Reach For The Moon…

September 19th, 2006 by Ben Goldacre in bad science, brainiac | 10 Comments »

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5345812.stm

Vic Reeves is taking over as the presenter of Brainiac, that bloke from Top Gear has left (nothing to do with me I’m sure), and Dr Bunhead seems to have been disappeared, which is not very good form, and would be an interesting issue in itself…

… but I just wanted to say thanks to all the crew from Brainiac for your great behind the scenes stories, and do keep them coming, ben@badscience.net or any of the other usual email addresses, every one is a noble gesture, the baby Jesus weeps every time a major TV science show misleads its viewers. I’ll be back on it in the next few weeks if there’s a gap, or failing that I might hold over for the new series. Sky were simply refusing to answer any of the accusations of fakery outright, it’ll be interesting to see what they say with the next round. 

Meanwhile Vic Reeves is quoted by the BBC saying: “Science is my God and my ultimate goal in Brainiac is to destroy the moon with dynamite.”

I’m sure they can rig that up for him…

   


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10 Responses



  1. Sarah said,

    September 19, 2006 at 10:31 pm

    Dr Bunhead will be missed, he was the only reason to watch Brainiac.

  2. JohnD said,

    September 19, 2006 at 10:58 pm

    In the past, I think you linked to Theodore Gray’s Table of the Elements website. Sure, the effect of an alkali metal (here sodium) in water is not at all like Brainiac’s single explosion. Don’t try this at home, folks. Well, not indoors, anyway.

    See: theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Samples/011.2/index.video.s12.html

    John

  3. superburger said,

    September 20, 2006 at 10:56 am

    Ben’s expose on Braniacs was mentioned in the Times yesterday. First few pages in, bottom of column on right hand side.

    Badscience wasn’t mentioned, just “the Guardian”

    If it’s not been binned by the time I’m home I’ll find the page number.

  4. dkb said,

    September 20, 2006 at 9:22 pm

    Has the curse of Bad Science struck Richard Hammond?

    news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/5365676.stm

  5. Ben Goldacre said,

    September 20, 2006 at 9:35 pm

    holy shit that’s awful, poor guy.

  6. Robert Carnegie said,

    September 21, 2006 at 1:19 am

    Vic Reeves had it in for the moon on some other programme – possibly “Turn Back Time”, a sort of “Room 101” crossed with nostalgia show.

  7. Andrew Clegg said,

    September 21, 2006 at 9:18 am

    dkb, someone just sent me that link, sounds like he should have stuck with Brainiac. Neurological unit — doesn’t sound good. What with that and Steve Irwin… Ben, stick to radio and print, TV’s getting too dangerous these days…

    Andrew.

  8. Suw said,

    September 25, 2006 at 8:52 am

    From all reports it seems the Hamster’s doing well – he’s been up, talking and eating, so that has to be a good sign. Now on the general ward, and out of high-dependency.

    I loved Brainiac, it was a fun programme, but the person who made it fun was Richard Hammond. I mean, he managed to make Top Gear fun, and I hate cars.

    Anyway, some people are trying to raise enough money for a new helicopter for Yorkshire Air Ambulance. They started off trying to raise the £340 it cost to airlife Hammond to Leeds General Infirmary, and are now up to £150,000 with a new target of £500,000. If you’re feeling sympathetic, go give ’em a fiver: www.justgiving.com/PHRichardHammond

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