Long-time readers will know that one of the few shows I actually watch on TV (as opposed to catching on DVD when season sets come out) is Mythbusters.
One beloved elements on the show has been blowing crap up, but lately the program has been leaning on this crutch a bit too heavily. Last year (?) I remember they did the “biggest explosion ever” on the show, something like 5,000 lbs of high explosives, and…it was pretty dull. There was an explosion in a quarry or something, but little sense of scale to really make you feel how big it was. I still think the show’s best explosion was when they atomized a concrete-mixing truck. THAT you had an idea of the scale of.
I think the guys on the show must have figured this out, because this season they are doing less explosions. I mean, where can you really go with that? That doesn’t mean you forgo such stuff entirely, because nobody wants that. Last week’s show was a perfect example, however, as it was all myths about duct tape. This featured two great stunts. Jamie and Adam built a boat entirely out of duct tape, including the sail and the keel. There was a steel frame and a rod to hold up the sail, but otherwise it was all duct tape. And it worked! It looked entirely cool.
Meanwhile, the B Team made up…a duct tape cannon. The biggest problem was keeping it from warping before they got the cannonball in there, but they managed to shoot several shots, and it was really, really cool.
Good to see the show back to its peak. Last year’s phonebook friction myth is still the single best thing I’ve seen them do on the show, and nothing at all exploded.
By the way, Kari is getting huge as the latest episodes progress. I wonder when she had her baby–surely there’s some post-production time and she had her kid by now. How long until the show is inspired to do some baby myths? I hope she’s not shy about bringing her baby on the show (when appropriate, of course).
