I got asked this question in a live radio interview a few months back with no prior warning. I kinda fumbled through it at the time, but ever since then, it comes back to haunt my thoughts from time to time of how I should have answered.. hind-sight is always 20-20.

Anyway it just popped back into my head now, so I wondered what you guys would have answered to this question with the briefing to keep answers as short and too the point as possible because they had to be translated into Spanish and your live on air.

Question: Whats your favorite MacGyverism?

Answer: ... ?

Hard to think of a best. Worst come to mind more easily (um...the pressure washer backpack things from 'The Stringer' volunteer)...I'd have to think on that. It'd probably be an early one...hm....no clue....

Tough one!

I love what Mac does with that monk's habit. It might not be the flashiest or most ingenius, but it is always the first thing I think of when someone asks me this question!

The one where MacGyver saved the world and nobody died.

The car parachute from The Heist.
The bed slingshot from Nightmares.

Two of my favourites but also the later ones are cool.

Hmm... probably the glider from Legend of the Holy Rose and the flying apparatuses from The Wasteland and To Be a Man.

For some reason, there's just something I love about seeing someone make something like that that actually works.

I like the homemade plane in Holy Rose, too.

My favorite was in the pilot episode. Chocolate bar sealing an acid leak. It's always the first one I remember.

"Give me a couple of buttons and your bobby pins..." (I'm paraphrasing here ) The one where the term "MacGyverism" came from. Now if I could only recall the name of the episode...

Edit, got it..."Twice Stung"

Kev

All the different things he used the map for in the opening gambit of "The Gauntlet".
And the hot-air balloon he "improvised" in "GX-1".

Those are my favourites. Question is really tough though. I read your post last night so it took me very long to think of some favourites. And I can't decide on one as usual
All the things you mentioned by now were great too

I've always liked the one where he attaches 2 rockets to an old jeep to make it run.

Or when he fixes a car's fuel line using a ball point pen (actually works)

Hmm, it would have to be when he puts the map on the hot air balloon that was shot. Love that one.
In fact, that entire episode from season one, don't know the name, he uses the map throughout the episode several times...to slide down the sand, to get a key out of a lock, etc. It's maybe the second or third episode. Anyway, I love it.
Why were you on a radio interview?

That's not an episode on it's own, its the opening Gambit to the Gauntlet episode.

The interview was because the radio station was doing a look back at 80's TV shows and they contacted me through this site and asked if I could talk to them about MacGyver.

Oh wow how cool is that!!?! That happened to me once with Law & Order: Criminal Intent. I was quoted in the New York Times after they found me in the forum!! How funny!!

The scene in Partners where Mac uses the wrench, his shoe lace and a paper clip to create the escape mechanism for the car.

I also really like the gas cylinders used to push the heavy wine cask through the wall to rescue Pete. Very cool because gas cylinders really do rocket if the regulator valves are damaged.

The look on Pete's face was hilarious when Mac came up with the escape plan from the car.

I don't remember that one. What episode is it from?

I don't remember that one. What episode is it from?

He does it to an airplane in 'Wing and a Prayer'... but not a jeep.

You get a Darwin Award for trying a JATO with a auto!

I can't remember the name of the episode, but I remember Mac being stuck in a wooden shed with a 4X4 with no engine. He finds some explosives of some type, makes a rocket launcher and straps them on the back of the car. Once ignited, it has enough boost to crash through the locked shed's door and Mac escapes.

thats from the "Lost treasure of Atlantis" movie

*facepalm* Yes of course. I wasn't even thinking of the movies! LOL!

D'oh!

I knew I had seen it somewhere... Thought I was going crazy there

I like the one in "Target Macgyver" where he uses the pine stuff to make a mine. He was right. It burns a lot better than it tastes. I'll take his word that you can actually make make a mine out of it.

Top ten Favorite MacGyverisms:

1. Hershey bars to stop the acid leak in the pilot
2. The map in the Gauntlet
3. The escape from the car in Partners using shoelaces, a monkey wrench and a paper clip
4. The SOS call in the Widowmaker using Nikki braclet and the phone wire
5. The hot air balloon that he makes in GX-1
6. The reconstruction of the skull of Betty Parker in the Secret of Parker House
7. Mac's plan to get him and Pete out of the pit in Survivors with the rope and hammer.
8. His elaborate job in Deadly Dreams to show Dr. Zito's guilt--how Dr.Zito got the chemicals to Cross to cause his alcohlosis--using the roll of toilet paper
9. The plane with bamboo, duct tape in Legend of the Holy Rose
10. The stunning of the bad guys in Blind Faith

I would have to say number 6.

Yeah, the escape from Partners using Jack's cab, shoelaces, a rusty monkey wrench and a paper clip is my favorite I think. I watched it last night--still love it!

The one where he sticks his hand in a puppet at the toy store and punches the guy out when he walks past, for some reason that was always funny to me

The one where he fixes the break line with a ballpoint pen

Most of the macgyverism from the endangered

I alson like the candle wax enhanced printingon burned matchbook in the hood.That has always fascinated.

Another great one is in Halloween Knights with the melted wax and the fingerprint trick. The look on Murdoc's face when Mac tells him to melt wax is priceless!!

There are a lot of great MacGyverisms in 139 episodes & 2 movies. My preferable is the unbelievable way that Mac has passed the trapped wires using his gun and burning the gunpowder in "Strictly Business". That's amazing. When I was watching this scene for the first time I was stumped. I could'n imagine, before the scene, how will get over the obstacle. Excellent MacGyverism accompanied by great music clip in this scene.