Ask the MythBusters!

May 17, 2006 4:52 PM

What would you ask the Mythbusters stars?

This weekend, I am attending a show where the Mythbusters stars Jamie and Adam will be speaking and answering questions. I don't think they'll be doing any experiments on stage, but otherwise I am unsure of what the event entails.

Seeing as how I'm fairly certain there will be a Q&A portion and that I have been having some difficulty in preparing questions, I thought I'd ask the MeFi community for their ideas.

Points go to questions that haven't been asked before (a google search reveals a few interviews) and extra plus good points go to questions that interest me, too! You get points because you don't know what I want and neither do I

Of course, after the show I will post the answers I can remember here.

posted by yellowbkpk to human relations (24 comments total)

I'd ask Adam which surround sound system he got for his Mac Mini. ;)
posted by brain cloud at 4:58 PM on May 17, 2006

What do I need to do to get a job like theirs. Seriously. Sign me up.
posted by RustyBrooks at 5:03 PM on May 17, 2006

Since they seem to use fairly divergent styles, (Jamie seems to like precision, where Adam seems to be more willing to wing it,) i've always been curious how these different approaches worked when doing special effects. Jamie's stuff almost always works, which makes sense, but even 'winging' it Adam is clearly good enough to make final products that work most of the time. Is this behavior the result of working on different kinds of productions, or is it just the style they developed?

Also, how much of what they investigate on Mythbusters is their choice and how much is pushed on them by the producers? They always seem really excited by their projects (unlike other shows *cough*Monster Garage*cough) and i'm just wondering if they have a huge amount of latitude or their producers are really good?

Oh and why is it that in some episodes they add Grant, Kari, and Tore to the years of build experience, and others they don't?
posted by quin at 5:27 PM on May 17, 2006

But more importantly, what RustyBrooks said.
posted by quin at 5:28 PM on May 17, 2006

What is that stuff they shot the arrow into, and how and where do I get it?

One of them does actually post here.
posted by oxala at 5:37 PM on May 17, 2006

I'd ask them which one actually posts here.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 6:12 PM on May 17, 2006

It's Adam (as brain cloud linked to up top).
posted by kirkaracha at 6:21 PM on May 17, 2006

What is that stuff they shot the arrow into, and how and where do I get it?

Man, don't waste a question on something they have talked about any number of times and which can easily be Googled. I have seen like three episodes of that show and even I know it's ballistic gel.
posted by kindall at 6:43 PM on May 17, 2006

Why do they blur out so much stuff in the background? Does anybody really care if we know their license plate number? It gets kind of distracting when you're watching the show, to see a lot of blurry patches on screen.
posted by fvox13 at 6:48 PM on May 17, 2006

I'd ask for Kari's phone number.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 6:49 PM on May 17, 2006

Id ask Jamie about the intricacies of mustache care....
posted by gergtreble at 6:55 PM on May 17, 2006

You could ask for Kari's phone number...
posted by Thorzdad at 7:07 PM on May 17, 2006

quin: Oh and why is it that in some episodes they add Grant, Kari, and Tore to the years of build experience, and others they don't?

This is related to the age of the episode - the newer seasons have a new opening sequence with the build team in it, the older ones just Jamie and Adam. (The newer ones also tend to have build-team-only projects, where the older episodes had each project run by the main guys.)
posted by pocams at 7:31 PM on May 17, 2006

Has anyone ever been injured in the course of an experiment? What was the worst injury?

Were any experiments ever rejected by the censors?

What was the best bust that never made it to air?

What was their least favorite build? Was there anything frustrating enough that they quit?

What was the most physically exausting bust? What was the grossest?

Are there any busts that they regret doing? Are there any that they would go back and do differently?
posted by Alison at 7:52 PM on May 17, 2006

Also, I wonder what their educational backgrounds are...
posted by Alison at 8:01 PM on May 17, 2006

Why do they blur out so much stuff in the background? Does anybody really care if we know their license plate number?

For the same reasons that lots of shows do: privacy, avoiding unintended product placement/endorsement, etcetera.

Has anyone ever been injured in the course of an experiment? What was the worst injury?

Wikipedia has some data to that effect.

Questions I'd ask:

• With a back catalog of 50+ shows, why does Discovery insist on showing the same handful time and time again? I can't count the number of times I've seen "Shredded Plane" and "Paper Crossbow" air. (Just got cable for the first time in five years, and this is one of the few shows I regularly enjoy.)
• If one can devote an entire episode to testing scenes from the movie Jaws, why not spend an episode debunking major events from the Bible? Especially with their bent toward replicating the outcome of each myth. Water-into-wine machine, gentlemen.
• How close was Adam to canning the entire build team after they shocked the hell out of him in the "Baghdad Battery" episode?
• Has any thought been given to writing a book (or maintaining a weblog) that provides behind-the-scenes details, describes work that never made it to air, etc.
• Ever catch any shit from animal rights organizations for all of the buried, tattooed and carved up dead pigs? Or from the few companies whose products have been debunked? Or from Top Gear, Consumer Reports, Snopes or other fact-finding outfits?

posted by Danelope at 8:13 PM on May 17, 2006

Like the show, by why can't they actually abide by the scientific method?
posted by plinth at 8:25 PM on May 17, 2006

This is related to the age of the episode

i thought so to pocams, but i've seen it a couple of times this season, one week they will have one version, the next they won't. All airing as new episodes. It's possible that they are airing them out of production order (which, now that i think about it kinda makes sense) but how hard would it be to re-cut and add the new beginning to all the current episodes?
posted by quin at 8:51 PM on May 17, 2006

Please give me a list of every single job Jamie has ever had. Dude can apparently say "been there, done that" to every situation imaginable.
posted by frogan at 9:16 PM on May 17, 2006

how hard would it be to re-cut and add the new beginning to all the current episodes?

Costs money. We're talking a reality show on basic cable. It would serve no purpose and I bet they simply don't have the budget.
posted by kindall at 9:19 PM on May 17, 2006

Ask them what the heck happened to Scotti.
posted by Rhomboid at 9:53 PM on May 17, 2006

No doubt. Scotti was awesome. The longstanding supposition in my household is that Kari is sleeping with someone on the show, as she doesn't seem to add anything. But that wouldn't be nice to ask.
posted by klangklangston at 9:59 PM on May 17, 2006

Well, while Kari is cute, no question, i think it's unfair to consider her pointless eye candy, she was actually one of the first non-regulars on the show (going back to the vacuum toilet from first or second season.) So she obviously proved she was useful in a non-marketable way to them before they 'cast' her, and based on what i've seen, she does seem to carry her weight. In other words, don't hate her because she is beautiful. Hate her because she is on the show and we aren't.

And while Scotti was Teh Coolness, she did also appear on Junkyard Wars and other shows, so she may have just been making her way through the Discovery channel / TLC lineup looking for something that fit.

i was sad to see her go, but i assumed she found something better. i'll keep watching, looking for her.
posted by quin at 1:37 AM on May 18, 2006

Kari does pull her own weight, there are numerous examples of things that she has built that were very well thought out and constructed.

I was just rather disappointed when season three started and Scotti was nowhere to be seen, replaced by Grant. The sausage factor, so to speak, increased substantially.
posted by Rhomboid at 2:24 AM on May 18, 2006