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MacGyver Online Forums > Nit-picks > 023 THE HUMAN FACTOR

Posted by: MacGyverOnline 1 November 2006 - 05:29 PM

When MacGyver and Dr. Jill Ludlum are trying to figure out how to escape from the receding floor that will eventually dump them into an acid bath, MacGyver takes off his shoes, kicking them a bit so that they don't get in his way, and then takes off his pants. He then uses his pants to hang from a pipe that runs across the room, right above their heads. All this action happens pretty fast, since the retracting floor is not stopping for anything. However, when we see MacGyver and Dr. Jill Ludlum hanging from the pipe we can clearly see that MacGyver now has his shoes back on.

Posted by: Astra 23 June 2008 - 09:25 AM

I wonder why Mac turns his "telescope" when he was spying out the number code at the beginning? Turning wouldn't change anything, it is still the same old lens.

And why do the numbers that come in sight turn as well? No matter how much he turns his telescope, the numbers would always be the same way up!

Posted by: MacGyverOnline 23 June 2008 - 04:12 PM

The news paper had a spiral effect so turning the scope would make the lens move in and out and thus adjust the focus. Just like a real telescope does.

I guess the numbers turning is just a story telling device to show the viewer that turning the lens was focusing the view.

Posted by: Astra 24 June 2008 - 02:04 AM

QUOTE (Rockatteer @ 24 June 2008 - 02:47 AM)

The news paper had a spiral effect so turning the scope would make the lens move in and out

And this all without duct tape? I think if I ever tried to roll not only one, but two lenses into a paper like that, they would never stay the way they are supposed to! One of them always would just fell over flatly

So you really think, he did not only manage to hold the lens inside the paper just somehow, but also in a special angle? I always thought it was just vertical to the other glass.

So the lens is in an angle. Still turning around would only have the effect, that the more fare side of the lense once is above and once is right or left or down, but the general distance would not change. It only would have if he had it taken away from his eyes or nearer.

I don't understand how the lens indeed could move freely inside the paper. It needs to be hold to stay upright. If there is no connection, it fells over.

Posted by: MacGyverOnline 24 June 2008 - 01:02 PM

theres no special angle.

Probably the best thing for you to do is to roll up a news paper and watch what happens when you twist it and then imaging how a lense which had been rolled into the paper tight enough to hold it in place would move with the paper.

The trick with this MacGyverism is that he didn't actually need to use the news paper. He could have just as easily held the lenses (one in each hand) and moved them in or out to the correct distance for focus.

Posted by: Astra 24 June 2008 - 01:25 PM

QUOTE (Rockatteer @ 24 June 2008 - 11:37 PM)

I'm afraid I don't get what exactly you do mean with twist.

QUOTE

The trick with this MacGyverism is that he didn't actually need to use the news paper. He could have just as easily held the lenses (one in each hand) and moved them in or out to the correct distance for focus.

Exactly!

Posted by: Etnofaz 27 June 2008 - 09:18 PM

I don't have any round lenses but, I did it with a newspaper, a half dollar, and a gamecube disc. It works fine and what twisting it does is very slightly pushes one of the lenses further in or out. Also I would imagine he also used it for steadiness, any heavy breathing of slight arm movement forward or backward would cause him to loose focus if he were holding them, thus he looses the mission.

Posted by: MacGyverOnline 29 June 2008 - 12:51 PM

QUOTE (Astra @ 25 June 2008 - 10:00 AM)

I'm afraid I don't get what exactly you do mean with twist.

watch the episode and copy what MacGyver does with the newspaper.. he twists the paper (and lense inside the paper) to focus the image.

Just roll a newspaper up like MacGyver did (starting from a corner) and then see how you can adjust the length and size of the roll and watch how it moves inside the roll.

QUOTE (etnofaz)

I would imagine he also used it for steadiness, any heavy breathing of slight arm movement forward or backward would cause him to loose focus if he were holding them, thus he looses the mission

True

Posted by: Astra 30 June 2008 - 12:22 AM

QUOTE (Rockatteer @ 29 June 2008 - 11:26 PM)

Just roll a newspaper up like MacGyver did (starting from a corner) and then see how you can adjust the length and size of the roll and watch how it moves inside the roll.

