If all the grains of sand in the desert at Liwa were placed side by side, they would stretch from here to Pluto and back.
I have no actual evidence to support this assertion, so it's just as well that Adam Savage, one half of the presenting team behind the Discovery Channel's popular show Mythbusters, will be in the capital this week to reveal – during the live, stage version of the TV hit – the truth about these sorts of science urban legends, rumours and nonsense, as he has done on TV for 12 years.
The biggest difference fans will notice in the live show – which is at du Forum from Thursday to Saturday as part of Abu Dhabi Summer Season – compared with the TV version is the absence of Savage’s sidekick, Jamie Hyneman, who gave up touring this year after a farewell US tour in the spring.
Although no official explanation was given for his departure from the stage shows, it has been noted previously on the semi-official website, Tested, that he despises touring as he can’t sleep on buses.
Having met the pair in California this year, it certainly seems reasonable to suggest that Hyneman seems the sort that would prefer his own bed to a succession of nights in hotels and on a tour bus.
What Abu Dhabi fans will get in his absence is Savage’s solo live take on the show, which has already been a hit across Europe and North America.
He will talk to the audience about the show itself, as well as conduct the sort of pop-science experiments that have made Mythbusters such a global hit – and we're promised an entertaining, interactive, educational experience of the highest calibre.
The live show has something for the whole family, which is fitting given that perhaps the greatest achievement of the TV version is to have ripped science out of the pages of textbooks and brought it into living rooms, alongside a healthy side dish of humour.
"The great thing about the live shows is that they really show that science is for everyone, not just men in lab coats," Savage told The National this year. "I love the fact that at our live shows we get little girls coming up on the stage to join in with experiments – it's not just an environment for traditional 'scientists'."
Savage’s own career was likewise far from traditional. After a childhood in Sleepy Hollow, in upstate New York, he built a career in movie and theatre special effects, and designed his own construction toy, Zoob.
"All I ever wanted to do when I grew up was to either build Lego or work on Star Wars," he says.
He seems to have come pretty close to achieving his ambitions. Zoob may not have quite the same international popularity of the Scandinavian building blocks, but he hosted a Star Wars special on Mythbusters, in which he and Hyneman tested the scientific plausibility of some of the scenes – could Luke Skywalker really survive a night in the belly of a tauntaun in the sub-zero temperatures of the ice world of Hoth, as seen in The Empire Strikes Back? He probably could, our scientifically minded hosts concluded after an extensive experiment. He also worked on the special effects for the first two Star Wars prequels.
Savage is also aware of Abu Dhabi's starring role in the upcoming Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
“I’ve seen the trailer with the scenes shot in Abu Dhabi, and it looks awesome,” he says. “It’s too early to say, until the film actually comes out, but everything I’ve seen looks really promising. The trailer is great. I just can’t wait for the movie to release.”
Like the rest of us, Savage will have to wait until December for that. In the meantime, he’ll have the opportunity to check out the desert location for himself between this week’s live shows.
• Mythbusters – Adam Savage Live is at du Forum on Yas Island from Thursday to Saturday at 7pm each night, with an additional show at 4pm on Friday. Ticket prices start at Dh95 from www.tixbox.com
cnewbould@thenational.ae
