Series synopsis
MythBusters is an American documentary television series that premiered on Discovery on January 23, 2003. It ended on February 21, 2018. It was created by Peter Rees. It stars Adam Savage, Brian Louden, Jamie Hyneman and Jonathan Lung.
MythBusters is a science entertainment television program created and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The show's hosts, special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, use elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors, myths, movie scenes, adages, Internet videos, and news stories.
Premise
MythBusters is a science entertainment television program created and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The show's hosts, special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, use elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors, myths, movie scenes, adages, Internet videos, and news stories.
Premise: Failure is always an option.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Adam Savage as Self - Host
- Brian Louden as Self - Host
- Jamie Hyneman as Self - Host
- Jonathan Lung as Self - Host
- Kari Byron as Self - Host
- Tory Belleci as Self - Host
- Grant Imahara as Self - Host
- Jessi Combs as Self - Host
Supporting cast
- Robert Lee as Self - Narrator (voice)
Guest cast
- Tony Shalhoub as Self
- Dan Green as Self
- Roger Clemens as Self
- John McLeod as Self
- Jacques Bergerac as Self
- Jonathan Banks as Self
- Colby Boothman-Shepard as Self
- James Cameron as Self
- Seth Rogen as Self
- Barack Obama as Self
- Alton Brown as Self
- Vince Gilligan as Self
Episodes
This series spans 20 seasons with 297 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 25 | March 21, 2004 | March 6, 2016 |
| Season 1 | 11 | January 23, 2003 | December 12, 2003 |
| Season 2 | 17 | January 11, 2004 | December 22, 2004 |
| Season 3 | 20 | February 16, 2005 | November 16, 2005 |
| Season 4 | 28 | January 11, 2006 | December 13, 2006 |
| Season 5 | 25 | January 10, 2007 | February 20, 2008 |
| Season 6 | 19 | January 16, 2008 | November 12, 2008 |
| Season 7 | 23 | April 8, 2009 | January 4, 2010 |
| Season 8 | 23 | January 4, 2010 | December 22, 2010 |
| Season 9 | 21 | April 6, 2011 | November 30, 2011 |
| Season 10 | 20 | March 25, 2012 | November 18, 2012 |
| Season 11 | 11 | May 1, 2013 | October 17, 2013 |
| Season 12 | 15 | January 4, 2014 | August 21, 2014 |
| Season 13 | 14 | January 10, 2015 | September 5, 2015 |
| Season 14 | 11 | January 2, 2016 | March 5, 2016 |
| Season 15 | 6 | November 15, 2017 | December 20, 2017 |
| Season 16 | 8 | January 3, 2018 | February 21, 2018 |
| Season 17 | 0 | January 10, 2015 | February 14, 2015 |
| Season 18 | 0 | July 18, 2015 | September 5, 2015 |
| Season 19 | 0 | January 9, 2016 | March 6, 2016 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Best Animal Myths This was a re-cut of previously tested animal-related myths from different episodes. Chicken Gun, Goldfish Memory, Does a Duck's Quack Echo? |
March 21, 2004 |
| 2 |
Best Electric Myths This was a re-cut of previously tested electricity-related myths from different episodes. Peeing on the Third Rail, Lightning Strikes Tongue Piercing, Microwave Madness |
May 6, 2004 |
| 3 |
Best Explosions This was a re-cut of previously tested explosion-related myths from different episodes. Cell Phone Destruction, Raccoon Rocket, Tree Cannon, Exploding Toilet |
June 9, 2004 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Jet-Assisted Chevy Can a '67 Chevy turn into a 350-mile-per-hour road warrior? Are Pop Rocks candy and soda a recipe for disaster? |
January 23, 2003 |
| 2 |
Biscuit Bazooka Can a person get stuck to an airline toilet while it's in flight? Is there such a thing as a biscuit bazooka? |
January 23, 2003 |
| 3 |
Poppy-Seed Drug Test Can a poppy-seed bagel tilt the results of a drug test? Can balloons carry a lawn chair? If you cover your body in gold paint, will you be able to breathe? Or could you die from it? |
March 7, 2003 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Explosive Decompression Can firing a bullet into the shell of an aircraft cause explosive decompression? Can a loaded .22-caliber gun cartridge be used as a replacement fuse in a car's ignition? Can a car be ripped off its rear axle? |
January 11, 2004 |
| 2 |
Chicken Gun Will launching a chicken at an airplane disrupt its flight, or will the bird be blown away? Is it possible for a woman to swallow an octopus egg -- and then give birth to an eight-legged offspring? Could a man be fatally assaulted and killed by his dirty laundry and washing machine? |
January 18, 2004 |
