I remember when I was a teenager and did a modified MacGyverism from the show when my boyfriend's car had a radiator hose crack. Mac used a plastic flag to seal up a radiator top. I used a plastic bag wrapped around the break to seal it up (the heat melted the plastic into place, causing a waterproof seal) and it actually stayed like that until my boyfriend could replace the hose a couple weeks later. I was so proud of myself lol
I had AAA roadside assistance but my dad would always have extra hose and a toolbox in the car because of the time his fuel pump died and he used the windshield washer fluid pump to push gas into the carburetor, so he could drive the rest of the way home...
The real thing I learned from MacGyver was never "look how many things he can invent", but instead "knowledge is multiplicative". He didn't know how to make a blowtorch because he memorized a bunch of ways to make a blowtorch. He probably never once considered the idea of making a blowtorch before. He just knew all of the pieces of information necessary, and THAT is the magic. If you know enough, you're prepared for situations you could never imagine.
they actually changed the scripts after season one because kids like me where playing with the thing we saw on the show, after season one the things he did wont work.
9:15 I just love the line that goes with this. When Turk asks “what’s this?”, MacGyver answers that it’s a lateral cranial impact enhancer before using it to enhance the lateral impact to Turk’s cranium.
My favorite blooper gag from Stargate SG-1 involves the actress playing Carter laying into Anderson about being MacGyver but not getting them out of the situation their characters are in. ruclips.net/video/EriZ9ruZq1E/видео.html
@@drtaverner In all fairness, it wasn't a change they wanted to make, it was one they had to. MacGyver is owned by CBS, while Stargate was originally owned by MGM (who were on good terms with CBS and were allowed to use it) but now are owned by Amazon (who are not).
Part of MacGyver's backstory is he used to be EOD, Explosive Ordnance Disposal. That's the military's bomb squad. I'm a retired Senior EOD Technician, and we learned a great deal about how to make bombs, so that we'd be able to take apart IEDs. MacGuyver was very popular with the EOD community for the first season because a lot of what he made was based on reality, with steps missing of course to prevent viewers from killing themselves. The bicycle was aluminum. Thermite is burning iron oxide (rust) with an aluminum catalyst. He ignited it with a very hot burning magnesium flare. The reason it wouldn't actually worse is thermite burns so hot it would have consumed the torch part before he could direct it at the lock.
British show called rough science. Put a bunch of scientists and a mechanic on a deserted island and give them challenges. (Season 1 was the best). I ep they broke a mirror, taped the pieces to a membrane that would vibrate when spoke into. The vibrations in the light would be picked up, then converted back to sound on an old "his master's voice" Victrola. I digress. One of the later seasons (Colorado) Mike made thermite, from soda cans, a corrugated metal shed (and sandpaper and elbow grease), and a pencil sharpener (mag catalyst). They tested it on railroad ties. It worked.
@@thomaseidst3170 From my understanding it wasn't the crew of Mythbusters that didn't want to show off real stuff, it was the executives of the network.
@@zufieusagi7509 true, they wanted to show some of the MacGuyver-isms, but the executives told them to back out of it, because of the insurance company. Since they had the accident with the cannon the insurance fees went way above the roof. They made a MacGuyver special episode, were they shown some of the more outlandish stuff. It all failed, of course. So nobody would try to replicate it, and they would never be sued by some grieving family, whose stupid child tried to fly in a trashbag glider "Because Mythbusters said it works"...
The magnesium is just to get it started. Macguyver left out steps of real things so kids wouldn't kill themselves trying to replicate it. Though magnesium is the easier to ignite thing and from what I hear very difficult to put out, so...
@@MatthewJamesMullinYeah. A magnesium Daylight Flare will burn all the way to the bottom if released over water. The heat tears the hydrogen and oxygen out of the water to fuel the fire so it keeps burning.
Eh, technically any metal and a metal oxide from the opposite end of the periodic table will make a termite. Might not be good termite. But it is a thermite.
This little airstrip in the middle of nowhere was used in many shows and movies in the 80s and early 90s. Every time I saw it, I thought "A lot of weird stuff happens here."
I didnt watch McGuyver until they did reruns on USA network. So this was one of the first episodes I did. They also used to do features to promote the show ( sizzle reels?) and they would play clips of his inventions. The bike torch was one of them.
🎶 Watch as he saves your life With his Swiss army knife How'd he do that? This is the MacGyver show Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale I mean, MacGyver, sorry It sounds a lot like Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 🎶
Hold on--at 5:20 it shows the lock is held on by four screws from the OUTSIDE! All you needed to do was bring a Phillips screwdriver and you're in, TERRY! And while we're at it, if you're locked in your room, just use the Phillips screwdriver on your Swiss Army knife to unscrew the lock on your door from the INSIDE, and you're out, STEVE!
My Physical Science teacher my freshman year LOVED MacGyver. The day after a new MacGyver episode was spent talking about how real last night’s inventions were. He was a great teacher. He also wouldn’t have a job now.
I love MacGyver. He is my spirit animal. And I once made a magnifying glass out of a bar soap, saran wrap, and clear toothpaste. I swear to MacGyver. I made a hole in the bar, covered it and a layer of saran wrap, glob of toothpaste, layer, saran wrap, ran my finger around the outside and made it into a lens.
I can confirm 💯 the Silver gum wrapper works to conduct electrical connection. I used one in a old camera and batteries to test if it worked, not long term, just an hour or so. My battery volts were right, just not the right size, shoved some gum wrapper in the extra space to make the connection.
