"Attention, viewers." "Do not try anything you are about to see at home." "We're what you call experts." "NARRATOR:" "On this super-cool episode of "Mythbusters"..." "Ah!" "NARRATOR:... it's all aboard for the second Alaska special..." "[ Scottish accent ] We've got to keep her afloat!" "NARRATOR:... as Master Savage and Commander Hyneman shiver their timbers..." "I'm in a boat made out of ice." "NARRATOR:... in a world-first attempt to build a mythical boat out of nothing but sawdust and ice." "[ Laughs ]" "NARRATOR:" "Meanwhile, Kari, Grant, and Tory are on a northern exposure collision course..." "[ Cheering ]" "I'm a trained CPR." "Don't worry." "NARRATOR:... wrestling with the myth of a snowplow smash that split a car completely in two." "Who are the Mythbusters?" "Adam Savage..." "Oh!" "Whoa!" "Hey!" "Ow!" "NARRATOR:" "...and Jamie Hyneman." "Are we going to try and shoot him in the head?" "NARRATOR:" "Between them, more than 30 years of special-effects experience." "That's pretty." "NARRATOR:" "Joining them..." "Tory Belleci..." "Grant Imahara..." "That was crazy." "NARRATOR:" "...and Kari Byron." "This is going to be a whole lot of fun, huh?" "NARRATOR:" "They don't just tell the myths, they put them to the test." "Alaska, famed for its stunning scenery." "The 49th state is also shrouded in tall tales and outlandish legends, making it a virtual home away from home for the Mythbusters." "I know it's not a beret, but you got to put this on." "What do we got?" "Cold-weather myths?" "We do." "It's time to do another Alaska special." "You got any ideas?" "Well, as a matter of fact, there is one thing that I'm kind of curious about." "It's a material called pykrete that a guy named Pyke invented around World War I I." "And this was made of frozen wood pulp and water." "And supposedly it made a mix that was harder than concrete when it froze." "And they were going to build an aircraft carrier out of it, but they never got around to it 'cause the war ended." "So as far as we know, no one's ever tried to build a boat out of the stuff." "That's correct." "Until us." "Yeah." "NARRATOR:" "According to this myth, in World War I I, with steel and iron in short supply, an ingenious inventor came up with an entirely new concept " "pykrete, a mixture of ice and wood pulp that was supposedly so tough, you could forge a fleet from it." "But before the Allies could build a frozen flotilla, the war ended, leaving this mythical question unanswered." "Can you really build a boat out of nothing but sawdust and ice?" "An aircraft carrier made of sawdust and ice." "I really hope we haven't bitten off more than we can chew here." "Well, ultimately, we are gonna have to build some sort of boat out of pykrete." "But first I think we need to test its magical properties." "Such as?" "Well, like its bulletproof, it is tougher than concrete, and it takes longer than ice to melt, supposedly." "That sounds like a great plan of attack." "We'll test those properties here in San Francisco." "When we've got the information we need, we head up north to launch a pykrete boat." "Yeah." "Good." "NARRATOR:" "It's a story that will ultimately see Adam and Jamie attempt to sail the Alaskan fjords in a beautiful pykrete boat." "It's getting worse." "NARRATOR:" "But before all that, they're starting at the beginning by making the stuff." "The traditional recipe, if there is such a thing, of pykrete is that it should be 14 % by weight of sawdust or wood pulp," "and then 86 %, of course, by weight of water." "NARRATOR:" "Sounds simple, and it is." "Jamie mixes the wood pulp and water and, hey, presto." "This is pykrete." "Aircraft carriers, huh?" "[ Chuckles ]" "Who knew?" "NARRATOR:" "The pykrete goes into the deep freeze to chill out so the guys can take aim at this myth." "So, there are three mythical properties of pykrete -- that it melts slower than ice, that it's harder than ice, and that it's bulletproof." "And, well, we couldn't resist testing the last one first." "So we've set up a mini-gun range, and we're going to shoot a block of ice and shoot a block of pykrete and see what the difference is." "NARRATOR:" "So for the first test, it's just plain ice." "That's pretty darn good." "NARRATOR:" "Versus a .45 caliber slug." "Shooting at ice." "In 3, 2, 1." "[ Gunshot ]" "[ Laughter ]" "I think I can tell what the results are." "[ Laughs ]" "It sounded like a bowling alley." "NARRATOR:" "Yep, closer inspection confirms the bullet scored a clean strike." "[ Laughs ]" "We've turned it into a snow cone." "NARRATOR:" "So can the freshly frozen pykrete withstand the same fate?" "In 3.. .2... 