"Math and science do prove useful." (Having a Swiss Army Knife helps.)
March 12, 2015 10:13 AM   Subscribe

#16: Used a magnifying glass made of a hairpin and wine to read names of spies from a watch.
A list of all the problems solved by MacGyver posted by Room 641-A (43 comments total) 37 users marked this as a favorite
 
Apparently the impending MacGyver revival is going to have a female lead.

I fully support this idea.
posted by hippybear at 10:20 AM on March 12, 2015 [10 favorites]


Apparently the impending MacGyver revival is going to have a female lead.

Yeah, but then 6 months later they'll be like, oh we're also doing another reboot, but this time he's a guy.

And everyone will hate them.

MCGRUBER!
posted by leotrotsky at 10:28 AM on March 12, 2015 [11 favorites]


Great find. And some more good news from hippybear's link:
The show is apparently incredibly still popular worldwide, especially in South America, so there’s a good chance that she won’t even be from the United States.
MacGyver was one of my childhood TV staples. Now I need to locate the below-mentioned Mythbusters episode:
MacGyver plugs a sulfuric acid leak with chocolate. He states that chocolate contains sucrose and glucose. The acid reacts with the sugars to form elemental carbon and a thick gummy residue (proved to be correct on Mythbusters).
posted by audi alteram partem at 10:28 AM on March 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


I watched MacGyver at a formative age, and I had recurring dreams about several episodes, notably 2x01, where he has to break into a facility and then defeat robots, and 1x13 where he's locked in a nuclear waste chamber, and there's super hot waste that's about to bubble up from a pipe and melt him. Fuck man, nightmares.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:31 AM on March 12, 2015


Also, I've disarmed a bomb with a hockey ticket in my dreams.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:32 AM on March 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


so there’s a good chance that she won’t even be from the United States

I demand the culturally imperialistic yet practical jackboot of an American MacGyver.
posted by biffa at 10:36 AM on March 12, 2015


The Mythbusters Epidsode
Mcguyver Myths - Episode 100, February 20, 2008

Myths
A person can blow a man-sized hole in a wall with one gram of sodium reacting with water.
A person can make a working two seater ultralight plane out of makeshift materials.

McGuyver Challenge:
Adam and Jamie were put under a battery of tests to prove that they could match MacGyver's ingenuity. They were not necessarily testing these myths to bust or confirm them, but whether they had the smarts and the ability to make them work without any preparation.
Picking a lock using light bulb filaments.
Developing film with ordinary household chemicals like ammonia and orange juice.
Creating a makeshift magnetic compass.
Creating a makeshift device that can go 100 feet (30 m) into the air and attract the attention of a passing helicopter.

Mini Myths:
In the advertising materials, but not the episode:
Someone can break a light bulb by spraying it with drain cleaner.
You can repair a blown fuse by wrapping them in a gum wrapper.
You can fix an acid leak with chocolate.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 10:40 AM on March 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


This used to live on Wikipedia before the MAN took it down.
posted by gwint at 10:45 AM on March 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


MacGyver really deserves a higher ranking in the echelon of Secret Agents/Detectives/Heroes. He represents one of the few science/reasoning heroes. There aren't many; I count four. It's basically MacGyver, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, & Spock.

In a sea of protagonists who are their because of birth (Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter), fighting prowess (Captain America, James Bond), fate (Spiderman, Fantastic Four), or fortune (Batman, Iron Man), these rare four succeed because they're clever problem-solvers.

We should encourage that.
posted by leotrotsky at 10:45 AM on March 12, 2015 [41 favorites]


It ignores the most impressive feat that MacGuyver has ever done: In the pilot episode he manages to enter a room filled with poisonous gas that has killed multiple people by.... putting a handkerchief over his nose and mouth.

....


........


Kinda makes you realize why the pilot was directed by Alan Smithee.
posted by I-baLL at 10:47 AM on March 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


Honest question: Do kids these days still understand what it means to MacGyver something?

*stares at kids on lawn, while furiously weaving giant net out of grass clippings*
posted by Kabanos at 10:48 AM on March 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


gwint: This used to live on Wikipedia before the MAN took it down.

This is why other wikis are great - you can break Wikipedia constraints and goals for a well-written, authoritative resource and have fun, yet still be ridiculously exhaustive in details. Prime example: Transformers Wiki.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:49 AM on March 12, 2015


Also, he doesn't use a gun (except as a wrench).
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 10:50 AM on March 12, 2015 [6 favorites]


I wonder how many of those were contributed by Selma and Patty Bouvier.
posted by TedW at 10:53 AM on March 12, 2015 [6 favorites]


This reminds me of one of my favorite lists on the Internet: EVERY reason that Dr. David Banner was driven to Hulk out on "The Incredible Hulk".
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 10:53 AM on March 12, 2015 [13 favorites]


In a sea of protagonists who are their because of...fortune (Batman, Iron Man)

Hey now, Tony Stark built the first Iron Man suit in a cave. With a box of scraps! And he did a fair bit of MacGyvering himself in the last Iron Man movie. It's actually one of my favorite things about the Iron Man franchise that you can so often see Tony Stark engineering his way out of problems. But your point is well taken, he's not in the same category of almost all-intellect, no-violence heroes like MacGyver and the Doctor.

