TV show with an episode with a mechanical ram subplot help!
June 18, 2024 9:54 PM Subscribe
A long long time ago, if my memory serves me well (well, I was a kid at the time), I seem to recall watching a fictional TV show (which I think was American and I think was a late 80s or early 90s detective series) that as part of a particular episode's subplot featured a door and a mechanical ram!
In the episode, what I think, were college students who had to try and open a series of doors as part of a competition - with each door only having a peep-hole to look through into a fake room for the students to garner clues. Do you know it?
The winning(?) puzzle revolved around a door that had a mechanical ram pressing against the door - that worked in reverse! - thus if they "opened" the door - the ram would be pressing against the door (and therefore they couldn't open it), but if they "closed" the door, the mechanical ram would retract (I think).
At the end of the episode, I think (the detective) was able to solve the puzzle.
I've been trying to track what the name of this show and the particular episode was for ages but to no avail!
Might you know the episode/TV show that I'm referring to?
Thank you
In the episode, what I think, were college students who had to try and open a series of doors as part of a competition - with each door only having a peep-hole to look through into a fake room for the students to garner clues. Do you know it?
The winning(?) puzzle revolved around a door that had a mechanical ram pressing against the door - that worked in reverse! - thus if they "opened" the door - the ram would be pressing against the door (and therefore they couldn't open it), but if they "closed" the door, the mechanical ram would retract (I think).
At the end of the episode, I think (the detective) was able to solve the puzzle.
I've been trying to track what the name of this show and the particular episode was for ages but to no avail!
Might you know the episode/TV show that I'm referring to?
Thank you
I saw this episode, which is surprising because I never thought I’d watched any episodes of MacGyver. The barricade that stuck in my memory was a door with 7 keyed deadbolts, with the keys in them so they could be thrown open or closed, with the challenge being you didn’t know the state of any of them. So some were closed, some were open, and the chance of randomly getting all the bolts open was 1 in 2^7. A student solved it by pouring magnetized iron filings down the door jamb, revealing which bolts were closed. I always thought both the challenge and solution were extremely clever! Forgot about the hydraulic ram trick until today.
posted by ejs at 5:45 AM on June 19 [1 favorite]
posted by ejs at 5:45 AM on June 19 [1 favorite]
Confirming this is MacGyver, as I was an obsessed teen about it and remember this episode really well.
posted by PussKillian at 7:54 AM on June 19 [1 favorite]
posted by PussKillian at 7:54 AM on June 19 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: That's it! Fantastic! Thank you everyone for helping me get this. I can now sleep peacefully at night :-)
Legends, all of you!
posted by bootlaces at 12:25 PM on June 19
Legends, all of you!
posted by bootlaces at 12:25 PM on June 19
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posted by Fiasco da Gama at 10:06 PM on June 18 [3 favorites]