Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Thank you, Mythbusters

From the very beginning, when your producers seemed to think that people were actually interested in watching folklorists talking more than watching stuff blow up, I loved Mythbusters.

It's gone through some times that I didn't like it as much - in one season, it seemed that every episode had to end with a bigger explosion than the last - but it's always been a fun show. And what's always kept me interested is what could be the motto of the show: failure is always an option.

I love that they fail as often as they do, as spectacularly as they do, and don't just learn from the failures but revel in them. The learn, they adapt, they laugh and joke about complete and abject failure. I mean, they have the usual frustration that comes from experimentation, the times when they can't even get to the point where they have the option of failing, but, for the most part, they just seem to love what their doing.

On tonight's episode, they mocked up a few crude (Syrian) torpedoes. They put in a rocket motor that, well, blew up. The torpedo became a missile. It was a total failure of the concept of the myth, but rather than getting frustrated, both men were excited by it and set about fixing the experiment to make it work.

Thanks, guys. I love that there's a show out there that I can use to show my boys the joy of failure.

1 comment:

  1. I never thought of it that way, but you are so very correct.

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