(SBS/Beyond)

No, Mr Bond, I expect you to explode

The Mythbusters team started out working in the special-effects business, so it makes sense to get them to test the veracity of movies. This James Bond Special doesn’t quite match up to their other movie specials, however. For starters, they don’t have the rights to show footage from any of Bond’s adventures, so when they choose a scene to test we only get to see a cartoony storyboard of it to compare with what they recreate while quibbling about things not perfectly matching what they saw on film. When they create their own pen-grenade it blows the top half off a dummy the first time they detonate it with the usual wahooing and giggling afterwards. Comparing it to the relevant scene from GoldenEye however, they’re disappointed and re-test it over and over again trying to get it perfect until – and I’m surprised this is possible – I got sick of watching them blow stuff up. The other problem with the James Bond stunts is that they’re so improbable that most are busted straight away, but to fill time the crew have to concoct elaborate experiments, like creating a set of metal teeth to bite through a cable with, just to fill time. Watching them throw a metal-plated bowler hat at statues to see if they really can sever a head is pretty amusing, however. Though it doesn’t compare well with their other specials (and lacks the bonus disc they usually have to sweeten the deal), this is still good television that manages to be educational as well as watchable.

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JODY MACGREGOR

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