09x01 - Mission Impossible Mask

[bunniefuu]

On this episode of "MythBusters"...

Am I really that ugly?

Adam and Jamie face a
freaky face off fable.

Can a pull-over mask...

It's party time.

...be used to pull off a "Mission
Impossible" style identity theft?

That is weird.

Meanwhile, Kari, Grant, and Tori

take aim at two ballistic myths.

Do you feel lucky, punk?

First, can a trick shot sh**t
a g*n along the ground?

Second, would a Hollywood b*llet

really blast a merry-go-round...

Make my day.

...into a spin?

Now, it's the scary-go-round.

Who are the MythBusters?

Adam Savage...

Big boom! Big boom!

...and Jamie Hyneman.

Surrender your candy.

Between them, more than 30 years
of special effects experience.

Joining them,

Grant Imahara...

Decapitation hazard, everybody!

Kari Byron...

and Tory Belleci.

They're going to fry my brain.

They don't just tell the myths,

they put them to the test.

MythBusters 9x01 - Mission Impossible Mask
Original air date April 6, 2011

Corrected by atrn97g
www.addic7ed.com

That man there wondered who we are.

We're the stories.

Allow me to demonstrate.

Remember in "Mission Impossible",

when the characters would wear

these heads sculpted full

pull-over head masks in order to

pretend to be a completely

different character in
order to breach security?

That's what we're gonna test.

Yeah.

In the iconic 60's TV show
"Mission Impossible",

a number of storylines depended upon

handmade masks to perpetrate
identity theft activities.

On screen the pliable
realistically colored material

is supposedly enough to
fool security guards

and even colleagues.

But Adam and Jamie want to know
if it's possible in real life.

You want to hear my methodology?

sh**t.

All right. The masks we were just wearing

are made by SPFX Masks,

and they make the "creme
de la creme" of silicone

super realistic full pull-over head masks,

and they work old-school.

They will make us a pair of masks,

working solely from photographs,

exactly the technique used by the
agents in "Mission Impossible".

Well, you know, there's more
to this than just the masks.

We not only have to look like each other.

We have to be able to act like each other.

Are you suggesting we get acting lessons?

Isn't it about time?

I think it is.

That's perfect.

Let's do it.

So first stop, let's meet
the ugly mug maestro,

who will be helping Adam and Jamie

pull off this mythical face-off.

Now line up and give me 20.

Their hands-on techniques do match

the old school methods of the
"Mission Impossible" myth.

But making an out-of-this-world
monster mask is one thing.

Recreating a human face accurately enough

to fool a security guard is a
different beast altogether.

These are pointy.

This is very attractive feature.

To make sure Adam and
Jamie's masks don't end up

with freaky pointy features...

Turn to your left.

...step one is gathering
accurate data to work from.

Jamie, we are going to
measure your cheek bones.

And with those numbers and
pictures as reference,

it's over to special effects artist Jim,

who sculpts an anatomically
accurate clay bust

as the foundation for each mask.

Next, they create fiber glass
molds around those clay forms,

which, when hardened, look like this.

This is my mold.

Pretty soon they're gonna
put this together,

and pour silicone in it, and
you'll have a duplicate Jamie.

Once the silicone is set and

popped from the mold,

the basic canvas for each mask is complete.

Now it's time for the texture,

detail, and color.

Everybody thinks of skin as
just one crayon in the box

when in fact, it's composed
of a whole bunch of colors,

and it's one of the most
difficult paint jobs.

This guy will take between six
and ten hours to get right.

It's weird.

This is my half-finished mask.

Doesn't look like me much at the moment,

but put some hair on it and a beret,

you're gonna be surprised.

And what's more surprising is

how much effort goes into making
our who-is-your-who suit

because the follication is
done hair by painstaking hair.

The hair on my mask is
actually real human hair,

and it's punched into the
silicone one follicle at a time.

It's very time consuming.

Just the front, the beard and
eyebrows takes three days.

The whole head?

A week.

You're gonna shave me, right?

- Aha.
- Okay. Good.

