clips from this show appeared in the MythBusters' Simpsons Special that first aired in 2015.

On October 3, 2012, Byron and Belleci made a guest appearance on the Discovery series Sons of Guns. They test-fired some of the weapons in the Red Jacket shop, then watched as the staff retested a myth busted by the Build Team in 2008, that a propane tank could explode when hit with a bullet.

 
The MythBusters at a 2015 performance in Iowa

In 2015, Hyneman and Savage appeared in a series of Australian television commercials for Dulux paint, depicting them testing the maker's claims of durability.[76][77][78]

In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 television shows with the most Facebook likes found that MythBusters "has the second-highest share of 'likes' from men of any show in the data, after Fast N' Loud".[79]

Tours and exhibits edit

A traveling museum exhibit called "MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition"[80] was developed over the course of about five years, premiering at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, in March 2012.[81]

In 2011, Savage and Hyneman created a live stage show called the MythBusters Behind the Myths Tour, in which they conduct experiments on-stage and discuss some background details of the show.[82]

In March 2014, they announced that the tour would be coming to Australia and New Zealand.[needs update]

The show and one particular episode (involving the myth of a cigarette being able to cause a fire when thrown into a pool of gasoline) was credited with helping to free a man from prison.[83]

International broadcasts edit

MythBusters is broadcast in several countries, primarily by each country's version of the Discovery Channel. In some countries, the English speech is either subtitled in the relevant language, or the narration voice-over is replaced, or the entire show (narration and hosts' voices) is dubbed. The United States customary units, used by the hosts throughout the show, are converted to metric in the process. In the UK since 2011, the use of US customary units in the show has often been retained, rather than being replaced with metric units. Sometimes, the part where the myth is explained in sketches is completely redrawn in that language. Excerpts of the show were also shown as part of the Beyond Television–produced Beyond Tomorrow. It also shows in Hong Kong's ViuTVsix.

Revival and spin-offs edit

In late March 2016, Variety revealed that Discovery's sister network Science Channel was planning to produce a revival of MythBusters with a new cast, and that its hosts would be determined by a reality competition spin-off, Search for the Next MythBusters (later renamed MythBusters: The Search), which was hosted by Nerdist's Kyle Hill.[84][85] The revival, hosted by Brian Louden and Jon Lung, would premiere its first, 14-episode season on November 15, 2017.[5]

In September 2016, Beyond announced it was producing a new original series for Netflix, White Rabbit Project, starring Byron, Belleci, and Imahara.[86] It ran for one season of 10 episodes.

In April 2018, Adam Savage was announced to be returning to the franchise to host and executive produce a new spin-off, MythBusters Jr., with a 10-episode first season, which premiered in December 2018 with a sneak-peek episode, and the series officially starting January 2, 2019. The series features Savage working with a group of six young scientists. Savage stated that his goal for the series was to "start passing on everything to the next generation" as he grows older.[87][88]

In 2021, an automotive-focused spin-off was produced called Motor MythBusters, with original Build Team member Tory Belleci being joined by Faye Hadley of the All Girls Garage series and professional race car driver Bisi Ezerioha.[89] Robert Lee once again provided some voice over work for this series. The 13-episode series, which premiered on August 4, 2021, was initially only available on the Motor Trend app in the United States,[90] before being released through Amazon Prime Video,[91] and having its premiere on Motor Trend's TV channel on January 18, 2022.[92] In 2021 Beyond also repackaged segments from the original series grouped into themed episodes to create a spin-off called MythBusters: There's Your Problem!.[93]

Savage has stated that he is unlikely to work with Hyneman on any future projects, stating that although they worked well together as a classic example of a double act (with Hyneman as the straight man), their personalities clashed off-screen and on-screen. Savage suspected that both he and Hyneman were enjoying spending time apart from each other.[94]

See also edit

Similar television series edit

General edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ For example, when testing myths about flatulence, the crew called the phenomenon by its scientific designation (e.g. "flatulence" or "flatus"), while the word "fart" was bleeped out.