| 3 |
Break Step Bridge Will a college rowing team be able to pull Jamie up on water skis? Can the rhythm of soldiers marching together cause a bridge to collapse? Does the bacteria from a toilet settle in your toothbrush? |
January 25, 2004 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Brown Note Will Adam be able to withstand subsonic frequencies, or will adult diapers be his only hope with the Brown Note? Is a constant drip of water falling on your head really unbearable torture? |
February 16, 2005 |
| 2 |
Salsa Escape Adam and Jamie go head to head in a madcap Mexican jailbreak as they taste-test the theory of the Salsa Escape. Can you use dynamite to remove cement build-up from a mixer's barrel? |
February 23, 2005 |
| 3 |
Exploding Port-a-Potty Can a person receive third-degree burns if he or she lights a cigarette inside a port-a-potty? Will a broken drive shaft on the front joint of a car vault cause a car to pole vault after it hits a pothole? |
March 2, 2005 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Paper Crossbow Is it possible to make a deadly weapon out of nothing more dangerous than newspaper and underwear? Grant, Kari and Tory unscrew the cap on some more vodka myths. |
January 11, 2006 |
| 2 |
Shredded Plane Is the photo of a light plane, with precise, clean tears on the side, genuine? Was it the work of the jilted lover, who took to her ex's plane with a chainsaw and a taste for vengeance? |
January 18, 2006 |
| 3 |
Archimedes Death Ray Revisited Challenged from fan mailbags to retest the "Archimedes Death Ray," Adam and Jamie accept. In turn, fans and a M.I.T. team were invited to perform this challenge. |
January 25, 2006 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Hindenburg Mystery Did hydrogen really cause the Hindenburg fire? Meanwhile Kari, Tory and Grant test the saying: "If you're being chased by a crocodile, run in a zig-zag, because crocs can't turn corners at speed." |
January 10, 2007 |
| 2 |
Pirate Special (1) Are cannonballs more deadly than the splinters sprayed from a mighty broadside blast? Why would a pirate wear a patch over a perfectly good eye? |
January 17, 2007 |
| 3 |
Underwater Car Can you escape a submerged car? Is it possible to fold an 8"x11" piece of paper in half more than seven times? On the flip side, can the team create a piece of paper that's the size of a football field? |
January 24, 2007 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
James Bond (1) Can an electromagnetic watch really deflect a bullet? Would a round from Bond's gun pierce a propane cylinder? Could a boat survive driving up the bank of a river intact? |
January 16, 2008 |
| 2 |
Lead Balloon Can Adam and Jamie get a lead balloon to fly? Is it possible to drop a couple sticks of dynamite into a lake and create ideal surfing conditions? |
January 23, 2008 |
| 3 |
Airplane on a Conveyor Belt The team takes a crash-course in remote controlled airplane flying, bug-out by testing the "cockroach survival" theory, then return to fraternity pranks with exploding cans of shaving cream. |
January 30, 2008 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Demolition Derby Is the movie Speed just fake film physics? Will a car dropped from 4,000 feet fall faster than a speeding car? Is the compact conundrum of a two-truck head-on collision a myth? |
April 8, 2009 |
| 2 |
Alaska Special (2) Is Pykrete really tougher than concrete? Is it durable enough to make a boat out of? Can a V-shaped snowplow really split a car in two? |
April 15, 2009 |
| 3 |
Banana Slip/Double Dip Can a banana peel really cause one to slip? Does double dipping cause germ warfare? And can the build team really make a homemade diamond? |
April 22, 2009 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Boomerang Bullet Were trees really used to launch diseased bodies over medieval walls? What happens when you shoot a bullet at a frying pan? |
January 4, 2010 |
| 2 |
Soda Cup Killer Jamie and Adam explore whether a cup of soda thrown from a car can kill, while Jessi, Tory and Grant see how long a good guy can hang by his fingertips. |
March 24, 2010 |
| 3 |
Dive to Survive Can a deep dive really save you from an explosion? Can a car be bulletproofed using... phone books? |
March 31, 2010 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Mission Impossible Mask Can realistic facial masks be used to bypass security measures as shown in the Mission: Impossible? Is it possible to start a merry-go-round spinning by shooting bullets at it, as depicted in Shoot 'Em Up? Is it possible to knock a dropped gun out of reach by hitting it with bullets fired from another one? |
