Mythbusters

Beyond Home Entertainment

James Bond Special

Car Special: Volume 1 (2 Disc Set)

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

First, there was television. Its voracious appetite devoured much of what had already been put on film, until it developed its own programs. And so the evil Sitcom was inflicted on the world, and the Lowest Common Denominator triumphed in TV programming. There were valiant attempts to improve the quality of TV programs, but there are only so many Period Costume Dramas that can be inflicted on the viewers, and after a while even David Attenborough’s beautiful documentaries of animals fornicating on the Serengeti Plains began to pall.

In recent years the growth of public access TV and specialist channels like Australia’s SBS has widened the variety of shows presented. Quality shows from overseas made their appearance, and there was finally room for some quirky little shows to receive an airing. Such a show was Mythbusters. A rough and ready show that doesn’t take itself too seriously, Mythbusters takes on all those silly urban myths and stories and tests them to see if there might be a grain of truth in there somewhere. They also examine special effects from movies. They will try to recreate a myth then evaluate it to see if it qualifies as Confirmed, Plausible or Busted. Often they will then go further to see what it takes to make the story come true, if the myth version is Busted. This further testing may involve large explosions, car crashes, people or objects falling from great heights, and explosions. The result is good compulsive viewing, and the show has developed a cult following. Produced by Australian company Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel, Mythbusters is hosted by Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, with a sometimes-changing cast of supporting mythbusters. Adam and Jamie are special effects producers based in California and are well qualified to recreate these myths. The show has now been running for seven seasons. In this time they have amassed a large number of tests that are now being released as DVDs concentrating on a single theme. We will look at the James Bond myths and the Cars Special DVDs.

James Bond movies specialized in gadgets and stunts, so they are a natural target for Mythbusters. Bullet-deflecting watches, exploding propane tanks, boats jumping cars, exploding pens – all get tested (and blown up if possible). A Gatling gun shooting incendiary bullets at a propane tank can be only be described, but not really imagined – until you see it here.

The 2-DVD Cars set begins with a touching scene as a young boy’s dreams are realised – he gets to see his parents’ car blown up. Twice. We study the effects of killer tissue boxes and bowling balls in car crashes. The myth about the difficulty of selling a car in which someone has died and putrified is tested. Thankfully, TVs don’t yet have Smell-O-Vision. Can a car thief be skewered by his door jemmy if the door airbag goes off? Can the world’s biggest subwoofer built into a car really blow the windows out? Can a car polevault if the tailshaft comes loose? Buy the set and find out.

The DVDs are great viewing. There is just enough science and design work to make the testing plausible, and enough explosions to keep you watching. Great fun, great value, great explosions.