1." "[ Laughs ]" "[ Laughs ]" "There you go." "That's bulletproof." "You weren't lying." "It's tough stuff." "NARRATOR:" "It certainly is." "Instead of shattering like the ice, the bullet ricocheted off the pykrete, taking only a shallow crater with it." "We don't only bust myths." "Sometimes we confirm stuff." "We were told that pykrete is bulletproof, and [chuckles] it's definitively bulletproof." "NARRATOR:" "Well, it may be bulletproof, but the pykrete isn't out of the woods yet." "Next up is the mechanical strength test, and it's nothing if not straightforward." "I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that you want to put these 5-pound weights on one at a time until it breaks?" "It's like I'm a freaking mind reader." "NARRATOR:" "And first they need to break the ice." "10 pounds." "20 pounds." "JAMIE: 40 pounds." "Oh!" "[ Laughs ] 41 pounds." "40 pounds, 1 ounce." "That was the straw that broke the camel's back." "NARRATOR:" "At 40 pounds, the ice shattered." "So how will the pykrete compare?" "Pykrete, 5-pound weight." "There you go." "NARRATOR:" "Well, cue fast forward because it's tougher than it looks." "And when the tally reaches 300 pounds, they run out of lead." "So Jamie adopts a more direct approach." "[ Laughs ]" "This is killing me!" "[ Laughs ]" "Well, there you go." "There's your problem." "I love this stuff." "NARRATOR:" "And Adam has every reason to." "The pykrete is nearly eight times the breaking strength of the ice." "Hell's bells, Margaret, I am impressed with pykrete." "I would not have bet that it could withstand all the lead we had in the shop." "I'm starting to think that we could have some fun with this technology." "NARRATOR:" "Next, Kari, Grant, and Tory plow on." "The last time we did the Alaska special, we got a lot of fans from Alaska writing in saying we missed a classic myth." "Tell me more." "The myth is that a couple are driving down a road on a dark, snowy night." "The visibility is horrible." "They swerve out of control, crash head on into a parked snowplow on the side of the road." "But this is no ordinary crash." "Instead of just crumpling into a wreck, the car splits all the way down the middle from the front to the rear in a perfect bifurcation." "And both walk away from the crash." "Are you serious?" "Yep." "Wow!" "NARRATOR:" "It's a crazy crash concept that's "snow joke."" "A car plows into a plow and is split right down the middle." "But could a snowplow really bifurcate a car?" "It's a myth that's full of problems, starting with this one." "For this myth we need to do some pinpoint-accurate crash tests using cars smashing into snowplows." "But there are no crash-test facilities that we can use in Alaska." "All right." "So how are we gonna test this one?" "Well, our researchers have come up with an amazing location." "It's beautiful." "It's snowy." "It's in Wisconsin." "Well, ultimately, this is a great Alaskan myth, but if we have to go to Wisconsin to test it, then so be it." "All right, well, if that's the case," "I think the first thing we need to do when we get there is look at some snowplows." "Let's face it, we're from California." "What do we know about snowplows?" "NARRATOR:" "In an odd start for the Alaska special, the team head to Wisconsin instead." "TORY:" "Ooh, there it is." "Snowplow nirvana." "NARRATOR:" "Now, it isn't Alaska, but with plows aplenty," "Burke's Trucks is the perfect place to start." "KARI:" "We may not have crab fishermen walking around here, we can't see Russia from our back porch, and there's no moose freely walking the streets." "But what we do have here is a lot of snow and snowplows." "And that's our first step." "We got to get us one of those." "NARRATOR:" "And that's a process bringing back bad memories for Grant." "So last time we used a snowplow, it was a cursed item." "There was a curse of the snowplow." "This time," "I fell down immediately after getting out of the car." "This does not bode well." "NARRATOR:" ""Snowplow of Death"" "was a myth cursed from beginning to end." "[ Tires screeching ]" "But that's not what's bothering Tory." "I'm not so concerned about the curse as I am about these plows." "For this to be even remotely possible to get one of these cars to split, we're going to need a wedge-shaped plow." "NARRATOR:" "Tory's got a point." "These flat scoops are miles off the myth." "But after hunting high and low..." "[ Laughs ] It turned on." "Shut it off." "Turn it off." "TORY:" "Nothing." "NARRATOR:" "...the team strikes gold." "TORY:" "Now, that is the plow we're looking for!" "GRANT:" "Dude, if anything is gonna split that car, it's got to be this." "Not only does it have this sharp ax edge, but it's got this really thin blade right in front, which is just like presenting a knife edge to a car." "And that's exactly what we need to split our car right down the middle." "NARRATOR:" "And there's more behind this plow than just the blade." "KARI:" "The great thing about this is not only do