Line #24 Series/WhiteRabbitProject


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/white_rabbit_project_tv_show_official_banner.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320: How deep does the rabbit hole go?]]
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4	''White Rabbit Project'' is a series commissioned by and is exclusive to Creator/{{Netflix}}, starring the Build Team from ''Series/{{MythBusters}}'' - fan favorites Tory Belleci, Kari Byron and Grant Imahara. In it, the team will take six legends and theories related to the topic of the episode and pick three criteria to be used to grade the epicness of the legend or theory. Aside from that, the show will also re-enact the events in the legends and dramatize theories using professional actors and stuntmen alongside Kari, Tory and Grant; and in many cases, Kari, Tory and Grant also get to do builds to test out theories as well as validate the legend. At the end of the episode, the team ranks the legends or theories based on the three criteria chosen.
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6	The series premiered with ten episodes on December 9, 2016. It also spawned a live show which toured Australia. Sadly, however, Grant revealed that Netflix chose to not renew the show for a second season.
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8	On July 13, 2020, it was announced Grant had passed away at the age of 49 from a brain aneurysm.
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10	----
11	!! Tropes exhibited by the show include:
12	%% Note: Certain tropes are diverted into the ''Real Life'' section of the trope page instead of under ''Live Action TV'' due to
13	%% this being a factual show.
14	* AIIsACrapshoot: The "Too Smart Tech" theory in the "Tech We Love to Hate" episode, as the worst case scenario.
15	* AnachronismStew: In their recreation of various historical events they love putting it modern technology in the background as a joke. While following D.B. Cooper in his famous 1971 airplane heist, Tori showed his airplane ticket on his cell phone at the gate and later took a selfie during the hostage situation.
16	** In "Invented Before It's Time?", Tori is not only able to teleport back and forth between modern day and the 1970s for the cell phone bit, but also uses a modern smartphone to take a picture while in the 1970s.
17	* BaitAndSwitchComparison: Kari makes one in "Invented Before Its Time?" when the three hosts are competing with different cars and different forms of navigation technology.
18	-->'''Kari:''' An elegant American icon is going up against a shining star of Japanese tech and a flashy Italian showboating. But, enough about the drivers!
19	* BigBrotherIsWatching: Again, the "Too Smart Tech" theory in the "Tech We Love to Hate" episode, as the worst case scenario.
20	* BigHonkingTrafficJam: The "Tech we love to hate" episode opens with a man trapped in one of these, caused by one of the annoying techs featured in the episode; traffic lights.
21	* BrandX: During the "GPS" theory of the "Invented Before Its Time?" episode, the team did not mention ''Waze'' by name, instead calling it a "crowdsourced GPS app". The screen was also replaced somewhat in editing, but for a split second, a Wazer avatar was visible on the screen in one of the shots.
22	** Its also clear that most of the computers being used are Macs with a sticker to cover up the logo. For some reason this doesn't apply to the iPad which is referred to by name at least once and doesn't have the logo covered.
23	* CalculatorSpelling: Spelling out 80085 ("boobs") is done in the Six Million Dollar Man spoof from "Where's My Hoverboard?".
24	* CatchPhrase:
25	** "On this episode of White Rabbit Project, [[MadLibsCatchPhrase we'll go down the rabbit hole and ____"]].
26	** Grant also has a minor, probably unintentional one: "There are a hundred/thousand little things that need to go right, but only one thing needs to go wrong."
27	* TheCoconutEffect: ''PC Load Letter''. Printers since a few years ago have acquired large color LCD screens that displays more meaningful error messages and even step-by-step illustrated instructions on how to clear the error. However, this error message continued to be quoted since ''Office Space'' is such a cult film that it has been burned into many minds that printers display cryptic error messages on their screens when they malfunction.[[note]]For what it's worth, "PC Load Letter" means that the printer believes that standard 8 1/2 x 11" paper, or "letter" paper needs to be loaded, either because the machine's paper tray is empty, a different size is loaded, or a broken/misaligned sensor ''thinks'' that a different size paper is loaded.[[/note]]
28	* CurseCutShort: The show absolutely loves this trope. Tory was interrupted halfway through cussing during the "Bat Bomb" segment in the "Crazy [=WW2=] Weapons" episode. Also used to cut off Grant in the "Tech We Love to Hate" episode as well as in several other episodes.
