Original subtitles

Don't try anything you see on this show at home.

The things we do on this show are dangerous.

We have experts to help keep us safe.

[ "star wars" theme plays ]

Man: We've got him.

[ lightsaber humming ]

Adam: Sophia bush is princess leia.

Jamie: We want to know if you could make that swing...

Using a grappling hook.

[ imitates lightsaber ]

Yub yub!

Grant: It's about a log crushing an armored vehicle.

Oh!

[ squeals ] use the force!

Adam: Perfect.

Luke is going into the tauntaun.

[ groans ] [bleep]

And I thought they smelled bad

On the outside.

It's the "mythbusters" "star wars" special.

[ lightsaber hums ]

Narrator: Who are the mythbusters?

Adam savage...

[ as darth vader ] I am your father.

Narrator: ...And jamie hyneman.

I kind of like it in here. It's private.

Between them, more than 30 years of special-effects experience.

Together with kari byron...

[ as princess leia ] help me, obi-wan kenobi!

...Tory belleci...

Aw, never!

...And grant imahara.

[ as darth vader ] we could rule the universe together.

Narrator: They don't just tell the myths.

They put them to the test.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

Jamie: [ breathing heavily ]

I really don't get why you're into these things.

Into what things? Costumes.

I appreciate you trying to understand,

But have you even seen "star wars"?

Probably.

[ sighs ]

Should we just get started?

Sure. Okay.

In "star wars," luke skywalker and princess leia

Are trying to escape the death star.

They're running from stormtroopers,

And they get behind a closed door,

Only to find their path blocked by a chasm they cannot cross.

Quick! We've got to get across.

[ screams ]

Luke pulls a grappling hook from his belt,

Swings it across some piece of death star hardware,

Grabs leia in his arm...

For luck.

Adam: ...And swings to safety.

So, we want to know if you could make that swing,

Using a cable and a grappling hook,

While holding on to your sister,

Who you have the hots for?

[ chuckles ] that is one way of looking at it, yes.

Spoiler alert. [ chuckles ]

Narrator: So, with a battalion of stormtroopers in hot pursuit,

Can luke's unlikely leap really be done?

Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?

[ grunts ]

It's actually funny that you say that,

Because in point of fact,

I'm a little tall to be a stormtrooper.

Yeah, whatever. Let's shoot this pig.

Narrator: Not so fast, hyneman.

I know, with the stormtrooper costume and all,

It looks like we're ready to dive whole hog

Into the "star wars" universe.

But wait -- hold your horses

Because there's a whole bunch of setup to tell you about

Before we even get to this point.

Now, in examining luke's swing across the chasm,

Jamie and I have broken it down into three distinct elements,

Each of which that needs testing.

Number one is the behavior of the grappling hook.

Second would be his belt.

Would that be sufficient to support him

While swinging on a line?

And third is the addition of princess leia.

Luke doesn't swing alone across the chasm.

He's got a passenger.

Since this first test involves a grappling hook,

I'm gonna have to make one,

And it's gonna have to be identical

To what luke used in the movie.

And there we go.

Sweet.

Narrator: And with accurate grappling hook in hand...

Ah! That is gorgeous, dude.

That looks exactly like the movie.

...It's test one.

Can you hit the target and wrap and hook as easily as luke?

What are we throwing it over?

Ah, we got a nice target,

Right from the death star, for you,

Right up there.

Wow.

That's quite a ways away.

Jamie: That thing is about 30, 35 feet away,

And I got to tell you,

That's quite a shot to do in one go.

Oh! Oh!

Can you catch it?

Thanks.

Narrator: Clearly, it's not as simple

As the young skywalker would have us believe.

Oh!

The height was about sufficient.

[ chuckles ]

From the same distance and angle as in the movie...

Oh! Whoa!

All right. So, now it's up there.

[ chuckles ]

Narrator: ...Jamie's struggling to get close.

Adam: Oh!

Hitting everywhere but the mast.

It's clear he needs a whole "yoda" [load of] practice.

So close.

Now, luke is clearly the quintessential action hero

In only needing one chance, one try,

To get the grappling hook over the correct target.

Not quite.

