MythBusters: 2005 Season

MythBusters: 2005 season* [year three]. A couple special effects guys and cohorts test whether various urban legends are possible.

Created by Peter Rees. Starring Jamie Hyneman & Adam Savage.

Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: D
Special effects/design: B
Acting: n/a
Music: C
Enjoyment: Some of the best episodes of the series are in this batch. 2005 seems to be the beginning of MythBusters' few years of greatness. They've gotten the hang of how to make a good show, they have a lot of questions to test that we really want to know the answer to, and there's a real sense of discovery with most of the things they do. A

GPA: 2.4/4

*There doesn't seem to be any standard for what constitutes a season of MythBusters. No two sources I can find agree with each other. So I'm going with Wikipedia's arbitrary but conveniently simple method of dividing the show by broadcast year.

[quasi-update of a previous posts - originals are here, here & here]

MythBusters: 2004 Season

MythBusters: 2004 season* [year two]. A couple special effects guys and cohorts test whether various urban legends are possible.

Created by Peter Rees. Directed by Rees (7 episodes), Andrew Farrell (1), & ? (8). Starring Jamie Hyneman & Adam Savage.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: n/a
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). It's frustrating how off-track they get at testing myths this season. It's often more about messing around on the theme of a myth. Still, it's fun to watch them messing around.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.4 (Okay)

*There doesn't seem to be any standard for what constitutes a season of MythBusters. No two sources I can find agree with each other. So I'm going with Wikipedia's arbitrary but conveniently simple method of dividing the show by broadcast year.

(quasi-update of a previous post - original is here)

MythBusters: 2003 Season

MythBusters: 2003 Season* [year one]. A couple special effects guys test whether various urban legends are possible.

Created by Peter Rees. Directed by Rees (5 episodes) & ? (6). Starring Jamie Hyneman & Adam Savage.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: n/a
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). After having seen some more recent episodes, I was starting to wonder what I was thinking years ago, when I gave some of the "collection" sets an 8 out of 10. I am surprised and delighted to find that (even having seen all these episodes before) the early days of MythBusters are indeed completely awesome. There's something about watching these two figuring stuff out (usually stuff you'd genuinely like to know the answer to), and often creating destruction in the process, that is just plain entertaining.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.6/4 (Good)

(quasi-update of previous posts - originals are here and here)

*There doesn't seem to be any standard for what constitutes a season of MythBusters. No two sources I can find agree with each other. So I'm going with Wikipedia's arbitrary but conveniently simple method of dividing the show by broadcast year.

MythBusters: Collection Six

Data
Title: MythBusters: Collection Six
Year: 2008-2009
Network: Discovery Channel
Episodes: 10 at 43 minutes each, from the sixth and seventh seasons
Creator: Peter Rees
Directors: Alice Dallow (8 episodes), Tabitha Lentle (3)
Starring: Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage

My reaction
Synopsis: a couple special effects guys and their cohorts test whether various urban legends are possible
How I saw it: streaming from Netflix, over the past few days
Concept: Great.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Good.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).  It's mildly entertaining, but the show's just not awesome anymore. They only occasionally test something that isn't either stupid or just an excuse to bring in explosives technicians.
Objective Rating: 2.3/4 (Okay).

MythBusters: Collection Five

Data
Title: MythBusters: Collection Five
Year: 2008-2009
Network: Discovery Channel
Episodes: 10 at 43 minutes each, from the sixth and seventh seasons
Creator: Peter Rees
Directors: Tabitha Lentle (9 episodes), Alice Dallow (3)
Starring: Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage

My reaction
Synopsis: a couple special effects guys and their cohorts test whether various urban legends are possible
How I saw it: streaming from Netflix, over the past few days
Concept: Great.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good).  Some interesting myths to test in this batch - like cabin fever, and turd polishing - but not a lot that's really exciting.  I think the more their budget grows, the less cool it is when they blow up and/or smash stuff.
Objective Rating: 2.5/4 (Okay).

Mythbusters: Collection 4

Data
Title: MythBusters: Collection 4
Year: 2007-2008
Network: Discovery Channel
Episodes: 12 at 43 minutes, from the fifth and sixth seasons
Creator: Peter Rees
Directors: Tabitha Lentle (12 episodes), Alice Dallow (5)
Starring: Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage

My reaction
Synopsis: a couple special effects guys and their cohorts test whether various urban legends are possible
How I saw it: online (streaming from Netflix), over the past few days
Concept: Great.
Story: Bad.
Characters: Good.
Dialog: Indifferent.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Bad.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). There are some nice explosions in this set, but some of the excuses for making them are getting silly. "Can you surf a wave caused by dynamite?" Who cares?
Objective Rating: 2.5/4 (Okay).

Mythbusters: Big Blasts Collection

Title: MythBusters: Big Blasts Collection
Year: 2005-2007
Network: Discovery Channel
Creator: Peter Rees
Directors: Alice Dallow (7 episodes), Tabitha Lentle (5), Andrew Farrell (1), ? (2)
Starring: Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage
Episodes: 10, at c. 43 minutes, from the third, fourth and fifth seasons
Synopsis: a couple special effects guys and various cohorts test whether various urban legends are possible
How I saw it: online (streaming from Netflix), over the past couple days
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for story [n/a], cinematography, acting [n/a] and music) c. 2.8/4 (Good).

Some of the better episodes. They don't all feature major explosions as the title implies, but there are quite a few good ones. Includes the exploding cement truck episode (which was also edited into a special which is on an earlier "Collection"), and the water heater rocket episode, both of which are pretty crazy.

MythBusters: Collection 2

Title: MythBusters: Collection 2
Year: 2006, 2007
Creator: Peter Rees
Directors: Alice Dallow (6 episodes), Tabitha Lentle (4), ? (7)
Starring: Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage
Synopsis: a couple special effects guys and various cohorts test whether various urban legends are possible
Episodes: 13, from the fourth and fifth seasons
Network: Discovery Channel
How I saw it: online (streaming from Netflix), a few weeks ago
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for story [n/a], cinematography, acting [n/a] and music) c. 2.5/4 (Okay).

The show seems to get much better with time, so these episodes are even more fun than the first collection.