29	* DestinationDefenestration: In "Tech we love to hate", when discussing why printers are annoying, we get to see several scenario's of people throwing a malfunctioning printer out the window.
30	* EEqualsMCHammer: In "May the G Force be With You" Charlie, the jouster Grant is working with, boasts that "mass plus acceleration equals ouch". [[note]]Grant is polite enough not to point out that he probably means "mass times acceleration".[[/note]]
31	* GenreShift: Compared to Mythbusters, which was about science and experimentation, this show skews more towards a historical documentary format. The three hosts spend more time traveling, meeting with experts in different fields and narrating pre-existing footage than doing their own personal builds and testing theories. Even then when they build something it is usually a proof of concept of something they already know the mechanics around, showing it more for the audience benefit. That said, they retain the similar hands-on approach that characterized Mythbusters and the innate knowledge and skills of the hosts are put to use regularly.
32	* HollywoodHacking: Averted with the "Carbanak Gang" legend in the "Heists" episode in which they describe they very mundane way in which the hackers got into the bank systems with fake emails. However they did make gratuitous use of the old ''scrolling garbage text on the monitor'' effect, although at one point they used what looks to be the [[Platform/{{Unix}} Linux]] [=SysV=] init bootscript.
33	* {{Hologram}}: Covered in the "Where's My Hoverboard?" episode. Kari even shows viewers how to build a simple "hologram" viewer using some acrylic and an iPad.
34	* ItsBeenDone: The entire "Invented Before Its Time?" episode is dedicated to this trope, covering technology that many people think is new but in fact decades old.
35	* IWantMyJetpack: The theme of the episode "Where's My Hoverboard?" is futuristic tech that's, at best, still in development, including hoverboards, jetpacks, cyborgs, holograms, x-ray glasses, and healing lasers.
36	** Kari also makes this complaint in "Invented Before Its Time?": "They promised us jetpacks and gave us selfie sticks!"
37	* JustPlaneWrong: In the "Crazy UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Weapons" episode, Tory says the proposed bat bombs were to be dropped by B-52s, which were only conceived after the war's end, and wouldn't see service until 1955. The plan actually called for B-24s.
38	* LargeHam: In the spirit of its spiritual predecessor, the entire Build Team. But especially Tory and Grant.
39	* LongSongShortScene: The opening theme is cut short, the original full song is available on Youtube [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXucKo74lnI here]]
40	* MadScientist: In the "Super Power Tech" episode, Tory claims that he's worried that Grant is actually one.
41	* ManipulativeEditing: During the "Traffic Lights" theory in the "Tech We Love to Hate" episode, they show a ParodyCommercial for a drone Tory modified to carry a wireless megaphone. They then [[StylisticSuck poorly]] edit Kari's testimonial to make it sound like she loves it (earlier in the episode, it's revealed that Kari ''hates'' drones).
42	* MindControl: Experimented in the "Super Power Tech" episode, with scary conclusions. Kari was able to manipulate and control Tory by using an experimental device borrowed from researcher Greg Gage. Before that, said researcher also shows off a way to ''control a live cockroach via '''Bluetooth'''''. [[spoiler:It was ultimately ranked the highest of the prospective "superpowers" examined.]]
43	* PacManFever: In "The Granddad Gang" segment of the "Heists" episode, one part of the reenactment of the crime was animated in the style of a [[{{Retraux}} "8-bit video game"]] - with sound effects lifted from the notorious Platform/Atari2600 port of VideoGame/PacMan
44	* ParodiesForDummies: In the Heist episode, a member of the Granddad Gang is shown "doing research" by reading ''Forensics for Dummies''. Grant adds a NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer, saying that the book really was found in one of the thieves' homes.