In reality, at this point, if jamie was luke,

Luke and leia would be clapped in irons

Somewhere in a trash disposal,

Somewhere in the depths of the death star,

And the movie is over.

But it can't end there.

He's got to eventually get it.

Okay, man. This one's for the princess.

Yes! Oh!

Narrator: He finally made the throw,

But will it grapple and catch like in the movie?

That's a hook. Give me a high five.

He got it! He got it!

Look at that! Look at that!

Jamie: [ chuckles ]

Adam: Plausible, but unlikely.

Let's face it -- jamie had all the time in the world

And as many tries as he wanted,

And he didn't have anyone shooting at him.

Yes!

For luck.

He got it! He got it!

Next up, we're gonna have a closer look at luke's belt

Because that's what his grappling hook

Appears to be attached to when he does his swing.

Now, I know this would work with a harness,

But that's an awful lot of weight to support on a belt.

We're gonna have to try it out.

Ready, wookiee?

[ bellows ]

Narrator: So, can a waist belt

Really support you and your twin without serious injury?

Adam: Yeah, a little bit more this way.

To find out, adam and the walking carpet...

[ bellows ]

[ whistles ]

...Go to work matching the exact layout

From the silver-screen scene.

So, you want me to swing from here to there,

Just using that?

I don't think so.

This is more like it. Baby steps first.

Narrator: Jamie's concerned supporting the weight at his waist

Will lead to serious injury.

So, with crash pads

And a shorter swing distance closer to the ground,

He can be lowered immediately if there's any danger.

Normally, if you knew that you were

Gonna take a fall or swing on a rope,

You'd wear a harness that went between the legs.

You want to hop up? Okay.

If I jumped off of a height on a rope on this thing,

I'd be worried about breaking some ribs.

Snake it up.

I guess we're gonna have to try it to find out.

Narrator: Jamie... Yeah -- oh [bleep]

That's not -- ugh.

...Is clearly uncomfortable with the belt bruising his ribs.

Princess delivery. Here you go.

And with the added weight of a twin,

Will he even make it?

So, she's just turned around. Turn around, I think.

[ grunting ] here.

Oh, god.

Remember, stormtroopers are shooting at you.

[ chuckles ] [ imitates blaster fire ]

You ready, girl?

[ shouting ]

Oh!

[ grunts ]

How you doing, sport? [ chuckles ]

I'm all right, but, man, that hurts.

Narrator: Over the short distance, it was agony.

[ shouting ]

Over the full 30 feet, it would be excruciating.

But it can be done.

So, when it comes to the belt, I have to admit,

It might be a plausible way to survive a 30-foot chasm swing,

But it ain't a safe way -- I.E., injury-free way --

Especially when one is holding on

To precious cargo like a princess.

Narrator: With two marginally plausible calls,

This myth is barely hanging on.

We're gonna need a different solution for the real swing.

Narrator: Can part three --

The full swing with a real twin --

Rescue the result

From the darth maul [dark maw] of defeat.

To find out, it's safety first.

For this third and final test, I'm gonna be swinging

From 30 feet away, over there, to here.

Of course, this time around,

I'm gonna be wearing a proper safety harness,

Which, hopefully, won't hurt me.

And we put safety mats down

In case something goes horribly wrong.

Hopefully, not.

Now that is a harness.

Narrator: The belt, already proven to work in a pinch -- literally --

Has been put aside in favor of a harness

That will allow not-so-jedi jamie

To complete the final test pain-free.

Howdy, sir.

All adam and jamie are missing

Is a real, live leia look-alike.

Narrator: Cue star of nbc's "chicago p.D."

And massive "mythbusters" fan sophia bush.

Hello, gentlemen.

Jamie, can I be your princess leia?

Aw, shucks. [ chuckles ]

Now, jamie, I do want to point out

That sophia came to play, dressed the part and everything.

Don't you think you might want to put on

Something a little more appropriate?

[ sighs ] fine.

[ chuckles ]

You look fantastic.

Okay, well, uh, let's get started.

Coming up next on "mythbusters"...

We tackle myths from a movie you may have heard of.

May the force be with you.

Yeah, I'm getting excited!

[ pop ]

Tauntaun guts.

They're coming.

Adam: Luke is going into the tauntaun.

