I find the female member of the secondary mythbusters strangely admirable… almost… desirable.
That’s beside the point but I felt the need to mention it anyway.
Any…um…way.
I am unlikely to have seen every episode since my fandom is recent. If your fandom is old what is your favourite installment?
I haven’t seen all that many of them. However, I liked the one where they showed that bullets don’t really penetrate well at all under water. For some reason, that just struck me as amazingly practical and useful information.
Compare that to the one where they tried to set ships on fire using polished metal for focus the sun’s beams from shore like in an ancient myth. That one was much more elaborate but it just barely worked after they kept making the scenarios easier. I never believed the myth in the first place so it didn’t do it for me.
I like complex, going into the physics or mechanics behind the process types of things. So I’m embarrassed to say that the episode I enjoyed most was when they blew up the cement truck. The myth was that cement that had set up in the barrel could be blown free with a stick of dynamite, saving the worker from having to jackhammer it out.
The myth was busted, then truly busted, then well and truly busted. Then they just had to take the opportunity to see how big an explosion they could make. Exploding cement truck. Good times.
I’m finding that episode very useful right now, as a matter of fact- our game has guns and water, so I needed to know how they’d penetrate.
My favorite episode, however, would have to be the one where they put Kari in a bodysuit. I can’t really tell you what they were busting, but I sure remember Kari in that bodysuit.
Smashing the compact car between the two large trucks was amusing. Blowing up Buster is usually good for a laugh.
Just for the sake of mentioning it…have y’all seen the “un-air-able” episode that covers “Are Farts Flammable?” and “Do Pretty Girls Fart?” It’s an actual episode, and you can find it on YouTube.
Ah, heck. Gimme a minute. I’ll find it.
Here’s the page. Note that there is more than one selection to view.
I like the really old ones, where they showed them going to stores and such, and had three good quality myths in one show.
You’re referring to the charming Ms. Kari Byron, and what the f**k do you mean by almost desirable???
Yes, I only posted here so I could show off that picture of me and Kari. Again. So sue me.
BTW, photo by Adam Savage.
I am still envious of fellow Straight Dope poster Alistair McCello, since he comes from the same small town as Jamie (Marshall, MI). Damn you Alistair!
But yeah, cement truck by far.
That was hilarious! So it’s really possible to light a fart, eh?
As for my favorite, I just bought an episode off iTunes (I got a gift card for Christmas, but my mp3 player is not an iPod, so I figured l might as well download some of the earlier episodes that they don’t seem to play on the Discovery Channel anymore) and I must say I love the episode where they test the exploding trombone myth. Totally silly, plus it has explosions. The slow-motion footage of the rocket-powered trombone mute smacking Buster in the chest and causing him to keel over made me crack up laughing like no other stunt I can remember. The end of the exploding pants myth (when they used that silver stuff to immolate Buster) is a close second. The cement truck explosion ranks third. A huge explosion, but it loses points for not involving Buster!
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
If I remember correctly, the dynamite-in-the-cement-truck myth was officially plausible. They started with some dinky little explosives that didn’t do anything, but when they increased the charges, some pretty big chunks of concrete were jarred loose. The truck they blew up was one that they accidentally filled with concrete, instead of just the residue they wanted for the myth.
I saw a blurb for a later episode that said it would have the largest explosion in Mythbusters history, but then didn’t see the episode. Did they out-do the cement-truck blast, or was the blurb just describing a rerun?
Still trying to think of a favorite.
Amazingly enough, this actually came up at work today.
While I can’t say the cement truck was my hands-down favorite episode, the part where they blow it up is definitely my all time favorite moment.
What is it about human nature that makes us like things that go boom?
We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!
Anyway, I liked the episode where they threw Buster out in the air in that airplane safety rubber dinghy thing (escape slide) to see if it was possible to survive (it was released from a helicopter) to test that Indiana Jones trick. And it actually worked!
If I was there with the mythbuster crew, I would have jumped up and down shouting “Me next!”.
Even though it worked when hoisted up and released from a helicopter, I think they actually busted the myth because it would be practically impossible to jump out of plane in such a thing.
Good grief, so many to choose from…
Yeah, blowing up the cement truck is definitely a high point. I also love the one about exploding pants. The myth was tested thoroughly, and the verdict was plausible, if I recall correctly… and then the guys just get out a huge amount of explosives and atomize Buster, for the hell of it. Great stuff. Yeah, I like me some big booms.
Also, any episode where Adam hurts himself. I love the one where he sticks his lip into a vacuum cleaner motor.
The Hindenburg one was pretty cool, full of fire and explosive surprises.
Dude, they make software that will take care of the red eye. Just sayin’.
Since you guys seem to be in such a state over Kari, you should know she’s appearing at a sci-fi convention in Stony Brook, NY this weekend (3/23-3/25).
See here.
Enjoy.
Any episode where they bring in the FBI guy to blow stuff up but good. Makes my whole day.
Thta’s the one I was going to mention, but I have not seen the cement truck, which sounds like totally awesome.
BTW, can I say I hate the episodes wher they bust the quackery, like anti-gravity and pyrmaid power. yawn
Dude. The truck disappears.
The other “big explosion” episode that they did recently was kinda dumb. Just an excuse for a big boom. It was, however, a very big boom.
