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An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, but failing that, a bucketful of apologies should do the trick. It appears to be working for Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage, and the rest of Discovery Channel's Mythbusters crew after an errant 30-pound cannonball fired during filming of a TV episode rolled through a neighborhood in Dublin, California and hit every inanimate object it could find.
According to a detailed report in the San Francisco Chronicle, the myth in question was "whether or not a stone cannonball could actually breach a castle's walls," Savage said. It didn't go as planned. Hyneman, who along with Savage wasn't present at the Alameda County bomb ordnance range where the cannonball was fired from, said the crew suffered "muzzle lift." The cannonball flew over Dublin and bounced in a family's driveway, smashed through their home entering the front door and exited the upstairs master bedroom where a mother and her 2-year-old son were napping, bounced off the roof of another home, and then finally crashed into a minivan and came to rest on the floorboards.
"Some people watch our show and think that we're reckless. Others watch our show and they see we take safety serious. The fact is, the latter is the case," Savage said.
Savage also called the incident a "wake-up call." Fortunately nobody was hurt, a sentiment that was echoed through numerous tweets by Mythbusters cast members, which NetworkWorld wrangled up (along with photos) here.
Hyneman and Savage called this the worst incident in the show's eight-year history and said they will not be airing the episode.
Image Credit: NetworkWorld
Comments are closed on this article
EdgeTrigger
December 12, 2011 at 7:41am
Accidents happen, and it is a interesting turn of events, but what if it hit someone and exploded them? !!!
EdgeTrigger
December 12, 2011 at 7:41am
Accidents happen, and it is a interesting turn of events, but what if it hit someone and exploded them? !!!
dbett
December 11, 2011 at 9:29pm
The fundamental safety problem in this incident (and in many other episodes I've seen) is that they are using a bomb range as an artillery range. The two things are VERY different. It is clear negligence and they need to suck it up and spend the money to rent an actual artillery range if they want to do shows involving projectiles.
livebriand
December 09, 2011 at 7:39pm
Mythbusters is one of the few things out there that I find is actually worth watching. Fortunately, their stuff is on netflix, so I REALLY don't miss my cable TV.
The thing is, yes, they take safety seriously, but they are also blowing stuff up with C4. :D
Deblackmon3
December 09, 2011 at 6:11pm
You guys can blow a hole through my front door anytime :D
I'll gladly pay for the damage. <3
noobstix
December 09, 2011 at 4:41pm
When I heard about this, I kinda wondered how a cannonball of that size had enough momentum to miss the target, travel the distance it did, and hit as many things as it did. I mean, it had gone through one house, crossed a six lane road (which I'm familiar with), hit the roof of another house and then landed on a minivan.
dethdeks
December 09, 2011 at 1:31pm
for everyone that wants to see the aftermath heres the vid to it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WnyS-lifuAU#!
AntonioGarrison
December 09, 2011 at 11:00am
I would totally love to see this episode.... if it ever airs.
falconkestrel
December 09, 2011 at 11:44am
Sadly it does not sound like it will.
http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/09/9327215-mythbusters-wont-air-cannonball-accident-on-the-show
xs0u1x
December 09, 2011 at 10:29am
no pitchfork waving here, lets be thankful nobody was hurt especially kids(as a father I couldn't imagine being in that situation with any of my children). hopefully they will pay for the damages, aside from that, wow.....misfire!!!
alexw1234
December 09, 2011 at 10:09am
I don't care if it not tech related, its still news that I enjoy hearing about, not in this case though. No new episode:(
falconkestrel
December 09, 2011 at 10:04am
How is this tech related! I don't read maximumpc for random news! Bring back the tech posts! :)
falconkestrel
December 09, 2011 at 11:37am
Don't get me wrong! I love Mythbusters, i have seen every episode, and re-watch all that i can! The thing is, this happened on the 7th (possible the sooner) and i heard about it on the 7th and MaximumPC is just now posting it (on the 9th). I come to MaximumPC to get tech news and tech related info, i don't come here for general news that is days old.
Zoandar
December 09, 2011 at 9:58am
Why weren't they there? Maybe they could have spotted a problem and prevented the if incident.
eikichi
December 09, 2011 at 10:38am
It sounds like you haven't seen the show before. On most episodes there are two teams working on differnt myths. The main myth is worked on by the Jamie and Adam team, and there is a second team made up of Kari Byron, Grant Imahara, and Tory Belleci. There are also numerous other crew members who do research on the myths and experiments, insurance companies are involved to review safety standards, and experts are often times called in to oversee. In this instance it sounds like the experiment was conducted at the Alameda county bomb range under the supervision of the Alameda police bomb squad. This is not uncommon as they have conducted experiments at this facility many times before.
I'm sure this was a freak incident. As Jamie said in the interview they always err on the side of caution.
