History Series / MythBusters

* MamaBear: Kari turn into a literal one when she dons her bear claws.
--> '''Kari:''' Code name: Grizzly

--> '''Kari:''' Code name: Grizzly ''

* TheUnfunny: Jamie.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: From just watching the show, and knowing the fact that Adam and Jamie have known each other for years, one would think that Adam and Jamie would be a case of this, but it's actually averted. During Q&A sessions, both Adam and Jamie go out of their way to tell fans that they are ''not'' friends, just coworkers with a good deal of respect for each other. They don't hang out after work.

* SiegeEngines: The boys recreated a ''[[OverlyLongGag Hwacha!!!]]'' or multiple arrow launcher. They also made a trebuchet out of an old boom lift. It didn't work so good...

* MamaBear: in the Duct Tape Airplane myth, Kari makes herself some bear claws.

*** Jamie got REALLY close in the episode where the guys try to navigate a straight line while blindfolded. Jamie, while driving a motorized utility cart blindfolded, stopped a few feet of said fence during their testing.

* EarTrumpet: Parodied by Adam during as build — he was assembling a huge funnel, and when he finished it he held it up to one ear.

** Adam and Jamie once tested the myth of whether elephants were naturally fearful of mice (as seen in many cartoons) by visiting an elephant reserve in Africa and actually placing a mouse in an elephant's path. They did this twice and in both cases the elephant didn't stampede away, but it stopped in its tracks at the presence of the mouse, thus earning the myth a "Plausible".
*** They actually stopped dead and then made a huge effort to take a wide berth around the mouse and not step on it. Which doesn't necessarily mean they were scared. Perhaps elephants are just really kind and don't like stepping on small, helpless beasts they meet in their path. <g> Was fascinating to watch though and there was definitely some aversion going on there.

* ExperimentShow: Mythbusters is considered the GenreLaunch.

* FailsafeFailure: Played straight, usually equipment built by the Mythbusters themselves. The radio-controlled real cars are ''supposed'' to apply brakes when they get out of radio range, for instance. And in the "Elevator of Death" test, as Adam put it: "Anticlimactically enough, I believe I've disabled the entire mechanism by removing this simple pin." Also Subverted, as more than one "Busted" verdict has come about due to the presence of failsafes on equipment such as washing machines and elevators, and the sometimes absurd measures needed to defeat them in order to replicate the myth's results. In testing the hot water heater myth, they proved that if both safety devices are removed or plugged, the heater can become a rocket and will potentially demolish anything in its flight path... which is why there are ''two'' safety devices in the first place. It's worth mentioning that the failure of both was considered entirely plausible. And again in Exploding Bumper. They heated a car bumper to see if they could make it explode from the pressure. Instead it vented out through a tiny hole. Without missing a beat Adam said "I'll bet that's supposed to be there."

* {{FreakOut}}: The Narrator has a brief one in the Trombone Revisit episode after hearing [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment Jamie tell J.D. how]] [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext he used to play the tuba while doing business on the toilet.]]

* FunWithSubtitles: In one episode they were working a pulley system to ensure two semi-trucks would collide at a specific point. Jamie wanted to triple wrap the breakaway rope while Adam felt that a double wrap would be good enough. When the system fell apart because of the ropes breaking off too early, Jamie was a good enough sport not to boast about it. He explained to the camera (in a very fault-neutral manner) what happened and how they were going to fix it, the subtitles filled in what he was "really" saying.

** In the myth of Bullet vs. [=RPG=], Grant asks if he can be the one to fire the RPG, John replies "We'll see". The subtitle below says "NO!"

* GenkiGirl: Kari. And it shows.

** Inverted in the water-on-a-grease-fire myth; at one point Adam and Jamie attempt to scale down the fireball by reducing the amounts of water and oil, as well as the size of the pan. The fireball ended up far bigger than they'd expected, prompting Adam to remark:

** Jamie gets in on the act during the Helium Raft episode as well. Which is pretty hilarious since you don't expect it.

* [[HeyItsThatSound Hey It's That Music]]: Sharp-eared gamers may recognize one of the musical snips they sometimes use between shots as coming from the soundtrack of [[MechWarrior MechWarrior 2]].

** Awww, what a name!

--> '''Adam''' (Dangling upside-down, caught in a mesh net from the giant "helium raft"): This wins as the strangest position I've ever been in...on this show.
--> '''Kari''': Don't you love how he qualifies it with "''on this show''"?

** [[GeekyTurnOn But I do!]]

-->'''Kari''': The Newton's Laws! We forgot the Newton's Laws!
-->'''Narrator''': ''You mean the one where for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction?''
-->'''Tory''': We do a lot of dangerous stunts on this show...but that was the closest I came to feel that I was in actual danger.

--> I thought I could make it. They said I made it.

-->'''Adam''': Are you willing to drive through our course being led by a drunken Jamie?
-->'''Jerry''': Sure, as long as I can take a shot of that bottle when we're done.

-->'''Adam''': With all the safety precautions we are taking, check this, check that, you have to stand back and say: Damn! I'm lightin' salamis, man! I'm making a rocket out of meat!

--> '''Scottie''': Maybe it's a myth that methane is flammable.\\

* TheNotSecret: While describing the JamesBond [[LiveAndLetDie boat jump]] myth, Adam says that they are at a secret location, while standing in front of a sign that clearly states "Lake Yosemite".

