booooooo Myth Busters

[whatevah]

Watching the "Reverse Engineering" episode, in which one of the experiments is to see if a surfboard on a car's roof (apparently not secured) could actually kill somebody in a crash. Their test vehicles? Pre-97 XJs.

oh and their "full scale" techniques for the main part of the episode, if a specific car is more aerodynamic in reverse vs forward... horrible. Sure it makes for good tv, but only if the people watching don't understand cars.

 

[rocknxj]

Did they eventually blow up the XJ at the end of the episode?

 

[whatevah]

No idea, sorry... I got fed up with their horrible "science" on this episode and stopped it around 2/3rds in, actually stopped watching after 10 minutes and just got tired of listening to it. The entire episode was flawed, the general idea for the surfboard myth and the testing techniques for the car myth.

 

[casm]

The entire episode was flawed, the general idea for the surfboard myth and the testing techniques for the car myth.

Didn't see the episode in question, but IIRC the surfboard myth is from the first Lethal Weapon movie. Guy carrying one on top of his 4Runner hits the brakes, the surfboard goes flying forward, travels through the windscreen of the car in front of him, and decapitates the driver.

FWIW, I've been annoyed at times with some of the cars they've selected for demolition: Fiat X1/9, Pontiac Fiero, Chrysler New Yorker (a full-size 1970s model). I get that they want to use something that's either more visually-interesting or closer in construction to the vehicle in the myth than a Taurus or Accord, but some of these cars are getting thin on the ground.

 

[xcm]

that show is XXXXing terrible, they could kill every xj in norcal for all i care.
....XXXXing terrible.

if you like their cars soo much, go buy em before they do. its a free market! i hope they keep krushing!

 

[casm]

that show is XXXXing terrible, they could kill every xj in norcal for all i care.
....XXXXing terrible.

if you like their cars soo much, go buy em before they do. its a free market! i hope they keep krushing!

 

[tbburg]

Well, the good news is, if they screwed it up(I haven't seen this episode yet)the fans will call them on it, and if history is any way to judge, they'll go back and do it again until they get it right.

 

[casm]

Thing is, I have a hard time calling them out on most of what they do. They're essentially doing what we would in our own backyards if we had access to the same resources and materials on their budget.

Yeah, sometimes they just flat-out get it wrong... But for the other 95% of the time, they're close enough as doesn't matter. It's easy to nitpick them (and sometimes rightfully-so), but I have a hard time doing that when I can look at one of their experiments and say, "yeah, OK, that's close enough to reality for me."

 

[DrMoab]

Who cares if the science is right.

They have good looking woman on the show.

They build crazy contraptions.

They blow stuff up on a regular basis and have fun doing it.

Where is the problem?

 

[rock rash]

Who cares if the science is right.

They have good looking woman on the show.

They build crazy contraptions.

They blow stuff up on a regular basis and have fun doing it.

Where is the problem?

This. :skull1:

 

[kastein]

Who cares if the science is right.

They have good looking woman on the show.

They build crazy contraptions.

They blow stuff up on a regular basis and have fun doing it.

Where is the problem?

My only problem is that they purport to prove or disprove myths in the process.

Otherwise, it's an awesome show. This is why I like Brainiac (UK market show, similar) and Smash Lab more, they tend to go more for the "xxxx this science crap, let's blow shit up and see if we can build things that we can't blow up".

 

[rweaver138]

I believe everything I see on TV.

 

[MT Mike]

I believe everything I see on TV.

You and about 2/3 of the rest of the world.

 

[rweaver138]

Wait.. are you trying to say that television doesn't always tell the truth? :helpme:

 

[bigalpha]

Watching the "Reverse Engineering" episode, in which one of the experiments is to see if a surfboard on a car's roof (apparently not secured) could actually kill somebody in a crash. Their test vehicles? Pre-97 XJs.

The vehicle in the movie that they are testing the myth from was an XJ.

 

[kdailey4315]

How did you see the episode so early it is on for the first time tonight?

 

[casm]

The vehicle in the movie that they are testing the myth from was an XJ.

Here's the video.

Looks like I was wrong about two things: it was Lethal Weapon 2 (not the first one), and the vehicle involved was a Toyota pick-up, not a 4Runner.

Either way, totalling XJs FTL.

 

[whatevah]

I saw the European version. Same stuff, different voice-over guy.

 

[MJ3000]

Really freakin' really? They've destroyed AT LEAST 3 more in this episode.

 

[DrMoab]

Good. They are getting rid of all the unsafe Junkers on the road and allowing us to find more parts in the junkyards