we have this magnificent blade, but we have this huge weight of a truck behind it, which means the car is going to be hitting a completely immovable force," "basically hitting a giant immobile ax." "NARRATOR:" "Immobile ax is right." "NARRATOR:" "During World War I I, the engineer Geoffrey Pyke imagined a flotilla of iceberglike ships made only from pykrete." "But would a boat made from wood pulp and ice have stayed afloat, or was this idea just dead wood?" "Well, the Mythbusters are finding out, putting pykrete through a trial by fire." "And sure as heck, it is bulletproof." "NARRATOR:" "And so far it's living up to the claims." "But Jamie sees some room for improvement." "JAMIE:" "The reason the pykrete is strong is because of the overlapping fibers of these wood chips." "Now, the reason that it actually breaks under shock is that the fibers are not terribly long." "And so they can break apart relatively quickly." "So what other kind of cellulose products do we have that maybe would be superior?" "NARRATOR:" "And there's your answer." "Newspaper." "Lots of newspaper." "In "Phonebook Friction," the Mythbusters found out just how much force two interleaved phonebooks could withstand." "This is like a sickness!" "NARRATOR:" "And it's that layered strength that Jamie is hoping to capitalize on with his own new brand of pykrete." "JAMIE:" "What if we saturate something like that with water and freeze it?" "We might have something, say, like plywood instead of particle board, and plywood is stronger." "NARRATOR:" "The newspaper is more or less the same old wood pulp, just different form." "So how will it compare?" "Okay, the last few pounds." "NARRATOR:" "Just like the classic pykrete, the super pykrete supports 300 pounds of lead." "But even after a beating, it doesn't crack under pressure." "Here, wait a second." "Dude, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I like this material." "Okay." "I'm literally out on a limb." "Yeah, I got it." "NARRATOR:" "But before they set sail, there's arguably the most vital question." "Will it melt?" "And for that, Jamie whips up these." "Perfect." "NARRATOR:" "Like an ice-cube tray on steroids, these molds will ensure that the boys end up with three identical, small-scale boats for testing." "JAMIE:" "We got our newspaper one." "We have our pykrete mix, and we have plain water that will turn to plain ice." "We're gonna pull them out when they're frozen and launch them and see which one melts first." "NARRATOR:" "And they've come to Bamboo Reef to do just that." "Adam, what's our plan of action today?" "Oh, Jamie, it's going to be totally great." "We're going to take all three ice boats out of the molds and put them in the water and see which one melts first." "Then we're gonna use two little characters of us to represent us just to increase the danger." "Do we really have to use these stupid representations of ourselves?" "I hate that." "Yeah, man, it's gonna be funny." "[ Sighs ] Okay." "NARRATOR:" "It's a head-to-head melt test to find out which boat will be the last one floating." "And with a stunt doll standing by, first up is the ice." "ADAM:" "Why don't you try turning it over, and I'll try and hold it on my hands." "[ Laughs ] Oh!" "Ah!" "NARRATOR:" "Now, it may have cracked, but all they're looking for is how long it takes to melt." "Abandon ship." "ADAM: [ Laughs ]" "It's gone from three-quarters of an inch thick to a quarter-inch thick in about a minute." "NARRATOR:" "With the ice disappearing fast, it's over to the pykrete and super-pykrete boats to test the waters." "I'm gonna put a passenger in here." "Here we go." "[ High-pitched voice ] Oh, look at me!" "I'm in a boat made out of ice." "Well, right off the bat, we can see it's better than ice." "ADAM: [ As Jamie ] Oh, look at me." "My boat is perfect." "My boat's lasting a long time." "I love wet newspaper." "[ Normal voice ] Notice that even in scale," "Little Jamie Hyneman looks smug." "NARRATOR:" "There's plenty to be smug about." "Five minutes in, and the super pykrete is still going strong in the warm water, but Adam's ship is sinking." "I'd say that's a total failure" "of the boat right there." "JAMIE:" "Yep." "NARRATOR:" "The pykrete held up five times longer than the ice." "There you go." "NARRATOR:" "But it's no match for the super pykrete." "ADAM:" "We're at an hour." "I'd say given that this is no longer a structure..." "JAMIE:" "I'd call it." "...we can call it." "NARRATOR:" "The super pykrete lasted 12 times longer than the classic pykrete." "And let's face it, every second will count in those icy Alaskan waters." "It looked like the newspaper pykrete was just as strong as the regular pykrete." "But when we put it in the water, it becomes far superior as a building material for our purposes." "You might