While Adam and Jamie's
faces are being finished,

Adam and Jamie head back to the shop to

learn to be Jamie and Adam.

And to do that they're in
the hands of a legend.

Our acting coach is Terry McGovern.

He's been acting for 40 years,

and he's been teaching
acting himself for 15 years.

Film buffs might recognize him

as the teacher in "American Graffiti."

He was also the voice of the
sand-trooper in "Star Wars"

who said "These aren't the
droids we're looking for".

His job today is to teach us
the art of impersonation.

Judging from the title "Firearms Force",

and the fact that you guys are packing
heat that'll blow off the room,

I'm guessing we have some
sh**ting in our future.

Yep, and a lot of it.

We are testing two myths
about b*ll*ts doing work.

Like k*lling bad guys?

No.

What we're talking about is
b*ll*ts doing physical work,

something moving when you sh**t it.

Like what?

Well, the first one is a classic g*n myth,

where two guys are in a duel.

One drops his g*n and reaches for it,

and the other guy shoots it across
the floor just out of reach.

But can a b*llet really
impart that much force?

Exactly.

The second myth comes from
the movie "sh**t'em Up"

where Clive Owen shoots
Charles' merry-go-round

to get it to spin.

I think we should start with that one.

I've always wondered if that was true.

In this "sh**t'em Up" scene,
our hero stainies a sn*per

by firing a round into a merry-go-round.

And supposedly the force
of the b*llet spins

the target out of harm's way.

But is the propulsion down to physics,

or is it just cinema spin?

When we test these myths,

I think it's gonna be
important for us to duplicate

the circumstances exactly as
they appear in the movie,

which means distance to
sh**ter and type of g*n.

Then we go for it.

If that doesn't work,

let's step up the firepower.

Well then, we should definitely
ramp down the friction

of the merry-go-round by using some lube.

So to complete the scene,
we need some props.

A g*n from the movie, a GL*CK,

a merry-go-round, and sh**ting range.

Let's go.

For our firearms force myth

we've come out to the
Richmond Rod and g*n Club,

so we can find out

if a handgun has enough force
to spin a merry-go-round.

And speaking of merry-go-rounds,

they've brought their own.

Okay.

Lubrication might help
some of the friction,

so that we can get a little
better spin on this.

With the carousel lubed and leveled...

- Perfect.
- Real nice.

...and the safety railings in place,

it's play time.

All right. That's it.

Let's see if it works.

But before their round-about becomes

the most dangerous play
equipment in history...

Oh, it's just like childhood,

it's super dangerous and
I feel like I wanna throw up.

...first, some science of spin.

The challenge of this experiment

is that the energy from the b*llet's impact

has to overcome the
merry-go-round's inertia,

inertia being the resistance to movement.

And that is based on the math.

This thing weighs over 500 pounds.

That's a lot to overcome.

So, it's over to Grant
using the force gauge

to find out exactly how much resistance

the b*llet needs to overcome.

Okay, 8.6 pounds.

I don't know.

We'll see.

To monitor the merry-go-round,

Grant adds a gauge,

so if the g*n gets any spin, they'll know.

And speaking of firepower...

To test this myth,

we're gonna start out with
the g*n from the movie,

the 9-mill, and if that doesn't work,

we're going to tap into the

entire MythBusters arsenal with

more and more powerful fire arms.

That's the plan,

but, first, it's down to the
movie weapon of choice.

The GL*CK.

Now, it's got a muzzle
energy of 383 foot pounds

and a muzzle velocity of


Remember, the more mass,

the more inertia an object
has, so at 500 pounds,

the merry-go-round has a lot of inertia.

And although the b*llet has 383
foot pounds of muzzle energy,

as it flies through the air,

some of that energy dissipates.

So by the point of impact,

will it have enough
remaining kinetic energy

to overcome the inertia and
the friction of the bearings?

Shouldn't it be spinning by now?

- Oh, that was a good shot too.
- Yeah!

That was a direct hit,

and I don't see the
merry-go-round moving at all.