Aw [bleep]

And you thought "mythbusters" couldn't get any cooler.

[ "star wars" theme plays ]

Narrator: In a redwood forest not so far, far away,

It's kari, grant, and tory's turn to get their nerd on.

Okay, guys, so, this is the "star wars" special,

And we're in a forest.

Guess where we are?

So, clearly we're on endor,

So we must be doing ewok myths.

That's exactly right.

We're doing the scene from "return of the jedi"

Where the ewoks attack the all-terrain scout transport

And smash it with two giant logs.

We're basically gonna see how much damage

We can do to an armored vehicle using nothing

But giant, swinging logs.

Yub yub!

R2, roll the clip.

[ beeping ]

Narrator: It's a fictional battle scene from a fictional universe,

But the hypothesis still stands.

Could a primitive log-swing weapon

Really take out a reinforced, armored vehicle?

Should we be in character?

[ snaps fingers ]

Uh...No.

[ snaps fingers ]

Oh, that's much better. That was totally the wrong leia.

It's endor leia.

So, it occurs to me that we're gonna need

Two things for this --

An at-st and a giant, swinging log rig.

The builds for this experiment are going to be insane.

That log-crushing rig looks gigantic.

[ bellows ]

All right. Sounds good.

Guess we better get started.

Narrator: Back here on earth...

Kari: Let's put it over there.

Narrator: ...The team prepares for one of the biggest builds

It's ever attempted.

Hey, r2, who's your favorite mythbuster?

[ beeps ]

Aww, you're just sayin' that.

They're re-creating the massive forest of endor...

[ r2-d2 beeping ]

Mine.

...And the ewoks' ingenious giant log swing.

Tory: The question is, how are we gonna suspend them in midair

So that way we can actually pull them apart

And let them crush our walker?

Well, we're gonna plant our own trees --

Or telephone poles, at least --

With the help of industrial power solutions.

They're gonna auger some holes,

We're gonna lower the poles into it,

And save a bunch of time.

[ chewbacca bellows ]

You know what? I don't really care what your script says.

I don't think slave leia was in this scene.

[ bellows ] no.

Narrator: From the movie, the team has determined

That the height of the chicken walker is 20 feet,

The logs swing from 45 degrees,

And what the relative size of those logs are.

At 10 feet long and 5 feet in diameter,

The answer is...

Whoa!

That's insane!

Tory: Oh, my god!

...Big.

Whoa.

Weighing in at 10,000 pounds each,

The guys get busy cross-bracing

And cable-anchoring the structure to support them.

Grant: That 45?

I think that's 45-ish.

Next up, the mission-critical operation

Of craning the logs into position.

Tory: Now, it's gonna be very tricky because, as you can see,

The structure has a lot of bracing,

And it's gonna be difficult

To actually get the logs inside of it.

That's terrifying.

Now, remember, these things are 10,000 pounds,

And there's not a lot of room for mistakes.

Grant: That's a lot of stretch, right there.

I mean, if this 10,000 pounds

Goes crashing to one side or the other,

The whole thing could come down.

Okay, well, it's holding the log up.

That's good.

Narrator: Round two...

Kari: Looking good.

...And trunk two...

Tory: Whoa.

Why is that spinning like that?

Holy crap. All right.

...Is nervously...

Keep coming.

...Maneuvered into position,

And despite the structure protesting...

[ wood creaking ]

Grant: Ew, can you hear the cracking?

...Once raised and supported...

[ grunts ]

Kari: Yeah.

...It seems to be holding.

That's pretty gorgeous.

Okay. We're good.

As far as stressful workdays go,

This is reasonably stressful.

[ beeps ]

Narrator: And with the relief

Comes the anticipation.

I'm getting excited!

This is so cool!

Now, the question is, will the rig actually rock?

To find out, they're starting out

With a test swing on a test vehicle.

Kari: Now, this is just our proof of concept right here.

This is not remotely worthy of a light armored vehicle

That the empire might put out into the ewok forest.

Tory: Oh, watch my paint job!

We just want to make sure that our logs are lined up,

That our rig is working,

And it's gonna be a lot of fun to see this thing crush.

[ as yoda ] concentrate, luke.