see a pile of wet newspaper here." "Jamie and I, we see a boat." "NARRATOR:" "It's Plow Wars, as the team takes on a snowplow collision for the Alaska special." "So what are they doing in Wisconsin?" "Kari knows." "So, uh, Alaska." "KARI:" "This is what we couldn't find in Alaska and why we ended up in Wisconsin." "This is MGA Research Corporation, one of the world's leading testing companies for the consumer, aerospace, military, and automotive industries." "And I hear that they excel in working in these snowy conditions, which is perfect for us." "NARRATOR:" "It's the ideal location for our two mythical foes to duke it out." "[ Gong crashes ]" "[ Traditional Japanese music playing ]" "NARRATOR:" "No, no, not you two." "The snowplow versus the car." "But what is it that makes MGA so perfect?" "We need the dead center of the car to hit the pinnacle point of the blade of the snowplow." "And for that, we need something far more reliable, which starts 900 feet that way." "With this, a continuous loop of steel cable that propels the car along the guide rail all powered by a 600-horsepower electric motor" "that will ensure pinpoint accuracy and repeatability." "NARRATOR:" "So let's get that straight." "Instead of a towing system," "MGA use a motor to pull a cable which will let our car plow into our stationary plow with incredible accuracy." "And speaking of cars..." "So, the observant viewer is probably asking themselves," ""Why are there two cars?"" "The engine is the most resistant part of the car." "So we need to test two different types of car, a front-engine car and a rear-engine car." "Now, this is a front-engine car." "The only problem is, the other car we have is also a front-engine car." "So what we need to do is pull this engine out, stick it on the back so we have our rear-engine car." "NARRATOR:" "While Tory puts the junk in the trunk, the other car also needs some attention." "I got to Alaska up this car a little bit." "It's looking a little Wisconsin right now." "NARRATOR:" "But halfway through pimping her ride," "Kari is worried." "I think this is gonna be a much more daunting task than the snowplow actually thinks it's going to be." "It's got to get completely through this dashboard all the way through the center of the car to the back?" "I'm having a hard time seeing this actually happen." "NARRATOR:" "It's clear that there's a lot of car to cleave." "So will the snowplow be up to the task?" "Look." "The car is all decorated for a big Alaskan-style crash." "Well, the rear-engine vehicle is ready to go." "Well, let's come back tomorrow and split this myth in two." "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Whoo!" "NARRATOR:" "Kari, Tory, and Grant are about to crash and burn in the snow." "TORY:" "I want to ride that one!" "What they're doing right now is chaining the car to the skate." "The skate is a device that hooks onto the track and ensures that the car goes straight the whole distance." "Now, at the very end, there's a high-tech quick release." "There's no blue rope here." "This will ensure that we hit our snowplow dead center." "NARRATOR:" "And with a few final tweaks, we're good to go." "Except for one last thing -- passengers." "KARI:" "So Buster, having a little bit of a problem with airport security, called ahead to get us some local talent." "NARRATOR:" "You're thinking, how are inflatable people going to provide any sort of data?" "Now, these guys are clearly not crash test dummies or human analogs of any sort." "But the myth says that both the passenger and the driver made it out of the crash completely unharmed." "Now, if either one of these gets the slightest nick " "Pbht!" " they'll totally deflate." "NARRATOR:" "And with the dummies sitting pretty, here's how the test is going to go down." "This cable will pull that front-engine car up to 55 miles an hour, and 10 feet before the plow, it will release the car, and it'll go smashing into the blade." "And if that all works out, what we're looking for are two things." "Number one, does the car split on the snowplow blade cleanly all the way down?" "And number two, are our inflatable people still inflated?" "NARRATOR:" "Well, there's only one way to find out." "Because it's go time." "All right, this is front-engine car at 55 miles an hour versus the mother of all snowplows." "In 3.. .2... 