So with our first test with the



we had enough energy

to punch through the steel railing,

and move the merry-go-round
about one-eighth of an inch,

but it certainly wasn't the spinning around

that you see in the movie.

Unlike the movie,

it seems the GL*CK doesn't
have the power for a push,

so they're switching g*ns.

So this is the Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum.

It has 1,100 foot pounds of muzzle energy,

more than twice that of the GL*CK...

I got just one question.

Are you feeling lucky, punk?

I don't even know if you
need to take a second shot.

Even with the more powerful handgun,

we were not able to get the
merry-go-round to spin.

We got it to move significantly
more than the 9 millimeter.

About three-quarters of an inch,

but that is not spinning
like you see in the movie.

Now we have one more
handgun in our arsenal.

The 45 caliber has four times
the muzzle energy of the GL*CK,

but will that extra kinetic energy

overcome the merry-go-round's inertia?

- Good shot.
- I don't see it spinning.

Not yet.

Not spinning yet.

Nope.

Yeap, it seems that getting this
carousel to spin is anything

but the child's play of the movie.

So just like the movie,

we started out testing
this myth with handguns.

We tried 9 millimeter,



And so far nothing has been able to

move this merry-go-round very far.

Certainly not like the
spinning you see in the film.

But you know what?
We're not giving up here.

We've got plenty of other g*ns.

Up next on "MythBusters"...

You know...

Adam and Jamie get into character

and each other's faces.

Another transformation is complete.

Adam an Jamie are facing
off against the myth

that wearing pull-over face masks

and altering your body language is

enough to fool a security guard.

And so far they've had their
mugs immortalized in silicone.

But the masks won't be enough on their own.

Very still.

Cue, acting 101.

Cerebral.

First up, how to be Jamie.

Gestures.

A lot of work with the
mustache and the beard.

Now the voice. Okay?

Very monotone, very low pitch,

very authoritative.

I'm excited.

This is really thrilling.

I used to collect molds and spores.

It's pretty good.

Are we done?

Now we all know Adam enjoys mimicking Jamie

for comic effect.

When I was riding the rails towards

the end of the Great Depression,

I learned several things
from my humble mentor.

But when it comes to professionally
putting the voice...

Fine.

physical gestures, and posture together into

a believable performance...

Well, he is positioned so
you can't knock him over.

...it's a much tougher assignment.

But after a few hours of hard work

with our professional thespian...

He uses vocal gestures, by that I mean

sometimes instead of words
he will make sounds.

Jamie slowly but surely emerges.

I'm just trying to get a word in edgewise.

Yeah, not bad.

Adam's almost there.

And while he keeps practicing,

it's on to Jamie.

First of all, Adam moves a lot.

With all of Adam's garrulous and

expressive character traits demonstrated,

Jamie enters his own personal Room 101.

You know what, I'm... I've had enou...

No, I can't do this.

His innate modesty

and discomfort in the spotlight

makes the whole process a real challenge.

Let's see.

But in a testament to his sense
of humor and perseverance,

and Terry's teaching skills...

To do that, you have to
break the Jamie stands.

...they get through it.
- Thinks a lot with his hair.

The recipe for being Adam
is pretty simple really.

There's a lot of random movement

from the waist up, including his arms.

You know, I think you might be right.

He is constantly adjusting his glasses,

smoothing his hair, and stroking his beard.

And he laughs often and readily,

and generally covers his mouth

with his hands right after.
- Can I stop now?

You may stop and put your ballet back on.

My work here is done.

Best of luck to you.

After the curtain comes
down and Terry bows out,

the newly-minted thesps have their

handmade masks hand delivered.

And get a bit of a shock.

Am I really that ugly?

Oh, man.

That is fricking creepy.

Creepy, most definitely,

but this isn't a Halloween special.

The goal here is security breach realism.

And to achieve that

they've got to put together
the complete package.

Are you ready?

You know, becoming Jamie is

more than just being a
century and a half old

and having a taste for fast
cars and hard cider. Oh no.

There's many moving pieces to the puzzle

that is James Franklin Hyneman.

It starts with the shoes.

