MythBusters

MythBusters
The current title screen for MythBusters
Format	Scientific method – Documentary
Created by	Peter Rees
Starring	Jamie Hyneman Adam Savage Tory Belleci Kari Byron Grant Imahara Additional cast
Narrated by	Robert Lee (USA) Robin Banks (Discovery UK) Rufus Hound (BBC Two) Eduardo Robiera (Latin American)
Country of origin	Australia  United States
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	142 (List of episodes)
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	43 minutes (Discovery Channel, SBS) 52 minutes (Discovery UK) 26 minutes (BBC Two) (Times do not include commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	Discovery Channel
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	January 23, 2003 – present
External links
Official website

MythBusters is a popular science television program produced by Australian company Beyond Television Productions^[1] originally for the Discovery Channel in the United States. The series has since been distributed by a number of international broadcasters, including SBS in Australia and BBC2 in the UK. The series stars special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who use basic elements of the scientific method to test the validity of various rumors, myths, movie scenes, internet videos and news stories in popular culture.

Filming for MythBusters is based in San Francisco, California, though occasional elements of production are done in Artarmon, Australia. Planning and some experimentation usually takes place at the cast's workshops; experiments that require more space or special accommodations are filmed on location, typically around the Bay Area of San Francisco and sometimes other parts of Northern California. During the second season, several members of Savage and Hyneman's team ("The Build Team") were organized into a second team of MythBusters and now typically test separate myths from the main duo.

History

The concept for the series was first created for the Discovery Channel under the title, Tall Tales or True^[2] by Australian writer/producer Peter Rees of Beyond Productions during 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 an initial three episode series pilot. Jamie Hyneman was one of a number of special effects artists who was 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 occasionally 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.^[3][4] During July 2006, an edited thirty-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 U.S. version (some of these scenes are included eventually in "specials", such as "MythBusters Outtakes").

Cast

Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman are the original MythBusters, and initially explored all the myths of the series using their common experience with special effects. The two work at Hyneman's effects workshop, M5 Industries; they make use of his staff, which often works off-screen, with Hyneman and Savage usually shown doing most of the work at the shop. One of the series' gimmicks is the interaction between Savage and Hyneman, which is similar to a double act, wherein Hyneman plays the straight man and Savage is the comic relief. The show is narrated by Robert Lee, though in some regions his voice is replaced by a local narrator.

As the series progressed, some members of Hyneman's staff were introduced to the audience 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 for personal reasons during the third season, Grant Imahara, a colleague of Hyneman, 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,^[5] best known for co-hosting Spike's Xtreme 4x4. The Build Team now works at its own workshop, called M7,^[6] investigating separate myths from the original duo. Each episode now typically alternates between the two teams covering different myths.

The series has had two interns, dubbed "Mythterns": Discovery Channel contest winner Christine Chamberlain and viewer building contest-winner Jess Nelson; neither is with the series now. 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 during the series. However, the MythBusters still commonly consult with experts for myths for topics for which they need assistance. These topics commonly include firearms, for which they most commonly consult Lt. Al Normandy of the South San Francisco Police Department, and explosives, for which they most commonly consult retired FBI explosives expert Frank Doyle and Sgt. J.D. Nelson of the Alameda County Sheriff's Dept. The MythBusters will also routinely ask those they come in contact with during testing (such as those supplying the equipment being tested) if they have ever heard of the myth in question.

Format

Each MythBusters episode focuses typically on several popular beliefs, Internet rumors, or other myths. 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.^[7] 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,^[8] and four specials have been double-length.^[9]

Experiment methodology

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.^[10] 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. Occasionally the team (usually Savage and Hyneman) will hold 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 there is not any specific formula the team obeys in terms of physical procedure, most myths involve construction of various objects to help test the myth. They utilize their functional workshops to create whatever is needed, often including mechanical devices and sets to simulate the circumstances of the myth. Human actions are often simulated by mechanical means in order 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,^[11] which generally involves explosions, fires, and/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. A cargo container in the 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 Station Treasure Island, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Hamilton Air Force Base, and an abandoned military housing subdivision for Marina, California's former Fort Ord), and the Alameda County Sheriff's Bomb Squad and Firearm 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 don't yield numerical quantities, the teams commonly make use of several types of equipment which 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 analogs. Initially, they mainly used crash test dummies (most notably one they 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.