Use the force!

Grant: So, in the movie, the ewok's cut one log,

Then they cut the other log.

Here in the real world,

We're gonna release both logs simultaneously.

Now, how much energy are we talking about here?

Well, each log weighs 10,000 pounds.

We raised them up to approximately 45 degrees.

Okay, kari, hold there.

Tory, let's have you boom in.

Back-of-the-envelope math says

That that's upwards of a million joules.

[ wood creaking ]

You know, the structure is making a lot of noise right now.

This is looking crazy.

And -- oh, yeah --

That's each log,

Which means 2 million joules of energy hitting that van.

I don't know if we're gonna be able to get it to 45 degrees.

I don't think it's gonna hold.

Yeah, I agree. This is not looking that good.

Narrator: With neither log close to 45 degrees

And the rig in real danger of collapse...

It's starting to crack.

...The team decides to cut their losses

And let loose.

I say we call it right here.

Okay. Getting out of here.

Grant: In three...Two...One.

[ crash ]

Narrator: Jamie has slipped into something

A little more uncomfortable...

You look fantastic.

For luck.

...To find out if the "star wars" swing

Is possible. [ shouting ]

With the rib-breaking belt benched...

[ grunts ]

...In favor of a safety-first harness,

Can he hang on to sophia while crossing the chasm?

Both arms around like that.

Narrator: And so, it comes down to this.

How are you holding the rope?

I'm holding it with this hand.

With the first two pieces of the puzzle

Already proven plausible...

[ grunts ] oh!

Got to come down. Coming in.

[ laughter ]

Narrator: ...Jamie's expertly strapped in

For the third and final test --

The twin tow.

Stormtroopers ready?

All right, luke and leia, it's up to you.

Get into character. Make this happen.

On your mark.

They're coming.

We got to get out of here.

You totally did it!

Excellent! Well done! [ both laughing ]

[ laughter ]

Bite me, empire!

Jamie: Well, we pretty much nailed that,

But I got to say,

Most of the stuff we're testing here

Has been pretty borderline.

If it's a life-and-death situation, sure,

You can throw a grappling hook,

But are you gonna be able to get it in one go?

And, yes, you can swing on a cable,

But tying it onto your belt and carrying another person --

Life-and-death situation, sure,

But it's all pretty dodgy, really.

All right, dudes, we don't have much time,

'cause the empire is coming.

How do you want to call this one? Sophia?

We made it across, so I say "plausible."

Jamie? Well, you know,

It's clearly possible,

But that makes me want to say it's confirmed --

Okay!

[ blasters firing ]

Plausible.

Stop those rebels!

Blast them!

Coming up on "mythbusters," we find out

If luke really could have survived a night on hoth

Inside a tauntaun.

It's a "star wars" "mythbusters," baby.

[ tauntaun bleats ]

You ready for the next one?

I guess.

The myth we've got comes from the "star wars" movie

"the empire strikes back."

[ tauntaun bleating ]

Han: Luke!

Darkness is falling on the ice planet of hoth.

Don't do this, luke.

Han has ridden a beast called a tauntaun to find luke.

Han slices open the belly of the tauntaun

And puts luke inside and says...

This may smell bad, kid...

[ groans ] yoda!

...But it will keep you warm till I get the shelter up.

The question for us to answer is, did han make

The right cold-weather survival call for luke?

Great. Let's go to hoth and test it.

Cool.

I thought they smelled bad on the outside.

Narrator: Jamie's got a point.

To bring the myth back to earth,

Adam and jamie will eventually replicate

Hoth's inhospitable environment

And find a way to safely test human hypothermia

While neck-deep in internal organs.

Here comes the spleen.

But the first task is to make a tauntaun

To house those guts.

Aah! [ chuckles ]

Adam: Embarking on a build like an eight-foot-tall tauntaun

In two days, with one hand,

Is kind of like a circus performer

Putting his head in a lion's mouth.

He's pretty sure it's gonna go okay.

From using the grid system

To transfer the image of the tauntaun

To this block of foam

I couldn't even lift by myself...

The first cut, contrary to popular belief,

Is not the deepest.

...To the fact that just cutting out

The basic shape of the tauntaun in that block of foam...