Then there's the gray pants.

The trademark white shirt,

for which clearly I need
some bigger shoulders.

Add shoulder pads,

the all-important mask, beret, and glasses.

And then the transformation is complete.

And fake face to fake face,

the comparison is impressive.

I have to say, the clothes
make the man, don't they?

They seriously... they seriously do.

But is it good enough?

After all, there are some
obvious flaws in this face-off.

The technique that was used
to make this mask involves

sculpting it over a generic inner mold.

That means that every time
a different person wears it,

it's gonna look slightly different.

In my case, Adam's head
here is a bit larger

and fatter than it is in real life,

so the masks aren't perfect.

The question here is how far can we

actually go towards fooling a mark.

We can do things like wear the
clothes of the original person.

We can act like the original person.

Really loose.

We can even distract the mark.

So all of those things accumulatively

may well have the effect of

completing the illusion much better

than any individual
technique would by itself.

That's perfect, you nailed it.

That's good.

Later, our g*n-totting
trio get into character

for another ballistic movie history.

But next...

It's party time.

Adam and Jamie get excited.

I'm a picture of unconstrained joy.

In "sh**t 'em Up",

the hero shoots first and
asks questions later.

But could a b*llet really blast

a merry-go-round into a spin?

So far the handguns fail to spin the wheel.

So now for something a little bigger...

What I have here is our good
old standby 12 gauge shotgun.

We're gonna be firing a deer slug.

Now, the deer slug has 2,500
foot pounds of energy.

That's more energy than any
of our handguns so far.

Plus, the deer slug has more
mass than any of the b*ll*ts.

With added mass and that extra energy,

it will hopefully get this
merry-go-round to spin.

Okay, so not only is it not spinning,

but you blew a hole clean through it.

Yeah, it's not working.

But maybe a bit of
b*llet-proofing will help.

So, what's happening right now

is our b*ll*ts are flying so fast,

they're just punching right
through the merry-go-round,

and we're losing all that energy.

So, we added these plates, hopefully

that'll capture that energy
and make this thing spin.

All right.

This is 12 gauge shotgun with

deer slug reinforced merry-go-round.

It moved a little.

The b*llet proofing absorbs
more of the b*llet's energy.

Keep it going, yeah

And withstands Tory's shotgun barrage.

But this is about a single impact,

and one deer slug only
scored 1.5 inches of nut,

which means it's time to
bring out the big, big g*ns.

This is an AR-50.

It fires 50 caliber rounds.

They have 13,000 foot pounds of energy.

They travel over 2,900 feet per second,


than the g*n in the movie.

If this doesn't spin our merry-go-round,

nothing will.

Despite an impact

that's separated the
half inch steel plates,

the merry-go-round still isn't spinning.

We got it to move, and
it moved eight inches,

and that was with one shot.

Yeah, but we're using a 50 caliber

with a reinforced merry-go-round,

and eight inches is really
not that impressive.

- All right, so this one is busted.
- Totally busted.

Busted, but there's still more
twists and turns to come.

That is some [beep] of [beep]...

Yeap, this is one crazy bleeping
double taking myth,

so where to next?

Well, these guys are done,

and they look pretty darn good.

So how do you want to start testing?

Well, what say we bring in some
members of the general public,

people who are familiar with our faces,

but don't know us

and see if these can fool them.

To simulate a guard watching
a building's entrance,

our volunteers who know Jamie and Adam,

but not personally, will be told

their task is to focus
a laser on a target.

This is gonna be cool.

However, we'll really be

testing their powers of observation.

Will the fake mask-wearing myth-buster

in their peripheral vision pass muster?

Here's how it's gonna
go for our contestants.

They'll start in this room here

where shop general Don is
gonna hand them a laser.

Then they'll proceed to this line.



and on command they will point their laser

at the target and then

they'll stop pointing at the target

and then they'll proceed
to the 70 foot mark.

At the 70 foot mark, they'll
do the same thing again.

Laser on, laser off.

And so on.

And so on.

Now, clearly, this is their last stop.

