# Man vs. Cartoon (Mythbusters meets Road Runner?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865 "2009-06-15T18:59:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/1 "2009-06-15T18:59:34Z")
Okay, the premise for this show makes me wish I got TruTV: [Man vs. Cartoon](http://www.trutv.com/shows/man_vs_cartoon/index.html) is a new series that appears to be a _Mythbusters_-style show in which a team of scientists go to the New Mexico desert and test Wile E. Coyote’s malfunctioning inventions to see if they would actually be plausable in real life. This sounds like a great premise for a show, and I wonder if the actual show is as entertaining as its premise makes it sound. (Not surprisingly, TruTV is a Time Warner company.) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/2 "2009-06-15T19:13:40Z")
This is the coolest idea I will hear about in all of 2009. Thank you for posting this. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/3 "2009-06-15T19:19:49Z")
One of my favorites had Coyote on roller skates with a boat’s outboard motor strapped to his back. He put the propeller in a bathtub on wheels that was full of water. He pulled the bathtub behind him. Turn on the outboard motor, put the prop in the bathtub, and the whole thing rolls forward. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/4 "2009-06-15T19:26:52Z")
Meant to start a thread on this yesterday. Watched it Friday night. It was really fun watching them come up with the ways to simulate the cartoon physics. The episode had Wil E’s contraption of: sligshot shoot watering can knocking over and pouring the water onto a flower and the flower grows stricking a match which lights a fuse which explodes a stick of dynamite which launches a boot onto a teeter-totter which releases a mouse who grabs the cheese off a scale which causes a weight to fall off the other side which pulls the string around the trigger of a gun that shoots the bullet that ricochets off several targets which knocks the cannon in to position so the fuse touches a candle which fires the cannon. 3 teams of two each took a section of the sequence. The conflict between the teams was basically just smack talk and annoyance. I can’t go into all the details of how they did it. My favorite was the flower growth which they basically used water displacement to make sunflower lawn windmill rise and flip a switch which made a battery spark to light a hobby rocket…ummm… rocket blast thingy? burn through a rope releasing the boot (which was on a coiled spring armature) to land on the teeter totter. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/5 "2009-06-15T19:30:29Z")
At some point, there will have to be the mating of an Acme jet engine and a set of Acme handlebars. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/6 "2009-06-15T19:42:34Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > One of my favorites had Coyote on roller skates with a boat’s outboard motor strapped to his back. He put the propeller in a bathtub on wheels that was full of water. He pulled the bathtub behind him. > > Turn on the outboard motor, put the prop in the bathtub, and the whole thing rolls forward. Also one of my faves; completely impossible and utterly brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/7 "2009-06-15T19:52:04Z")
oh, rocket skates are next weeks episode. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/8 "2009-06-15T20:01:17Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > One of my favorites had Coyote on roller skates with a boat’s outboard motor strapped to his back. He put the propeller in a bathtub on wheels that was full of water. He pulled the bathtub behind him. > > Turn on the outboard motor, put the prop in the bathtub, and the whole thing rolls forward. Was it on a treadmill? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/9 "2009-06-15T20:21:58Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > One of my favorites had Coyote on roller skates with a boat’s outboard motor strapped to his back. He put the propeller in a bathtub on wheels that was full of water. He pulled the bathtub behind him. > > Turn on the outboard motor, put the prop in the bathtub, and the whole thing rolls forward. I recall a similar vehicle that consisted of a skateboard, a sail, and an electric fan. Wile E. inflated the sail with the fan to gain speed but was undone when he reached the limit of his extension cord. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/10 "2009-06-15T22:03:58Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > The episode had Wil E’s contraption of: sligshot shoot watering can knocking over and pouring the water onto a flower and the flower grows stricking a match which lights a fuse which explodes a stick of dynamite which launches a boot onto a teeter-totter which releases a mouse who grabs the cheese off a scale which causes a weight to fall off the other side which pulls the string around the trigger of a gun that shoots the bullet that ricochets off several targets which knocks the cannon in to position so the fuse touches a candle which fires the cannon. [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxIJzyLGV_Y) how the contraption looked in animated form. (Note that the music does not match up with the action as most Warner Bros. cartoon soundtracks do- there was a musicians’ strike which required them to use stock music cues in place of live music for the short excerpted here and a few other cartoons made at the same time. You may recognize one of the cues as the theme from the old _Dennis the Menace_ sitcom.) ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/11 "2009-06-16T11:36:27Z")
