''
MacGyver
Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot.
In both po ...
'' is an American
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
that ran from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.
MacGyverisms and "to MacGyver"
MacGyver
Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot.
In both po ...
employs his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics,
[Britton, Wesley, ''Spy Television'', Praeger/Greenwood, , p. 212.] technology, and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life-or-death crises. He creates inventions from simple items to solve these problems. These inventions became synonymous with the character and were called MacGyverisms by fans.
[Rich, John, 2006, ''Warm Up the Snake: A Hollywood Memoir'', , p. 167.] MacGyver was unlike secret agents in other television series and films because, instead of relying on high-tech weapons and tools, he carried only a
Swiss Army knife and
duct tape
Duct tape (also called duck tape, from the cotton duck cloth it was originally made of) is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. There are a variety of constructions using different backings and adhesi ...
.
[ This also led to the verb 'to MacGyver' or 'to MacGyver-ize' (the latter being introduced by Gregory Shockley in his training manuscripts published for the ]Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
). 'MacGyverism' was first used by Joanne Remmings (played by Pamela Bowen
Pamela may refer to:
*''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'', a novel written by Samuel Richardson in 1740
*Pamela (name), a given name and, rarely, a surname
* Pamela Spence, a Turkish pop-rock singer. Known as her stage name "Pamela"
* MSC ''Pamela'', ...
) in the third episode of Season 2. When MacGyver introduces himself to her, she uses the term in a manner that suggests other people had used it before:
"Oh I've heard about you! You're the guy who does the whatchamacallits, you know, ''MacGyverisms''; turns one thing into another?"
*On ''Stargate SG-1
''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction Adventure fiction, adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate, ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wrigh ...
'', in the pilot episode "Children of the Gods
"Children of the Gods" is the first episode of the military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1''. It was written by producers Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright and was directed by Mario Azzopardi. The episode first aired on July 27, ...
", Samantha Carter
Samantha "Sam" Carter, United States Air Force, USAF is a Character (arts), fictional character in the Canadian–American military science fiction ''Stargate'' franchise. Played by Amanda Tapping, she appears in all three shows in the franchise ...
says, "it took us fifteen years and three supercomputers to MacGyver a system for the gate on Earth". One of the people she says it to is Colonel Jack O'Neill
Jonathan J. "Jack" O'Neill is a fictional character in the MGM's military science fiction franchise ''Stargate'', primarily as one of the main characters of the television series ''Stargate SG-1''. Richard Dean Anderson played O'Neill in all th ...
who is played by Richard Dean Anderson
Richard Dean Anderson (born January 23, 1950) is a retired American actor and producer. He began his television career in 1976, playing Jeff Webber in the American soap opera series ''General Hospital'', and then rose to prominence as the lead a ...
, the actor who portrayed MacGyver.
*In the 1998 movie ''Half Baked
''Half Baked'' is a 1998 American stoner comedy film starring Dave Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams, and Guillermo Díaz. The film was directed by Tamra Davis, co-written by Chappelle and Neal Brennan and produced by Robert Simonds. The ...
'', they describe a type of pothead called a "MacGyver smoker", who can make a bong
A bong (also known as a water pipe) is a filtration device generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco, or other herbal substances. In the bong shown in the photo, the gas flows from the lower port on the left to the upper port on the right.
...
out of an avocado
The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for i ...
, ice-pick, and a snorkel.
*In the episode of ''A Gifted Man
''A Gifted Man'' is an American fantasy medical drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 23, 2011. The series is about a talented but self-absorbed surgeon (Patrick Wilson) who starts questioning his purpose in life when he is vi ...
'' (2012) entitled "In Case Of Letting Go", Dr. Zeke Barnes explains that he can "MacGyver" a splint for a friend's broken hand using duct tape and a plastic knife.
*In the role-playing
Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...
game
A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
''Mage: The Ascension
''Mage: The Ascension'' is a role-playing game based in the World of Darkness, and was published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1993. The characters portrayed in the game are referred to as mages, and are capable of feats of magic. Magic in ''Ma ...
'', techno-mages use the term "to MacGyver", when performing obviously magical feats with technological gadgets, or reinforce their doings with pseudo-scientific explanation.
Uses of the theme song
*The Ja Rule
Jeffrey Bruce Atkins (born February 29, 1976), better known by his stage name Ja Rule (), is an American rapper and actor. Born and raised in New York City, he debuted in 1999 with ''Venni Vetti Vecci'' and its lead single "Holla Holla". Durin ...
song "How Many Wanna" from the soundtrack of the 1999 film '' Light It Up'' samples the ''MacGyver'' theme song.
