The MythBusters The MythBusters

MythBusters Episode 98: James Bond Special 2

Premier Date: February 6, 2008

This follow-up to James Bond Special 1 explores more myths inspired by the James Bond movie series.

A ballpoint pen bomb can be used to completely destroy the top of a mannequin.

busted

Using the most powerful explosives they could and a normal sized pen, the MythBusters demonstrated that a pen bomb could be fatal. However, they needed an unrealistically large pen to completely destroy the top half of the foam dummy they used.

(This myth is based on a scene in GoldenEye.)

A metal-brimmed bowler hat can be thrown hard enough to knock the head off of a stone statue.

busted

The Build Team made two duplicates of the hat worn by the character Oddjob. They also designed a hat-throwing robot and acquired a few statues as test targets. The bonded marble statue they first tested was decapitated by the robot, but as it wasn’t actually solid stone it wasn’t considered a valid test. Next, they tested a concrete statue on the premise that it would be a good match for the hardness of natural stone. It was chipped several times but not badly damaged.

(This myth is based on a scene in Goldfinger.)

A person can use a set of metal teeth to bite through a cable car’s cable.

busted

Adam and Jamie created two versions of the teeth shown in the movie, but neither was able to cut through the one inch cable they used. Not even 10 tons worth of force applied from the teeth was able sever the cable. In order to replicate the results seen in the film, Jamie had to use a hydraulic cutter to cut the cable.

(This myth is based on a scene in Moonraker.)