Wow a MAC tool truck, that’s Survivor level sponsor pandering. Why did they give them one with the tools in it if they where going to gut it anyway?
The design phase was pretty quick, but at least this week there were a couple different projects to do on the monster. The design team was solid.
Build phase. Good team, although the welder was trying a bit too hard to be perky or something. Still, no fireworks and the team works well together. While Jesse made fun of the serious nature of catapult boy- you would be serious too if your part of the monster could easily rip someone’s arm off.
Results: The multi-barrel air cannon based newspaper launcher was very cool, the basilta tending to be a bit on the inaccurate side, but still amusing. And the Trebulche (sp?)-- very nicely built and mounted. I liked how they showed us the tool give away and called it a win prior to the stupid-ass contest.
Paint job. Meh. First one since the green Mustang that I really didn’t like that much.
Contest. Umm, completely rigged (and faked apparently). The paper boy dropping all his papers, the mailman doing the worst fake pratfall attempt I have seen in a while and the TV in the catapult did not look like it hit the window in the “live” shot-- is that why they used the cut-away? Anyway, as usual, the testing in the parking lot was alot cooler. The watermelons on the pavement were quite good— splat!
I really think this one was a rerun, because I’ve seen it before. That said, I’m always for trebuchets, so that was pretty cool.
The contests are always rigged, so I don’t know why it surprises you this time. Did you see the Impala Zamboni one? That thing did more damage to the ice than it fixed.
This was the first episode I’ve ever seen, and I was busting up the whole time.
That “contest” was ridiculous. I kept thinking how convenient it was that the mailman got tripped up and slowed down by a dog, and that the kid dropped his papers.
Remind me when I buy those wine glasses from Amazon to make sure they’re shipped USPS!
This is a hysterical show, and my SO got into it, so I’m sure it will now beome a routine indulgence.
Yeah, it was a rerun (at least according to my DirecTV Info Bubble, I hadn’t seen it before).
It always surprises me that anyone ever thinks the “contests” are anything but rigged. Of course they are, because the whole concept is a male-tinkerer Rube Goldberg fantasy–I’m surprised half these things even work at all, let alone not kill anybody (when the trebuchet was stuck in the parking lot, for example, cringe). The show is fun, slightly educational, and has that “I-watch-it-on-the-couch-with-a-beer-and-say-That-is-Soooooo-Cooool” guy factor. . .it’s not about the contest.
What troub said. I found it very convenient that the swamp-buggy course ended just before the Beetle completely nosed under. It’s like they knew exactly how long it would stay afloat.
I think it’s fair to say that these guys are slightly less safety conscious than, say, the Junkyard Wars people. Did you see the crew scatter when the trebuchet finally fired? They had people (with no helmets) just wandering around the target zone.
I don’t think it finally clicked in my mind that the contests are rigged until this episode. I’ve only seen a few episodes, but only now am I realizing that there is rigging in favor of the Jesse James crew. There’s the arbitrary party points from the School Bus/Pontoon Boat episode, and the semi that conveniently blocks the fire engine in the limosine/fire truck episode. My roommate, who’s a big fan of the show, swears up and down that the Jesse James crew have lost a contest before, though.
This is the first episode I’ve watched since the Suburban/Wedding Chapel episode (the narrator really turned me off with the constant “He’s gonna get his in the end” comments in regards to dissenting organ maker. I didn’t even finish the episode). I think this episode was pretty good; the team worked really well together. Definitely fun. I did notice, though, that Jesse James didn’t really do much of anything in this episode other than in the contest and design stage.
I didn’t know if this was a new one or not-- thanks for the info.
Not all of the contests are completely rigged- the Mini lost to the snowmobile driven by Richard Petty (although Petty took a looooooooog time to turn it around :dubious: ). And the Sand Rail lost badly (but as an excuse to blast it with a truck-mounted mingun, which was filled with manly fun). Mostly though the “contests” are just goofy little staged contests to show off what the freshly painted monster can do, and to allow Jesse to ape for the camera (which is always fun).
I also noticed that Jesse didn’t do much this episode-- much of the build stage was an extended version of “Where’s Jesse?”
Stiil, it’s not like this is the only thing he has going, as shown by the following “Motorcycle Mania” special.
They’ve had another contest fail. There was a hearse which they failed to finish building in time, so Jesse took it to a shredder. Also, the show has a message board, which has posting from the folks involved with the show, and even the guys who build the cars claim that it’s not rigged. One of them was particularly vituperative about the hearse episode, stating that the show’s producers edited the show to make it look more like they were spending all their time goofing off, when they weren’t.
If it’s all rigged, then they’re working pretty hard to cover it up.
Tuckerfan we were talking about the silly little “contests” at the end of the show, not the actual building of the monster. The “contests” became an issue last week when the poor editing job made it look like the build team lost because the sand rail was too slow against 2 purpose built desert racing machines. In turns out it was all a set up to play with the mini-gun, and the actual build was ruled a win and the team had got their tools. We got confirmation from the message board you mentioned.
I guess the main contention is the the “contests” at the end of the show seem to be mere filler and do not mesh well with the rest of the show, and the two “announcers” are the most annoying faux hipperst I have ever heard.
The worst contest, of the ones I’ve seen, was the SUV-turned-hot-air balloon. The premise was foolish (racing against trucks, instead of against other hot-air balloons), and there was VERY blatant cheating (truck drivers all got distracted and went mudding).
The best part of the episode was the crew taking the hot-air burner outside and shooting huge spouts of flame into the night sky!
The show would be improved if they simply demonstrated the performance of the finished vehicle, (preferably with as much needless property damage as possible), rather than trying to prove that their vehicles will out-perform purpose-built devices.
Incidentally, does anyone believe that “Junkyard Wars” projects are really done in ten hours? As we’ve seen, Jesse and friends take a week, and they’re NOT having to do a scavenger hunt for their materials.