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 utilized 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 all of it 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.^[12]

In response to criticisms they receive about their methods and results in previous episodes,^[12] the staff produced several "Myths Revisited" episodes, in which the teams retest myths to see if the complaints have merit. These episodes have resulted in overturning results of several myths, as well as upholding some results for different reasons than originally concluded.

There are some myths the MythBusters refuse to test. 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." The program generally avoids experiments harmful to animals, though in one episode they bombarded cockroaches and other laboratory insects with lethal doses of radiation and the cast addressed this, saying that the insects were specifically bred for experiments and would have likely died anyway. The book MythBusters: The Explosive Truth Behind 30 of the Most Perplexing Urban Legends of All Time (ISBN 1-4169-0929-X) also gives a list of a dozen myths that are unlikely to be explored (although four were eventually tested). Savage has commented that it is difficult to test myths that require them to disprove general claims because of the inherent difficulty in proving a negative. As a result, when they do pursue such myths, they typically go about disproving specific methods that claim to achieve results.^[13] Additionally, certain myths are not tested due to various objections by Discovery Channel or their advertisers.^[14][15] Through the first seven seasons, a total of 2,265 experiments were performed and ten tons of explosives were used to test 705 myths.^[16] The team has also expressed their reluctance to test conspiracy theory myths such as the JFK assassination or 9/11 conspiracies.

Conclusions of the experiments

By the end of each episode, each myth is rated "busted," "plausible," or "confirmed".

Busted

The myth's results cannot be replicated via either the described parameters nor reasonably exaggerated ones. Often, when a myth is declared Busted, the team will try to see what would be required to replicate the result of the myth, regardless of the facts of the myth itself. This is 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 (requiring equipment that doesn't exist, or conditions that will never occur physically), wildly implausible (requiring so much time/equipment that a myth is plausible, but not likely to occur), or would result in the death or serious injury of the myth's human subject.

Some of these myths are retested if the viewers are dissatisfied with the results, and are declared "Re-Busted" if the results of this second try constitute failure in the team's opinion.

Plausible

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 due to facts of the myth having been altered slightly over time by it being told and re-told by the time it was tested by the MythBusters. Also, certain materials may 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.
• If there is not any documentation of the myth occurring, yet the MythBusters were still able to duplicate it very closely to how the myth was described (such as the myth that pirates wore eye patches for enhanced night vision, or a civilian being talked into landing an airplane).
• 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. 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 wet pavement even though the myth was completely true. ^[17]
• Occasionally a myth will be labeled plausible if the described scenario produces a result similar to, but of less intensity than, the one described in the myth.

Confirmed

The MythBusters are able to recreate or closely recreate the myth's purported outcome with the described circumstances. A Confirmed myth is usually corroborated with documented evidence of actual occurrences.

If the myth lacks any specific scenarios, the Mythbusters will 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, they could not hit the reanimated fish with a bullet, but the pressure distributed by the water was indeed very lethal; therefore, the myth was confirmed—- the fish was killed, though not by the bullet itself). The term "True" was used in the first season.

Warnings and self-censorship

MythBusters places a strong emphasis on viewer safety due to the nature of the myths tested, often dealing with purported household scenarios. All episodes begin with Adam and Jamie giving 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 Discovery UK, on SBS in Australia, in the Netherlands, or on the Prime and Sky Discovery Channels in New Zealand.

The series employs various degrees of safety or courtesy-related censorship. Vulgar language and the names of ingredients used in the production of hazardous materials are usually blocked, but not with the standard bleep. Instead, the show uses sound effects which are humorous or relevant to the myth. Other potentially offensive subject matters are referred to by euphemisms or by strictly scientific terms.^[18] In the "Peeing on the Third Rail" myth the show censored the name of the valve used to release urine from the dummy. Visible labels of chemicals used to produce dangerous materials are blurred and the names of those materials are never mentioned. For example, in the Hindenburg special Adam described how to make a flammable compound by "mixing blur with blur." The show makes it clear that even though they are professionals, in certain scenarios such as building a bomb they are required to seek special permission or assistance from the government and are sometimes prohibited from engaging in certain activities. They usually do not show how to assemble explosives nor do they reveal all the ingredients needed to make them.