[ grunts ] ...Took two hours

And left me sweaty and spent and exhausted.

[ blows ]

[ clink ] aw!

"get a big piece of foam," I said.

"I'll carve a tauntaun out of it," I said.

[ grunts ] there we go.

Once I finally got my foam tool out

And started cutting the contours of the tauntaun,

The shape came into being much faster than I expected.

All right.

My tauntaun is totally complete in terms of being sculpted,

But it needs an outer layer of skin and fur.

And that's where this comes in.

Time to fur you up, dude.

I am making, literally,

The stuffed animal I dreamed about

When I was 12 years old.

You're a good boy!

Monsters are such interesting people.

[ chuckles ]

There we go.

[ british accent ] he's no longer armless.

Narrator: Meanwhile, jamie's ensuring he's not gutless, either.

Jamie: Tauntauns are made up of all sorts of stuff,

But we're interested in the gut cavity,

Because that's where luke is gonna be spending the night.

So, I've got to make a whole bunch

Of disgusting organs and viscera.

Yeah, baby.

And that will conduct heat

The same way it would on the planet hoth.

Narrator: Cue our resident mad scientist.

Using a melt-and-mold plastic,

Jamie searches for the perfect recipe

For the perfect fake organ lining.

That right there is the tauntaun appendix.

[ chuckles ]

But it takes several hours of trial and error...

[ air blows ] oh!

Oh, it's ripping.

...Before dr. Frankenhyneman...

[ pop ]

[ laughs ]

We have such fun.

...Hits on the right formula and manufacturing technique.

[ chuckles ]

That's what I'm talking about.

Jamie: This kind of experimentation is...

Pretty much the only way you get to this sort of result --

Tauntaun guts.

When we fill this with some kind of goopy stuff,

It's gonna look totally organic.

Narrator: It's not just the looks.

[ laughs ]

When filled, warmed, and placed in the body cavity...

...Jamie's tauntaun intestines

Will have the same thermal conductive properties

Of internal organs.

Adam: I have to admit that when I was 13

And I fantasized about being inside the "star wars" universe,

I have to tell you, it never occurred to me

That I would be operating on a tauntaun.

[ chuckles ] wow.

The cavity is set up like a nice, neat envelope,

And all we need now is a stand-in luke skywalker --

Hopefully, one that can freeze to death.

Hmm -- let's see. Ah! Ding!

Found it.

Remember this guy we built for the "titanic" myth?

Look at you, you handsome devil.

He's got over a quarter mile of copper-tubing veins,

Plus a 300-watt heater

That keeps his body temperature at exactly 98.6.

All we got to do is dress him up in luke's costume,

Stuff him in our finished tauntaun

Inside of some kind of freezer

We haven't figured out how to build yet,

And we get to test this myth.

Go! Go!

Oh.

Narrator: Meanwhile, back at the trial run...

Grant: Okay, stop there.

Okay. Getting out of here.

Narrator: ...The chicken-walker crusher

Is cracking under the strain...

[ wood creaking ]

...Some ways short of the full 45 degrees.

It's let loose now or risk a catastrophic collapse.

All right.

This is giant log crusher proof of concept.

Take it away, grant.

In three...Two...One.

Wow!

Narrator: They may not have reached the ideal swing height...

But there was an encouraging amount of destruction.

That was awesome!

[ laughing ] yeah!

Tory: I would call that a success.

The ewok weapon seemed to work.

However...

I think if we put the armored vehicle up there...

Ewoks are squishy when you run them over.

...We are not gonna see the same type of damage.

Ahh! This thing feels indestructible.

Kari: This big, badass truck right here

Is our "mythbusters" answer to the light armored vehicles

That scout through the ewok forest.

[ sighs ] that's better.

[ squeals ]

I'm really curious to see if the ewoks can take this down.

Narrator: To find out, they need to seriously reconfigure the rig.

And the first part of the solution

Is more steel for more strength.

Tory: Now we are moving on to the armored vehicle.

We're gonna place that on the ground

And lower the logs to the same level.

[ bellows ] what that's gonna do --

It's gonna give us more length on the cable,

Which in turn means

We'll be able to lift those logs higher.