References edit

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External links edit

  • Official website  
  • MythBusters at IMDb

mythbusters, this, article, needs, updated, reason, given, information, outdated, incomplete, when, comes, post, original, show, stuff, please, help, update, this, article, reflect, recent, events, newly, available, information, february, 2020, science, entert. This article needs to be updated The reason given is the information is outdated incomplete when it comes to post original show stuff Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information February 2020 MythBusters is a science entertainment television program developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia s Beyond Television Productions 1 The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23 2003 It was broadcast internationally by many television networks and other Discovery channels worldwide The show s original hosts special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman used elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors myths movie scenes adages Internet videos and news stories MythBustersMythBusters title screen from 2003 2006GenreFactual television Science TechnologyDeveloped byPeter ReesPresented byJamie Hyneman Adam Savage Kari Byron Tory Belleci Grant Imahara Scottie Chapman Jessi Combs Jon Lung Brian Louden Bisi Ezerioha Faye HadleyNarrated byRobert Lee Robin Banks Europe ComposersDaniel Thomas pilot Bob Brozman pilot Neil SutherlandCountry of originUnited States Australia 1 Original languageEnglishNo of seasons17No of episodes296 list of episodes ProductionCamera setupMultipleRunning time43 44 minutes broadcast cut 48 50 minutes original cut Production companyBeyond Television Productions 2 Original releaseNetworkDiscovery ChannelReleaseJanuary 23 2003 2003 01 23 March 6 2016 2016 03 06 NetworkScience ChannelReleaseNovember 15 2017 2017 11 15 February 28 2018 2018 02 28 RelatedHead RushMythBusters The SearchMythBusters Jr Savage BuildsMotor MythBustersFilmed in San Francisco and edited in Artarmon New South Wales MythBusters aired 282 total episodes before its cancellation at the end of the 2016 season in March Planning and some experimentation took place at Hyneman s workshops in San Francisco experiments requiring more space or special accommodations were filmed on location typically around the San Francisco Bay Area and other locations in northern California going to other states or even countries on occasion when required During the second season members of Savage s and Hyneman s behind the scenes team were organized into a second team of MythBusters The Build Team They generally tested myths separately from the main duo and operated from another workshop This arrangement continued until August 2014 when it was announced at the end of Plane Boarding that Tory Belleci Kari Byron and Grant Imahara would be leaving the show Savage and Hyneman subsequently hosted the final two seasons alone 3 4 On October 21 2015 it was announced that MythBusters would air its 14th and final season in 2016 The show aired its final episode with the original cast on March 6 2016 On November 15 2017 sister network Science Channel revived the series with new hosts Jon Lung and Brian Louden who were selected via the competition spin off MythBusters The Search 5 The revival was filmed in Santa Clarita and on location in other parts of Southern California airing for two seasons that lasted until 2018 Savage would later return in MythBusters Jr a spin off featuring children The most recent iteration of the franchise Motor Mythbusters was produced by Beyond Television and aired on MotorTrend in 2021 Belleci returned for the series and was joined by engineer Bisi Ezerioha and mechanic Faye Hadley The series focused on testing myths and urban legends about automobiles MythBusters refers to both the name of the program and the cast members who test the experiments Contents 1 History 2 Cast 3 Episodes 4 Format 4 1 Experiment approach 4 2 Outcomes of the experiments 4 2 1 Busted 4 2 2 Plausible 4 2 3 Confirmed 5 Warnings and self censorship 6 Accidents 6 1 Esparto accident 6 2 Cannonball accident 7 Name lawsuit 8 Popularity and influence 8 1 Tours and exhibits 9 International broadcasts 10 Revival and spin offs 11 See also 11 1 Similar television series 11 2 General 12 Notes 13 References 14 External linksHistory editThe series concept was developed for the Discovery Channel as Tall Tales or True 6 by Australian writer and producer Peter Rees of Beyond Productions in 2002 Discovery rejected the proposal initially because they had just commissioned a series on the same topic Rees refined the pitch to focus on testing key elements of the stories rather than just retelling them Discovery agreed to develop and co produce a three episode series pilot Jamie Hyneman was one of a number of special effects artists who were asked to prepare a casting video for network consideration Rees had interviewed him previously for a segment of the popular science series Beyond 2000 about the British American robot combat television series Robot Wars Adam Savage who had worked with Hyneman in commercials and on the robot combat television series BattleBots was asked by Hyneman to help co host the show because according to Savage Hyneman thought himself too uninteresting to host the series on his own 7 8 During July 2006 an edited 30 minute version of MythBusters began airing on BBC Two in the UK The episodes shown on the European Discovery Channel sometimes include extra scenes not shown in the United States version some of these scenes are included eventually in specials such as MythBusters Outtakes The 14th season which premiered in January 2016 was the final season for the series with Savage and Hyneman 9 Adam Savage returned to TV with the show MythBusters Jr without his original co host Jamie Hyneman but with a cast of teenagers hence the name The show debuted on the Science Channel on January 2 2019 10 with rebroadcasts every Saturday morning on Discovery as well as international broadcasts Cast editMain article List of MythBusters cast members Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are the original MythBusters and initially explored all the myths of the series using their combined experience with special effects The two worked at Hyneman s effects workshop M5 Industries they made use of his staff who often worked off screen with Hyneman and Savage usually shown doing most of the work at the shop The show is narrated by Robert Lee though in some regions his voice is replaced by a local narrator As the series progressed members of Hyneman s staff were introduced and began to appear regularly in episodes Three such members artist Kari Byron builder Tory Belleci and metal worker Scottie Chapman were organized as a second team of MythBusters during the second season dubbed the Build Team After Chapman left the show during the third season Grant Imahara a colleague of Hyneman s was hired to provide the team with his electrical and robotics experience Byron went on maternity leave in mid 2009 with her position on the Build Team temporarily filled by Jessi Combs 11 best known for co hosting Spike s Xtreme 4x4 Byron returned in the third episode of 2010 season The Build Team worked at its own workshop called M7 12 investigating separate myths from the original duo Each episode typically alternated between the two teams covering different myths During the Build Team s tenure Belleci was the only member to appear in every myth that the team tested At the end of the 2014 season finale Plane Boarding Savage and Hyneman announced that Byron Belleci and Imahara would not be returning in the 2015 season This was reportedly over salary negotiations due to the rising cost of five hosts Hyneman and Savage returned to being the sole hosts 3 4 13 Byron Belleci and Imahara went on to host Netflix s White Rabbit Project The series had two interns dubbed Mythterns Discovery Channel contest winner Christine Chamberlain and viewer building contest winner Jess Nelson During the first season the program featured segments with folklorist Heather Joseph Witham who explained the origins of certain myths and other people who had first