MovieChat Forums > Brainiac: Science Abuse (2005) Discussion > Best thing to come out of the UK since J...

Best thing to come out of the UK since Junkyard Wars

posted 19 years ago by gnorbury
13 replies | jump to latest

This show is a pisser especially if you've spent any time in the UK and especially if you know any Brits who have a fondness for Orks.
I'm just glad that the this show was done in England. In the US it probably would've been called "Extreme Science" or something lame like that. A show kind of like this called "Mythbusters" is made in the US and it's also pretty funny but the hosts are kind of fruity and they really drag out their experiments until it starts to get boring and obvious.
This show takes obvious things and (sometimes) tries to explain them in a short skit. Although sometimes it's obvious that they just want to blow something up (which I can't complain about, especially since it's usually a 1 min. short) in an unconventional fashion; usually caravans/trailers.
I'm wondering what other British shows are like this and Junkyard Wars.
-G

"Don't you know there aint no Devil,
There's just God when he's drunk."
-Tom Waits

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Moviefan34352 18 years ago

In the uk it was called Scrapheap challenge not junkyard wars , they just changed it for you yanks for some reason :S

[–] gnorbury 18 years ago

Yea
I never understood why they did that either. Do they think we're too stupid to figure out what a scrap-heap (which is really a more illustrative word for the show) is?
This is the same reason I buy books by Terry Pratchett & JK Rowling when I'm in the UK. Why can't we call it a Philosopher's Stone too?

"Don't you know there aint no Devil,
There's just God when he's drunk."
-Tom Waits

[–] Moviefan34352 18 years ago

Yeh , i know man why cahnge it for the americans?! i heard it was because they can't prounance , sorry about my spelling, Philosopher?
i don't know if its true or not

[–] gnorbury 18 years ago

That sounds like a properly half-a$$ed reason enough to be true. I always thought it was a marketing ploy to attract more xenophobic americans or some sort of copyright aggrement, y'know something really board boardmembers discuss.

"Don't you know there aint no Devil,
There's just God when he's drunk."
-Tom Waits

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] villebaillie 18 years ago

Well brainiac is probably one of the less intelligent shows on television, it suits americans just fine.

Parkinson is too soft-edged for me.

[–] MilitantSheep 18 years ago

I think it's one of the best things on telly. It's absolutely hilarious and who cares if the experiments are- aham- 'less than scientific'? It's entertaining!

Darth Scouser approaches

[–] steve-lewis19 18 years ago

Parkinson? You really are sad aren't you. Do you actually have a sense of humour? Go and get laid or something.

[–] OpalCat 18 years ago

They changed it because "philosopher" isn't magicky enough sounding and they didn't think it would catch the eye of the American audience. It had nothing to do with being able to pronounce philosopher. Good grief.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] stephen-brailsford 18 years ago

Ok it isn’t the most intellectual program ever but it isn’t meant to be. Also I’ve said and will always say if you don’t like don’t watch. As for Parkinson, loads of people say myself included that his interviews have really lost their bite in the last few years… in fact why are we comparing a talk show to science entertainment show??

On the philosophers stone thing I thought it was very insulting to Americans to change it in case they didn’t know what a philosopher was. Even more so when its actually explained in the book/film that a philosophers stone is something that makes people live forever and make as much gold as you like in the myths that JKR got the idea from.

[–] OpalCat 18 years ago

Only if you try to think of it as a science show. It's not. It's a comedy loosely based on science.