And so, when we release them,

It's gonna give us a lot more energy.

Say goodbye to the armored truck.

Narrator: The lengthened cable should ensure

They get to the requisite 45 degrees.

But with structural stability far from certain...

[ rip ] kari: Aah! [ laughs ]

...The guys retreat to safety.

Okay, guys, go ahead and pull the logs up.

And while the logs are winched into position,

Grant will answer your burning question.

Grant: Okay, so, you're saying, "now, wait a minute.

Your vehicle's not at the same height as the at-st."

Well, just remember what this myth is about.

It's about two giant logs crushing an armored vehicle.

And that can happen whether it's in the air or on the ground.

Narrator: Despite the incredible forces at play,

The swing is holding.

And with the logs in their start position...

All right. Take it away.

...It's time to find out

If the ewoks' rope-and-stick trick

Could have really crushed

The steely mechanical might of the evil empire.

Kari: This is log crusher against chicken walker --

Actually, armored truck --

In three, two, one.

Grant: Oh, ho! Oh!

Wow! That was so cool!

That was beautiful!

Well, there's your answer.

Narrator: Asked...

"star wars"!

...And answered.

I really think we're making all those little ewoks proud.

Tory: So, we are not testing

Whether or not ewoks could build this weapon.

We're assuming they could.

What we're testing is

Whether or not it's an effective weapon,

And we have proven that it is.

However, you'd have to be the luckiest little ewok

To make sure that one of those chicken walkers

Was at the right height and it was at the right spot

When the two logs came together.

To me, that is a one-in-a-million shot.

Narrator: Unlikely...

But possible.

The myth is plausible.

Narrator: But they're not done yet.

Kari: Now we're just looking for

Some gratuitous crashing and smashing.

So, we're gonna add a stormtrooper to the cab.

Don't worry about those ewoks.

You're in an armored vehicle.

You got nothing to worry about.

Push it back, smash it with our log crusher.

Why? Just for the hell of it.

Fire!

[ laughs ]

Oh, that's gonna be a headache.

Well, I guess it's a good day for the rebels on endor.

Let's go home.

[ r2-d2 beeping ]

Remember, kids, hoth is not a tourist destination.

It is a hostile ice planet.

Don't try anything you're about to see at home.

No. We're what you call "experts."

[ "star wars" theme plays ]

Narrator: Adam and jamie are testing the tauntaun sleeping bag.

They have a tauntaun, the intestines,

And they've resurrected hypothermia testee thermo-boy.

Look at you, you handsome devil.

Now they head for hoth.

Welcome to the ice planet of hoth.

Okay, it's not hoth.

It's a refrigerator storage facility for food.

But...

It's perfect for us to re-create the conditions on hoth.

This is low-budget.

All we need is a little set dressing.

Narrator: And temperatures way, way below freezing.

And for that, they're building a dry-ice box

Inside the already icy facility.

Jamie: He's a big beast.

I'm standing a four-inch-thick slab of insulating foam.

On top of this, we are gonna place,

Like, paving stones, bricks of dry ice.

And then the tauntaun goes on top of that.

Now, in order to hold that cold in,

We're going to box the tauntaun in

For the duration of the experiment.

I think that worked out, actually, quite nicely.

That box is gonna cover over him and hold that cold,

And this foam floor will keep that cold from getting away.

So, clearly, we're going to a lot of trouble

To make it quite cold in our freezer.

But what's our goal?

What is the temperature on hoth?

No one in the movie states the actual temperature,

So we looked it up on wookieepedia,

And wookieepedia told us that the temperature on hoth

Is between -30 and -60 degrees celsius.

That figure comes from a role-playing game

Released 10 years after the "star wars" films.

Seems a little arbitrary, but for our purposes,

To remain canon with the "star wars" universe,

As long as our freezer gets between -30 and -60,

We're happy.

And we'll be cold.

Narrator: That's the outside environment.

Now, for the inside of the insides.

That looks like tauntaun-gut blue to me.

When dyed blue, sodium polyacrylate

Is a suitably gross filling...

Ugh.

I've had mornings like this. Oh!

...For the tauntaun intestines.

Once filled...

Looks like he needs a little more fiber.