April 6, 2011 |
| 2 |
Blue Ice Can a magazine and toaster be used to blow up a room full of flammable gas, as depicted in The Bourne Supremacy? Can the contents of an airplane toilet leak out mid-flight and freeze into a lethal projectile? |
April 13, 2011 |
| 3 |
Running on Water Adam and Jamie take on a viral video, while Kari, Grant, and Tory explore which common items can be bombproof. |
April 20, 2011 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Duct Tape Island Abandoned on a Hawaiian island, Jamie and Adam find themselves armed with nothing but the sticky silver adhesive. Can they use it to source water, find food, build shelter, and even escape? |
March 25, 2012 |
| 2 |
Fire vs. Ice Adam and Jamie tackle an internet sensation about an epic duel between a flamethrower and a CO2 fire extinguisher, while Kari, Tory and Grant get high-tech find out if a dust cloud created by a foursome of 4x4s can really blind the all-seeing eye of the latest military spy drone. |
April 1, 2012 |
| 3 |
Square Wheels Adam and Jamie test whether, after a certain speed, the ride in a car with square wheels is just as smooth as with round ones, while in Date Night Car, Tory, Kari and Grant tackle a tandem driving myth from the movie Date Night. |
April 8, 2012 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
JATO Rocket Car: Mission Accomplished? MythBusters' 10th anniversary kicks off with a blast from the past, the myth that began the busting: JATO Rocket Car. Back with more rocket power, more gadgets, and a huge rolling bunker called The Beast, will the team bust this myth once and for all? |
May 1, 2013 |
| 2 |
Deadliest Catch Crabtastic Special Deadliest Catch captains Johnathan and Junior join the MythBusters to test if a crab pot will drag you overboard to the bottom if your foot is caught in a coil, if it's better to work a 30-hr grind with no sleep, and if crab pots truly are indestructible. |
May 8, 2013 |
| 3 |
Down and Dirty/Earthquake Survival The MythBusters get down and dirty to test if using a bathroom's hand dryer is better than a paper towel and which public restroom stall is the cleanest. They also shake, rattle and roll to test if it's better to stand in the doorway during an earthquake. |
May 15, 2013 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Star Wars Special The MythBusters test if Luke really could swing himself and Leia across a chasm with only his belt-rigged grappling hook, could an Ewok log swing crush an Imperial "Chicken Walker", and could Luke survive in a tauntaun's belly? |
January 4, 2014 |
| 2 |
Moonshiner Myths The MythBusters find out if an exploding still really could blow your house down and if you really could use hooch to fuel an unmodified car on a "moonshine run." |
January 11, 2014 |
| 3 |
Hollywood Car Crash Cliches It's wall-to-wall automotive mayhem, as the MythBusters drive through glass, plow through traffic, and fire an RPG at an SUV to take aim at classic Hollywood crash cliches. |
January 18, 2014 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Simpsons: D'oh! Finally, the MythBusters meet the Simpsons! Will putting a cherry bomb in a toilet block cause all toilets to erupt with a violent fountain? Can an obese human (sorry, Homer) absorb the impact of a wrecking ball? |
January 10, 2015 |
| 2 |
The Busters of the Lost Myths Adam LOVED this one, as you can imagine. Can a whip make your enemy drop his gun? Can you wrap a whip around a log and swing across a chasm? Could Indy have outrun a rolling boulder? Could Indy had survived a Mayan temple run through the various booby traps? |
January 17, 2015 |
| 3 |
A-Team Special Jamie and Adam find out if it's really possible to build a working cannon out of stuff abandoned in a barn, then test whether a sewer explosion can really take out the bad guys without serious injury. |
January 24, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
MythBusters Revealed Since 2002, the MythBusters have used science to separate fact from fiction but now, after an epic 14 years, that wild ride is coming to an end. In this special episode, Jamie and Adam reveal what's in store for their go-big-then-go-home final season, while also pulling back the curtain to showcase how this epic series got made with behind-the-scenes exclusives. |
January 2, 2016 |
| 2 |
The Explosion Special The MythBusters celebrate their explosive history with two spectacular big bangs. In MacGyver Cement Truck, our mullet-wearing hero discovers a mail truck full of TNT. Thinking quickly (as he does), MacGyver has a nearby cement truck dump its load onto the truck to smother the bomb. But would it work in real life? Then in Hovercraft Hijinks the guys tackle the one explosive technology they've yet to come across: landmines. Can a minefield really be safely traversed in a hovercraft? |
