Mythbusters: The New Series Premiere Review

A long time ago (or 2003, however you want to take it), two men decided to do a show that put urban legends to the test using real math, science, logic, and fun. All in the hopes of both solving questions, and inspiring their viewers to the wonder of science. 15 seasons, about 14 years, and around 282 episodes laters (depending on how you count it), and Mythbusters became a literal cultural phenomenon. But, all things must come to an end. And hosts Adam Savage and Jaime Hyneman retired…but that didn’t mean that there weren’t any myths to bust.

Science Channel knew that, and created a show to find new hosts for the next generation of Mythbusters, and they did! Their names were Brian Louden and Jon Lung, and tonight, their first official episode as Mythbusters aired. So, how did it go? Pretty well actually.

Make no mistake, if you’ve watched Mythbusters before, you know what you’re going to see. You’ll see a myth explained, science and experiments to test out just how feasible it is, things get ramped up, fun is had, episode over. What has always made Mythbusters fun though is the hosts. Adam was always the energy, and Jamie got things done, while occasionally having a one-liner or two himself.

With Jon and Brian, we get a similar yet unique chemistry. In a way, these guys act like brothers, or at the very least best friends. And that shows here. Throughout the course of two myths, we see their bond shine through, and it’s really refreshing. I watched every episode of The Search (where they found Brian and Jon), and they were definitely some of my favorites, and I’m glad that they not only got this opportunity, but are running with it.

In this premiere episode, Jon did come off a little better, mainly because of his very animated reactions to experiments. But again, that’s what makes the show fun, cause not even the hosts know what’s going to happen.

As for the myths, one was a classic movie myth involving decapitation, and the other was a car accident myth that I’m honestly glad didn’t happen to my mother. For she used to always put her feet up on the dashboard…glad we never got into a wreck with her doing that!

One thing the new series definitely benefits from is that they KNOW what works in regards to the Mythbusters format. So in a way, this premiere came off better than the original show’s pilot did in 2003. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and I’m glad they didn’t. The way they show the science, make it easy to understand, the use of graphics and of course the hi-speed camera make every experiment very fun.

What’s more, I loved how they adapted their experiments when things went wrong, which is something Mythbuster fans know all too well, as “Failure is always an option.” In one case, a rocket sword rig (yes, you read that right), was trying to test if a decapitated head would stay still for a while before falling off. But, the rig actually helped knock it off, and I called it out as I watched it on screen. They saw the same thing, fixed it, and got a clean test, killed a zombie, and busted the myth. Go team!

Now, there were some down points. As I said before, Jon got a little more personality shown off than Brian (who I know is just as animated as Jon at times), but this is just the premiere, there’s time for both to shine equally. 

Also, despite this being the premiere, I feel that the myths were a little subdued for an opening. Remember, they’re having to prove that this show is everything the original way, just with a new flavor, and while they did that, I do wish they went full tilt to start things off. Do recall, the first ever myth was the JATO rocket car. I know they couldn’t top that, but I do hope that they get to do more and more “grand” experiments as the season goes on. After all, I want this to last a while!

In the end, though, this new series of Mythbusters is off to a fantastic start, and I look forward to seeing these new hosts in action for hopefully a long time to come. So, now the only question is…what myth is next?

OH! And did I mention they have a dog named Bo? Yeah, she’s really cool.