I think there's actually an interesting cultural trend forming where you have heroes like Tony Stark, Hiro and the rest of his team from Big Hero 6, and now potentially a new MacGyver who build and engineer and problem-solve their way out of conflict. These aren't heroes who are made, they're heroes who make things and whose fundamental superpower is their brain.
posted by yasaman at 11:01 AM on March 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


He represents one of the few science/reasoning heroes. There aren't many; I count four. It's basically MacGyver, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, & Spock.

Well there's Doc Savage, though he's not prominent in the pop culture imagination.

Even more obscure: Jill Trent, Science-Sleuth, recently rebooted.
posted by audi alteram partem at 11:17 AM on March 12, 2015 [7 favorites]


I am about to read up and get schooled, but, I love that i can list about 10 of his inventions and watched the show a lot as a kid, but have no idea what the overall conceit was. I have no idea how he got into all these binds. Was he a P.I.? Did he just have really bad luck? Between A-Team, Airwolf, Macgyver, Riptide, Knight Rider, Magnum, etc, it was hard to keep it all straight.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 11:29 AM on March 12, 2015 [7 favorites]


Also, please read 'there' for 'their' in my comment; I do know the difference.
posted by leotrotsky at 11:30 AM on March 12, 2015


You can fix an acid leak with chocolate.

Has to be an fairly specific sort of acid, i.e. sulphuric. Won't work with your standard muriatic acid/HCl, for example. Don't try it with nitric acid either unless you idea of "fixing" means turning into toxic smoke. The consequences may not be pleasant.
posted by bonehead at 11:32 AM on March 12, 2015


leotrotsky: you forgot Inspector Gadget.
posted by persona au gratin at 11:37 AM on March 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


have no idea what the overall conceit was

As I recall, the back story was never really coherent or rigorous, but basically in the first few seasons he was an independent contractor called in by a fictional three letter government agency. In later years, he was an independent contractor for an NGO where the work often oddly coincided with what you'd expect from that of a three letter agency.
posted by audi alteram partem at 11:37 AM on March 12, 2015


Well, that and plenty of bad luck and Jack Dalton (but I repeat myself) for when business was slow.
posted by ckape at 11:43 AM on March 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


enter a room filled with poisonous gas that has killed multiple people by.... putting a handkerchief over his nose and mouth.

Maybe he peed on it first?
Dr Nasmith and Scrmiger, both experienced physicians, recognized the gas as chlorine. Dr Scrmiger’s immediate orders to his battalion included instructions to urinate on handkerchiefs, placing them over mouth/nose when encountering the gas cloud. The urine present in these crude masks caused the chlorine gas to crystallize, preventing pulmonary effects.
posted by fings at 11:54 AM on March 12, 2015 [7 favorites]


In a sea of protagonists who are their because of birth (Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter), fighting prowess (Captain America, James Bond), fate (Spiderman, Fantastic Four), or fortune (Batman, Iron Man), these rare four succeed because they're clever problem-solvers.

I think your list of problem-solvers is a bit short, but I guess that comes down to how broad a spectrum you're looking at.

FWIW, though: one of the areas where the Spider-Man films fall down is that they don't really highlight Peter's intellect the way the comics do. In the comics, his powers just get him into the party; it's either strength of will/character or, more often, his brains that actually allows him to triumph.

Additionally, Captain America's leadership & tactical skills generally make for a bigger impact than his fighting prowess.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:56 AM on March 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


He represents one of the few science/reasoning heroes. There aren't many; I count four. It's basically MacGyver, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, & Spock.

Columbo.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:58 AM on March 12, 2015 [12 favorites]


The original airing of The Legend of the Holy Rose, part 2 (5x02) was interrupted for an important news bulletin when I was a kid, while MacGyver was trapped in the Pendulum. Of course we came back to "we now join the following program, already in progress", and he was free.

Having failed to ever catch that episode during reruns I spent many an afternoon trying to figure out how he escaped. I'm a little disappointed in the actual "solution".
posted by zinon at 12:03 PM on March 12, 2015 [3 favorites]


He represents one of the few science/reasoning heroes. There aren't many; I count four. It's basically MacGyver, Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who, & Spock.