January 9, 2016 |
| 3 |
Tanker Crush This season, Jamie and Adam try something they've never done before: an implosion caused by a vacuum. The tall tale goes that a freight train tank car was being steam cleaned when a rainstorm let loose. The engineers made the mistake of sealing the container full of hot steam and headed home. The rain cooled the tank car, the steam condensed and contracted, and the resulting pressure differential caused the massive steel car to crumple like a soda can. Is it possible? The MythBusters devote an entire episode and embark on the biggest logistical operation in their history to find out. |
January 16, 2016 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Heads Will Roll Mythbusters returns with new hosts Jonathan and Brian. The MythBusters put an exploding airbag to the ultimate test and tackle an epic movie myth using a rocket-powered sword. |
November 15, 2017 |
| 2 |
Chimney Cannon The MythBusters investigate if a burglar can be shot out of a chimney when the fireplace is lit. Then they power up a chainsaw to test if a bullet embedded in a tree will have fatal consequences. |
November 22, 2017 |
| 3 |
Earthquake Water Heater The MythBusters investigate if a water-heater can turn into a destructive torpedo, and reveal the explosive power of flatulence. |
November 29, 2017 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Fire Arrow vs. Gas Tank The MythBusters investigate two arrow-themed myths: Will a flaming arrow fired into a car's gas tank cause it to explode, and is a deadly-looking tribal initiation really is as dangerous as it seems. |
January 3, 2018 |
| 2 |
Pane In The Glass The MythBusters take on a glass-shattering movie myth, and search for cure to stop crying while chopping onions. |
January 10, 2018 |
| 3 |
Wild Wild West The MythBusters tackle more myths in a wild west themed episode. |
January 17, 2018 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Simpsons Special | January 10, 2015 |
| 2 | The Busters of the Lost Myths | January 17, 2015 |
| 3 | The A-Team Special | January 24, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Blow It Out of the Water Adam and Jamie blow up a boat with 1,000 lbs. of high explosive; homemade machine gun from the ``Breaking Bad'' finale. |
July 18, 2015 |
| 2 |
Flights of Fantasy Adam and Jamie tackle two flights of fantasy: Is the U2 the hardest plane to fly? And can a radio-controlled drone inflict lethal injuries to a human? |
July 25, 2015 |
| 3 |
Accidental Ammo Some backyard ballistics are tested and a glass guillotine is created. |
August 1, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Explosion Special The MythBusters celebrate their explosive history with two spectacular big bangs. In MacGyver Cement Truck, our mullet-wearing hero discovers a mail truck full of TNT. Thinking quickly (as he does), MacGyver has a nearby cement truck dump its load onto the truck to smother the bomb. But would it work in real life? Then in Hovercraft Hijinks the guys tackle the one explosive technology they've yet to come across: landmines. Can a minefield really be safely traversed in a hovercraft? |
January 9, 2016 |
| 2 |
Tanker Crush This season, Jamie and Adam try something they've never done before: an Implosion caused by a vacuum. The tall tale goes that a freight train tank car was being steam cleaned when a rainstorm let loose. The engineers made the mistake of sealing the container full of hot steam and headed home. The rain cooled the tank car, the steam condensed and contracted, and the resulting pressure differential caused the massive steel car to crumple like a soda can. Is it possible? The MythBusters devote an entire episode and embark on the biggest logistical operation in their history to find out. |
January 16, 2016 |
| 3 |
Cooking Chaos This episode takes on two viral videos. First, is it possible to fire shrimp from an air cannon through a cloud of flour, shower of egg wash, then breadcrumbs before a fireball crisps them into the perfect tempura on a plate? Second, can an underwater explosive charge juice the inside of a piece of fruit or vegetable while leaving the exterior completely undamaged? |
January 23, 2016 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | Discovery |
|---|---|
| First aired | January 23, 2003 |
| Last aired | February 21, 2018 |
| Runtime | 43 minutes |
| Status | Ended |
| Schedule | Wednesday at 21:00:00 |