1." "Go!" "NARRATOR:" "It's the moment of truth as the car hurtles down the track at 55 miles per hour." "TORY:" "Looking good." "GRANT:" "It's looking great!" "NARRATOR:" "But will the combination of speed and snowplow be enough to split the car?" "[ Cheering ]" "Wow!" "KARI:" "That is not bifurcated." "Nope, It didn't split in half, but that was awesome." "That's great!" "NARRATOR:" "Yep, that test couldn't have gone better, but that's hardly the result the team was looking for." "That's not split in two." "No." "That's not even cut." "It's just like a dent in the front end." "GRANT:" "Yeah, it hit the engine block and stopped." "So as cool as this crash was, we're watching it real time." "So it only lasts a split second." "But luckily for the viewers, we have high-speed cameras." "And not just one, but four for their viewing pleasure." "NARRATOR:" "Viewing pleasure is right." "Every angle of that spectacular crash tells the same story." "Although the car hit the plow head on, there's no bifurcation." "But the Mythbusters aren't ready to call this one just yet." "After all, it wasn't a complete failure." "The bumper totally severed in half." "But that is only the first four inches of the car." "The other 98 % of the car, still pretty much intact." "NARRATOR:" "98 % still intact." "But the passengers, not so much." "I'm a trained CPR." "Don't worry." "I'm pretty sure these people are not gonna be walking away from this accident." "We lost her." "NARRATOR:" "Sorry, Tory." "But to find out if the plow can split more than just a bumper, it's over to plan B to bring up the rear." "Now we want to give it a better chance of working." "So we've got a Mythbuster-y rear-engine car that we can try to split on the snowplow." "Maybe this will give us some sort of bifurcation." "NARRATOR:" "Yep, 'cause a snowplow smash just isn't enough." "To confirm this myth, we need to see a car split in two." "You can make some pretty useful stuff out of ice and wood, but could you really make a boat out of both combined?" "Well, to find out, Adam and Jamie have put pykrete through its mythical paces." "[ High-pitched voice ] Oh, look at me!" "I'm in a boat made out of ice." "NARRATOR:" "And so far, it's looking good." "So, it looks like pykrete is living up to its hype, huh?" "Absolutely, it is." "This stuff is really impressive." "Impressive until you improved on it with the idea of newspaper." "Yeah, well, what's next, though?" "Obviously, we have to finish this episode putting around the Alaskan fjords in a boat made out of newspaper and ice." "It's not like we're going to be able to build a full-sized aircraft carrier." "We don't have the time." "No." "What if we made a boat that looked like and performs like a real, honest-to-goodness speedboat with a big motor on it?" "That is ambitious." "It will be fun, though." "I love it." "Let's go." "NARRATOR:" "It's destination Alaska to attempt to build and set sail in the world's first frozen speedboat." "This is Ketchikan, Alaska, population just about 8,000." "Often the first stop for cruise ships heading up the west coast of North America, its Alaskan locale and proximity to water make it the ideal place for the maiden voyage of the "Mythbusters" ice boat." "And this is the Ketchikan High School wood shop." "It's a shop actually pretty similar to this where I first cut my teeth in the making of things." "This is where 2,000 pounds of newspaper, aided by low temperatures, will hopefully become a boat." "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some work to do." "NARRATOR:" "Indeed." "Because in just a few days, the boys will be putting their lives on the line..." "ADAM:" "Dude, there's paper everywhere!" "NARRATOR:" "...in a boat made out of these?" "What weighs over a ton and might end up being a boat?" "That's right." "Newspaper." "And we've got about 15,000 local Alaskan newspapers that we've got to unfold and soak in order to build our boat." "It's too big a job for Jamie and me." "Okay." "Welcome to Building a Boat Out of Paper 101." "ADAM:" "But luckily, Ketchikan High School has some willing "Mythbusters" fans who also happen to be students who also happen to have some free time." "JAMIE:" "So, for this to work properly, we need to make sure that water gets in between all of the pages and all of the fibers and makes it all one piece." "Air bubbles and things like that aren't good." "It could cause it to delaminate." "And we've only got one shot at it." "NARRATOR:" "With 150,000 pages soaking, the next step is the mold." "And Jamie has got just the design in mind." "JAMIE:" "I used to work as a boat captain." "So I've been around a lot of boats." "There was one type of boat that caught my attention some years ago, though." "It was called the Carolina Skiff." "And that's because it has a flat bottom." "Now, the flat bottom allows it to get up on a plane really quickly, which is good for our purposes." "But also, it makes our mold-making really simple, 'cause the mold basically just has to be a box with flat sides and bottoms and so on." "So we're gonna have a boat in no time at all." "Jamie and I ran through at least 20 different ways to build this boat from the inside out, from the outside in." "Pouring it, spraying it, laying