It may not seem like a simple Mythbusters streaming guide would be the key to happiness, but test it out and you’ll see it is. In the market for a bit of learning? Explosions? A mustache envied by walruses the world ‘round? Mythbusters provided all that and more in a consistently entertaining package that was as driven by the genuine search for scientific fact as it was the goblin-inspired lust for chaos.
In case you’re unfamiliar, Mythbusters was a show hosted by special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman that ran on the Discovery Channel from 2003-2016. In each episode, they’d take a myth, urban legend, or general question — something like “Do cats really always land on their feet?” — and attempt to determine its veracity through scientific testing.
Part of the show’s appeal was how seriously the Mythbusters took the testing, often going to elaborate lengths to recreate the events of the myth in question. The fact that those lengths typically involved explosions, robots, or both certainly didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t just for show. At the end of every episode, viewers could not only feel confident that the Mythbuster crew had done their best to attack the question from all angles but also have legitimate scientific learnings as a takeaway.
Given that it’s been off the air for years, it may not immediately be obvious how to watch Mythbusters should you have a hankering for boisterous science. Fear not, for everything you need is contained within this handy Mythbusters streaming guide.
How to watch Mythbusters online?
The easiest answer to how to stream Mythbusters is to go direct to the original source, which in this case is the Discovery Channel; you can stream Mythbusters on either Discovery+ or Discovery Go. If neither of those suit, US viewers can also find it on Fubo.tv, Google Play, iTunes, Amazon, or Vudu. Those of you in the UK will want to check out Pluto, Amazon, or Amazon Freevee.
From a strictly financial perspective, your best (by which we mean least expensive) option for devouring the entire Mythbusting oeuvre is going the Discovery Plus route. Google, Amazon, and Apple have all 19 seasons available, but you’ll have to buy them a la carte.
Need more alternatives? Certain Verizon plans quality for six free months of Discovery+ whether you’re a new or existing customer.
If you’re abroad and want to watch stuff blow up, you can simply use a VPN, which will allow you to access geo-restricted content by connecting you to a server based in your country. In other words, you can get all that US-based goodness without actually being in the US. Ah, technology.
There are plenty of VPNs to choose from, but our current favorite is ExpressVPN.
What is Mythbusters?
Mythbusters is a science/entertainment show that aired on the Discovery Channel from 2003-2016 and was hosted by special effects masters Adam Savage and Jaimie Hyneman. Each episode would test a particular myth or urban legend to determine if it was true (“Confirmed”), false (“Busted”), or indeterminate (“Plausible”). Though they tested a wide range of subject matter over the show’s duration, the Mythbusters did place some restrictions on what they were willing to explore. Nothing that would put people or animals at risk was allowed, conspiracy theories like the JFK assassination were shunned, and so-called “oogie-boogie” myths — things from the paranormal end of the spectrum — were also typically given a miss.
What made the show such compelling viewing was the rigor with which the Mythbusters would test each episode’s myths: Typically, they would first attempt to replicate the myth itself and if that didn’t work, they’d try to recreate the outcome of the myth. The fact that said testing almost always involved the construction of a Rube Goldberg-esque contraption, explosive device, robot, or other kind of barely-contained mechanical chaos just made the science that much more fun to watch.
The show typically took place at Hyneman’s special effects company, M5 Industries, where the team would assemble the contraptions that were necessary to safely test the myths. Several M5 staff members would eventually become the “Build Team”, a secondary set of mythbusters testing their own theories in each episode.
Each episode typically covered two myths, but sometimes grouped a bunch of experiments around a certain theme. One episode was dedicated to prison break experiments, for example, while another dealt with legends about pirates. And of course no show airing on the Discovery Channel was going to miss an opportunity to do something for Shark Week.
Mythbusters cast
The main hosts of Mythbusters were Jaime Hyneman and Adam Savage. The beret-bedecked Hyneman was the stoic voice of reason while Savage embodied the frantic energy of a child hopped up on sugary cereal. Together, they brought decades’ worth of experience from working on major motion pictures to the show, which not only gave them lots of fodder for myths — some of the shows’ best experiments came from trying to replicate high-octane action sequences — but also the ability to perform the testing safely. And when they didn’t feel like they were up to the task of doing something safely, they brought in an expert who was.
The first Build Team was Tory Belleci, Kary Byron, and Scottie Chapman, all of whom worked at M5. When Scottie left, robot specialist Grant Imahara, known for his work on BattleBots, joined the team and swiftly became an audience favorite. Both the main hosts and the Build Team regularly consulted with experts to add a bit of background flavor or context for the myth being tested: They might chat with a cryptologist to provide some history about Bigfoot or the Jersey Devil, for example.
The best Mythbusters myths?
Asking someone to choose the best Mythbusters myth is like asking them to choose the best Jurassic Park movie. There are a few that are suitable correct answers, and anyone not choosing one of those clearly can’t be trusted. There’s room for personal taste, of course, but anyone’s list of favorites should include at least one of these:
Cement Truck Mix-Up: It’s a simple premise inspired by a real-life conundrum. Can you get hardened cement out of a cement mixer using dynamite? The Mythbusters quickly discover the answer is a resounding yes. The swift and definitive result inspires them to keep upping the amount of cement and explosive until they finally get the result they were really looking for all along: the biggest boom they’d ever done.
Compact Compact Rocket Sled: What would happen if an unlucky compact car found itself sandwiched between two 18-wheelers colliding head-on? That’s what the team attempts to discover when they use a rocket sled going 700 mph to simulate the force of the accident. Gobsmacking physics ensue.
Rocket Car: This myth, about whether or not you could make a Chevy Impala fly by strapping a rocket to it, hits all the best Mythbuster boxes. Rockets? Check. Remote control? Check. Absurd speed? Check and check. The team actually tried this team twice, with the second attempt edging out the first when it comes to sheer spectacle. Also, really, really don’t ever try this at home. Really.
Lego Ball: Look, not every great experiment has to result in an explosion. Checking the accuracy of a YouTube video, the ‘Busters assemble a massive ball made from one million Lego bricks. How much damage will it do as it rolls down a hill? You already know the answer, but watching it happen in real time is immensely satisfying.
Sinking Car: Some Mythbusters episodes are less about creating a spectacle and more about being genuinely helpful. Sometimes it was good for a laugh, like watching the Build Team testing hot pepper remedies, but other times touched on more serious scenarios, like in this episode that covered a series of myths all around escaping a sinking car. Knowing what to do — and what not to — should you ever find yourself in a rapidly submerging vehicle may very well save your life.
Lead Balloon: We’ve all heard of something going down like a lead balloon, but is it possible to make something like that actually rise? Adam Savage has said this was his favorite build on the show, and while it’s not as flashy as a rocket car, it’s easy to see why he’s proud of it.