[ laughs ]

...They'll be warmed in a bath to 99 degrees fahrenheit...

The body temperature of a recently dead arctic animal.

Oh, yeah. Jamie: [ chuckles ]

Oh, yeah.

Ew.

That's just fantastic. [ chuckles ]

Can I make guts or what?

[ both laugh ]

It's all fun and guts...

[ chuckles ]

Perfect.

...Until someone perforates a bowel.

Well, we had everything set

And beautiful last night with the guts.

Come in this morning, and there's a problem.

The problem is, is that the zip-ties we used

To close up the ends of all of our guts

Ended up working their way

Through the vinyl and tearing it,

So every single one of our guts is evacuating itself.

That one's really bad.

So, I'm now attempting to empty them all out,

Mix up a bunch more stuff to go in this,

And remake them in a very, very short period of time.

It is now of the essence.

Narrator: With the setback, it's now a race to get set up.

First into the bath is thermo-boy

Since he needs to reach body temperature

Before the experiment can begin.

Excellent.

The water's like a nice, really hot bath.

But there's no end to the guts problem.

There's no ends on any of these.

This is one. The retied tubes

Have somehow untied themselves.

The heat is changing things.

It's just bizarre. This stuff seems so resilient.

And then we put it in water,

And it's, like, falling to pieces.

Um...

Narrator: Undeterred, jamie laboriously reties the organs

While adam plumbs in

Thermo-boy's heart pump and heater.

When this gets to 99, we're ready to start this test.

Narrator: And as they approach body temperature,

Things are looking up.

This heart here is one of my favorite parts

Of this experiment.

In addition to temperature sensors

In his body, in the tauntaun,

And in the atmosphere over there,

This heart will be pumping blood through him.

And it's been calibrated to have the same metabolism

As a human body.

So if he can't keep up with the cold and starts to go sour,

We'll see it right here on this temperature gauge.

Narrator: But as thermo-boy gets into costume,

This cursed experiment has more heartbreak in store...

Turn the pump off.

...A copper-tube artery has burst.

He's bleeding!

If he bleeds to death before he freezes to death,

It's not a valid experiment.

[ chuckles ] adam: You want a blowtorch?

Let's roll him.

Narrator: Dr. Hyneman goes to work.

Jamie: Can we get something to put between his teeth

To bite down on? [ chuckles ]

Elevate. Okay.

Narrator: With no insurance to speak of...

Nippers, please.

...Luke gets a fairly basic level of care.

Knife. Anybody with a knife.

Jamie: Thermo-boy here was a champ on the "titanic" episode...

[ groans ]

...But we sprung a leak in his circulatory system,

Because we can't provide him with his metabolism,

We can't monitor his temperature,

We don't have a valid test

Unless his circulatory system is working.

It's blood. And no leaks.

Well, our day of "two steps forward and one step back"

Has culminated in effectively what is a waste of a whole day.

[ spits ]

Hopefully, we've learned from our mistakes,

So it'll go much smoother tomorrow.

Hope springs eternal.

Narrator: Earlier on "mythbusters,"

What we didn't show you was this dummy run with a dummy.

Sophia, this is what it's gonna sort of be like

When you're up here with me.

So... [ grunts ] sophia: [ laughing ]

[ laughing ] jamie: Oops.

It's gonna be like that?

No, not like that. I'm really excited.

It won't be like that. You'll be able to hold on.

Ohhh!

Sophia: I am confident that jamie's not going to drop me.

And you know, if not, I'm sure my buns will save me.

Narrator: With thermo-boy patched up...

[ groans ]

Adam: Let's get the second pair of pants on.

Narrator: ...And dressed up, the troubles of yesterday...

Tauntaun delivery.

Who ordered the tauntaun?

...Seems so far away.

So, now the next step is to put luke in a tauntaun...

[ splattering ]

It sounds perfect.

...Put him in the sub-zero weather of hoth,

And find out if han was doing the right thing.

Ohh! Oh!

Narrator: Once luke is in place,

They'll add the organs they managed to salvage.

Adam: [ chuckles ]

Meanwhile, in go the bath-warmed bodily fluids...

♪ great big gobs of goopy, grimy tauntaun guts ♪

Okay, up.