it, freezing it until we came upon what we think is the solution with the highest chance of success." "NARRATOR:" "It's going to be a painstaking process that starts in the center..." "ADAM:" "It's the first one." "NARRATOR:" "...and works out to protect the integrity of the boat." "ADAM:" "We're going to be layering the newspapers layer over layer like the shingles of a roof so that all the open sides of the newspaper point away from the direction of travel." "Thus as it starts to melt, the water is still not gonna be able to peel off big chunks of newspaper as it's going, and, hopefully, that will make it last longer." "NARRATOR:" "Well, that's the plan." "But it's going to take time..." "Your back is getting to you already, huh?" "NARRATOR:... as every layer is built from the center out, front to back, one at a time." "Paper-boat-making is dirty work." "NARRATOR:" "Dirty work, but the build is going just as they planned." "I feel like I'm working in a swamp. [ Chuckles ]" "NARRATOR:" "And right on cue, the all-important freezer truck arrives." "Ah, that's perfect." "It's nice and cold already." "[ Chuckles ]" "ADAM:" "That's it." "Let's lay in some plastic." "Okay." "NARRATOR:" "With the plastic covering in place, the boat is watertight." "So the boys construct the internal mold." "Lovely." "The outer mold is in place." "The inner mold is in place." "And the newspaper and the water are in place." "It's time to get this thing into the freezer truck and let physics take over." "NARRATOR:" "Which, when you're dealing with something 20 feet long, 8 feet wide, and weighing 3,000 pounds, is easier said than done." "Yeah." "We need all hands on deck." "I got the little forklift out here to pull it." "Oh, okay." "NARRATOR:" "And despite weather that would freeze the balls off a pool table, they get the boat onto the ice truck, and the freezing can begin." "ADAM:" "Extra, extra, read all about it." "NARRATOR:" "Deep in the heart of Wisconsin..." "Ah!" "NARRATOR:..." "Grant, Tory, and Kari have been making music." "Welcome to the "Mythbusters" Alaska special in Wisconsin." "We're testing the myth that a car skids off the road, goes head-on into a snowplow, bifurcates perfectly, and the driver and the passenger walk away completely unharmed." "But in test one, which was a front-engine car at 55 miles an hour, the only thing to bifurcate was the front bumper." "And the passenger and driver, they were pretty far from being unscathed." "But we can't bust this myth yet." "Our first vehicle was a front-engine car." "For test two, we have our modified rear-engine car, which means there's hardly anything in the way for that plow to cut through." "This vehicle is gonna give us the best chance of confirming this myth." "And to give this myth even more of a fighting chance, we've made a few additional changes." "NARRATOR:" "And the first of those changes is to the pointy end of the plow." "GRANT:" "If you review the high-speed footage from test one, you'll see that the snowplow did, indeed, sustain a little bit of damage." "And, in fact, it left a little cove in the snowplow blade." "Well, our friends at MGA Research have repaired it, and, dare I say, made it better than new." "There's one more thing that I've got to do, and that is to sharpen the blade." "NARRATOR:" "A super-sharp blade may seem unrealistic, but it could happen." "And to show you exactly how sharp this is, let me give you a demonstration." "At least we've got one split." "[ Rimshot ]" "NARRATOR:" "But that's not the only edge this myth is getting." "Test two is also about speed." "KARI:" "Okay, to ramp up test two, we have an even sharper snowplow blade and we have a "rear-engine vehicle."" "But I hear you're the man to talk to about speed." "How fast can we go?" "Well, I would love to do the 92 miles an hour that our system is capable of, but because of track conditions, vehicle balance, I can do 70." "I like 70." "Let's do 70." "Excellent." "NARRATOR:" "15 extra miles per hour." "That's 25 % faster than the first test." "But hold on." "Who's driving?" "So, test one, Judy didn't make it." "John did." "I tried as hard as I could to revive her, but nothing I could do would bring her back." "[ Squeak!" "]" "These are Judy's clothes." "[ Voice breaking ] Still smells like her." "But luckily, Judy has a twin sister, Trudy." "So all I need to do is fill her up with air stick her in the car, and see if these guys survive this test." "NARRATOR:" "With Trudy in the hot seat and the car on the track, there's only one thing left to do, and that's get some predictions." "I don't think we're gonna split it all the way down the middle, but I think we're going to get a lot further through the vehicle." "But I definitely don't think those people are going to walk away from this accident." "In