Unchained Reaction

Poorly conceived, poorly executed, poorly paced, poorly judged. Jamie and Adam are mere set decoration to draw us in. I don't think I've ever been so disappointed with a show, and I have been a HUGE Mythbusters fan from the very first episode.

The biggest problem is that the judging is ENTIRELY subjective. In all the episodes I've watched either team could really have been declared the winner. There's no reasonable metric, it's just what appeals to Adam and Jamie, and who cares? The whole show fails on this point. The machines don't translate well to video, and somehow they have to make a competition out of it and declare a winner. Oh, surprise surprise, the artists always win.

REALLY disappointing. I hope it goes away and doesn't come back. More worthy of the screw-ups on the "bulid team" than of Adam and Jamie.

I should start by saying I am a fan of science shows in general, but this pretty bad. It suffers from "Discovery-isms". Gimmicky, fast cuts, hectic music and a constant tone of urgency. Anyone what watches BBC shows regularly will quickly be aggravated by the tone and mood of this show. Why does discovery think its science shows need to feel like monster-truck commercials? For the content of the show, it is disappointing. The basic premise is very interesting, but has several flaws in execution. The teams are creating competing Rube Goldberg devices each week, with a particular theme in mind. Unfortunately, there is no common end work that each machine is supposed to do. For example, one week it could be to get x amount of water into a glass, or to paint a particular object a certain colour. Both machines should have the same end goal, and this is a big fail.

The second fail of the show is the "themes" themselves. They really add nothing to the construction of the machines. Instead of a "speed" theme, restrictions such as: needed to use x number of balls in your machine, or not being able to use electricity in your machine etc... this would have far more effect on the designs, allowing more creativity in the machines.

Another issue is during the execution of the machines. Discovery needs to capture the action much better. Constant close-ups lead to rapid cuts which makes following the action harder. Perhaps have 2 views on the screen, where one is a wider angle pull-back, and the other more of a close-up. I'm sure it can be done better than it is on the show.

My last beef is with the myth busters hosts themselves. Watching them in their limited screen time on this show feels uncomfortable somehow. It has the air of selling out. They should have stayed completely behind the camera on this one. The guy they have come in to inspect the machines intermittently is also a bad choice. Wondering around like he just got out of bed, I have never seen a TV host that looks so uninterested, lifeless and pompous all at the same time. You'll want to change the channel just to avoid watching\listening to him.

Great idea Discovery, but a definite fail on execution.