hand experience with the myths being tested but those elements were phased out early in the series The MythBusters commonly consulted experts for myths or topics for which they needed assistance These topics included firearms for which they mostly consulted Lt Al Normandy of the South San Francisco Police Department and explosives for which they consulted retired FBI explosives expert Frank Doyle and Sgt J D Nelson of the Alameda County Sheriff s Office The MythBusters often asked other people such as those supplying the equipment being tested what they knew about the myth under investigation When guests were on the show the MythBusters generally consulted them or included them in the experiments Episodes editMain article List of MythBusters episodes No consistent system was used for organizing MythBusters episodes into seasons The program has never followed a typical calendar of on and off air periods The official MythBusters website lists episodes by year 14 However Discovery sells DVD sets for seasons which sometimes follow the calendar year and sometimes do not 15 In addition Discovery and retail stores also sell collections which divide up the episodes in a different way each collection has about 10 or 12 episodes from various seasons The following table is organized according to year of first broadcast Including Specials and the revival series a total of 296 episodes of MythBusters have aired so far SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedFirst airedLast airedPilots3January 23 2003 2003 01 23 March 7 2003 2003 03 07 20038September 23 2003 2003 09 23 December 12 2003 2003 12 12 200417January 11 2004 2004 01 11 December 22 2004 2004 12 22 200526February 2 2005 2005 02 02 November 16 2005 2005 11 16 200628January 11 2006 2006 01 11 December 13 2006 2006 12 13 200725January 10 2007 2007 01 10 December 12 2007 2007 12 12 200820January 16 2008 2008 01 16 November 19 2008 2008 11 19 200923April 8 2009 2009 04 08 December 28 2009 2009 12 28 201024January 4 2010 2010 01 04 December 22 2010 2010 12 22 201122April 6 2011 2011 04 06 November 30 2011 2011 11 30 201221March 25 2012 2012 03 25 November 25 2012 2012 11 25 201311May 1 2013 2013 05 01 October 17 2013 2013 10 17 201415January 4 2014 2014 01 04 August 21 2014 2014 08 21 201514January 10 2015 2015 01 10 September 5 2015 2015 09 05 201612January 2 2016 2016 01 02 March 6 2016 2016 03 06 20176November 15 2017 2017 11 15 December 20 2017 2017 12 20 20188January 3 2018 2018 01 03 February 28 2018 2018 02 28 UK Specials13March 21 2004 2004 03 21 May 1 2013 2013 05 01 Format editEach MythBusters episode focuses typically on two or more popular beliefs Internet rumors or other myths Many of the myths are on mechanical effects as portrayed in live action films and television of fictional incidents The list of myths tested by the series is compiled from many sources including the personal experiences of cast and crew as well as fan suggestions such as those posted on the Discovery Channel online MythBusters forums 16 Occasionally episodes are produced in which some or all of the myths are related by theme such as pirates or sharks and occasionally these are dubbed as Theme Special episodes As of May 2009 four myths have required such extensive preparation and testing that they had entire episodes devoted solely to them 17 18 19 20 and four specials have been double length 21 22 23 24 Several episodes including the 2006 Holiday Special have included the building of Rube Goldberg machines Before a myth is introduced by the hosts a myth related drawing is made on a blueprint After the hosts introduce the myth a comical video explaining the myth is usually shown Experiment approach edit The MythBusters typically test myths in a two step process In early episodes the steps were described as replicate the circumstances then duplicate the results by Savage 25 This means that first the team attempts to recreate the circumstances that the myth alleges to determine whether the alleged result occurs if that fails they attempt to expand the circumstances to the point that will cause the described result which often reveals that the claims of the myth are objectively ridiculous or impossible to achieve without specialized training or equipment Occasionally the team usually Savage and Hyneman holds a friendly competition between themselves to see which of them can devise a more successful solution to recreating the results This is most common with myths involving building an object that can accomplish a goal for example rapidly cooling a beer or finding a needle in a haystack While the team obeys no specific formula in terms of physical procedure most myths involve construction of various objects to help test the myth They use their functional workshops to construct whatever is needed often including mechanical devices and sets to simulate the circumstances of the myth Human actions are often simulated by mechanical means to increase safety and to achieve consistency in repeated actions Methods for testing myths are usually planned and executed in a manner to produce visually dramatic results 26 which generally involves explosions fires or vehicle crashes Thus myths or tests involving explosives firearms and vehicle collisions are relatively common Tests are sometimes confined to the workshop but often require the teams to be outside Much of the outdoor testing during early seasons took place in the parking lot of M5 and occasionally M6 and M7 citation needed A cargo container in the M7 parking lot commonly serves as an isolation room for dangerous myths with the experiment being triggered from outside However budget increases have permitted more frequent travel to other locations in San Francisco and around the Bay Area Common filming locations around the Bay Area include decommissioned closed military facilities such as Naval Air Station Alameda Naval Air Station Moffett Field Concord Naval Weapons Station Naval Station Treasure Island Marin Headlands Hunters Point Naval Shipyard Mare Island Naval Shipyard and Hamilton Air Force Base and abandoned base housing at Marina California s former Fort Ord and the Alameda County Sheriff s facility in Dublin California especially the firing range emergency vehicles operation course and bomb range Occasionally mainly for special episodes production is out of state or even out of the country Results are measured in a manner scientifically appropriate for the given experiment Sometimes results can be measured by simple numerical measurement using standard tools such as multimeters for electrical measurements or various types of thermometers to measure temperature To gauge results that do not yield numerical quantities the teams commonly make use of several types of equipment that can provide other forms of observable effects When testing physical consequences to a human body which would be too dangerous to test on a living person the MythBusters commonly use analogues Initially they mainly used crash test dummies usually whatever form and function it possessed it would be named Buster for observing blunt trauma injury and ballistic gelatin for testing penetrating trauma They have since progressed to using pig carcasses when an experiment requires a more accurate simulation of human flesh bone and organs They have also occasionally molded real or simulated bones within ballistics gel for simulations of specific body parts They have also used synthetic cadavers or SynDavers such as in the Car Cushion myth Both for the purposes of visual observation to determine a result and simply as a unique visual for the program high speed cameras are used during experiments and have become a trademark of the series Very fast footage of moving objects in front of a measured scale is commonly used to determine the speed of the object Testing is often edited due to time constraints of a televised episode It can often seem as if the teams draw results from fewer repetitions and a smaller data set than they actually have During the Outtakes Special they specifically stated that while they are in fact very thorough in testing myths and repeat experiments many times in many different configurations it is simply impossible to display the entire process during a program Beginning in the fifth season episodes typically contain a prompt for the viewer to visit the show s homepage to view outtake footage of either additional testing or other facets of the myths being tested However Savage himself has acknowledged that they do not purport always to achieve a satisfactorily large enough set of results to overcome definitively all bias 27 In response to criticisms they receive about their methods and results in previous episodes 27 the staff produced several Myths Revisited episodes in which the teams retest myths to see if the complaints have merit These episodes have sometimes resulted in overturning results of several myths as well as upholding some results for reasons different from the original Occasionally the MythBusters take the opportunity to test mini myths during the course of one of the episode s main myths usually in the name of satisfying personal curiosity These can either be planned in advance to take advantage of the testing location for instance in the Peeing on the Third Rail myth Adam got permission to find out if placing coins on a train track was sufficient to derail a train he found that the test locomotive was not affected at all or can simply take place without prior planning MythBusters refuse to test some myths Paranormal concepts such as aliens or ghosts are not addressed because they cannot be tested by scientific methods although one exception pyramid power prompted Adam to comment No more oogie boogie myths please and state at a tour show in Indianapolis in 2012 that it was a mistake Another myth related to the paranormal was the Haunted Hum myth which involved testing if a particular inaudible sound frequency can lead people to believe that an area is haunted The program generally avoids experiments harmful to live animals though in one episode they bombarded cockroaches and other laboratory insects with lethal doses of radiation the cast addressed this saying that the insects were specifically bred for experiments and would have likely died anyway However animal carcasses including those of pigs and chickens are often used but the MythBusters have repeatedly emphasized that the animals have died of natural causes 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 myths that are unlikely to be explored although four were eventually tested Savage has commented that testing myths that require them to disprove general claims is difficult because of the inherent difficulty in disproving a negative As a result when they do pursue such myths they typically go about disproving specific methods that claim to achieve results 28 Additionally certain myths are not tested due to various objections by Discovery Channel or their advertisers most notably myths pertaining to radio frequency identification vulnerability 29 30 31 32 Through nine seasons a total of 2 391 experiments were performed and 12 tons of explosives were used to test 769 myths 33 The team has also expressed reluctance to test conspiracy theory myths such as the JFK assassination or 9 11 conspiracies although they have tested some of the conspiracy theories relating to the Apollo Moon landings Outcomes of the experiments edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed April 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message By the end of each episode the myths are rated busted plausible or confirmed Busted edit Myths are rated as busted when the myth s results cannot be replicated under either the described parameters or reasonably exaggerated ones Often when a myth is declared busted the team will attempt to see what would be required to replicate the result of the myth through scientific means discarding the original parameters of the myth itself Going to absolute limits of what is physically possible to replicate the results is the origin of what is unofficially titled the Mythbusters motto If it s worth doing it s worth overdoing This is also commonly referred to in the series as the MythBusters way and often reveals that the circumstances required to accurately recreate a busted myth are physically impossible or highly unlikely to occur with the scientific facts presented or the equipment used in the myth used to gain the results is neither available to the general public nor capable of producing the results For example when trying to see if diamonds can be made with a microwave and the myth is busted the team arranges with an expert to have diamonds created with a large quantity of explosives Some of these myths are retested if the viewers are dissatisfied with the results and are declared rebusted if the results of this second attempt result in the same conclusions as the original attempts On rare occasions retested myths result in a conclusion different from the first attempt usually going from busted the first time to plausible or even confirmed on the retest Plausible edit Plausible is given under a few 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 because of the myth having been altered slightly over time by it being told and retold by the time it was tested by the MythBusters Also certain materials may have had to be 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 Plausible is given if no documentation of the myth occurred at the time of the episode s production yet the MythBusters were still able to duplicate it very closely as to how the myth was described such as the myth that pirates wore eye patches to keep their night vision or an untrained pilot was talked through landing an airplane If the myth s results are achieved using the method described but the underlying reason is different from the one described in the myth such as in the myth of throwing a fire extinguisher into a fire to make it explode and extinguish the fire If it requires a highly improbable set of circumstances yet is shown to be possible under similar yet artificial circumstances plausible is used For example in the myth of Can two colliding bullets fuse together two bullets were shown to fuse together but would be exceedingly difficult to actually get two period guns with period ammunition to collide in the correct way to cause the result The results can be created in a similar laboratory setting but the chances of the myth actually happening as described are remote If the results stated in the myth are attainable but in such a way as to make the process either highly dangerous or less efficient than more common methods of achieving the same result it is used For example in Car vs Rain the MythBusters declared the myth plausible but not recommended due to the danger in driving a car at high speeds on a wet road though the myth was completely true 34 Plausible is used if a positive result is attained using surrogates for living creatures but the procedure would result in injury or death if an actual creature was tested For example in Holiday Special two ballistics gel replicas of pet dogs were used to test the myth that a falling frozen turkey would crush a household pet both replicas sustained serious injuries as determined by a veterinarian and the myth was dubbed plausible as the Build Team was unwilling to test the myth on actual pets Occasionally a myth is labelled plausible if the described scenario produces a result similar to but of less intensity than the one described in the myth Confirmed edit The term true was used instead of confirmed in the first season The MythBusters are able to re create or closely re create the myth s purported outcome with the described circumstances A confirmed myth is usually corroborated with documented evidence of actual occurrences If the myth lacks any specific scenarios the MythBusters test every reasonable scenario and just one scenario is enough for them to confirm the myth For example when testing to see whether shooting fish in a barrel was in fact very easy in most tests they could not hit the fish with a bullet but the energy transfer to the water by the bullet was lethal to the fish therefore the myth was confirmed If no instances of the event are documented as occurring in real life but the myth was taken from a specific scene or character in a specific movie the myth is confirmed if they are able to replicate it with the same