Suspended belief is where the exaggeration of the MacGyverism comes in.

The actual science of the MacGyverism has to based on the real laws of science, because otherwise you have a science fiction story.

MacGyver wasn't a science fiction, it was based in the real world, therefore it is fair to expect MacGyverisms to be at least based on real world science. How well they work is where the suspension of dis-belief comes into play.

For example, you can't throw baking soda and vinegar together and make an explosion and then turn around and say "Oh but in MacGyver's universe those two chemicals explode." In fact you probably couldn't even do that in science fiction, without being laughed out of the room...

I think the key to all this is to look at the mythbusters tests as a way of finding which MacGyverisms results where exaggerated. we know that every single MacGyverism is based on a real scientific principle or theory, but we don't know for sure which ones would work as shown.

You could devote a whole years science class to researching and exploring MacGyverisms. wouldn't that be a great science class.

Oh trust me, they've done much worse on Star Trek
Ha ha- just kidding. But sometimes you have some fantastical elements that you just accept as being because in that fictional universe they are. And I'm content to leave it at that. I just enjoy some TV shows- I don't always analyze them overly in-depth for realism in every aspect.
I understand the point you're making about MacGyver being based in a real life setting, but the "it works because in this universe it does work" argument is definitely used for explaining a lot of things in science fiction in particular, as you said.
And I agree about your view on the Mythbusters episode- I think the Mythbusters show will be a good way of showing which things were exaggerated, most likely due to budget constraints and safety precautions.

Because I think all of the MacGyverisms have some sort of real life scientific premise that would work under the right circumstances.

Actually, there was just such an educational syllabus devoted to that.
MacGyver Science Kit

This was designed for students in grades 7-12 (ages 12-18) and from what I know of it, students would watch clips from MacGyver and then attempt to recreate the MacGyverisms, and from personal testimony I saw from the seller, they all worked.

(I don't know anything more about it than that. Just saw it on Ebay some years ago and thought it looked cool. And it is pretty cool that MacGyver was able to be used for science education in schools!)

yeah I was thinking they could take a MacGyverism, and then explore the scientific principle it was based on, explore how it works, why it works, would it work as shown, etc

They could even go further, with things like actually wiring up a light bulb socket and switch for the squirt test, or learning how a door lock works and then actually fitting one into a door, for the light filament test, so that way they learn some basic life skills and DIY at the same time.

It would certainly be a very practical class to take.
None of this "When am I ever going to use this stuff in real life" questions going on.

I agree with that, and I think that's the point MacGyver was making, too. Not that you can just say this and that will have this result with no basis in reality. More like...in reality it takes more than 3 days to scratch-build an ultralight, but in MacGyver's world he can do it in 4 hours. You have to accept the exaggeration, even in a show with real scientific grounding.

I have that syllabus. I bought it off of eBay a while back. From looking through it, I think that would have been an awesome class project!

All right, so I have a new question. What MacGyverisms do you think the Mythbusters should have tested? If they have another Mac special, what would you like to see them do?

I would like to see them do the spark plug/battery weld from Cease Fire.

Great question!

I'd like to see them test the telegraph-tapping in "Widowmaker", and the welding trick with the half-dollar in "Trumbo's World".

I wanna know if you can really make explosive 'chili' out of sugar, rat poison, and battery acid, as Mac did in 'Thief of Budapest'.

depends on how strong the chili is.. and which end you want to explode from

Oh, now look who's contributing to the degeneration of the thread . . .

I'd like to see more of the simple MacGyverisms tested. The ones like the gum wrapper on the fuse.

To answer my own question , I'd like to see them test a bike torch like the one in Last Stand.

That one might well turn out to have been one of the MacGyverisms with a "missing ingredient" -- but it would still be well worth testing!

I've just added a poll so we can vote what we thought of this Mythbusters special.

Great! I thought we needed a poll. I voted excellent, and I want to see more (which is a possibility according to the 'Busters)!

I would like to see the myth where mac bypasses an infared alram system by using that tubing from the lamp to get into the guys penthouse suit in the ep where mac and chris break into that casio. I would also like to see if an electronic timed lock could be sped up to open as seen in hellweek. They could make a years worth of shows just from doing all the macgyverisms he does. I would love to see them do the myth were mac rewires the one guys car alarm system to his car phone so when he calls the phone it locks them into the car. I believe the mythbuster already did the gum wrapper fuse trick on one of there macgyver mini myths.

one thing that struck me with the light bulb challenge, was the size of the light bulb.. it was huge.

If I remember correctly MacGyver used a smaller sized light bulb didn't he? which in turn would probably mean smaller filaments and thus eliminate the need for Adam to spend time bashing them on his steel capped boots to get them thin enough to fit in the key hole.

I have to say this is the one aspect of the show which disappointed me, Kari took liberties on the design on the glider too... She reduced the size of the tail to that of a real glider... MacGyver used a larger tail.. which, after seeing the way it flew... could well have been to compensate for the weight of the thing... a larger tail might have helped the flight.

That was my exact thought too. I was surprised they'd even try it, knowing this, and how could they not? Never did they mention the fact bits had always been left out so kids wouldn't try it and hurt themselves.

As has been said before, that was only done for explosive or other dangerous MacGyverisms.

They only tested one MacGyverism which could fall in that category in the episode, which is the sodium metal explosion and my thinking on this is that the MacGyver producers probably didn't worry about this particular MacGyverism, becasue they know that Sodium metal isn't openly available to the average person, so isn't really a risk factor.

But I will be concerned if the Mythbusters start trying to mix fertilizer and aerosol spray together to make a bomb and they saying it's busted.

Yeah, fertilizer can be nasty, volatile stuff. After all, the Oklahoma City Bomber used it to aid in creating his devastating explosion. It's too bad he couldn't have used it for a better, more productive purpose as MacGyver did.

When did MacGyver ever make a compass?

I had wondered that also. Somewhere back in one of these threads, I did a fast list of the episodes in which the other MacGyverisms appeared; but I had no answer for that one, and no-one else came up with one at the time.

which leads on to the question.. if it wasn't a MacGyverism from the show, why was it in the show? Likewise with that kite they used at the end.

The show was distinctly advertised as putting MacGyverisms to the test.. yet 2 of the 6 things they did weren't MacGyverisms from the show at all.

The kite came from the guys coming up with it themselves, which was actually part of the MacGyver challenge--to see if they could create something that would attract attention from the air using their imaginations and ingenuity. The kite was their solution. It didn't have to be a specific MacGyverism from the show in that instance. However, I do agree that they should have tested more "true" MacGyverisms that came directly from the series itself.

I watched another Mythbusters where they actually built and tested a glider made of concrete, of all materials! It performed slightly better than Mac's bamboo glider, believe it or not, and they considered it plausible, but dangerous to use. Maybe Mac could have made a concrete glider with that concrete mixer.

It's being rerun already!

Next Wed, April 30th at 9pm Eastern, 1am the next day, and Sun, May 4th at 11am

banlu

excellent!

I'm added the times and dates into the calendar, so they will appear in the upcoming events on the forums front page.