*Japanese pro wrestler Yuji Yasuraoka
Yuji Yasuraoka (安良岡裕二 ''Yasuraoka Yuji'') (born January 28, 1971) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Wrestle Association R, where he became a one-time International Junior Heavyweight Champion ...
used the ''MacGyver'' theme song as his entrance theme.
Other cultural references
*The series is referenced in many episodes of ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'', primarily detailing Marge Simpson
Marjorie Jacqueline "Marge" Simpson () is a character in the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons'' and part of the Simpson family, eponymous family. Voiced by Julie Kavner, she first appeared on television in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' shor ...
's sisters Patty
A patty or burger (in British English) is a flattened, usually round, serving of ground meat and/or legumes, grains, vegetables, or meat alternatives. Patties are found in multiple cuisines throughout the world.
In British and American Eng ...
and Selma
Selma may refer to:
Places
*Selma, Algeria
*Selma, Nova Scotia, Canada
*Selma, Switzerland, village in the Grisons
United States:
*Selma, Alabama, city in Dallas County, best known for the Selma to Montgomery marches
*Selma, Arkansas
*Selma, Cali ...
's obsession with the show and their crush on the titular character. The sisters' regular viewing of the show is an unalterable element of their daily schedule to the point of death as demonstrated in the episode "Black Widower
"Black Widower" (originally titled "The Return of Sideshow Bob") is the twenty-first episode of the The Simpsons (season 3), third season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Com ...
". The episode featured a fictional scene of ''MacGyver'' where he downplays his role in saving a village ("Don't thank me. Thank the moon's gravitational pull
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stron ...
"). In " A Star is Burns", Homer tricks Jay Sherman
This is a list of characters in the animated television series ''The Critic''.
Overview
The Sherman family Jay Sherman
;Voiced by Jon Lovitz
"New York's third most popular early-morning cable-TV film critic", 37-year-old Jay Prescott Sherman ...
into insulting MacGyver in front of Patty and Selma; Sherman ends up being hung from the rain gutter by his underpants, and Bart asks "You badmouthed MacGyver, didn't you?" In "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore
“Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore” is the seventeenth episode of the seventeenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 9, 2006. Dan Castellaneta & D ...
", Patty and Selma kidnap Richard Dean Anderson after he admits he thought ''MacGyver'' was stupid. Anderson gains an appreciation of the series after using a ''MacGyver''-style technique to escape, before returning to let the sisters know how he did it and then demanding they tie him up so he can try to escape again. The sisters eventually grow tired of his increasingly demanding escape requests, and end up forcing Anderson to run after submitting him to one of their boring holiday slideshows.
*In the season one episode " Brian: Portrait of a Dog" of ''Family Guy
''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'', Peter writes a letter to Richard Dean Anderson asking him to save his dog using the enclosed items from the envelope: a rubber band, a paper clip and a straw. Anderson puts these together and hits himself in the eye with the rubber band.
*The New Zealand sporting skit show '' Pulp Sport'' had a running gag called "McIvor" in which the ''MacGyver'' theme is played, and a prank involving Sky TV sports presenter Steven McIvor is played out. This gag, instead, now targets TV3 sports news presenter Hamish McKay (dubbed "McKay-ver").
* G4 aired a small series of ''MacGyver'' parodies about a young corporate cubicle worker known as MacGunner. He would construct ridiculous items out of cubicle materials, such as several dozen markers hooked end to end in order to reach over to his arch-enemy's cubicle and type a scathing email to the boss.
*In the bonus footage to ''Stargate SG-1'', "Inside SG-1," a prank is played on Richard Dean Anderson where he is berated for not being able to figure out how to use "belt buckles, shoelaces, and a piece of gum" get them out of a situation despite having played MacGyver for 7 years.
*In the 2003 song "MacGyver
Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot.
In both po ...
" by the British band Million Dead
Million Dead were an English post-hardcore band from London, active between 2000 and 2005.
History
The band was founded in 2000 by Cameron Dean and Julia Ruzicka, after both came to London from Australia. They were joined by Ben Dawson, who ha ...
, MacGyver is described as a symbol of the "Scottish Enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment ( sco, Scots Enlichtenment, gd, Soillseachadh na h-Alba) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century ...
" whose rationality is unable to save him after he is severely beaten by a youth gang.
*''Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure
''Lawrence Leung's Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a six-part Australian television comedy series, starring and primarily written by Melbourne comedian Lawrence Leung and produced by Chaser Broadcasting. The series was filmed over nine weeks fr ...
'' features an episode where Lawrence tries to track down his childhood hero, MacGyver, in various locations that were used in the show.
*The ''XKCD
''xkcd'', sometimes styled ''XKCD'', is a webcomic created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe. The comic's tagline describes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language". Munroe states on the comic's website that the name ...