Jamie: Okay, so, we've got this

Fictitious creature named a tauntaun,

And it comes from the fictitious planet hoth,

Which we know is very cold.

Luke is going into the tauntaun.

That actually fit.

We've decided to construct our tauntaun

To be very like a polar bear.

And I thought they smelled bad on the outside.

The polar bear has a thick layer of fur

And a thick layer of blubber.

That's the liver.

Here comes the spleen.

Our tauntaun has a thick layer of fur,

But in lieu of blubber, it has some foam rubber.

I know what that is. [ chuckles ]

Narrator: To maintain that model,

The tauntaun's core temperature will start the test

About the same as a polar bear's --

99 degrees fahrenheit.

Jamie: Tauntaun express.

You're clear on your left?

All right. You can lower him down.

Adam: With the necessity to have

The tauntaun's core temperature be the right number

And luke's core temperature being the right number...

All right, I'm gonna start luke's heart.

...And the actual hoth planet surface

Being the right temperature, the shelter built around it,

Probes inside of it, cameras,

Heart blood pumping from the outside --

This is, without a doubt,

The most complex and sensitive

Experimental rig we have ever implemented on this show.

Narrator: With the tauntaun laying atop his bed of dry ice...

All right.

...He's boxed in.

[ chuckles ]

Ladies and gentlemen, night has fallen on hoth.

...The temperature plummets and all is finally ready.

Adam: So, we have hit our lower temperature limit.

Between the several hundred pounds of dry ice

And the very cold ambient temperature here in the freezer,

We are maintaining a steady -40 degrees celsius.

All right, sir. It's time.

Off we go.

The question is, how long does luke have in here?

Well, han says, "this will keep you warm

Until I can get a shelter built."

All right, time zero. Luke's core, 95.

Now, average time it would take a climber,

Under very adverse conditions, to built a snow cave

Is between two and three hours.

I've built a snow cave, you know.

Yeah.

Spent the night in one up on a mountaintop.

Given that han is a capable fellow

And he's got a lightsaber,

We're giving him 2 1/2 hours

For luke to survive long enough for the shelter to be built.

Narrator: With the clock running...

All we got to do now is wait.

...It's all eyes on the gauges.

But one of them got a head start.

But, wait, I can hear you saying, "what?

"the human body temperature's 98.6.

"why are we starting this test

With luke's body temperature at 95?"

Well, it's because we're making the assumption

That he's already suffered some heat loss.

Narrator: Injured and left for dead,

Luke is already mildly hypothermic.

All right. 10 minutes in.

Let's see.

94 -- he's lost a degree.

But he has to hit 82 degrees,

The critical point of no return, before he dies.

Will he make it?

Jamie: It's one hour.

Still reading his core at 93.

I remember, when we started this,

I thought, "total b.S. No way is it gonna work."

The time ticks away,

And the wet and warm, recently deceased tauntaun

Appears to do exactly what han intended,

Because at 2 1/2 hours, the snow cave is built.

Dude, 2 1/2 hours is up.

Let's go check him out.

And, amazingly, thermo-boy's human-equivalent metabolism

Has only begun to cool down.

[ chuckles ] what's the data say?

Luke went into the tauntaun,

He was mildly hypothermic, at 95 degrees.

And in the last two hours, he's dropped to only 92.

On the face of it, crawling into a dead-animal carcass

Might not seem to be the best way to stay warm.

But the thing is that most mammals

Are made up of about 75% water.

And water has a phenomenal ability

To absorb and retain heat.

So, if you had access

To the large thermal mass of a large animal

And could get inside it, it might just save your life.

This myth is plausible.

However fictional, it's plausible.

That's pretty cool.

[ tauntaun growls ]

[ roars ]

Narrator: And so the journey ends.

As newton almost said,

"the force equals mythbusters times awesome."

[ imitates lightsaber ]

Jamie: Tauntaun guts.

Narrator: The team pulled back the curtain,

Examined, explored, and experimented.

[ laughs ]

They tested one of the greatest tall tales of all time...

Yub yub!

You look fantastic.

...And made it a reality.

[ chuckles ]

Adam: You totally made it!

Bite me, empire! [ laughs ]

[ beeping ]