circumstances For example the Build Team gave a verdict of confirmed for a scene in Point Break where two skydivers one without a parachute jumped off the plane at different times and yet the second jumper was able to catch up to the first jumper Though no cases of this ever being attempted in real life were documented it was confirmed nonetheless since it only came from a single scene in a specific movie The same applied to the myth about the Knight Rider driving his car at highway speeds into a semi trailer truck via ramp without any trouble though Adam and Jamie found no real life occurrences of the stunt other than movie or television productions it came from a specific TV show and thus was confirmed In rare circumstances a myth is considered confirmed when the testing process is intentionally stopped but news reports or other documentation are available that confirm it has happened at least once in testing the Jet Taxi Myth in which a taxicab is flipped by the engine of a jet aircraft both Adam and Jamie agreed that the myth could not be replicated accurately for insurance reasons but news footage verified that such an event is possible In this case three years later they were allowed to return to the subject and confirm the myth using a Boeing 747 Warnings and self censorship editMany of the myths tested involve purported household scenarios so all episodes begin with a disclaimer against attempting the experiments seen on the series most episodes also feature a second warning halfway through the running time These disclaimers are not broadcast on SBS in Australia in the Netherlands Discovery Mix in Sweden Samsung TV plus MythBusters channel in the United Kingdom the Discovery Channel in Denmark or on the Prime and Sky Discovery Channels in New Zealand Often they are presented with an element of humor such as Savage wearing a padded suit as Hyneman hits him in the chest with a baseball bat or Hyneman explaining that Savage and he are professionals before Savage slides into view and crashes into a barrier while saying Don t try this at home The series employs various degrees of safety or courtesy related censorship Vulgar language is censored as the show is considered family friendly and most such language occurs spontaneously when the team is surprised or overexcited at other times a deliberate effort is made to keep the scripted material clean In addition to the standard bleep the show often uses a relevant or humorous sound effect Euphemisms and scientific terminology are used for potentially offensive terms note 1 In the Peeing on the Third Rail myth the show censored the valve used to release urine from the dummy The names of ingredients used in the production of hazardous materials and some explosives are usually censored to prevent amateurs from recreating potentially dangerous substances For example in the Hindenburg special Savage ignited thermite with a hypergolic mixture of blur a syrupy pale blue liquid and blur a dark powder In a Civil War themed episode the ingredients for making a form of homemade black powder were censored in similar fashion In one extreme instance of self censorship the team explored an urban legend stating that a widely available material could be used to create an explosive To their surprise the seemingly unlikely legend proved true but the material was so easy to obtain and the resulting explosion so powerful that the production team decided allowing such information to reach the general public would be irresponsible instead electing to destroy all footage of the experiment and agreeing never to speak of the incident Several years later when DARPA solicited advice from the public regarding potentially unknown bomb risks Savage contacted them about their discovery 35 In another episode that focused on myths surrounding electronic security devices a segment was aired on defeating biometric fingerprint readers using various methods One of these techniques involved creating a fake 3D fingerprint from a 2D image of the authorized print After some trial and error the team successfully cast a viable ballistics gel reproduction using a copper coated circuit board a picture of the fingerprint printed on acetate and a photochemical acid etching process After the reproduction was shown to defeat both fingerprint scanners and although the chemicals used during the etching process are never identified the narrator still hints at an important step having been edited out and discourages viewers from trying it themselves None of the other techniques that successfully defeated the fingerprint scanners or the other security devices tested in the episode were censored or obfuscated perhaps because the rest were all fairly simple and straightforward methods such as holding up a bedsheet or moving extremely slowly to hide from ultrasonic motion detectors or holding up a pane of glass to defeat thermal motion detectors Brand names and logos are regularly blurred or covered with tape or a MythBusters sticker Brand names are shown when integral to a myth such as in the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment or Pop Rocks in the first pilot episode of MythBusters The Diet Coke and Mentos experiment is also an outlier regarding their safety warnings as Savage and Hyneman stated on air that this myth was perfectly safe for viewers to replicate on their own Another example of this is the Phone Book Friction episode in which they investigated the difficulty of pulling two telephone books apart after their pages had been interleaved One episode from the 2014 season DO Try This at Home classified several myths as safe or unsafe for testing by viewers Accidents editOwing to the nature of the experiments performed on the show many did not go as expected Sometimes these mishaps rendered the test equipment unusable such as when the rocket in the Rocket Car Revisit episode exploded on ignition Others even resulted in minor injuries to the personnel involved with the show such as when Tory banged his knee falling off a fire tower the fall was expected and prepared for using a safety harness but the injury to his knee was unforeseen The most common injuries were caused when moving safety equipment which resulted in stitches and at least four broken fingers 36 These kinds of incidents were usually included in the broadcast program with little other media attention but some things failed in more spectacular and newsworthy ways Esparto accident edit On March 20 2009 the town of Esparto California was shaken and windows were shattered by a blast created by 500 pounds 230 kg of ANFO during filming of the myth Knock Your Socks Off 37 Some residents were upset that the blast took place without telling anyone 38 Chief Barry Burns of the Esparto Fire Department had several firefighters present for the explosion He said he made the decision not to notify anyone in town for safety s sake MythBusters is supposed to be a really popular show Everybody would have been out there We would have had to cancel it because it would have been too dangerous 39 Representatives from the show replaced some of the windows that same day 37 The experiment did air but the hosts recounted in a 2011 special episode Location Location Location that they have never returned to the Esparto quarry as a result of the mishap Cannonball accident edit On December 6 2011 while conducting the Cannonball Chemistry experiment the MythBusters crew accidentally sent a cannonball through the side of a house and into a minivan in a Dublin California neighborhood Although the experiment was being carried out at the Alameda County Sheriff s Bomb Range under the supervision of the Alameda County Sheriff s Office the errant projectile went over its intended target of water barrels and instead skipped up a hill that was intended as a secondary safety target The cannonball soared 700 yards 640 m into a neighboring community striking a house and leaving a 10 inch 250 mm hole before striking the roof of another house and smashing through a window of a parked minivan No one was hurt by the rogue cannonball 40 41 A show producer visited the homeowners to apologize 42 followed by Savage and Hyneman Savage later stated that the incident would not cause the series production to be suspended 43 Savage and Kari Byron returned to Dublin High School on February 22 2012 to participate in a moderated panel session at Dublin High School s Engineering and Design Academy Open House during National Engineers Week 2012 in part to help repair relations with the community The sold out event attracted over 1 000 attendees 44 45 46 During the airing of the experiment on November 11 2012 the Build Team apologized for the accident and explained that they suspended testing after it occurred to assess damage and start an investigation The testing resumed several months later at a rock quarry in a much more remote area Name lawsuit editIn January 2005 children s author and adventurer Andrew Knight commenced legal proceedings in Australia against Beyond Productions the producer of MythBusters alleging passing off in relation to the use of the name MythBusters 47 Knight asserted that he had previously organized a team of MythBusters and had used the name continuously since 1988 in relation to pursuing myths ghosts monsters goblins and other such mysteries in an offbeat manner around the world Knight wrote a series of self published children s books under the banner MythBusters in 1991 1993 and 1996 48 49 In February 2007 the Federal Court of Australia dismissed Knight s claims against Beyond Productions 50 A parallel action relying on the same three books and a collection of short television appearances was brought later that year in the Chancery Division of the High Court of England and Wales Beyond Properties Pty Limited was again a defendant as were two other Beyond companies and Discovery Communications Inc the entity responsible for broadcasting the MythBusters program in the UK These claims were also dismissed 51 Popularity and influence edit nbsp Savage left and Hyneman as keynote speakers at Symantec Vision 2008Hyneman and Savage have appeared on numerous entertainment programs such as Good Morning America 52 the Late Show with David Letterman 53 NPR s news program All Things Considered 54 the syndicated radio Bob and Tom Show and in the movie The Darwin Awards as two military surplus vendors who sold a JATO rocket to the main character Skeptic magazine s Daniel Loxton interviewed the duo in a 2005 article titled MythBusters Exposed 55 Hyneman and Savage spoke at the annual convention of the National Science Teachers Association in March 2006 and the California Science Teachers Association named them honorary lifetime members in October 2006 56 In 2009 they were the featured keynote speakers at RSA Conference 57 They also are occasionally interviewed for articles by Popular Mechanics and are featured in that magazine s September 2009 issue 58 Hyneman and Savage occasionally appear at colleges around the United States to talk about what it is like to be a MythBuster the show consists of an interview and discussion to give the audience the opportunity to ask the MythBusters questions The Build Team members have sometimes made appearances in similar capacity They hold lectures in both collegiate and corporate settings though the technical colleges tend to be the most enthusiastic 59 60 They have spoken at WPI RPI MIT Michigan Tech UC Berkeley and many others nbsp At the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge posing with Skulls Unlimited International Inc s Jay Villemarette and Joey Williams in 2004Adam Savage has written a primer on mold making for Make magazine and has been featured guest at the San Mateo Maker Faire since 2008 Kari Byron was interviewed on The Late Show on January 16 2006 61 People involved in survival stories reported in local newscasts have sometimes mentioned previous viewings of MythBusters as an influence to their actions Twenty three year old Theresa Booth of St Martin Minnesota credits a MythBusters episode for her infant child and her survival On April 3 2007 she skidded off the road into a drainage ditch which had filled with flood water from the Sauk River Unable to open the door Booth recalled the Underwater Car myth and waited until the pressure equalized to open the door 62 On October 19 2007 in Sydney Australia a teenager named Julian Shaw pulled a fainted middle aged man off the railway tracks near a train station to safety below the platform He pulled back as the train passed citing that the Train Suction episode affected his response 63 The 3rd Annual Independent Investigative Group IIG Awards presented an award to MythBusters recognizing the promotion of science and critical thinking in popular media on May 18 2009 64 On the May 1 2008 episode of CSI The Theory of Everything Hyneman and Savage appeared in a cameo as observers taking notes during a test to determine whether a stun gun bolt can set someone on fire under various circumstances which was later tested on MythBusters itself During August 2008 Hyneman and Savage appeared on the stage of NVISION 08 an event sponsored by Nvidia having been asked by Nvidia s creative director David Wright to provide a visual demonstration of the power of the graphics processing unit vs a central processing unit They did this by creating an image of the Mona Lisa with a giant parallel processing paintball gun setting a world record for largest paintball gun in the process 65 66 67 An encore of the demonstration was given at YouTube Live featuring Hyneman standing in the path of the paintballs wearing a suit of armor 68 On the April 17 2012 episode of NCIS Rekindled the character Abby Sciuto demonstrates a thermite fire to her boss Jethro Gibbs by playing a clip from the MythBusters episode End with a Bang Gibbs asks if the men in the clip are pyromaniacs and she replies Scientists Gibbs Okay yeah they re kind of pyromaniacs too Hyneman Savage and others from the MythBusters crew have appeared at The Amaz ng Meeting and subsequently were interviewed by Steven Novella and the skeptical rogues for the podcast The Skeptics Guide to the Universe 69 70 On April 16 2010 Hyneman and Savage received the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism from the Harvard Humanist Chaplaincy 71 nbsp At the White HouseOn October 18 2010 President Barack Obama as part of the White House Science Fair announced he had taped a segment of MythBusters and would appear on December 8 2010 Obama s segment covered the Archimedes solar ray myth 72 73 Both men appeared at the Rally to Restore Sanity and or Fear on October 30 2010 in Washington DC They had an experiment with the crowd involving the wave They had the audience make various noises e g popping their cheeks or laughing all at the same time They also had everyone in the crowd jump up at the same time to see if it would register on a seismograph 74 Hyneman and Savage received honorary doctorates from the University of Twente in the Netherlands for their role in popularizing science on the occasion of the university s 50th anniversary on November 25 2011 75 As of November 2011 all five MythBusters have also appeared in new shows segments or specials for Discovery s Science Channel including Head Rush Byron 2010 present Punkin Chunkin 2010 Hyneman and Savage Flying Anvils 2011 Belleci Road to Punkin Chunkin 2011 and Punkin Chunkin 2011 Belleci Byron and Imahara Large Dangerous Rocket Ships 2010 and Large Dangerous Rocket Ships 2011 Byron Killer Robots RoboGames 2010 Imahara Curiosity Savage Punkin Chunkin 2012 Belleci Byron and Imahara Savage and Hyneman are judges on the game show Unchained Reaction which premiered in March 2012 Belleci and Byron are also hosts of the 2015 Science Channel show Thrill Factor Aired on February 12 2012 Hyneman and Savage lent their voices to The Simpsons episode The Daughter Also Rises to be featured on a show similar to MythBusterscalled Mythcrackers in which Hyneman and Savage take on the classic myth that a cat always lands on its feet In the episode they do not want to harm a real cat so they took a Build A Bear carcass stuffed it with ballistics gel shot it with a 20 foot barrel steam cannon then made a scatter plot of the remains By the end of the experiment Hyneman asked What was it we were trying to prove again to which Savage replied Don t know don t care Clips from this show appeared in the MythBusters Simpsons Special that first aired in 