45	* ParodyCommercial: One shown as part of the "Traffic Lights" theory of the "Tech We Love to Hate" episode.
46	* PeoplePuppets: Looking into mind control Kari discovered legitimate methods of controlling someone's movements via electrodes, with the right series of connections someone can force you to make the same movement they are doing. It was more about introducing fake signals than complete control over the body, but the affect it had on Kari and later Tori had a very similar disorienting effect. Rather disturbing, an accident with spilled wine landing on the wires [[AndIMustScream ended up locking Tori's arm into a specific position]] (we see the bemused realization and cut away just before he's about to panic).
47	* PlayingWithPuppets: Kari does this with sadistic glee to Tory in the Mind Control theory segments in the "Super Power Tech" episode.
48	* {{Ponzi}}: The TropeNamer itself is discussed and reenacted in the "Scam Artists" episode.
49	* RealMenWearPink: The leader of the Grandpa Gang, as he mentions as the {{Narrator}} of the flashback sequences rearding this gang, liked to sleep wearing a pink robe. This gang pulled off a borderline perfect heist, by the way.
50	-->'''Narrator ([[BreakingTheFourthWall addressing the audience as he gets ready to sleep]]''': We all have our little quirks! Live and let live, eh?
51	* RecycledINSPACE:
52	** Much of the "[[ShoutOut May G Force Be With You]]" episode is familiar territory to those who watched Tory and Kari's Travel Channel series ''Thrill Factor'', featuring tests involving roller coasters, bobsleds, race cars, and high-speed jet flights.
53	** Grant successfully building a hoverboard in the "Where's My Hoverboard?" episode could be considered an update to the ''Levitation Machine'' myth that Mythbusters investigated back in 2004. With Grant succeeding where Adam and Jamie technically failed.
54	** While none of the team members attempted to build a working jetpack for the corresponding legend in the "Where's My Hoverboard?" episode, Tory meets up with the inventor of a working jetpack, and gets an live-in-person demonstration of the device, updating the status from when it was last covered on the 2005 [=MythBusters=] episode.
55	* {{Retraux}}: Several of the older legends are re-enacted in black and white with an old film effect filter in place. "The Granddad Gang" legend has one scene done with "8-bit animation" (sprite animation).
56	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Tory's ultimate response after the "crowdsourced GPS app" lead him through a frustrating drive through the back alleyways of Los Angeles in the "GPS" legend of the "Invented Before Its Time?" episode was to forget about the experiment halfway through, hightail it and go AWOL with the supercar he was assigned.
57	* ShoutOut:
58	** Hitler's romp in the hills in the "Crazy [=WW2=] Weapons" episode is one to Film/TheSoundOfMusic.
59	** The episode title "[[Franchise/StarWars May G Force Be With You]]". [[note]]There are in fact many references to Star Wars, as some of the crew (most notably, Grant and Tory) have worked at ''Industrial Light and Magic'', George Lucas' SFX production house, and in fact still maintain an employment contract of sorts with ILM, since they're still called in to work on certain projects.[[/note]]
60	** In the same episode, Grant and Tory "compete" to see if roller coasters can beat bobsleds in the rankings, and Grant says, [[Franchise/DonkeyKong "It's on like Donkey Kong!"]]
61	** In the "Tech We Love to Hate" episode, Grant laments about the printer error message "[[Film/OfficeSpace PC Load Letter]]"
62	** Also in the "Tech We Love to Hate" episode, The smart home in the "Too Smart Tech" dramatization has a [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey malevolent red light emitting from the monitoring devices]]. [[note]]And to drive it all home, the credits of some of the dubs actually credited the role as ''HAL''![[/note]]
63	** And if that's not enough, the hapless victim of the smart home is named [[Creator/StanleyKubrick Stan]], when he finally goes nuts and decides to take a baseball bat to his computer, he shouts [[Film/TheShining "Heeeeeeere's JOHNNY!!"]], and when the police come to pick him up, it's revealed that [[Film/AClockworkOrange his home address is "HOME"]].
