MythBusters is a 2017 Science Channel series that is a relaunch of the Discovery Channel series of the same name that ran from 2003 to 2016.
After the original series ended, MythBusters: the Search, a reality competition, was launched. 15 hopefuls were put through a series of build tests to demonstrate their skills, with the two finalists getting the chance to become MythBusters in their own right. The winners of this series were Brian Louden, a biologist and paramedic, and Jon Lung, a product and graphic designer, who now get to continue the tradition of scientifically testing myths, urban legends, and tropes.
This show is largely the same as the better-remembered format of the original, with Brian and Jon introducing a myth at the beginning of each segment and examining if it is plausible under real-world conditions before going onto trying to recreate the myth on a larger scale to try and get as dramatic a result as possible. Throughout their experiments and adventures, Brian and Jon are accompanied by Bo the MythDog and have their every step narrated by a returning Robert Lee.
As of yet, this incarnation of the show has only aired one season in Winter 2017-2018, and two of those episodes remain unaired in the US. The next year instead launched a different spinoff, Myth Busters Jr., with Adam Savage returning from the original series to host.
This series provides examples of:
- Arrows on Fire: Used to test if one could set a car's gas tank on fire. It proved incredibly difficult to do and didn't ignite the gas tank like one might expect, but it did set the car on fire.
- Bullet Time: High-speed cameras continue to be a vital tool for the MythBusters to examine the results of their tests in minute detail. Plus, because the footage is also really cool to look at.
- Canine Companion: Bo, Brian's dog, accompanies the crew wherever they go.
- Delayed Causality: Quoted by name and tested, with Brian and Jon using their hands, an air-powered rig, and a rocket sled to see if it is possible to slice through a foe fast enough for there to be a dramatic pause before the severed head slowly slides off.
- Didn't Think This Through: When testing Delayed Causality they accidentally designed the rocket rig such that the rig itself would knock the head off if the blade didn't. They didn't notice this until they test-fired it and had to hastily modify it to fix the problem before the proper test.
- Everybody Owns a Ford: Ford vehicles tend to appear quite often in episodes involving driving-related myths. A late-model Ford F-series pickup has appeared in several episodes being used by Brian and Jon, and the myth about defeating spike strips was tested using a pair of Crown Victorias.
- Fiction Science: A biologist and a product designer are chosen to continue the legacy of busting tall tales and myths.
- Mythology Gag: One of the very first things the new team has to build is a sword-swinging rig, a staple of the original show.
- When their dynamite crossbow explodes Brian's first words are "Well there's your problem."
- Signature Headgear: Brian's ever-present flat cap.
- Sound-Effect Bleep: During the test of a scene from Skyfall. Brian (supposedly) explained how to make the "lightbulb shrapnel bomb" work in real life. Naturally, his explanation was mostly bleeped out. At one point, though, the accompanying text crawl read "We think Brian can sing opera" and the bleeps changed to a short clip from an aria.
- Stock Footage: Brief clips from the original version are shown to show that Brian and John are continuing the original crew's spirit of experimentation and big booms. Earlier instances tried to cut around Adam, Jamie, and the Build Team but they eventually just started showing the original cast to try and show continuity between the two versions of the show.
- Unreliable Voiceover: Despite what the narrator says during the Flaming Arrow Gas Tank test, the crossbow didn't break because of the heat of the flaming arrows. The high-speed shows that the bowstring snapped, likely due to firing the overweight arrows. When the same arrow was fired from their backup recurve bow, its string broke too.