A critic on a radio arts programme here in the UK was reviewing a collection Hunter S Thompson’s angry and exasperated letters a few years ago. She described them as “the sort of letters Wile E. Coyote would write to the Acme Company”. I can see it now: “Dear Sirs, I bought your fridge back-pack with optional meat-grinder attachment and matching skis IN ALL GOOD FAITH! Sadly, they have not performed as advertised…” ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/12 "2009-06-16T12:20:56Z")
Dudes–you’re missing the all time _best_ invention/Acme gizmo (beyond portable holes): The Acme Bat-Man Suit. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i7G4pojdUM&feature=related](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i7G4pojdUM&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/13 "2009-06-16T14:02:44Z")
> [@Slade](#): > > A critic on a radio arts programme here in the UK was reviewing a collection Hunter S Thompson’s angry and exasperated letters a few years ago. She described them as “the sort of letters Wile E. Coyote would write to the Acme Company”. > > I can see it now: “Dear Sirs, I bought your fridge back-pack with optional meat-grinder attachment and matching skis IN ALL GOOD FAITH! Sadly, they have not performed as advertised…” A lawsuit has been filed. [Coyote v. Acme](http://www.torinfo.com/justforlaughs/coyote_v_acme.html). > [@](#): > > In addition to reducing all Mr. Coyote’s careful preparations to naught, the premature detonation of Defendant’s product resulted in the following disfigurements to Mr. Coyote: > > 1 Severe singeing of the hair on the head, neck, and muzzle. > 2 Sooty discoloration. > 3 Fracture of the left ear at the stem, causing the ear to dangle in the aftershock with a creaking noise. > 4 Full or partial combustion of whiskers, producing kinking, frazzling, and ashy disintegration. > 5 Radical widening of the eyes, due to brow and lid charring. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/14 "2009-06-16T23:12:46Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > One of my favorites had Coyote on roller skates with a boat’s outboard motor strapped to his back. He put the propeller in a bathtub on wheels that was full of water. He pulled the bathtub behind him. > > Turn on the outboard motor, put the prop in the bathtub, and the whole thing rolls forward. I’m not into physics, so please bear with me. I know the cartoon is funny and all, and I intuitively know the concept doesn’t work, but I don’t have the mental tools to know specifically why not. Is there a physicist in the house? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/15 "2009-06-17T00:18:32Z")
I hit the “Reply” button thinking this would be easy to explain, but it’s not. Imagine you’re in the middle of a room, in a chair on wheels, and your feet aren’t allowed to touch the floor. Right in front of you is a big, heavy box, also on wheels, with a rope tied around it. You grab the loose end of the rope, put your feet against the box and push. You’ll go rolling across the floor one way, and the box will go the other. So what happens if you start pulling on the rope? You’ll move toward the box, and the box will move toward you, and you’ll meet in the middle, exactly where you started. For the coyote, towing the washtub is like pulling on the rope. To move, you have to have something to push against. But after you’ve pushed, you can’t take it with you. ---
**Author:** ![Slade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Slade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slade)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/16 "2009-06-17T17:43:43Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > A lawsuit has been filed. [Coyote v. Acme](http://www.torinfo.com/justforlaughs/coyote_v_acme.html). I hadn’t seen that, so thanks very much for pointing it out. I remember once seeing a cartoon of the Acme Corp boardroom, with every seat at the table occupied by a Roadrunner. It explains a lot. ---
**Author:** ![sishoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@sishoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sishoch)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-vs-cartoon-mythbusters-meets-road-runner/499865/17 "2009-06-17T21:48:48Z")
I’m actually in the show, although not in the first episode. I can’t comment on the episodes before they air, but I can answer questions about what’s already been shown.