64	** The episode "Where's My Hoverboard?" had Tory mention healing a flesh wound- [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail accompanied by a scene of medieval knights fighting]].
65	** Tory: ''[[Film/TopGun I feel the]] VideoGame/NeedForSpeed''.
66	** In the dramatization about the unveiling of the first cellphone, the CEO of Motorola opens the briefcase holding said phone to have a look at it in his office shortly before the unveiling, [[Film/PulpFiction to be greeted by a green light emitting from the inside of the case]].
67	** In "Super Power Tech", Grant tests his freeze ray wearing a full WebVideo/DoctorHorrible costume, modified in a few places to help protect him from the liquid nitrogen in use.
68	** Towards the end of the ''Pigeon'' legend in ''Crazy UsefulNotes/WW2 Weapons'', Kari remarked "[[WesternAnimation/DastardlyandMuttleyinTheirFlyingMachines Gotta stop that pigeon]]"
69	** The [[Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan Six Million Dollar Man]] sketch in "Where's My Hoverboard?" contains several besides itself, via the numbers ticking by in corner of the screen: 3.14 is pi, followed by [[Franchise/StarTrek 1701]], [[Film/THX1138 1138]], [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy 0042]], and [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons eight-zero-zero-eight]]-[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calculator_spelling#English five]].
70	* SpiritualSuccessor: To [=MythBusters=]. While the series does majorly differ in format, it stars the universally beloved Build Team from the predecessor, they get to build stuff from time to time to test out theories or validate legends, and it sports the same sense of humor as its predecessor.
71	* StockUnsolvedMysteries: The DB Cooper heist was examined on the "Heists" episode.
72	* StylisticSuck: In the ''DB Cooper'' legend of the ''Heists'' episode, most of the special effects are CGI, except a scene with Tory holding a model plane in front of a special effects fan and fog machine, for RuleOfFunny.
73	* TakeThat: Kari calling "selfie sticks", ''"narcissistic sticks"''.
74	* ThoseWackyNazis: The "Crazy [=WW2=] Weapons" episode's first legend was regarding the British's plan [[GenderBender to lace Hitler's food with estrogen]]. The episode then goes on to portray what the British think will happen should the plan be carried out, with Hitler [[AdolfHitlarious hilariously getting more and more whimsical]], culminating in the Führer growing ''breasts'' and aping a scene from ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''. [[spoiler:It's ultimately revealed that the British never tried it, and [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome switches to show what modern science says will happen instead.]]]]
75	* TunnelKing:
76	** One of the convicts in the "Jailbreak" episode is Mexican crime lord Joaquin Guzman (AKA ''El Chapo''), who had miles of tunnels dug under the US-Mexico border to smuggle contraband narcotics across it. His method of escape upon being captured and jailed is, predictably, having his thugs dig a tunnel into his cell from the outside.
77	** Also, the French officers who were captured during World War II - [[spoiler:they dug a tunnel out of the camp and escaped against all odds, while at the same time ''documenting the escape on film'']].
78	* WardrobeMalfunction: Used as a title of one of the escape shenanigans in the "Jailbreak" episode. [[spoiler:[[CreepyCrossdresser A convict disguises himself as his visiting wife]], trading places with her, to escape. The title comes into play in that the convict was poorly disguised, couldn't act like a woman convincingly, and got recaptured within 15 minutes.]]
79	* WeirdHistoricalWar: "Crazy UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Weapons" showcases some of the RealLife attempts by the Allies to create wonder weapons. SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome occurs as even the ones that actually worked when tested were too AwesomeButImpractical.
80	* WhiteBunny: Not in the show, but the title itself proper (which is an AliceAllusion).

Context Series / WhiteRabbitProject