* WildlifeCommentarySpoof

When a legend fails to pan out, as it often does, they usually escalate matters to the point where the legend's expected results ''do'' occur. This process is affectionately called "replicate the myth, then duplicate the results" -- usually at a point so far beyond the normal parameters that it isn't even ''remotely'' plausible that it happened by accident (or at the very least, so incredibly dangerous that anyone capable of sound judgment wouldn't attempt it in the first place). Usually these escalations involve entertaining explosions (such as a popular one in a March 2005 episode which ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome vaporized]]'' [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome a cement truck]], or, even better, an April 2009 episode where they [[BeyondTheImpossible annihilated a car with a rocket-sled]]).

** In another episode, Adam starts a bizarre "explanation" of a build in a fake French accent. [[EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped The subtitler finally gives up in confusion.]]

* GroinAttack: Tory gets [[http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=1HsS-Lzi2Cg clocked by a playful goat]] during the "Fainting Goat" segment of the "Viral Hour" episode. He also got [[http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=2t4O79FkQl4 hit by a rock attached to a kite's tail]] during the Ben Franklin myth. Appropriately, this happened immediately after he called it the "kite of death". During the Superhero Special, he hit ''himself'' down there with a ballistics gel fist.

* TheManBehindTheMan: Peter Rees, veteran maker of science documentaries. Creator, producer, writer, and director of ''MythBusters'', and the guy who personally cast Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman on the show. Never seen onscreen. (Rees left the show in 2006.)

** Actually, the narrator uses "Diet Coke and Mentos" throughout that entire episode. It's only during the actual testing that they used the term "diet cola and mint candies" indicating that by the time they got around to recording the narration for the episode they'd managed to get the necessary clearances to use the brand names. Adam and Jamie used the real names in a later episode.

* PromotionToOpeningTitles: The Build Team. They were promoted to full [=MythBuster=] status initially, then ''demoted'' back down to being the Build Team.

* CurbStompBattle: Any time Jamie and Adam do some type of build-off, Jamie, who is more experienced in engineering of the two, tends to kick Adam's ass quite easily. "Paper Crossbow" was a rare exception.

** Adam's head was shaved in several of the early episodes.
*** This was due to some of his hair (and one eyebrow, yeah that where "Am I missing an eyebrow?" comes from) being burnt off in one of the first few episodes and he wanted to stay looking somewhat normal (although, as any watcher of the show could tell you, he is ANYTHING but normal).

** They actually stopped dead and then made a huge effort to take a wide berth around the mouse and not step on it. Which doesn't necessarily mean they were scared. Perhaps elephants are just really kind and don't like stepping on small, helpless beasts they meet in their path. <g> Was fascinating to watch though and there was definitely some aversion going on there.

* MissingEpisode: A lot of general footage and some mini-myths are left out of the show, many of which they put on their website; the show then invites viewers to visit said site to see what was left out. One famous myth, though, was actually kept from airing at all because it was deemed a little too risque/immature. It involved the flatulence myths and testing if you can actually set your farts on fire. Confirmed, but most of the footage is of Adam spread eagle on a specialized chair holding a lighter near his crotch. Nobody really wants to see that. They finally did the experiment on an episode of [[TheLateLateShow Craig Ferguson]] which the cast were guests on. It worked. The segment itself finally partially aired during the "25 Best Moments" special. And at a live Q&A three years ago, Jamie mentioned that they once tested the myth of whether a cardboard cereal box was more nutritious than the cereal itself. The test as a whole did air, but one experiment which was cut involved feeding three mice cardboard pellets with a little sugar-free sweetener for taste. The next day Adam and Jamie, instead of finding three mice, discovered one fat mouse (and some remains)... Discovery Channel (or the producers) decided not to air the footage so the Q&A is the only way fans learned of it.

** Appropriately enough, the ''{{MacGyver}}'' episode saw Adam and Jamie improvise an unexpected solution: Grant and Tory put the two at an "enemy camp" and challenged them to signal a helicopter. The idea was for the two to cobble together a potato gun from the parts lying around, but instead they tore down the tent and made a kite.

* MouthfulOfPi: In the "Prison Escape" myth, Grant's "prisoner number" is "3.14". Kari's is "5150" (the California code for an involuntary psychiatric hold and the title of a Music/BlackSabbath song). Tory's is "000".

* MadeOfExplodium: Subverted in nearly every episode, as just about every myth involving an explosion usually results in the items said to be explosive stubbornly refusing to detonate. Even a car fuel tank shot with incendiary rounds or left to burn for over 10 minutes. Played straight on quite a few occasions as well, like the Thermite/Ice myth, which exploded on the first try. Hilariously done straight with the Hindenburg scale tests. Adam wanted to see how fast the material would burn with and without hydrogen by setting fire to the material stretched over a box filled with the gas. Upon adding the fire to it, the lding it, prompting the amused Adam to observe "These thingsshaken. The model was even set ablaze while they were merely building it, prompting the amused Adam to observe "These things are always catching on fire!"

* MadeOfExplodium: Subverted in nearly every episode, as just about every myth involving an explosion usually results in the items said to be explosive stubbornly refusing to detonate. Even a car fuel tank shot with incendiary rounds or left to burn for over 10 minutes. Played straight on quite a few occasions as well, like the Thermite/Ice myth, which exploded on the first try. Hilariously done straight with the Hindenburg scale tests. Adam wanted to see how fast the material would burn with and without hydrogen by setting fire to the material stretched over a box filled with the gas. Upon adding the fire to it, the fabric exploded off the box like a gunshot. Adam was noticeably shaken. The model was even set ablaze while they were merely building it, prompting the amused Adam to observe "These things are always catching on fire!"

The database hates you right now. The entry might exist or it might not exist. We would clear this mystery up for you, if we could get to the database. We tried to look it up, but the database puked up an error.