They'll point the laser at
the target one last time

and then they'll turn
at the end of the test

and see Jamie dressed as me.

I'll be watching everything from

behind this curtain.

Go.

So with Jamie in costume in character...

It's party-time!

...and in position,

the first excited fan is wheeled in,

given their instructions and shown

through to the test area.

Here comes our first test subject.

Okay. Start.

She sees Jamie.

She looks confused.

Next.

She looks suspicious, but
she's not saying anything.

Aside from that brief look of confusion,

our laser wielding volunteer with

just the occasional glance

across a fake Adam completes the test

without giving anything away.

Stop. Thank you.

But as the real Adam suspected,

she was on to them from the get go.

Just wondering at what point

in the walk down that you felt like

something was suspicious about him.

- Ah... immediately.
- Really?

Yes.

Subject number two is equally
quick on the uptake.

- Hello.
- Hi.

He looks really suspicious right there.

Even though the fans seem
focused on the fake test...

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thanks very much.

Hello.

...Jamie's not fooling them at all.

Go.

And the third contestant

not only confirms the conclusion,

she pinpoints the "why".

When you first said go,

'cause you sounded kind of strange.

Oh, my voice?

Yeah.

Yeap, despite the voice coaching,

Jamie still sounds like Jamie.

Go.

And as soon as he opens his
silicone covered mouth...

Stop.

...he gives the game away.

The question is, can Adam do any better?

Can someone please can clean up

all this crap from the shop?

Seeing as Adam frequently mimics Jamie,

he is confident,

but are his Hyneman vocal stylings

as good as he thinks they are?

Knock them dead.

Hello.

The next three contestants
are taken through the test.

Go.

He is focused on that target.

But as before,

they keep any suspicions
they have to themselves...

Next.

...until confronted by the real
Jamie and asked directly.

What tipped you off?

The voice difference.

So it's confirmed, the
voice is the give-away,

but the team haven't yet plummed
the depths of this myth.

They're picking the suspect

variable and removing it.

Awesome.

So far, Kari, Grant and Tory have busted

Hollywood for playing fast
and loose with physics.

Totally busted.

But before they get back
on the merry-go-round

to replicate the results,

the team is gunning for a golden oldie.

It's the Good,

the Bad,

and the Purty?

In the movies, a g*n slinger
manages to nonchalantly blast

the g*n out of the reach of his opponent.

But could this trick shot
really do the trick?

So, we are back at the range to

test the myth that you could
sh**t a g*n and move it

and we're going to test on
three different surfaces.

The first one is a dirt road,

like you would find in a western.

The next one is a paved surface,

like you would find in an urban setting

and, finally, a tile floor,

something you might find
in a public building.

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna place

the g*n on each of the surfaces,

fire at them, and see

if we can get them to move.

This is our target g*n.

Just your basic 9 millimeter handgun.

Now, we're going to start using the GL*CK

and we're gonna see if we sh**t at the g*n

how far we can skid it across the surface.

It's handgun versus handgun.

But before they get sh**ting,

Grant wants to check the friction

of our three floor coverings.

I'm gonna take a quick
measurement of the force

required to drag them across the surfaces.

So, dirt is 1.54 pounds.

Okay, asphalt is 1.46 pounds.

Okay. Tiles' half a pound.

Unsurprisingly,

the tiled surface provides
the least resistance.

So that's where the team will start.

This handgun is pretty heavy,
I mean it's a couple of pounds.

I don't think there's any way a

handgun has enough muzzle energy

to actually get this thing
moving across any surface.

Yeap, after the fake physics
on film failed to

spin the merry-go-round in real life,

it's no surprise they're
skeptical of making a g*n skip.

Go on, grab that g*n. Get it.

sh**t the g*n away from the bad guy.

This is handgun vs handgun,

tile floor.

Oh, my God, no way!

That is just like in the movie.

Incredibly, completely confounding
the team's predictions,

and just like in the movies,

Tory gets the g*n to skid
across 16 feet of tile.

Well out of reach of Buster the kid.

Three shots.

Dude, that works really well on the tile.

That is crazy.

With the 9 millimeter making
quick work of the tile,

it's on to surface number two.

But with a higher friction rating,

perhaps the asphalt will
put up more resistance.

Nice.

Three hits. You're almost out.

That's it. Four hits.

Totally works on asphalt.

That was great.
That was like, four feet per b*llet.

Asphalt confirmed.

Yep, so far the MythBusters'

predictions have been shot to pieces,

but there's one more dirty surface to try.

Here we go.

Dude.

Oh, my God.

That works so well in the dirt!

So dirt's confirmed.

Yes. Westerns don't lie.

Well, in this case they don't.

Even on the most resistant
surface, the dirt,

it still only took six shots

to sh**t the g*n clear out of reach.

What we're talking about here

is transfer of kinetic energy.

Now, the b*llet has a certain kinetic
energy based on its mass and its speed.

It hits the g*n and transfers

some or all of that.

Now, based on the friction of the surface,

that might require more or less.

Bottom line, it's the b*llet hits the g*n,

and it moves.

Confirmed.

Cowboy movie is actually all real.

I told you they don't lie.

Yep, in this case,

the force of a firearm on film

is, in fact, fact.

Unlike the merry-go-round.

but the team hasn't given up on

making that myth move.

Next up, they're going to find out exactly

what it would take to

put the merry-go-round into a spin.

In "Mission Impossible: Face-Off",

it seems you can't fool any of
the people any of the time.

Kind of tell in the voice a little bit.

Well, all of them said the voice is

what tipped them off.

Next.

We're going to eliminate the
voice from the next three tests.

Cause Jamie really talks just like this.
Nobody knows that.

So, the next batch

of test subjects will be subjected

to the "silent treatment".

Okay. She's got a very mobile face,

let's see if she's got any tells.

As before, fake Jamie

will be standing near the
target, pretending to note

the results from the fake laser test.

But the instructions will
come from camera man Ben.

So far so good.

Our smiley pink top testee

seems intent on the target.

Move to next marker.

She hasn't found out anything yet.

She doesn't have a clue.

But fake Jamie is in clear view

and she can't help but see him.

So, as the guard to this building,

will our volunteer note our masked intruder

is not who he's pretending to be?

- Hello.
- Hi.

That is awesome.

You are a dead ringer.

That's amazing.

At what point did you finally feel like

something was wrong with the disguise?

The first moment I looked at your face.

- Which was?
- Straight on?

Yes. Which was when I was right here. Yeah.

Up until then I thought you were Jamie.

Excellent.

Well, thank you very much.

Thank you, Jamie.

- Thank you.
- And thank you, Not Jamie.

You're very welcome.

That's a result in favor of the myth.

Despite in being in plain view for

the whole 90 feet, it wasn't

until fake Jamie directly confronted her

that she realized it wasn't really him.

This experiment is working
exactly as planned.

All of our test subjects are

totally focused on holding

that laser beam on the target.

Now, they can't help but see us

because we're right next to it,

but they're not looking directly at us.

And, so, they're going all the

way up until they're right in front of us

and they don't know

what's up until they turn around

and look directly at us.

Throughout the test you
thought this person was me?

Yes.

- That went well.
- I think so.

With three from three,

the results are cut and dried.

And all that remains is to check

if Adam's mask is similarly successful.

When did you notice that
something was wrong?

When I turned to shake his hand

after the final tests.
It didn't look quite right.

Excellent.

This's great.

Without the voice for people to cue off of,

they're going all the way from 90 feet to 5

feet believing that the mythbuster

that they're in the room with is me,

right up until the point at which
they turn and see his big old head.

So in this scenario,

similar to a security guard

monitoring the entrance to a building,

if you keep your mouth shut,

the myth is looking great.

That went so much better

than I thought it would,

I want to do a little dance.

But now, Adam and Jamie

have a much tougher test in mind.

If we leave the voice out of the equation,

the masks are actually proving
to be quite effective

up until the point that

the mark is point blank in
front of the impostor,

but that is with fans,

people that know us,

but don't really know us.

Now the question is, what happens

if we bring somebody in that

deals with us every day?

That's weird.

Coming right up...

It's the scary-go-round.

Kari, Grant and Tory lock and load

to replicate the results.

So watching that g*n fly
backwards was amazing.

Yeah, that result was so surprising,

that I think maybe we should go back
and retest the merry-go-round.

What do you mean?

What if we re-engineer it?

We have it so it absorbs
the b*llet's energy

and it spins a lot easier than it did.

Yeah, because if we can
overcome the inertia,

we might be able to get it to spin

and keep it spinning,

especially if you use
something that repeat fires.

Hey, this is "MythBusters".
If it's worth doing,

it's worth overdoing.

And first on the list
for a little overdoing

is the merry-go-round.

Lower down.

Starting at the bottom,

Tory over-engineers the bearing system

to give it the smoothest spin.

Now, one problem we were having with
getting this merry-go-round to spin

was there was too much
friction in the bearing system

that came with the merry-go-round.

So, I've switched that out for
a couple of flange bearings.

Hopefully these will cut down that friction

and allow this to spin
once we start sh**ting it.

Meanwhile, Grant and Kari
add some armor plating.

Not only will these provide targets,

they should insure the optimum
absorption of kinetic energy.

And with school out on the renovating,

it's back to the playground.

The most dangerous playground ever.

And with a new improved
merry-go-round in place,

they can check just how improved it is.

So it took 8.6 pounds of force last time,

what do we have now?

Drum roll, please.

Okay, here we go.



We've taken off 8 pounds of force.

This thing might actually spin.

And to give this recreation
their best shot,

they're pulling out three big g*ns.

Kari will be providing the Entree.

The main course cooked
up by Tory and Grant.

So this is the firepower

we're going to be using to try and spin

our super merry-go-round.

There are two semi-automatic shotguns.

We'll be firing deer slugs

which have an energy of
over 5,000 foot pounds.

But to kick things off
we thought we'd start out

with something just a
little bit more powerful.

Now, check this out.

We have a Barrett 416.

Now with 9,000 foot
pounds of muzzle energy,

we should be able to get
pass that initial inertia

and actually replicate the
results of this myth.

Yep, and if it wasn't already

the most perilous playground ever,

Kari has some last minute set dressing

that will really light up proceedings.

Well, it's not like this merry-go-round
isn't dangerous enough,

we're at the sh**ting
range firing rounds at it,

but Kari's decided to put barbwire

and a rope soaked in gasoline,

that she's gonna light
before we start sh**ting.

We get it, Kari.

You don't want us to ride
your merry-go-round.

Now it's the scary-go-round.

Scary, for sure.

But will their excess lead to success?

Will the amped up armory

replicate the results seen in the movie?

It's over to Kari to get the ball rolling.

Or, spinning.

And unsurprisingly, 9,000
foot pounds of energy

does finally overcome the
inertia of the merry-go-round.

Then Grant and Tory provide backup,

with the steady stream of a*mo to

keep the vicious circle spinning.

That is the most terrifying playground.

All right, who's going for a ride?

- We replicated the results.
- That's awesome.

Awesome, but still busted.

Only by going completely
and utterly "MythBusters"

did they get the money shot.

We took everything we learned

during the early stages of this myth,

and applied it to the scary-go-round.

We reduced the friction of
spinning, we added plates

to capture all of that energy,

and, you know what, it works.

Now about the death cord swing set...

Yeah, how about the land mined sandbox?

- C4 seesaw?
- Love it.

Up next: while wearing Jamie's head,

Adam messes with Kari and Grant.

After the show, check out the after show.

Log on to
discovery.com/mythbustersaftershow.

I think it's time to move

from people who are familiar with us

to people who really know us.

I think it's time to
bring in Kari and Grant.

You know I've got an idea.

What if we invite them over for

what we're calling an observation test,

and we expose them to you dressed as me,

but every time we do that,

we introduce a subtle wardrobe change,

and maybe that will

distract them enough to pull this off.

I think that's great.

Here's how this test is gonna work.

Grant and Kari will be told

they're here to participate
in a spot the difference test

from five distances.





From each of these distances,

a curtain will rise exposing me dressed

as Jamie on a turn tale spinning,

except each time the curtain goes up,

I'll have something different
about my wardrobe.

Curtain down.

I think we're ready.

Cue a confident,

perhaps overconfident Kari.

I feel like I should be
able to pick differences.

I mean I think I know Jamie pretty well.

Okay.

Raise the curtain.

At 90 feet with no actual
changes to Jamie's wardrobe...

Oh, 90 feet is far.

Kari doesn't notice anything untoward.

But at 70 feet, she takes the bait.

Well, obviously the
orange belt is different.

That's kind of Crazy Town.

I don't think I've ever seen

Jamie in a different color before.

But before Kari moves
to the 50 feet marker,

a thought occurs, and she pauses.

Is that really Jamie or

is that a wax statue of Jamie?

OK. So Kari is aware something
is not quite right.

Oh, yeah, different shoes.

But other than the obvious
wardrobe changes...

There is a blue hanky in his pocket.

...it's not until she's at five feet

that she's willing to elaborate.

That doesn't look like Jamie.

And there's some sort of prosthetics

or something going on.

And even then it takes a moment

before she's ready to commit.

There's not one thing changing.

There is a complete difference,

that I didn't see at 90,

and I thought I saw at 70,

but I doubted myself, but at five,

yeah, unless he ate some shell
fish and he is allergic,

there's something going on.

I knew there was some trickery.

How early did you catch on?

- 70.
- Really?

I thought, I was like, "is that
a wax statue of Jamie"?

Just doesn't look right.

At 70 feet I felt like there was

something a little weird about
the Jamie I was looking at.

But I thought maybe he was, uh,

swollen from a bee sting or something,

so I didn't say anything
as to not embarrass him.

Thank you, Kari.

Okay, I'm totally horrified by this mask.

I mean, it's just, first of all,

holding Jamie's skin freaks me out,

but wow, this was the weirdest test.

Weird, but very interesting.

Despite the distraction
of the wardrobe changes,

Kari noticed something was
off from quite a distance.

But she's known Jamie for eight years,

and it wasn't until she was five feet away

that she was sure.

The question now is will Grant

give us a more definitive result?

I've known Jamie for
approximately 12 years,

and I am intimately
familiar with how he looks.

And the reason is that

he always wears exactly the same thing.

Man, from this distance, that
looks like everyday Jamie.

For the entire time that I've known Jamie,

he has always had the
mustache and the beret.

And the rest of his wardrobe

hasn't changed in probably eight years.

All right. Well, that's easy.

He's got a florescent orange belt on.

As the test progresses,

despite Grant's close
relationship with Jamie...

Those would be the wrong shoes.

...he appears to be completely oblivious

he is looking at Adam.

How close will he get before he realizes?

OK. Five feet.

Jamie, are you ready?

- I'm ready.
- All right.

Raise the curtain.

That's strange.

It looks like a wax figure of Jamie.

I know it sounds weird,

I don't think that's real Jamie up there.

Yep, incredibly, until you get up close,

the mask really does work.

You.

Doctor.

Can you hold this for a second?

- Jamie, hold this.
- Oh, my goodness.

I feel so embarrassed.

I've known Jamie for over ten years,

and it took me up until

the five foot mark to realize

that this is not Jamie.

Now, that was actually you...

The whole time.

...that was you the whole time.

That was me the whole time.

I must say I'm quite surprised.

We were able to fool both Grant and Kari.

I'm getting the distinct impression

that this deception business
is all about the circumstances.

If you get the right combination

of distractions and distance
and that kind of thing,

you can get away with m*rder.

So how do we wanna call this?

Is it possible to impersonate

somebody with a full pull-over head mask?

Well, obviously at this
range, you're not you.

But given enough distance and distraction,

I think we're gonna have to
call this one plausible.

And creepy.

Plausible it is.

Got to file this one under

"Mission possible."

Nice.