@@TechLeatherCraft oh yeah, I’d heard that almost every one he did COULD be used the way he used them. Just…a gum wrapper?! U deserve the honorary title of MacTechLeatherCraft?😃🤘
This torch from episode 7 and the arc welder he builds in episode 6, from a generator, jumper cables and a couple of silver dollars are probably my two favorite MacGyverisms.
The old "gum wrapper + aa battery prison cigarette lighter". In fact, a lot of his MacGyver-ed inventions are common prison based technologies. I think MacGyver has a sordid past that he didn't tell the Pheonix Foundation about.
@@jamestonweki8071 I didn't mention Airwolf mostly because it didn't come to mind I was making a comparison between the two shows that involved improvised solutions to impossible problems Airwolf is better compared with Knight Rider, where the focus is more on secret hightech vehicles disguised as conventional vehicles They all mixed fantasy and reality in a wonderfully creative way
I liked Mac's brand of silly, he at least had a eason in canon for not choosing violence. The A Team though, they were Green Berets. Hannibal had quite the military history based only on his decorations. Try and find an episode where he is in full dress uniform, right there on top? Yep, the man was awarded the Medal of Honour and right underneath that the Silver star. Seriously go find the footage, the man was a serious soldier. I know it's TV for kids so I'm not asking for them to be putting two in the chest one in the head for every henchmen or villain of the week. But would it have killed them to shoot the occasional ankle or kneecap?
@@anderssorenson9998A lot of aspects in that show was them also dealing with damage from war. Their use of peaceful methods whenever possible was an offset to the killing the violence that has seen in battle. One of the characters was straight up nicknamed because of his PTSD that gave him almost MPD.
From my restaurant days, I remember that walk-in freezers can be opened from the inside while locked. In case somebody gets accidentally locked in there. The latch is held on with a bolt that can be unscrewed from the inside, and it even looks like you can see the unscrew-able handle on the door in one of the stills. So I'm pretty sure I could get out of a locked walk-in freezer faster than MacGyver could freeze the lock.
The freezers at my job all have plungers on the inside so you can push the door open. Of course, none of these help if somebody's put an object through the lock hole.
Someone always ruins the fun by knocking the pins out of the door or unscrewing the knob while I'm half way through making my coat-rack, foil and ham sandwich jaws of life.
I haven't even watched this yet but I appreciate your forethought in dropping a nice cozy MacGuyver video tonight just in case the debate was rough. Very glad I can watch it in a celebratory mood instead.
I remembered the powdered aluminum and rust in the pipe used to cut the armored car door open. I was still in elementary school when I first saw that episode and it made me think there are really bad people would show no mercy to kill the gaurd inside just to get the money and I said why. That really gave some of my trauma growing up and also there will come more.
I remember him running steel wheels on the ol YJ down the railroad tracks...which I had to try 20 years later on my YJ. This show had a lasting impact from my childhood. ❤
I grew up watching MacGyver on the "old show channel" n my mom called me little MacGyver growing up. It's nice seeing someone covering this show on my home page. I still carry my Swiss army knife to this day lol
Thank you !!! Thank you !! Thank you!!! I work in HR and between the stress of my job and the stress/state of the country right now , I so needed this. Macgyver is my escape from all the insanity of life and your commentary and insights are so good and hysterical. Love it!!
It took a while for me to realize MacGuyver was just a wizard with a science motif. The biggest one was somehow magnetizing a metal bar by hitting it against a fire hydrant. Even the chocolate bar used to seal a tank full of acid at least theoretically made sense.
If you line up a ferrous rod with the magnetic poles and give it a good wack, it will actually magnetize. Get a compass, crowbar and a hammer and give it a try!
Haha, I remember both of these macgiverisms (the chocolate bar was the pilot, which only had me scratch my head, oh so lucky he took it with him), the metal bar thing was when I stopped watching the show..
@georgelionon9050 that's a shame because that is in fact scientifically accurate. The magnetism is usually weak and temporary, but that does in fact work.
Hitting a steel or iron bar CAN magnetize it. Just from the impact. It'll be on the weaker side and often temporary, so I wouldn't be surprised if the show exaggerated what was possible, but that does work.
I remember when USA was running MacGyver reruns, they had multiple "What's he doin' with that thing?" promos. The two I remember were this one and stopping a nuclear explosive from going off by shoving a hockey ticket into the slot between the firing pin and the sensor.
MacGyver is one of those shows that is so bonkers and over the top that it's mind blowing it was live action. This is some Hanna and Barbera cartoon level goofiness and we all love it XD
"I'm bi, when it comes to MacGuyverism." [Pause to let you get the joke.] [Longer, awkward pause to communicate, "No, really."] Amazing comedic timing!
My favorite MacGyver moment is in a episode where starts off in divided Germany with a coffin being transported from east to west Germany. While making the crossing on a bridge they stop and toss the coffin over the bridge, than the top of the coffin blows off and MacGyver pops up transforming the coffin in to jet ski he speeds away.
You use aluminum and iron rust to make thermite. The bike was likely aluminum, not magnesium. Some people will use magnesium strips to ignite the aluminum powder and iron oxide, but the road flare eliminates the need for magnesium here.
"It took use 15 years and 2 Supercomputers to MacGyver a system on earth" : Sam Carter ... You never know who's going to turn up in MacGyver ... Teal'c, Hammond, Apophis, Siler, Simmonds ...
I was going to bring up recognizing Jackie Earle Haley as Turk while watching the video and then Steve brought it up right when I started typing it. I should have known Steve would have noticed!
Steve should have also mentioned that he was Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears (the original with Walter Matthau not the Billy Bob Thornton "reboot that nobody wanted") and the two sequels.
Thanks Steve. I needed something nice after today, and this hit the spot. It's my favourite too, and I was devistated when they shot the security guard after all that work. Fond memories.
Aluminium thermite would have worked just fine, too. He had a road flare to ignite it. Maybe it was to make kids think it would only work on expensive bikes?
In the show he could tell it was magnesium because it was a racing bike. Maybe the frame shape told him the material, or maybe it was an educated wish. Either could be true.
I remember this episode from when it first aired, and thinking “He got the recipe for thermite wrong, but if I’d known how to make it wen I was thirteen, I probably would have burned the house down.”
i am a retired locksmith. the lock shown at 5:19 is a rim cylinder lock. cheap and typically only installed now on interior doors like storage rooms. they are laughably easy to break. also, it looks like a Kwikset keyway. and Kwikset locks are a breeze to pick/bypass and are widely considered to be bottom-of-the-barrel in the industry. i got a good laugh. thanks. also, the "torch" is called a *_Thermic Lance._* these are actually occasionally (rarely) used to open vaults/safes.
I'm into locksport and I paused as soon as I saw that. I was like, "Wait a minute, I recognize that keyway! They just bought they cheapest lock they could and stuck it on there for a prop, didn't they?!" I could have that thing open in seconds, and I'm not particularly good. If you look around the bottom edge, it looks like they didn't bother to actually install it - probably to leave enough room for the -modelling clay and colored water- _ahem_ I mean, explosive, to be placed next to it.
As someone who has just recently saw this episode (one of my all time favorite episodes) that was a spot on Billy. You are absoutely right where I feel any fan of the show kinda wants this type of episode plot of walking into a sticky situation and using nothing but our wits, swiss army knife, and duck tape with whatever is lying around to save the day.
Remember the MacGyver smoker from Half Baked? "Hey man... We're out of papers" "Alright then.... Get me a.... toilet paper roll, a corkscrew and some tin foil" "uhhh we don't have a corkscrew" "Alright then.... Get me a... an avocado, an ice pick, and my snorkel"
Anyone else here post election and just needing the simple joy that MacGyver brings to Steve to lift their mood and remind them of happier times? I think I need to binge aome nostalgic TV now.
Mcgyver became a slang for the smart guy that makes improvised fixes for common problems in Brazil, as in: -Nice "gambiarra" you did in your car man, real Macgyver stuff! (gambiarra meaning every alternative improvised talent based improvement or fixes, alternative engeenering).
I used to love MacGyver when I was younger....havent watched it in a really long time though. The one episode that always stands out for me was "Countdown" from S1...the one on the boat with the "MacGyver-proof" bombs, that MacGyver must MacGyver to defuse them 😂
3:30 This is actually an example of some MacGyvering from Kelly here, bcuz this "special HELP cup" had HELP written on it usin lipstick - its got the telltale signs of bein writ with lipstick and i actually love that they did it like that; to make it more believable that this cud get writ on it by her - even if we arent shown her doin such
There was a show called rough science. On their colorado season, mike made thermite from things around the abandoned mine. Aluminum (not magnesium, although a little is needed as catalyst) from discarded soda cans cut up a fine as he could with tools at hand, rust from a cortugated metal shed, and magnesium from a pencil sharpener.
TV has such a weird relationship with PTSD. First, they act like Vietnam was recent in the 80s. Then, they act like a guy who has suffered with it for at least 10 years would just get over it in one moment. Oh, well. It's only the third most insane thing in the episode. Almost seems like a power fantasy in itself.
My favorite "MacGyverism" isn't actually from the show, but from MAD Magazine; at the end of the "episode", MacGyver receives a gold watch in gratitude from the person he saved, and promptly announces "Hey, I can break this down and make a cool sundial!"
While I love all the MacGyverisms in every episode from all the seasons. My favorite hands down came after the original set of series ended and long before the remake came out. My car battery slipped as I was getting onto the highway, cutting the battery cable and damaging the connector, so I used his lead by locating a empty pop can, a wire coat hanger, duck tape, and my jack knife. Working on it for a few minutes then driving away to the auto supply store.
All I need to create a dose of the warm fuzzies, involuntary laughter, intellectual wonder and a release from everyday emotional despair is ... Shives-on-MacGyvaaaaH! With warmly fuzzied thanks.
I loved watching MacGyver as a kid because it taught me a love of science and ingenuity. Watching MacGyver as an adult I noticed that there are WAY too many canisters of compressed gas just laying around, and many of those gases would not work the way they do in the show. Season 1 would never make it past modern day censors, especially when he makes a bomb out of Quaker Oats and Drano. I personally switched from a Swiss Army knife to a Gerber Multi-tool while in the Army.
I worked with two former Navy Seals in my life. Those guys loved their improvised fire/boombooms 😂 the torch is 100% doable with some magnesium tape, rust and metal shavings...preferably aluminum. The magnesium tape will burn so hot it starts a chain reaction between the two metals and you have a molten mess on your hands. My former boss said they used that stuff to disable vehicles...it could burn through the hood and down through the motor! Unstoppable molten hell
*The Segal jimmyproof on the armored car could've been unscrewed from the outside, however, it was not installed in a way to have even been secure anyway. Also the round knob taken apart from the freezer door was literally the emergency release. Push it to open!*
I love how in Stargate, Richard Dean Anderson plays your basic jar head, completely clueless with no idea what Sam or Daniel are talking about to the point that it's often used as a plot device to explain the plot to the slower members of the audience. Friggin' classic. I often wonder if he just got so burnt out on being known as a know it all, he had to steer hard in the other direction to avoid being typecast the rest of his career. 😅
One of my favourite episodes is s1e14, Countdown. It's the one where Mac and Charlie have to diffuse two identical bombs at the same time. For some reason it's the very first episode that pops into my head when I think of Mac. Not exactly sure why. It's before the Boathouse, before the Jeep. It has tired tropes. The "bombs" look incredibly goofy with all the flashing lights... but despite all that it just perfectly captures what defusing a bomb meant in my single digit age's child brain and left a permanent imprint there. Can't wait till you talk about it.
In high school, I played in a Rifts/Palladium based homebrew Sci Fi campaign called Survival 2500. One of the Skills was MacGuyverism! It was only really good for anything if you had ridiculously high levels in it, and, as such, was only recommended if you got to start as a higher level character. Unlike the three most important skills everyone should take at first level: Swimming, Parachuting, and Piloting, especially since they couldn't be attempted untrained.
I could build a blowtorch with just an ear plug, a toilet paper roll, eye drops, a blowtorch, and the zest of a lemon.
The blowtorch probably isn’t needed to finish the blowtorch, the eye drops and lemon zest will create enough chemical flame to make it happen 👍
You forgot the torch of blow.
Thinking quickly, Dave constructs a homemade megaphone, using only some string, a squirrel, and a megaphone.
I'll just get my wife, she's a blowtorch and a megaphone, she does it better anyway.
@@MrOhitsujizaI was going to say this exact thing.
I remember when I was a teenager and did a modified MacGyverism from the show when my boyfriend's car had a radiator hose crack. Mac used a plastic flag to seal up a radiator top. I used a plastic bag wrapped around the break to seal it up (the heat melted the plastic into place, causing a waterproof seal) and it actually stayed like that until my boyfriend could replace the hose a couple weeks later. I was so proud of myself lol
I'm proud of you too.
That's an innovative, and useful solution.
How did replacing the house fix the radiator? /s
Good to know, just in case I ever run into the same issue. Thanks.
@@puttanesca621The hose was cracked; not the radiator itself.
I had AAA roadside assistance but my dad would always have extra hose and a toolbox in the car because of the time his fuel pump died and he used the windshield washer fluid pump to push gas into the carburetor, so he could drive the rest of the way home...
"As long as you've been traumatized an even number of times, you're good" had me belly laughing and trying to count my traumas 🤣
Counting traumas is like counting sheep?
All about balance
I was waiting for that line because of this comment and lost it @ "ugh, fucking morality. What a pain in the ass!"
It's like getting hit on the head in 80's TV shows. An odd number of times knocks you out, and even number of times wakes you up.
I like this guy.
The real thing I learned from MacGyver was never "look how many things he can invent", but instead "knowledge is multiplicative".
He didn't know how to make a blowtorch because he memorized a bunch of ways to make a blowtorch. He probably never once considered the idea of making a blowtorch before. He just knew all of the pieces of information necessary, and THAT is the magic.
If you know enough, you're prepared for situations you could never imagine.
"Chance favors the prepared mind." -Louis Pasteur
Knowing is half the battle!
Honestly this is so well put, it rings so true but I never could have articulated it
@@NomNom-g1rGI JOE
they actually changed the scripts after season one because kids like me where playing with the thing we saw on the show, after season one the things he did wont work.
9:15 I just love the line that goes with this. When Turk asks “what’s this?”, MacGyver answers that it’s a lateral cranial impact enhancer before using it to enhance the lateral impact to Turk’s cranium.
Ice cold.
"lateral cranial impact enhancer" has been living rent free in my head for years. My favorite line from any episode I remember watching.
Dang, I was just about to comment the same thing. My favourite MacGyverism for sure.
(Even if he did misapply it with a mandibular impact)
@@alexistoran2181He wanted to be sure the tool was overspec for the job, that's all.
The pilot of _Stargate SG-1_ Carter tells O'Niell that "it took a bit to McGyver something to make the gate work." 😊 Love McGyver!!!
The Director's cut DVD alters the line to "jerryrig".
One of its few changes for the worse IMO.
My favorite blooper gag from Stargate SG-1 involves the actress playing Carter laying into Anderson about being MacGyver but not getting them out of the situation their characters are in.
ruclips.net/video/EriZ9ruZq1E/видео.html
@@Erinaceus87 What? That was a brilliant line!
It's O'Neill with two Ls.
@@drtaverner In all fairness, it wasn't a change they wanted to make, it was one they had to. MacGyver is owned by CBS, while Stargate was originally owned by MGM (who were on good terms with CBS and were allowed to use it) but now are owned by Amazon (who are not).
Part of MacGyver's backstory is he used to be EOD, Explosive Ordnance Disposal. That's the military's bomb squad. I'm a retired Senior EOD Technician, and we learned a great deal about how to make bombs, so that we'd be able to take apart IEDs. MacGuyver was very popular with the EOD community for the first season because a lot of what he made was based on reality, with steps missing of course to prevent viewers from killing themselves.
The bicycle was aluminum. Thermite is burning iron oxide (rust) with an aluminum catalyst. He ignited it with a very hot burning magnesium flare. The reason it wouldn't actually worse is thermite burns so hot it would have consumed the torch part before he could direct it at the lock.
British show called rough science. Put a bunch of scientists and a mechanic on a deserted island and give them challenges. (Season 1 was the best). I ep they broke a mirror, taped the pieces to a membrane that would vibrate when spoke into. The vibrations in the light would be picked up, then converted back to sound on an old "his master's voice" Victrola. I digress. One of the later seasons (Colorado) Mike made thermite, from soda cans, a corrugated metal shed (and sandpaper and elbow grease), and a pencil sharpener (mag catalyst). They tested it on railroad ties. It worked.
Com’on! Now you’ve spoiled everything!😱👎
Mythbusters should have done an entire season on MacGuyver.
Mythbusters are gatekeepers 😅they cant show real stuff on tv 😂
@@thomaseidst3170 From my understanding it wasn't the crew of Mythbusters that didn't want to show off real stuff, it was the executives of the network.
@@zufieusagi7509 true, they wanted to show some of the MacGuyver-isms, but the executives told them to back out of it, because of the insurance company. Since they had the accident with the cannon the insurance fees went way above the roof.
They made a MacGuyver special episode, were they shown some of the more outlandish stuff. It all failed, of course. So nobody would try to replicate it, and they would never be sued by some grieving family, whose stupid child tried to fly in a trashbag glider "Because Mythbusters said it works"...
Thermite is aluminum and iron oxide. The oxygen in the rust runs over to the aluminum and the end product is molten iron.
I knew that when I first saw the episode, but if I’d known it when I was 13, I probably would have burned my house down.
The magnesium is just to get it started. Macguyver left out steps of real things so kids wouldn't kill themselves trying to replicate it. Though magnesium is the easier to ignite thing and from what I hear very difficult to put out, so...
@@MatthewJamesMullinYeah. A magnesium Daylight Flare will burn all the way to the bottom if released over water. The heat tears the hydrogen and oxygen out of the water to fuel the fire so it keeps burning.
Eh, technically any metal and a metal oxide from the opposite end of the periodic table will make a termite. Might not be good termite. But it is a thermite.
Like Palemagpie wrote there are many thermites, like copper-thermite.
I LOVE the original MacGyver and the bike torch was always a very memorable episode and defining moment when he really "MacGyver's it" .
This little airstrip in the middle of nowhere was used in many shows and movies in the 80s and early 90s. Every time I saw it, I thought "A lot of weird stuff happens here."
I didnt watch McGuyver until they did reruns on USA network. So this was one of the first episodes I did. They also used to do features to promote the show ( sizzle reels?) and they would play clips of his inventions. The bike torch was one of them.
Every time I hear the MacGyver theme song, all I can hear is "CHIP AND DALE'S RESCUE RANGERS!"
🎶 Watch as he saves your life
With his Swiss army knife
How'd he do that?
This is the MacGyver show
Ch-ch-ch-chip 'n Dale
I mean, MacGyver, sorry
It sounds a lot like Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers 🎶
I love your MacGyver, Superman & Batman videos, they are like special edition videos outside of your normal Trek vids.
Hold on--at 5:20 it shows the lock is held on by four screws from the OUTSIDE! All you needed to do was bring a Phillips screwdriver and you're in, TERRY!
And while we're at it, if you're locked in your room, just use the Phillips screwdriver on your Swiss Army knife to unscrew the lock on your door from the INSIDE, and you're out, STEVE!
My Physical Science teacher my freshman year LOVED MacGyver. The day after a new MacGyver episode was spent talking about how real last night’s inventions were.
He was a great teacher.
He also wouldn’t have a job now.
I love MacGyver. He is my spirit animal.
And I once made a magnifying glass out of a bar soap, saran wrap, and clear toothpaste. I swear to MacGyver.
I made a hole in the bar, covered it and a layer of saran wrap, glob of toothpaste, layer, saran wrap, ran my finger around the outside and made it into a lens.
I love the one where he used the silver paper wrapper on a stick of gum to connect some electrical sh!t. 😂That show was wild.
He also showed a kid who was fishing off of a dock how to use it as a fish lure in another episode. 😎👍
I can confirm 💯 the Silver gum wrapper works to conduct electrical connection. I used one in a old camera and batteries to test if it worked, not long term, just an hour or so. My battery volts were right, just not the right size, shoved some gum wrapper in the extra space to make the connection.
@@TechLeatherCraft oh yeah, I’d heard that almost every one he did COULD be used the way he used them. Just…a gum wrapper?! U deserve the honorary title of MacTechLeatherCraft?😃🤘
This torch from episode 7 and the arc welder he builds in episode 6, from a generator, jumper cables and a couple of silver dollars are probably my two favorite MacGyverisms.
The old "gum wrapper + aa battery prison cigarette lighter". In fact, a lot of his MacGyver-ed inventions are common prison based technologies. I think MacGyver has a sordid past that he didn't tell the Pheonix Foundation about.
She had the gift of being able to paint songs.
This is the video essay I've been waiting for
MacGyver was the "realistic" one while The A-team was "ridiculous"
I loved both of them
What about Airwolf? And, yeah. A-Team was so much fun
@@jamestonweki8071 I didn't mention Airwolf mostly because it didn't come to mind
I was making a comparison between the two shows that involved improvised solutions to impossible problems
Airwolf is better compared with Knight Rider, where the focus is more on secret hightech vehicles disguised as conventional vehicles
They all mixed fantasy and reality in a wonderfully creative way
@@qlue7881 Ah, yes. Makes sense. So much diversity with these old "Secret Spy" series.
I liked Mac's brand of silly, he at least had a eason in canon for not choosing violence.
The A Team though, they were Green Berets. Hannibal had quite the military history based only on his decorations.
Try and find an episode where he is in full dress uniform, right there on top? Yep, the man was awarded the Medal of Honour and right underneath that the Silver star.
Seriously go find the footage, the man was a serious soldier.
I know it's TV for kids so I'm not asking for them to be putting two in the chest one in the head for every henchmen or villain of the week.
But would it have killed them to shoot the occasional ankle or kneecap?
@@anderssorenson9998A lot of aspects in that show was them also dealing with damage from war. Their use of peaceful methods whenever possible was an offset to the killing the violence that has seen in battle.
One of the characters was straight up nicknamed because of his PTSD that gave him almost MPD.
From my restaurant days, I remember that walk-in freezers can be opened from the inside while locked. In case somebody gets accidentally locked in there. The latch is held on with a bolt that can be unscrewed from the inside, and it even looks like you can see the unscrew-able handle on the door in one of the stills. So I'm pretty sure I could get out of a locked walk-in freezer faster than MacGyver could freeze the lock.
*
The doors in freezer rooms have a tendency to freeze and get stuck so they are scary
The freezers at my job all have plungers on the inside so you can push the door open. Of course, none of these help if somebody's put an object through the lock hole.
Someone always ruins the fun by knocking the pins out of the door or unscrewing the knob while I'm half way through making my coat-rack, foil and ham sandwich jaws of life.
I haven't even watched this yet but I appreciate your forethought in dropping a nice cozy MacGuyver video tonight just in case the debate was rough. Very glad I can watch it in a celebratory mood instead.
Also I deeply appreciate you pointing out Mac's gun/bomb differentiation.
It should've been a video on Alf instead.
I remembered the powdered aluminum and rust in the pipe used to cut the armored car door open. I was still in elementary school when I first saw that episode and it made me think there are really bad people would show no mercy to kill the gaurd inside just to get the money and I said why. That really gave some of my trauma growing up and also there will come more.
I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.
As a MacGyver fan myself, now Im a fan of you 😂
I remember him running steel wheels on the ol YJ down the railroad tracks...which I had to try 20 years later on my YJ. This show had a lasting impact from my childhood. ❤
I grew up watching MacGyver on the "old show channel" n my mom called me little MacGyver growing up. It's nice seeing someone covering this show on my home page. I still carry my Swiss army knife to this day lol
Thank you !!! Thank you !! Thank you!!! I work in HR and between the stress of my job and the stress/state of the country right now , I so needed this. Macgyver is my escape from all the insanity of life and your commentary and insights are so good and hysterical. Love it!!
macgyver: "water is the only material that expands when it freezes"
me: macgyver, this is like the third episode where you've explained this
Macgyver is in the Webster s English dictionary as a verb : “to improvise a solution using only the recourses on hand”
“That show was just a paycheck to me, and nothing more.”
- Richard Dean Anderson, The Simpsons
Fun way to earn a paycheck though.
Your entire commentary on this was brilliantly executed. I have been laughing nonstop. Thank you so much for making content! ❤
It took a while for me to realize MacGuyver was just a wizard with a science motif. The biggest one was somehow magnetizing a metal bar by hitting it against a fire hydrant. Even the chocolate bar used to seal a tank full of acid at least theoretically made sense.
i'e always loved the idea he's a mage from world of darkness.
If you line up a ferrous rod with the magnetic poles and give it a good wack, it will actually magnetize. Get a compass, crowbar and a hammer and give it a try!
Haha, I remember both of these macgiverisms (the chocolate bar was the pilot, which only had me scratch my head, oh so lucky he took it with him), the metal bar thing was when I stopped watching the show..
@georgelionon9050 that's a shame because that is in fact scientifically accurate. The magnetism is usually weak and temporary, but that does in fact work.
Hitting a steel or iron bar CAN magnetize it. Just from the impact. It'll be on the weaker side and often temporary, so I wouldn't be surprised if the show exaggerated what was possible, but that does work.
Just stumbled across this. Very funny and as a kid of about 10 years old when McGyver hit the screens this brought it all back! Top work my friend 😂
This was better than the actual episode. Thanks bro ❤
"Kissinger Event Horizon" got me. Well played, sir.
I remember when USA was running MacGyver reruns, they had multiple "What's he doin' with that thing?" promos. The two I remember were this one and stopping a nuclear explosive from going off by shoving a hockey ticket into the slot between the firing pin and the sensor.
Damn it, this was really good. Take my thumbs up good sir. Fellow macguyverite here.
MacGyver is one of those shows that is so bonkers and over the top that it's mind blowing it was live action. This is some Hanna and Barbera cartoon level goofiness and we all love it XD
"I'm bi, when it comes to MacGuyverism." [Pause to let you get the joke.] [Longer, awkward pause to communicate, "No, really."] Amazing comedic timing!
As a 12 yr old i had THE most massive crush on Macguyver. Every time i have mentioned this in front of guys, i get one of them that says same
The most important thing I learned from TV and movies was that most arid places on Earth and in space apparently look EXACTLY like Vasquez Rocks.
Stargate bloopers...
"You used to be MacGyver... Now you're... McUseless!"
My favorite MacGyver moment is in a episode where starts off in divided Germany with a coffin being transported from east to west Germany. While making the crossing on a bridge they stop and toss the coffin over the bridge, than the top of the coffin blows off and MacGyver pops up transforming the coffin in to jet ski he speeds away.
The only reason he bought that chair was because he knew "if I ever need to build something the magnesium frame will come in handy".
"Thank you, MacGuyver!"
"Don't thank me; thank the Moon's gravitational pull."
Steve, you usually get at least a chuckle out of me but this time you got several guffaws. Well done!
Since only a thousand magnesium alloy bicycles had been made globally by the '80s, MacGyver's superpower is extremely good luck.
How do you know this?
Well, they are super rare and expensive today, and the technology was brand new back then. That number actually seems legit.
Aluminium and rust makes a good thermite.
You use aluminum and iron rust to make thermite. The bike was likely aluminum, not magnesium.
Some people will use magnesium strips to ignite the aluminum powder and iron oxide, but the road flare eliminates the need for magnesium here.
18:28
Alexa, please show me a bafflingly loveable dork.
"As long as you've been traumatized an even number of times, you're good!"
"It took use 15 years and 2 Supercomputers to MacGyver a system on earth" : Sam Carter ...
You never know who's going to turn up in MacGyver ... Teal'c, Hammond, Apophis, Siler, Simmonds ...
I was going to bring up recognizing Jackie Earle Haley as Turk while watching the video and then Steve brought it up right when I started typing it. I should have known Steve would have noticed!
Steve should have also mentioned that he was Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears (the original with Walter Matthau not the Billy Bob Thornton "reboot that nobody wanted") and the two sequels.
MacGyver is pro Firework
"and tie it to the door knob using my belt... Or maybe my socks incase I need to Zip line later." 😂😂😂
When I was a kid I made a newspaper bomb after seeing this episode!
Since the security guard got killed anyway... All MacGyver did was keep the money from being destroyed.
Thanks Steve. I needed something nice after today, and this hit the spot. It's my favourite too, and I was devistated when they shot the security guard after all that work. Fond memories.
Winners have simply formed the habit of doing things losers don't like to do.
You have tapped the nostalgia center of my brain. I loved That show, (also love Star Trek (minus STD), and oddly enough, the Stargate series)
I wasn't so sure about your ability to escape your room, Steve, but dropping your knife at the end really sold me on the idea.
The bicycle blow torch is my number one example of how laughably his stuff wouldn't work.
The real trick is spotting that the frame of the bike is made of aluminum at 100 paces.
Not hard. Aluminum frames are pretty distinctive if you know your bicycles.
Aluminium thermite would have worked just fine, too. He had a road flare to ignite it. Maybe it was to make kids think it would only work on expensive bikes?
I just googled it. They make mag frames. They probably didn't in the 90s tho.
In the show he could tell it was magnesium because it was a racing bike. Maybe the frame shape told him the material, or maybe it was an educated wish. Either could be true.
Ah yes, my infinitely diverse gang of four brown haired white men between the ages of 20 and 40 years old.
When I worked in labs, my Nick name was Lady MacGyver because I could always rig something to make something else work better 🤦🏽♀️.
I firmly believe Walter White learned how to utilize thermite from macgyver
He is good at eating pickles and telling women about his emotional problems.
You need to release MacGyver videos more frequently. I'd enjoy watching them
2:07 So one might say you're MacBiver?
"I'm bi when it comes to MacGuyver. (beat)"
Yep, me too! Well, really I'm just bi. But MacGuyver is pretty fine.
I rushed to the comments to see if someone said this because otherwise I was going to 😂
I was gonna say BiGuyver though
I remember this episode from when it first aired, and thinking “He got the recipe for thermite wrong, but if I’d known how to make it wen I was thirteen, I probably would have burned the house down.”
i am a retired locksmith. the lock shown at 5:19 is a rim cylinder lock. cheap and typically only installed now on interior doors like storage rooms. they are laughably easy to break. also, it looks like a Kwikset keyway. and Kwikset locks are a breeze to pick/bypass and are widely considered to be bottom-of-the-barrel in the industry. i got a good laugh. thanks.
also, the "torch" is called a *_Thermic Lance._* these are actually occasionally (rarely) used to open vaults/safes.
I'm into locksport and I paused as soon as I saw that. I was like, "Wait a minute, I recognize that keyway! They just bought they cheapest lock they could and stuck it on there for a prop, didn't they?!" I could have that thing open in seconds, and I'm not particularly good. If you look around the bottom edge, it looks like they didn't bother to actually install it - probably to leave enough room for the -modelling clay and colored water- _ahem_ I mean, explosive, to be placed next to it.
My now 44 year old son learned a lot from that show 😂 We enjoyed it so much i bought him the box set for his 30th 🎉 Great Show ❤
As someone who has just recently saw this episode (one of my all time favorite episodes) that was a spot on Billy. You are absoutely right where I feel any fan of the show kinda wants this type of episode plot of walking into a sticky situation and using nothing but our wits, swiss army knife, and duck tape with whatever is lying around to save the day.
Remember the MacGyver smoker from Half Baked?
"Hey man... We're out of papers"
"Alright then.... Get me a.... toilet paper roll, a corkscrew and some tin foil"
"uhhh we don't have a corkscrew"
"Alright then.... Get me a... an avocado, an ice pick, and my snorkel"
Used an apple before 😂
Anyone else here post election and just needing the simple joy that MacGyver brings to Steve to lift their mood and remind them of happier times? I think I need to binge aome nostalgic TV now.
Wait, is the "criminal mastermind" the professor that dumped Diane on the first episode of Cheers?
It's a shame how that one decision caused his life to spiral like that. Diane dodged a bullet in that one.
@@eldorados_lost_searcher the classic story -- dump your teacher's aide, become a criminal... sad, really 🤣
Mcgyver became a slang for the smart guy that makes improvised fixes for common problems in Brazil, as in: -Nice "gambiarra" you did in your car man, real Macgyver stuff! (gambiarra meaning every alternative improvised talent based improvement or fixes, alternative engeenering).
I used to love MacGyver when I was younger....havent watched it in a really long time though.
The one episode that always stands out for me was "Countdown" from S1...the one on the boat with the "MacGyver-proof" bombs, that MacGyver must MacGyver to defuse them 😂
30 years carrying a Swiss Army knife. Am I a fan? He'll ya! And anything Star related. Glad to see you are too Steve!
I can't believe you remember this, too! This one, but also the failed coffee + lemon IED and the pine cone grenades.
Steve, I could watch a whole series of this sort of commentary. You are hilarious 🤣🤘
Loved this show, and bicycle thermite lance was always one of my favorites, as well.
3:30 This is actually an example of some MacGyvering from Kelly here, bcuz this "special HELP cup" had HELP written on it usin lipstick - its got the telltale signs of bein writ with lipstick and i actually love that they did it like that; to make it more believable that this cud get writ on it by her - even if we arent shown her doin such
There was a show called rough science. On their colorado season, mike made thermite from things around the abandoned mine. Aluminum (not magnesium, although a little is needed as catalyst) from discarded soda cans cut up a fine as he could with tools at hand, rust from a cortugated metal shed, and magnesium from a pencil sharpener.
TV has such a weird relationship with PTSD. First, they act like Vietnam was recent in the 80s. Then, they act like a guy who has suffered with it for at least 10 years would just get over it in one moment.
Oh, well. It's only the third most insane thing in the episode. Almost seems like a power fantasy in itself.
It was recent in the eighties.
My favorite "MacGyverism" isn't actually from the show, but from MAD Magazine; at the end of the "episode", MacGyver receives a gold watch in gratitude from the person he saved, and promptly announces "Hey, I can break this down and make a cool sundial!"
And you are not alone in that as I too laughed my ass off as a child reading that.
While I love all the MacGyverisms in every episode from all the seasons. My favorite hands down came after the original set of series ended and long before the remake came out.
My car battery slipped as I was getting onto the highway, cutting the battery cable and damaging the connector, so I used his lead by locating a empty pop can, a wire coat hanger, duck tape, and my jack knife. Working on it for a few minutes then driving away to the auto supply store.
Arizona, my ass! That’s Capella IV!
All I need to create a dose of the warm fuzzies, involuntary laughter, intellectual wonder and a release from everyday emotional despair is ... Shives-on-MacGyvaaaaH! With warmly fuzzied thanks.
Are escape rooms just guided MacGyvering?
Mac's got nothing on Dale Gribble:
Dale: "I can show y'how to make a bomb using nothin' but a roll o'toilet paper and a stick o'dynamite."
I loved watching MacGyver as a kid because it taught me a love of science and ingenuity. Watching MacGyver as an adult I noticed that there are WAY too many canisters of compressed gas just laying around, and many of those gases would not work the way they do in the show. Season 1 would never make it past modern day censors, especially when he makes a bomb out of Quaker Oats and Drano. I personally switched from a Swiss Army knife to a Gerber Multi-tool while in the Army.
I worked with two former Navy Seals in my life. Those guys loved their improvised fire/boombooms 😂 the torch is 100% doable with some magnesium tape, rust and metal shavings...preferably aluminum. The magnesium tape will burn so hot it starts a chain reaction between the two metals and you have a molten mess on your hands. My former boss said they used that stuff to disable vehicles...it could burn through the hood and down through the motor! Unstoppable molten hell
*The Segal jimmyproof on the armored car could've been unscrewed from the outside, however, it was not installed in a way to have even been secure anyway. Also the round knob taken apart from the freezer door was literally the emergency release. Push it to open!*
LOL! Yes, I do believe most of us MacGyver fans feel and/or think very much the same way as you! (And my Victorinox is my EDC, too)
I love how in Stargate, Richard Dean Anderson plays your basic jar head, completely clueless with no idea what Sam or Daniel are talking about to the point that it's often used as a plot device to explain the plot to the slower members of the audience. Friggin' classic. I often wonder if he just got so burnt out on being known as a know it all, he had to steer hard in the other direction to avoid being typecast the rest of his career. 😅
One of my favourite episodes is s1e14, Countdown. It's the one where Mac and Charlie have to diffuse two identical bombs at the same time. For some reason it's the very first episode that pops into my head when I think of Mac. Not exactly sure why. It's before the Boathouse, before the Jeep. It has tired tropes. The "bombs" look incredibly goofy with all the flashing lights... but despite all that it just perfectly captures what defusing a bomb meant in my single digit age's child brain and left a permanent imprint there.
Can't wait till you talk about it.
I thought of something COMPLETELY different when you said "Mac and Charlie"
In high school, I played in a Rifts/Palladium based homebrew Sci Fi campaign called Survival 2500. One of the Skills was MacGuyverism!
It was only really good for anything if you had ridiculously high levels in it, and, as such, was only recommended if you got to start as a higher level character.
Unlike the three most important skills everyone should take at first level: Swimming, Parachuting, and Piloting, especially since they couldn't be attempted untrained.
I loved watching the show with my grandparents as a kid.
I'm more impressed by the cast than the inventions. What a great collection of character actors, some of the who also went on to become leads.