M5 Industries

M5 industries has always been a place that I wanted to see ever since I first saw myth busters air as a little kid. Finally seeing the location really felt like crossing off a part of the bucket list.

I saw the live onstage «MythBusters: Behind the Myths Tour,» with Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, at Merriam Theater in Philadelphia (2014.) I purchased a last-​minute ticket through Goldstar, and I’m glad I didn’t pay more than I did. Granted, it wasn’t the greatest bowling show I’ve ever been to. Probably because I’m not a big fan of their TV show (I’ve seen few episodes.) As they were in Philly, I was interested and curious to find out what they are going to put together on stage. All what they did was throwing some random cool, & lame science demonstrations here and there. I bet their aimed target audience loved it, children! The two hours show was kinda funny, not hilarious but enjoyable.
Not my cup of tea!
Three Unilocal

[As stated on a sign outside the building] Fans of the popular Discovery Channel show, Mythbusters, are allowed to visit their Warehouse/​Primary Filming location in San Francisco as long as you do not attempt to solicit for an autograph or bother them if they are in production.

I’m interested in the show for sure, but wouldn’t want to interupt them while working. I have a different question though. do they ever film at the old alemeda naval air station? if so, who do i talk to about getting oonto the flight line with my car to shoot a video? city of oakland or is it privatly managed? sorry to digress the subject

The four stars is for my love of Mythbusters. If you drive to this building and stare at the door, at least you can say you were here. But it is what it is, and they’re very clear that they don’t give tours and don’t want you poking around inside.
So stalk the parking lot if you like– or wait around the deli down the street– and you’ll see some mythbustery person no doubt. They don’t gate you out of the area and M5 industries is easy to find.
Definitely one of those things you ought to drive by just so you can say that you have if you’re a true Mythbusters fan.

This is a review of the «Behind the Myths’ roadshow.
1÷7÷2011 — Wells Fargo Center, Santa Rosa, CA
I had no preconceptions about the Mythbusters «Behind the Myths Tour» live show except I knew the TV show survives on being loud and large, and taking that type of show to a concert stage was not going to be easy. I love the TV show and I was excited to see Adam and Jamie in person. I knew this was only the second show of a brand new tour so I didn’t really expect a smooth running, tight performance, but aside that I had to ask myself, «Was it worth the $ 65 ($ 85 for the best seats) per person price?» I had to answer, «No». Adam and Jamie are exactly what you see on the TV show; Jamie, the straight man, and Adam, the comedian. Jamie started the show, taking us on a video tour of M5 Industries, his shop and the studio for the Mythbusters TV show. The two then brought on audience participants for many of the demonstrations. At one point Adam had two people shuffle two phone books together then hung from them, showing the properties of friction, and in another demonstration, Jamie explained why a smaller mallet (less mass) wouldn’t send the clangor to the top of the carnival game. Both good visual ways to get younger people excited about science, but for me, something I’ve already seen in high school. A portion of the show was audience Q & A. The questions weren’t screened prior so both hosts, at points, were stretching to make interesting answers. Overall, I enjoyed seeing Adam and Jamie, but being a big fan of the TV show, the live show didn’t live up to my expectations.

We have been fans of Mythbusters for years. We were finally able to watch Kari, Grant and Tori test a Myth in person and at first it was exciting…
But, they had a break in between takes and instead of coming over to say hello to their handful of fans (around 6) they purposely avoided them and drove a golf cart in circles away from them instead!
I believe anyone famous big or small should take the time for their fans because if it wasn’t for fans, you wouldn’t have a show.
Shame on you Kari, Grant and Tori!

Don’t know M5? Probably not, but you probably know what they’re famous for. M5 is a visual effects company located in San Francisco. While our primary focus is special effects props for commercials and film, stop-​motion animation, and animatronic puppets, They do cool stuff with a great list of clients.
But the main guy at M5 is Jamie Hyneman, co-​host of Mythbusters. That’s right. Many of the experiments and stunts that you see are performed or constructed a the M5 facility. I’m tempted to go by one day and see if I have a celebrity sighting. They are like Bill Nye on steroids, EPO, and HGH. They make geeky stuff cool, and I wish I had them around when I was growing up.
It was great seeing Adam and Jamie at YouTube Live performing the Nvidia GPU paintball stunt!
–1 star for not having Kari Byron on staff or plastered all over their website, for having a few pages not working on their site, and for misspelling Nintendo (as «NITENDO») on their clients list.