Columbo


Yes--and, really, the innumerable legions of "but you say the room was locked from the inside?" detective heroes/ines. Poirot's "little grey cells" et al.
posted by yoink at 12:17 PM on March 12, 2015


Say Maaannix. Barnaby Jones? Somebody say Columbo!
Yeah that's right ya'll, you know I got my own shit
See this ain't America's Most Wanted
This is America's Most Mackin'
posted by slogger at 12:41 PM on March 12, 2015


MacGyver really deserves a higher ranking in the echelon of Secret Agents/Detectives/Heroes. He represents one of the few science/reasoning heroes

Batman's a scientist!
posted by sevenyearlurk at 1:46 PM on March 12, 2015 [7 favorites]


If I recall an interview with the creators correctly, the auditions were full of macho 80s action dudes trying out for the lead, but Richard Dean Anderson got the role when he put on his reading glasses after being handed the audition script.
posted by Ian A.T. at 2:14 PM on March 12, 2015 [7 favorites]


Columbo

Columbo's skill wasn't so much clever reasoning as it was the ability to continually badger and annoy the suspect until they confess.
posted by zixyer at 2:58 PM on March 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Back in the early '90s, I had a different conversation than I realized I was having, wherein I said I really liked MacGyver, and only found out several weeks later, when those dudes gave me shit about saying I liked The Guyver, that there even was such a thing.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 3:13 PM on March 12, 2015 [4 favorites]


MacGyver was probably the only "Grown up" show I was allowed to watch as a little kid (I guess I was 5 or 6 when it started?). I probably haven't seen an episode since it went off the air, but just reading through these reminds me of how terrified I was of ants for a few weeks after the episode with the army ants.
posted by KGMoney at 3:24 PM on March 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Columbo's skill wasn't so much clever reasoning as it was the ability to continually badger and annoy the suspect until they confess.

After he used reasoning to figure out who the murderer was!
posted by Room 641-A at 5:00 PM on March 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


Columbo's skill wasn't so much clever reasoning as it was the ability to continually badger and annoy the suspect until they confess.

Columbo is the honey badger of badgering.
posted by zippy at 5:49 PM on March 12, 2015 [4 favorites]


I watched MacGyver at a formative age, and I had recurring dreams about several episodes, notably 2x01, where he has to break into a facility and then defeat robots

Munchkin Daleks!
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:58 PM on March 12, 2015


"But there's still one thing I don't understand..." -Columbo
posted by ostranenie at 6:08 PM on March 12, 2015 [3 favorites]


I was at just the right age to watch MacGyver, but for some reason I just didn't. I think it was competing with some other show that I was loyal to at the same timeslot. I'd watch a few minutes here and there, but it never really grabbed me.

Then I saw an episode where MacGyver was being held prisoner in this kind of barn with a beautiful (natch) girl. There was a truck by which they could escape, but darn! The radiator had been shot up and was full of holes. What's a MacGyver to do? Here's what: he took some eggs from some chickens in said barn, cracked them in the radiator, then started up the engine. The eggs cooked and solidified, sealing up the holes, and MacG and lady friend escaped in a cloud of dust.

Well, I thought. That was cool. That's science! I always assume MacGyver was a kind of long-form PSA to get kids to study sciences, disguised as an action hero show.
posted by zardoz at 6:26 PM on March 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


Columbo's skill wasn't so much clever reasoning as it was the ability to continually badger and annoy the suspect until they confess.

Speaking from midst-binge-watch, no. This is inaccurate. Columbo's skill was very much about clever reasoning, about noticing the details that were just… off… (why would the victim have taken a nightgown out of the closet when it was her practice to store her nightgown under her bedpillow? And if she did take it out of the closet, why were there no fingerprints on the door handle?) and then following up painstakingly* until he could prove what had happened (or, on infrequent occasions, bait/buffalo the killer into confession).

* Current favorite example: the killer asserts that for various reasons, clearly it must have been a mob-connected murder. Some time later, Columbo mentions to him "Yeah, there are 150 known mobsters in the area. We talked to 'em. None of them were involved."
posted by Lexica at 7:02 PM on March 12, 2015


Back in the early '90s, I had a different conversation than I realized I was having, wherein I said I really liked MacGyver, and only found out several weeks later, when those dudes gave me shit about saying I liked The Guyver, that there even was such a thing.

I had kind of the opposite experience, in that a friend was going on and on about how much he liked The Guyver, and describing it to me, and here I was thinking MacGyver must have gotten completely bonkers since the last time I saw it a few years before.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:08 PM on March 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Prime example: Transformers Wiki

I see what you did there.
posted by radwolf76 at 6:02 AM on March 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


Came for the McGyver discussion...stayed for Columbo. Up voting Columbo one infinity times. Now Lexica just reminded me there's something I need to go watch.
posted by chisel at 1:56 PM on March 13, 2015


« Older "To all the men who turned their misogyny into a...   |   Pie Fight '69: street theatrical as a soft bomb... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments