Comments on: Special 9: Mega Movie Myths 2-Hour Special

By: Kayleigh

Kayleigh — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 02:38:17 +0000

I was curious if you ever thhguot of changing the layout of your site? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?

By: Bjorn

Bjorn — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:29:27 +0000

How to test the sword myth properly: get rid of the robot, use a human. The method of testing sword speed is wrong: the fastest moving part of a sword is the tip, time THAT. Once again, use a human. Robots cannot effectively reproduce the results of a sword swing by a human.

I was in a theatrical combat troupe for 5 years. Theatrical weapons are designed to be tougher than historical weapons in order to withstand constant contact with each other. Only the nobility would have had resilient weapons, the peasants got the mass produced ones.

I think they were being anal about cut meaning “clean cut”. Anyone could have told them that would not happen.

By: MSpears

MSpears — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 06:48:01 +0000

No, it’s still busted… because even though they did fill the trunk and side-panels with extra weight to balance the landing out, they still had to bring in a duplicate car after the jump because the car they used to make jump was too badly damaged, as stated by Robin above.

By: felixnoir

felixnoir — Sun, 15 May 2011 13:11:18 +0000

Jackie Chan discusses one of these stunts in his autobio. The awning stunt in more than one movie was genuine, no strings attached, but the awnings were pre-cut and carefully tested with weights. I believe he was slightly injured. The problem is that if the awning does not break, you can be bounced out into the street.
Jackie also did the knife/sail stunt for real, but I believe he said the knife was actually a stunt device with a guard or guide on the other side, the blade only being short.
It’s a pity Mythbusters couldn’t have Jackie on as a guest. After all, he knows more about movie stunts than any person in history.

By: Dragonfyre

Dragonfyre — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 15:37:54 +0000

Not sure if someone saw this about the cutting a sword myth, but during the scene that they show from The Count of Monte Cristo, the sword is BROKEN, not CUT. If you don’t believe me, watch the scene, and pause it when the swords make contact…there is a large space between where the sword makes contact, and where the target sword fails.
Aside from that, metal will break before it’s cut…doesn’t matter if it is period or modern, the result is the same. Thin swords, while they may seem easier to cut are possibly more difficult, because when a larger sword makes contact, they bend out of the way, which could make them snap, instead of being sliced. There ARE instances where metal can cut metal, but that’s flat sheets heated to the extreme; sword blades are highly tempered steel, and they will only snap at their weakest point when they fail.

By: John

John — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:09:15 +0000

For the Awning fall myth they should’ve confirmed it. Look at Jackie Chan.In the movie Project A Jackie Chan fell though two awnings with no wires or anything. I remember watching that myth on T.V. and immediately thinking about Jackie Chan. If you want to see that stunt go to youtubes Cinemassacre’s Top 10 Jackie Chan Stunts(it’s #2).

By: John Harris

John Harris — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:33:52 +0000

My opinion is that this attempt at a busted is not anywhere near proved.
1. As previously stated what type of steel was used? I would recommend a traditional crafted tamahagane steel blade, not factory forged or made of new types of steel. New steels compare but do not match the quality of a hand forged man slayer of the Samurai time. Another difference is that the steel makes is that swords now are made depending on how they are used. Today for use in a “dojo” sword can be made harder therefore more likely to break instead of being cut.
2.The forging itself is also an issue. If it was hand forged how many times was it folded? Also as the show was a little while ago, were they sure it was even a Japanese katana? You’d be surprised the difference it makes. It could very well have been a Jing-gum which is Korean. There are differences in the sword. The jing gum is straighter than a curved katana. It could change the result who knows?
3. Another factor that I think of as a second Dan black belt in the Korean Hai Dong Gum Doe is the type of cut used. From what I remember they used Pandum-Begi a horizontal slash at waste height against another motionless blade.
4.Perhaps the motion in the other blade would contribute to a more reliable result. Horizontal cuts are the most difficult in my opinion to pull of a clean cut nonetheless cutting through steel. It is much easier to cut downward at an angle than left to right. I would recommend using several different swords with several different cuts up and down and up etc…
5. Also a legitimate grand master of a man slaying sword style not “John Smith’s” few years of Americanized training
6. Did they consider the portion of the sword use in cutting the other? I was always taught to use the top 5 inches at most to perform the best cut. At that “sweet spot” maximum speed and force is reached.
7. Another thing that concerns me is the fact that they only relied on force when using the robot arm. You can take the sharpest thing you want and press on it as hard as you want it will always take more force to push through with a hit like the one the robot would make. The arm just bludgeoned the swords together! It’s no wonder the swords just broke. There’s a reason they call it slicing!
8.As said before they hit the flat of the sword and while it is the recommended blocking technique it is not always a choice try blade to blade or blade to back

I could probably continue but I think 8 points is enough to doubt the results. I recommend not only using the tamahagane but 2 grandmasters in a sealed room to help determine it cut, chipped or breaks. If it did anything but cut there would be shards no? Try to find the most reasonable answer with the best quality of real swords not ‘replicas’ or swords forged in new techniques. Just try to be fair to all the aspects by using all the best conditions.

By: Takekaze

Takekaze — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:06:05 +0000

Sword myth:
Also highly depends on the skills of the fencers. A ken-jutsu instructor, like the one I know in Osaka, is different than John Smith who just waves his sword around.

“A genuine Japanese-constructed Katana” is what? They used what steel? What technique to forge it? Same for the other swords.

Daywalker, ninjutsu is a joke these days (by rights it shouldn’t even be called ninjutsu anyway). All you need to break a sword is a jitte (was used by policemen in feudal Japan to disarm brawling samurai). Works perfectly.

The only way such a test would really work would be by getting some really good fencers with decent weapons. Problem is, you won’t find either (horrible waste).

One thing made me curious. What about arrow cutting? Mythbusters should try to bust that. Cause… it works. Seen it myself. But in order to do it one doesn’t need robotic arms and inferior machines. You only need a ken-jutsu instructor who has achieved the mutô (and that’s a handful of people on this planet, literally).

By: Peter

Peter — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:30:04 +0000

for the sword myth… i’ve never seen the movie, but when i hear about that i thought it was cut as if in a swordfight where the sharp parts where hit together… so i think that it should be retested with both swords swinging and both swords hit on the blade…

By: Daywalker

Daywalker — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 02:29:19 +0000

RaisnCain, you shouldn’t express yourself, pick up a book :p. This is in regards to the swords myth. This myth is interesting because theres such an astounding amount of factors. All the information is completely trivial, however. All of the swords that were shown in the test were made to kill people. There have been weapons in the past that were in fact made to cut other weapons, say why not use some of these! Swords that have a serrated or course blade have been created both in the past and by custom blacksmith. To strike 2 weapons together at the blade is sacrilege! I winced at the destruction of the handmade weapons on the show. It’d be like chopping a tree down with a wooden axe. Anyone who knows how to break blades of their opponent doesn’t do it with another sword *cough* ninjitsu.