I love Mythbusters. I found out that I’ve been driving right by this place every day for the last 3 months, so I finally pulled in to take a look at it. Parked outside, was a pickup truck with a Dale Earnhardt sun visor. Awesome. I hope it belongs to Kari.
And if you check out m5’s website, you can see Jamie’s soda can shooting soda machine on Johnny 5 treads. Imagine how much better Maximum Overdrive would have been if they had put those treads on the soda machine (the one that killed the LIttle League coach) and made it the main villain, instead of that stupid Green Goblin truck.

Praise be for the Mythbusters! They blow up things! They challenge the urban myth! They blow up more things!
My hubby thinks if Mythbusters existed when I was a kid, I would have spent my college years stalking M5 Industries trying to get a job.
Love the Mythbusters show — though I have to say I prefer seeing some of the first couple of seasons where things were a little less polished (and alot more fun!).

Otherwise known as the Batcave for Mythbusters, the best thing to ever be produced by the Discovery Channel.
When I watch «Mythbusters,» I am like a child, giggling and clapping my hands during every explosion. Who knew I had such a thirst for destruction?
If I were to ever meet Adam or Jamie (hell, Tory, Grant and Kari too), I would poop my pants in excitement.

The following review is rated PG-​13 for language, sexual references and explosions
Phil Donahue used to jog past my house in college. I was a live-​in nanny in Connecticut and he lived down the road from my employers’ house. I never tried to meet him.
Also while living in Connecticut, I almost ran into Paul Newman while leaving a deli with my office’s lunch order. Granted, I didn’t recognize him when I gave him the biggest stink eye in the history of humanity for blocking the doorway, but even when the light bulb in my head went *ding* right after I made it past him AND even though I truly appreciate his philanthropic endeavors, I did not try to go back and talk to him.
I’m just not star struck I guess. I think celebrities are attractive and interesting, but I’ve never gone all raving teenybopper when I see them in person.
Never, that is, except when I spotted Adam Savage at the Metreon while waiting for a friend. He was with a woman and a couple of kids and was buying tickets at the electronic kiosk. This is what happened next:
Hannala: Eeep! [Jaw drops. Eyes go saucer big. Completely freezes, then after a heartbeat, flings self around to other side of pillar.]
Hannala: [Whips out cell phone and dials friend. Gets voicemail. Speaks in stage whisper] «Dude! You will NOT believe who the fuck is at the Metreon! Holy Shit! It’s Adam from Mythbusters! OMG! Um, where ARE you?! This is totally crazy! I think I’m hyperventilating — SERIOUSLY! I need my inhaler. What should I do???»
Friend’s Voicemail: «You have exceeded the allotted message time. Goodbye.»
Hannala: [Leaning against pillar so as to not be seen] «Arrrrrrgh!»
I totally stalked this man. The scary part is, I crush on Jamie way more than Adam, so who the hell knows what would have happened if it were Jamie instead. Ever seen those awful Axe Body Spray commercials? Imagine me as an aggressive cheerleader. Uh, right.
So why the freaktastic reaction? You have to ask?! Science guys are hot. Science guys who get to blow shit up are hotter. Science guys who blow shit up to dispel or prove urban legends and popular misconceptions (like the 5 second rule) are guaranteed to get into my pants, no questions asked.
I’d do it for science.

I was going to be Jamie Hyneman for Halloween, so I sent an offhand email to the M5 support email address asking if they sold shirts on-​site, mainly because I didn’t feel like tracking down a white shirt like Jamie wears. I emailed back and forth yesterday and it boiled down to «Come on down, I’ll get you an autographed shirt plus a crew shirt, and you can bring your camera if you want.»
So’s I get there and not only do I get that stuff, but he gave me a tour of the shop. I got to see the main shop, the machining shop, the blueprint set (where they usually cap the episode at the end), and Jamie’s office. A fair amount of weird vaguely-​roboting things were hanging around off the walls and in the hallways. Oh, and he also dug through some fur pelts looking for stuff to help me make the goatee. None of the on-​screen people were around– they were in Alameda blowing up the Hindenburg. And apparently the build team spends most of its time at a different facility, M7.
But yeah, that was pretty cool. Damn good customer service for a place that, y’know, doesn’t have customers. Unfortunately I was sick as a dog for Halloween and didn’t get to go out. But I’m prepared for next year!
Pictures!