2015 On October 3 2012 Byron and Belleci made a guest appearance on the Discovery series Sons of Guns They test fired some of the weapons in the Red Jacket shop then watched as the staff retested a myth busted by the Build Team in 2008 that a propane tank could explode when hit with a bullet nbsp The MythBusters at a 2015 performance in IowaIn 2015 Hyneman and Savage appeared in a series of Australian television commercials for Dulux paint depicting them testing the maker s claims of durability 76 77 78 In 2016 a New York Times study of the 50 television shows with the most Facebook likes found that MythBusters has the second highest share of likes from men of any show in the data after Fast N Loud 79 Tours and exhibits edit A traveling museum exhibit called MythBusters The Explosive Exhibition 80 was developed over the course of about five years premiering at the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago in March 2012 81 In 2011 Savage and Hyneman created a live stage show called the MythBusters Behind the Myths Tour in which they conduct experiments on stage and discuss some background details of the show 82 In March 2014 they announced that the tour would be coming to Australia and New Zealand needs update The show and one particular episode involving the myth of a cigarette being able to cause a fire when thrown into a pool of gasoline was credited with helping to free a man from prison 83 International broadcasts editMythBusters is broadcast in several countries primarily by each country s version of the Discovery Channel In some countries the English speech is either subtitled in the relevant language or the narration voice over is replaced or the entire show narration and hosts voices is dubbed The United States customary units used by the hosts throughout the show are converted to metric in the process In the UK since 2011 the use of US customary units in the show has often been retained rather than being replaced with metric units Sometimes the part where the myth is explained in sketches is completely redrawn in that language Excerpts of the show were also shown as part of the Beyond Television produced Beyond Tomorrow It also shows in Hong Kong s ViuTVsix Revival and spin offs editSee also MythBusters The Search and MythBusters Jr In late March 2016 Variety revealed that Discovery s sister network Science Channel was planning to produce a revival of MythBusters with a new cast and that its hosts would be determined by a reality competition spin off Search for the Next MythBusters later renamed MythBusters The Search which was hosted by Nerdist s Kyle Hill 84 85 The revival hosted by Brian Louden and Jon Lung would premiere its first 14 episode season on November 15 2017 5 In September 2016 Beyond announced it was producing a new original series for Netflix White Rabbit Project starring Byron Belleci and Imahara 86 It ran for one season of 10 episodes In April 2018 Adam Savage was announced to be returning to the franchise to host and executive produce a new spin off MythBusters Jr with a 10 episode first season which premiered in December 2018 with a sneak peek episode and the series officially starting January 2 2019 The series features Savage working with a group of six young scientists Savage stated that his goal for the series was to start passing on everything to the next generation as he grows older 87 88 In 2021 an automotive focused spin off was produced called Motor MythBusters with original Build Team member Tory Belleci being joined by Faye Hadley of the All Girls Garage series and professional race car driver Bisi Ezerioha 89 Robert Lee once again provided some voice over work for this series The 13 episode series which premiered on August 4 2021 was initially only available on the Motor Trend app in the United States 90 before being released through Amazon Prime Video 91 and having its premiere on Motor Trend s TV channel on January 18 2022 92 In 2021 Beyond also repackaged segments from the original series grouped into themed episodes to create a spin off called MythBusters There s Your Problem 93 Savage has stated that he is unlikely to work with Hyneman on any future projects stating that although they worked well together as a classic example of a double act with Hyneman as the straight man their personalities clashed off screen and on screen Savage suspected that both he and Hyneman were enjoying spending time apart from each other 94 See also editSimilar television series edit Bang Goes the Theory Bigger Better Faster Stronger The Boffin the Builder and the Bombardier Brainiac Science Abuse Duck Quacks Don t Echo Food Detectives It s Effin Science Man vs Cartoon Mega Builders Penn amp Teller Tell a Lie Prototype This Proving Ground The Re Inventors Rock and Roll Acid Test Scrapheap Challenge Smash Lab Time Warp Unchained Reaction Urban Legends White Rabbit Project General edit List of common misconceptions The Skeptic s Dictionary Snopes com The Straight Dope Urban legendNotes edit For example when testing myths about flatulence the crew called the phenomenon by its scientific designation e g flatulence or flatus while the word fart was bleeped out References edit a b MythBusters Beyond Distribution Archived from the original on July 6 2011 Retrieved October 18 2010 Beyond Rights Beyondrights tv Retrieved June 9 2022 a b Leopold Todd MythBusters losing some regulars CNN Retrieved August 23 2014 a b Harnick Chris August 22 2014 MythBusters Stars Kari Byron Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara Are Leaving the Show E Online Retrieved August 23 2014 a b Petski Denise July 26 2017 Science Channel Sets Mythbusters Return Date TCA Deadline Retrieved July 30 2017 Knight v Beyond Properties 2007 EWHC 1251 England and Wales High Court Chancery Division April 25 2007 Transcript of Jamie and Adam s November 10 2004 Online Chat MythBusters Official Website Discovery Communications November 10 2004 Retrieved October 18 2010 Adam Savage Interview Part 1 The Sneeze August 23 2005 Retrieved August 1 2006 MythBusters to end with final season Entertainment Weekly October 21 2015 Mythbusters Jr is just the latest kid friendly reality spinoff What s behind the trend USA Today Retrieved December 28 2018 Jessi Combs Biography MythBusters Discovery Communications Retrieved August 3 2009 Terdiman Daniel February 29 2008 A day with the MythBusters CNET Geek Gestalt CBS Interactive Archived from the original on October 11 2008 Retrieved October 18 2010 Burton Bonnie MythBusters drops hosts Kari Byron Grant Imahara Tory Belleci CNET Retrieved April 13 2020 MythBusters Episode Guide Discovery Channel Archived from the original on August 23 2009 Retrieved October 22 2009 MythBusters DVDs and Videos Discovery Channel Archived from the original on October 20 2009 Retrieved October 22 2009 McDuffee Keith April 18 2008 MythBusters fans want to bust the E reader TV Squad AOL Inc Retrieved April 18 2008 Border Slingshot MythBusters Episode 35 July 27 2005 Discovery Confederate Rocket MythBusters Episode 40 October 26 2005 Discovery Archimedes Death Ray MythBusters Episode 46 January 25 2006 Discovery Seesaw Saga MythBusters Episode 120 May 20 2009 Discovery JAWS Special MythBusters Episode SP8 July 17 2005 Discovery Mega Movie Myths 2 Hour Special MythBusters Episode SP9 September 13 2006 Discovery Pirate Special MythBusters Episode 71 January 17 2007 Discovery Supersized Myths MythBusters Episode 90 November 14 2007 Discovery Explosive Decompression Frog Giggin Rear Axle MythBusters Episode 9 January 11 2004 Discovery This is self acknowledged in season two s bathtub electrocution myth Announcer but it wouldn t be MythBusters without pyrotechnics so Adam s rigged up a flashpot to ignite when a lethal electrocution occurs Tory also dubs this the MythBuster way a b Adam Savage at The Last HOPE July 2008 Event occurs at 4 minutes 37 seconds Retrieved October 18 2010 We will absolutely revisit when we think we screwed up the results We won t stand by our results you can t with a data set of one and two and five But we do stand by our methodologies Adam Savage at The Last HOPE July 2008 Savage gives the example that when testing whether obtaining free energy as in building a system that outputs more