'' webcomic #444 from August 2, 2008, "Macgyver Gets Lazy", portrays MacGyver providing an elaborate, MacGyver-like explanation for the act of simply shooting a guard with a handgun.
*The Lego
Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...
character of Jack Stone has similarities to MacGyver, as he uses inspiration to turn ordinary vehicles and objects into new things in order to solve solutions. Also, he has a similar appearance.
MacGruber
In 2007, the NBC sketch show ''Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'' featured a parody of ''MacGyver'' called "MacGruber" with Will Forte
Orville Willis Forte IV ( ; born June 17, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. Forte is known for being a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' (2002–2010), a recurring character on the show leading to a feature film ada ...
as the title character. The intros for these skits featured scenes from the ''MacGyver'' series. MacGruber and cohorts are always locked in a control room of some type with a bomb set to go off in about 15–20 seconds. MacGruber has his costars hand him components to defuse the device, but MacGruber's personal issues inevitably get in the way of the operation, and the bomb detonates.
In a 2009 episode where Richard Dean Anderson guest stars as the original Angus MacGyver, MacGruber learns he is actually MacGyver's son and that "MacGruber" is in fact his first name.
The sketch was adapted as the 2010 film ''MacGruber
''MacGruber'' was a recurring sketch on the NBC television series ''Saturday Night Live'', first appearing on the show in January 2007. The sketch is a parody of the 1985–1992 adventure series ''MacGyver''. The sketch stars Will Forte as spec ...
''.
''MythBusters''
In February 2008, the popular science show ''MythBusters
''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...
'' featured a ''MacGyver'' special which tested several of MacGyver's tactics. The first test examined MacGyver's famous cold capsule bomb, which utilized the explosive reaction of alkali
In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a ...
metals with water. Supposedly, dropping 1 gram of sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...
metal into water will cause an explosive reaction powerful enough to blow a hole through a cinderblock wall. However, despite using 100 grams of sodium metal, the wall remained completely intact.
In the 2009 season, the MythBusters tested a scene from ''MacGyver'''s season 2 episode "The Wish Child," where MacGyver blew open a door lock by taking the gunpowder from a revolver's six cartridges and packing them together with a leftover primer
Primer may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Primer'' (film), a 2004 feature film written and directed by Shane Carruth
* ''Primer'' (video), a documentary about the funk band Living Colour
Literature
* Primer (textbook), a t ...
that he detonated by striking it with the gun's butt. Not only did the MythBusters fail in setting off the primer, it also proved to be impossible to disassemble the cartridges by hand. Even after switching smokeless powder
Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to a ...
for black powder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...
and fitting the revolver's butt with a firing pin for a successful detonation, the lock remained intact. A charge with 120 cartridges worth of black powder set off by electric igniter managed to destroy the lock, proving the concept, though due to the sheer amount of gunpowder needed and vastly surpassing MacGyver's methods and resources, the myth was declared busted.
However, some of MacGyver's tactics were confirmed. The MythBusters were able to pick a lock using the filament of an incandescent lightbulb, although it took the MythBusters considerably longer to do than it took MacGyver (50 minutes as opposed to 56 seconds). Another "confirmed" MacGyver tactic was building an electromagnet
An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by an electric current. Electromagnets usually consist of wire wound into a coil. A current through the wire creates a magnetic field which is concentrated in the ...
using ordinary household batteries, tape and insulated wire (the insulated rubber surrounding the wire was removed with a cheese grater.)
It was also implied, although it was not successfully tested, that it is possible to develop a roll of film using orange juice as an acid and ammonia
Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...
as an alkaline fixer while holding a garbage bag over the setup to create a darkroom. Another implied, but not tested, tactic was creating a potato cannon
A potato cannon is a pipe-based cannon that uses air pressure (pneumatic), or combustion of a flammable gas (aerosol, propane, etc.), to launch projectiles at high speeds. They are built to fire chunks of potato, as a hobby, or to fire other so ...
using hairspray as a fuel, a camp stove as the ignition, and PVC pipe as the mortar.
Also, in episode 15, in July 2004, a portion of the episode titled " Car Capers" featured the MythBusters testing of a tactic in which an egg placed into a car's radiator would subsequently cook and plug holes in said radiator. This had been featured in an episode of ''MacGyver'' titled "Bushmaster", and was originally an idea sent in by a fan. The myth was deemed plausible.
Grant Imahara
Grant Masaru Imahara (October 23, 1970 – July 13, 2020) was an American electrical engineer, roboticist, and television host. He was best known for his work on the television series '' MythBusters'', on which he designed and built numero ...
humorously referred to ''MacGyver'' as "the second greatest TV series of all time" in the 2006 season ''MythBusters'' episode "Crimes and Myth-Demeanors 1".
References
{{MacGyver
Popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
Television shows in popular culture