Many brand names of items used in the show or worn by cast members are also edited out, usually by blurring or covering up the branding with a MythBusters sticker. When a brand name is an inherent part of the myth such as in the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment the name is shown.

Name lawsuit

During January 2005, children's author and adventurer Andrew Knight (aka "Bowvayne") commenced legal proceedings in Australia against Beyond Productions (the producer of MythBusters), alleging passing off in relation to the use of the name "Mythbusters".^[19] 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 all around the world. Knight authored a series of self-published children's books under the banner "Mythbusters" in 1991, 1993, and 1996.^[20][21] In February 2007, the Federal Court of Australia dismissed Knight's claims against Beyond (Knight v Beyond Properties Pty Ltd [2007] FCA 70).

Popularity and influence

Jamie and Adam as keynote speakers at Symantec Vision 08.

Hyneman and Savage have appeared on numerous entertainment programs, such as Good Morning America,^[22] The Late Show with David Letterman,^[23] The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, NPR's news program All Things Considered,^[24] the syndicated radio Bob and Tom Show, Countdown With Keith Olbermann, 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 an article entitled "Mythbusters Exposed."^[25] 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.^[26] In Australia, they appeared in a segment at the 2006 TV Week Logie Awards,^{[citation needed]} where they attempted to solve the myth of whether or not the atmospheric pressure at the Logies caused guests' breast implants to increase in size. This segment used footage from the "Exploding Implants" myth, with a new voice-over, intro, and ending. They also are occasionally interviewed for articles by Popular Mechanics and are featured in that magazine's September 2009 issue.

Hyneman and Savage occasionally appear at colleges around the United States to talk about what it's 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.^[27][28] They have spoken at WPI, RPI, MIT, Georgia Tech, Michigan Tech and many others.

Adam Savage has written a primer on mold-making for MAKE magazine, and was a featured guest at the 2008 San Mateo Maker Faire. Kari Byron was interviewed on The Late Show, on January 16, 2006.^[29] During 2006, Kari did a photography session for FHM magazine, in which she demonstrated simple home chemistry experiments (such as the Mentos and Diet-Coke reaction) while wearing a red bra and lab coat.

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 and her infant child's survival. On April 3, 2007 she skidded off the road into a drainage ditch which had filled with flood water from the Sauk River. In a local newscast, she is described as opening the car door as soon as it entered the water, and credits her watching of the show (specifically, the episode of the Underwater Car myth) for her knowledge of how to survive the accident.^[30] 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.^[31]

On the May 1, 2008 episode of CSI, "The Theory of Everything", Jamie and Adam appeared in a cameo as observers taking notes during a test to determine whether a taser bolt can set someone afire under various circumstances.

During August 2008, Hyneman and Savage appeared on the stage of NVISION 08, an event sponsored by NVIDIA, having been asked by NVidia to provide a visual demonstration of the power of the GPU vs a CPU. They did this by creating an image of the Mona Lisa with a giant parallel processing paintball gun.^[32] An encore of the demonstration was given at YouTube Live featuring Hyneman standing in the path of the paintballs wearing a suit of armor.

International broadcasts

MythBusters is broadcast in several countries, primarily by each country's edition of the Discovery Channel. In some countries, the English speech is either subtitled in the relevant language and the United States customary units, still used throughout, are converted to metric, or the narrator is dubbed, or the whole show is voiced-over. 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.

See also

• List of MythBusters episodes
• Darwin Awards
• Hollywood Science

Similar TV shows

• Bang Goes the Theory
• Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
• Brainiac: Science Abuse
• Deadliest Warrior
• Prototype This!
• Smash Lab
• Time Warp
• Dude, What Would Happen?

Information on urban legends

• The AFU and Urban Legends Archive
• Snopes, the Urban Legends Reference Pages
• The Straight Dope

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: MythBusters

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: MythBusters

• Discovery.com Mythbusters Site
• Discovery.co.uk Mythbusters Site
• Discovery.ca Mythbusters Site
• Behind the Story: Buster
• Interview on Slashdot
• An interview on PoopReport
• Adam Savage interviewed on the Penn Jillette Radio Show
• Interview on NPR
• Adam and Jamie explaining Moore's Law, energy efficiency, and the impact of shrinking transistors on computers
• MythBusters at Allmovie
• MythBusters at the Internet Movie Database
• MythBusters at TV.com