energy than it requires in input is possible the best they could do was to test existing products that claim to produce free energy Doctorow Cory August 30 2008 Credit card companies killed MythBusters segment on RFID vulnerabilities Note Adam Savage later retracted his statement on who prevented the myth from being tested However his statement that they shall not pursue RFID still stands Hope Hackercon BoingBoing Retrieved October 18 2010 Doctorow Cory September 4 2008 MythBusters host credit card companies DIDN T kill segment on RFID vulnerabiliies BoingBoing Retrieved October 18 2010 Adam Savage at The Last HOPE July 2008 Archived from the original on December 21 2021 Savage discusses an incident in which Discovery refused to air an episode testing commercial teeth whitening products after advertisers expressed concerns Adam Savage at The Last HOPE July 2008 Savage discusses how Discovery continuously responds to his desires to test audiophile myths deeming them too boring especially visually MythBusters by the numbers Discovery Channel Retrieved August 18 2013 Car vs Rain MythBusters June 17 2009 Discovery Walsh Michael Mythbusters Destroyed All Evidence of an Easy to Make Explosive The Nerdist 32 25 33 15 Retrieved September 20 2017 MythBusters Part 2 February 23 2014 a b MythBusters Big Bang Shatters Windows KCRA TV March 25 2009 Archived from the original on April 10 2012 Retrieved December 11 2011 What we can learn from MythBusters Daily Democrat March 24 2009 Retrieved December 10 2011 MythBusters Big Bang Shatters Windows Kcra com March 26 2009 Archived from the original on May 9 2013 Retrieved June 12 2012 MythBusters misfire sends cannonball through neighborhood Los Angeles Times December 7 2011 Retrieved December 11 2011 MythBusters stunt sends cannonball flying through Bay Area home Wsbtv com December 6 2011 Archived from the original on January 15 2012 Retrieved December 11 2011 Leibowitz Barry December 8 2011 MythBusters Misfire Cannonball crashes through house in TV show mishap CBS News Retrieved December 11 2011 Fernandez Sofia December 8 2011 MythBusters Stars Adam Savage Jamie Hyneman Apologize for Cannonball Accident The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on January 7 2012 Retrieved December 11 2011 MythBusters hosts visit Dublin High BC 7 KGO TV 2012 Archived from the original on October 21 2013 Retrieved March 1 2012 MythBusters TV stars talk science at Dublin High School MercuryNews com 2012 Stars Of TV Show MythBusters Visit Dublin High Patch com 2012 Porter Jeni June 17 2005 Wheel falls off serene machine Here comes the son The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved October 18 2010 Bowvayne Andrew E 1996 MythBusters Puffin Books p 144 ISBN 0 14 037554 6 Bowvayne Andrew E 1993 Nut Cases MythBusters S Elfshot Productions p 96 ISBN 1 898412 00 6 Knight v Beyond Properties Pty Ltd 2007 FCA 70 8 February 2007 Federal Court Australia Knight v Beyond Properties Pty Ltd amp ors 2007 EWHC 1251 Ch daily episode Good Morning America November 8 2004 American Broadcasting Company MythBusters in Pop Culture MythBusters Official Website Discovery Communications Retrieved October 18 2010 MythBusters Have Fun in the Name of Science NPR May 18 2007 Loxton Daniel 2005 MythBusters Exposed Skeptic Magazine 12 1 John Schwartz November 21 2006 The Best Science Show on Television The New York Times requires registration Keynote Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman RSA Conference October 9 2009 Archived from the original on October 21 2013 MythBuster Secrets Popular Mechanics September 2009 Retrieved November 17 2009 dead link MythBusters Lecture lsc mit edu November 4 2006 Archived from the original on November 8 2006 Retrieved January 2 2007 Wolfman Productions Wolfmanproductions com Archived from the original on December 30 2006 Retrieved January 2 2007 CBS January 16 2006 Late Show with David Letterman CBS Archived from the original on April 10 2008 Retrieved December 9 2010 How A Mythbusters Experiment Saved A Mother And Child From Drowning Gateway Blend Entertainment March 4 2016 Retrieved November 20 2018 Ramachandran Arjun November 8 2007 Schoolboy Julian s lifesaving MythBuster moment The Sydney Morning Herald Retrieved November 9 2007 IIG The IIG Awards Iigwest com August 21 2010 Retrieved July 1 2011 Hall Kevin August 29 2008 Myth Busted Mona Lisa painted in 275 milliseconds with 1 100 paintballs DVICE SyFy Archived from the original on September 1 2008 Retrieved October 18 2010 Ayers Leslie August 13 2009 Adam Savage Interview Have Mac Will Bust Myths MacLife Future US Inc Archived from the original on August 17 2009 Retrieved October 18 2010 NVISION 08 Highlights GPU vs CPU Demonstration NVIDIA Corporation Retrieved December 11 2016 Live MythBusters on YouTube Retrieved January 6 2009 Adam Savage November 11 2009 Podcast 225 The Skeptics Guide To The Universe Interview Audio MP3 Retrieved October 18 2010 Adam Savage and Tory Belleci February 7 2007 Podcast 81 The Skeptics Guide To The Universe Interview Audio MP3 Retrieved October 18 2010 MythBusters to Receive Harvard Humanism Award Huminist Chaplaincy at Harvard Archived from the original on May 19 2010 Retrieved October 18 2010 President Obama Announces Walk On Role on Discovery Channel s MythBusters Which Premieres December 8 at 9 PM ET PT Press release Discovery October 18 2010 Retrieved October 19 2010 Biddle Sam October 19 2010 Obama Commands MythBusters Crew To Fire Ancient Death Ray Gizmodo Retrieved October 19 2010 Seabrook Andrea Sanity Fear Rally A Protest Of The Absurd npr org Retrieved July 17 2013 Eredoctoraten voor MythBusters Aandrijftechniek July 1 2011 Retrieved July 1 2011 Dulux use Mythbuster TV duo for biggest ad campaign in almost a century AdNews Adnews com au Retrieved June 9 2022 Bhold watch February 1 2016 Dulux Mythbusters Markers Challenge Archived from the original on December 21 2021 via YouTube Bhold watch February 1 2016 Dulux Mythbusters Wine Challenge Archived from the original on December 21 2021 via YouTube Katz Josh December 27 2016 Duck Dynasty vs Modern Family 50 Maps of the U S Cultural Divide The New York Times Mythbusters The Explosive Exhibition Mythbusterstheexhibition com Archived from the original on April 2 2016 Retrieved March 28 2016 Discovery Communications and Exhibits Development Group Debut MythBusters Traveling Exhibition Tmcnet com Retrieved November 2 2013 Gray Margaret January 16 2012 Stage review MythBusters Behind the Myths at Nokia Theatre Los Angeles Times How Discovery Channel s MythBusters Helped a Wrongly Convicted Man Prove His Innocence October 5 2022 MythBusters Revived at Science Channel with Reality Competition Series Variety March 31 2016 Retrieved April 20 2017 James Hibberd November 15 2016 Mythbusters spin off reveals explosive first trailer a href Template Cite magazine html title Template Cite magazine cite magazine a Cite magazine requires magazine help Dessem Matthew September 5 2016 MythBusters Build Team Reuniting for Netflix s White Rabbit Project Slate Retrieved September 6 2016 Adam Savage returns to MythBusters with a young cast of scientists CNET July 26 2018 Retrieved July 27 2018 Malone Michael April 10 2018 Adam Savage to Host Mythbusters Jr on Science Channel Broadcasting Cable NewBay Media LLC Retrieved April 26 2018 Gauthier Michael June 9 2021 Mythbusters Alumni Tory Belleci To Star In Automotive Focused Motor Mythbusters Carscoops Retrieved January 18 2022 Motor MythBusters Where Science Meets the Road Starring Tory Belleci Faye Hadley and Bisi Ezerioha MotorTrend June 10 2021 Retrieved January 18 2022 Watch Motor Mythbusters Season 1 Prime Video Amazon com Retrieved January 18 2022 Carter Justin How to Watch Motor MythBusters How to Watch and Stream Major League amp College Sports Sports Illustrated Retrieved January 19 2022 MythBusters There s Your Problem Beyond Rights Retrieved September 4 2022 Insider Business Insider Retrieved May 18 2016 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to MythBusters nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to MythBusters Official website nbsp MythBusters at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w 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