terms of the myth, if we can't get this car to split with a rear-engine vehicle and a super-sharpened snowplow," "this is completely, totally busted." "There's just nothing that's going to make a car split into two if this doesn't do it." "This is test two." "Rear-engine vehicle at 70 miles an hour versus the mother-in-law of all snowplows." "In 3, 2, 1." "Go!" "NARRATOR:" "It's now or never for the snowplow split as the rear-engine car hurtles down the track at 70 miles per hour and headlong into its date with snowplow destiny." "Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Did you see that thing?" "!" "It looked like a banana peel!" "But I don't think the passenger or driver are walking away." "[ Laughter ]" "NARRATOR:" "And at snowplow ground zero, the wreckage confirms their suspicions." "I've never seen anything like this." "No." "I got to tell you." "It is split for sure." "It's split all the way to the back seat." "TORY:" "I'm pretty sure, though, that the guys did not survive." "I can't wait to see the high speed." "[ Laughter ]" "That's gonna be awesome." "NARRATOR:" "Well, it certainly is impressive." "At impact, the car is cleaved almost in two." "But once again, that pesky engine block proves too tough for the plow." "TORY:" "That was sick!" "As soon as that car came out of the garage, you hear the whizzing of the cable on the concrete!" "It smashed into that plow, and it was like bzzzh!" "It went in two directions!" "Wheels flew over on that side, glass came over here!" "But we still were not able to split it all the way through." "But it was still awesome." "So I've seen a lot of crashes, but that?" "That is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen." "To see a car almost split in two, that's once in a lifetime." "NARRATOR:" "It certainly is a once-in-a-lifetime crash." "But where does that leave our snowplow myth?" "TORY:" "We tested this myth using a front-engine vehicle going 55 miles an hour, and we busted it." "We tried using a rear-engine vehicle going 70 miles an hour, and we busted it." "And then one final thing we busted." "The curse of the snowplow." "[ Imitates spooky music ]" "This test couldn't have gone any better." "Yeah, we gave this myth the best possible chance of working, and the car still didn't split." "And there is no way those people are walking away from that crash." "So this one's busted." "Busted." "Busted." "Let's go back to the shop." "That's a long walk." "GRANT:" "Yeah, well." "TORY:" "Are you sure we're going the right way?" "NARRATOR:" "The Mythbusters are no strangers to setting sail in dangerous dinghies for science." "This is so cool!" "NARRATOR:" "And they've also engineered ingenious devices using only paper." "Freedom!" "NARRATOR:" "But in this Alaskan special they might just outdo themselves." "JAMIE:" "In case you ever wanted to know how to build a boat out of frozen newspaper, this is how it works." "First you've got to get a bunch of newspaper." "Then you build a mold." "Then you put the wet newspaper in the mold." "And then you build an inner mold to hold the whole thing together." "You take the whole affair." "You put it in a freezer." "And when it's frozen, you pull it out." "And then you remove all the mold stuff." "So excited." "You put an outboard motor on it." "You take the whole thing down to the water, and out you sail away into the icy Alaskan ocean." "NARRATOR:" "Well, they've got the first part taken care of." "It's a nice boat, and it's an ice boat." "JAMIE: [ Chuckles ]" "Get it?" "I got it." "An ice boat." "NARRATOR:" "And no boat, not even an ingenious ice boat, would be complete without a catchy moniker." "Oh, look at that." "It's even got the name of the boat on it." "It's perfect." "NARRATOR:" "Which means all Yesterday's News needs now is some muscle." "JAMIE:" "Why 150 horsepower?" "Well, we could have built a boat that floated, and, frankly, it wouldn't have been much of a challenge." "But a boat that will take a really powerful motor and get it up on a plane, that's another thing." "And that's what I want to see here." "This sucker is gonna get up and go." "It's going to go scary fast, if it works at all." "[ Bird squawking ]" "NARRATOR:" "Well, here's hoping." "Because it's judgment day, as the boys get ready to literally put their lives on the line." "ADAM:" "Well, we are at the water's edge." "It's dead calm." "The conditions couldn't be better, although I don't need to tell you that it's pretty cold out here." "So the very first thing we are going to do is put on our survival suits just in case we get wet today." "NARRATOR:" "With the water two degrees above freezing, these orange monstrosities will keep the hypothermia at bay should the boys end up in it." "JAMIE:" "My biggest concern right at the gate here is that the boat