I used to like Mythbusters, I really did. Then, something happened and I think that I've started to despise it a bit. I'm not really sure what happened, I just know that sometime in about 2010 my interest in the show declined rapidly. I have this sort of nostalgia for a couple of the older episodes, like when they packed a cement truck so full of explosives that they practically vapourised it. Or when they sabotaged a water heater to destroy a room-sized house that they had built. Watching the hosts test those urban legends was a lot of fun.
Then came the episodes to bust myths about Batman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, zombies, and even The Simpsons. Have you ever watched any of the Terminator movies with someone who entirely ignores the fact that the titular character is a time-travelling cyborg, but who will comment on how you almost never see anyone reloading their gun? Mythbusters is kind of like that when they're testing myths about fictional
Let's ignore the fact that Luke Skywalker can travel between star systems at what is probably way above light speed, that he has a sword made out of light, or that he uses a mystical energy to move objects with telekinesis. Mythbusters will ask you to suspend your disbelief on all of these things, but to question whether the wire he uses to swing across a small gap is too thin to hold his weight.
Therein lies the problem - the show's producers and hosts have stopped subjecting suspicious viral videos and dodgy internet rumours to real-world tests. They've stopped looking at those nonsense chain emails that everyone gets with claims of the hazards of microwaving organic carrots, so that they can examine the minutiae of costume design in a science fiction movie.
The absolute worst example of this has to be the zombie episode. Telling a group of actors to pretend to be zombies is not scientific. Telling them to act like the zombies that they've seen in films is not empirical science. All that does is show whether your group of volunteers can follow basic instructions.
Then came the episodes to bust myths about Batman, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, zombies, and even The Simpsons. Have you ever watched any of the Terminator movies with someone who entirely ignores the fact that the titular character is a time-travelling cyborg, but who will comment on how you almost never see anyone reloading their gun? Mythbusters is kind of like that when they're testing myths about fictional
Let's ignore the fact that Luke Skywalker can travel between star systems at what is probably way above light speed, that he has a sword made out of light, or that he uses a mystical energy to move objects with telekinesis. Mythbusters will ask you to suspend your disbelief on all of these things, but to question whether the wire he uses to swing across a small gap is too thin to hold his weight.
Therein lies the problem - the show's producers and hosts have stopped subjecting suspicious viral videos and dodgy internet rumours to real-world tests. They've stopped looking at those nonsense chain emails that everyone gets with claims of the hazards of microwaving organic carrots, so that they can examine the minutiae of costume design in a science fiction movie.
The absolute worst example of this has to be the zombie episode. Telling a group of actors to pretend to be zombies is not scientific. Telling them to act like the zombies that they've seen in films is not empirical science. All that does is show whether your group of volunteers can follow basic instructions.