Aaaah! Progress.

You mean, he twists the paper to make the diameter smaller and larger? I thought the whole time, he only turned it in his hand. Will try later!

Posted by: MacGyverOnline 30 June 2008 - 12:58 PM

QUOTE (Astra @ 30 June 2008 - 08:57 PM)

You mean, he twists the paper to make the diameter smaller and larger? I thought the whole time, he only turned it in his hand. Will try later!

yes.

Although in this case he was probably working more on changing the length of the roll rather than the diameter of it... but both can be achieved by the twisting motion, as you'll see when you try it.

Posted by: Beachbead 29 April 2009 - 08:24 AM

The scene where they go down the garbage chute is very similar to the scene in Star Wars: A New Hope where Han, Luke, Chewy, and Princess Leia jump into the garbage chute.

If you look very closely at the lasers blocking pathways in this episode, they appear to move from side to side and don't look real at all.

MacGyver weighs 175 pounds.

Plot Hole: If the computer is designed to eliminate or prevent the escape of hostile intruders, why does the computer voice keep announcing its actions to those same intruders? That would be like having a general send a copy of his battle plans to the enemy camp. It couldn't be for the benefit of friendly personnel caught in the base, since, like Mac and Dr. Ludlum, not only would they know the timetable, but they would be written off as losses anyway.

Posted by: MacGyverOnline 6 May 2009 - 01:31 AM

QUOTE (beachbead)

If you look very closely at the lasers blocking pathways in this episode, they appear to move from side to side and don't look real at all.

It's very noticeable in the scene where the general is showing them around and Pete stands on the weight sensitive floor at the start.

After Pete and the general cut all power to the base (backup power wasn't working yet), how is the computer able to power up and start searching it's memory with no power?

Posted by: Beachbead 6 May 2009 - 02:39 PM

Maybe the computer had a backup of it's own.

Posted by: MacGyverOnline 6 May 2009 - 03:13 PM

QUOTE (Beachbead @ 7 May 2009 - 10:39 AM)

Maybe the computer had a backup of it's own.

The whole reason they cut power was because there was no backup.

Also when a mainframe computer looses power it resets, it doesn't just carry on from where it was when the power went out. I know this from 8 years experience with running mainframe computers and my fair share of power failures.

So that was very unrealistic, even todays computers don't just carry on from where you where if the power goes off. Any work you haven't saved at the time is gone.

Posted by: Beachbead 6 May 2009 - 03:24 PM

Now that you put it that way I can see why it would be unrealistic

Posted by: MACGYVERISMYDAD 7 May 2009 - 03:08 AM

I guess they made the computer announce it's actions so it made the computer seem more high tech. I could not imagine why else they would have the computer telling you how it was going to kill you.

Posted by: MacGyverOnline 7 May 2009 - 01:53 PM

Having the computer announce it's actions would have been for "story telling" purposes. It serves a double purpose. It tells the viewers whats going on and gives the characters something to react to, and then we go full circle of the viewer then knows why the character is doing what they're doing.

Posted by: jennkurz 21 February 2011 - 09:41 PM

remember this was 1986 when computer and robotics were the next big thing. i think having the computer annouce its actions was to try and make it seem more lifelike and less of a machine. That it had achieve artificial intellegence like it was really interacting with mac and dr ludlum

Posted by: jennkurz 21 February 2011 - 10:37 PM

where did mac get the rope to walk the tightrope on? he didnt have it when he left the security truck

Posted by: jennkurz 21 February 2011 - 10:43 PM

the computer locked down the complex becuase it didnt recognize macs voice and percieved him as an intruder, but earlier the computer greeted him by macgyver so his voice should have been easily been identified by the computer as a non threat

Posted by: Fly_airdalton 12 September 2014 - 08:46 AM

Unless the computer (sandy) decided at some point it wasn't a simulation experimentation. anymore. In this case, by default she would have taken anyone as a threat, even Dr. Ludlum.
And this is why the storyline continued the way it did. The computer's number on
e job was to defend at all costs when it decided (a.i.) it was really protecting itself.