actually floats." "We just sort of invented this thing, and we've done our homework, but we're not going to know if it floats until it floats." "This is it." "It's no return once we open the doors of this freezer." "Are you ready?" "Let's do it." "Okay." "Ba ba ba!" "[ Chuckles ]" "NARRATOR:" "It's a tense process as the boys unpack their precious cargo for its first and possibly final voyage." "JAMIE:" "That's beautiful." "That's the first time we've seen the outside of the mold." "I know." "NARRATOR:" "At the water's edge, there's time for a few adjustments." "ADAM:" "That's it." "I don't want to catch your 'stache." "You're good." "Okay." "NARRATOR:" "Leaving Master Savage and Commander Hyneman ready to cast off." "Remember, the myth that launched it all was of a World War I l-era boat made only of ice and wood pulp." "The Mythbusters pushed the boat out and confirmed those mythical pykrete claims." "And then added their own news twist to give this myth the best shot at success." "But now, thousands of man-hours later, unbelievably, they're setting sail in a boat that is only frozen newspaper and an engine." "Okay." "You and I are pushing." "You ready?" "Yeah." "Here we go." "Ha, ha, ha!" "Ah!" "Look at that!" "Come on, baby!" "NARRATOR:" "Well, first impressions are good." "ADAM:" "Do you realize what this is?" "The maiden voyage of Yesterday's News." "Ice and newspaper." "Let's go. [ Laughs ]" "NARRATOR:" "Incredibly, Yesterday's News is staying afloat." "But for our intrepid voyagers, that's not quite enough." "Dude, it's holding up." "Let's take it up on a plane." "Ready?" "NARRATOR:" "The real test for this boat is, will it stay in one piece at speed?" "Three miles per hour." "10 miles per hour." "Ha, ha, ha!" "18 miles per hour!" "JAMIE:" "Yee-haw!" "Wow!" "Keep an eye on the motor." "ADAM:" "23 miles per hour!" "Holy crap!" "NARRATOR: "Holy crap" just about sums it up." "Remarkably, even at a click of 23 miles per hour, the frozen newspaper boat is holding fast." "But Adam's celebrations may be a little premature." "ADAM:" "Dude, we've got a leak." "Why don't you fix it?" "Yeah!" "NARRATOR:" "Although Adam snap-freezes the first leak with a blast of CO2..." "[ Scottish accent ] We've got to keep her afloat!" "NARRATOR:" "...he can't stem the tide." "JAMIE:" "The water is coming in quicker than that pump can push it out." "I think we should head back into shore." "ADAM:" "Okay." "Can I drive?" "JAMIE:" "Yeah, go for it." "It's my last chance to drive a boat made out of freakin' ice!" "NARRATOR:" "After 30 minutes on the high seas, the guys head back to shore, and just in time, judging by the trail of newspaper." "But our able-bodied Mythbusters aren't disappointed." "JAMIE:" "We did everything we could as far as testing this material before we got committed to making this whole big boat." "And it looked like it was gonna work out fine." "And who knew?" "It actually did." "It worked like a treat." "ADAM:" "What is a boat?" "A boat floats." "By that rudimentary definition, we've succeeded." "But more than that, a boat is made to move efficiently over the water -- i.e., get up on the plane." "We put a 500-pound engine on this boat, and we got up on a plane." "NARRATOR:" "Yep, Yesterday's News was papier-mÃ¢chÃ© in motion." "ADAM:" "I don't want to get all misty on you, but it's a pleasure building strange crap with you." "[ Both laugh ]" "JAMIE:" "That's one of the most gratifying parts of this job is, trying something out, nobody's ever done it before." "And when it actually works, it's wonderful." "We came to Alaska to make a boat out of ice and newspaper." "And as far as I'm concerned [clicks tongue] we knocked it out of the park." "NARRATOR:" "They came, they saw, they conquered." "JAMIE:" "It's funny to think that in a few hours, those are just going to be a pile of mush." "ADAM:" "I know." "I love that." "NARRATOR:" "And the Mythbusters abandoned their ship to melt to slush." "How are we gonna call this one?" "Seems to me pretty straightforward." "Pykrete lived up to all three of its mythical properties beautifully." "And we built a viable boat out of ice and newspaper." "Not only did our boat get up on a plane, not only did it go over 25 miles per hour, but it looked so damn good," "I swear people are gonna think we faked it even though we didn't." "I say that makes it plausible." "Yeah, but let's not forget that this myth is about the original pykrete and about an aircraft carrier." "And given that our super pykrete darn near melted through in 20 minutes, if you're talking about an aircraft carrier that can go anywhere in the world, including tropical waters, it's gonna be sloughing off huge chunks of this stuff" "as it goes along." "That means it's just not at all practical." "How about plausible but ludicrous?"