''Hollywood Science'' is an

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

TV programme produced for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, which attempted to determine whether or not scenes in various films were scientifically credible. In the show, presenter

Robert Llewellyn Robert Llewellyn (born 10 March 1956) is a British actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He plays the Android (robot), mechanoid Kryten in the Science fiction, sci-fi television sitcom ''Red Dwarf'' and formerly presented the engineering gam ...

and scientist Jonathan Hare look at the science behind a scene in a film. They experiment or perform calculations, to see how the scene would work in real life. The scene is then given an accuracy rating. The approach is similar to that of the Bad Astronomer, who also uses films as a vehicle to teach science. The presence of Robert Llewellyn means the tone of the show is fairly light-hearted. The show started in the

BBC Learning Zone The BBC Learning Zone (previously The Learning Zone) was an educational strand run by the BBC as an Graveyard slot, overnight service on BBC Two. It broadcast programming aimed at students in Primary, Secondary and Higher Education as well as t ...

, a section of education programming broadcast in the early morning, meant to be recorded and watched later. It was then given a higher profile programming slot on

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

in the early evening. The programme is currently repeated on UKTV Documentary. The series formed the basis of a Jonathan Hare lecture at

Hull University The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

in 2008."Events: Hollywood Science, Jonathan Hare lecture"
Royal Society of Chemistry, retrieved 2 July 2022.

Episodes

Series 1

The first series of six ten-minute episodes premiered in the Open University's Learning Zone on BBC2 at 12:30 from 10 May 2001. Each of these episodes concentrated on the science of a single film. *

Shanghai Noon ''Shanghai Noon'' is a 2000 martial arts western action comedy film directed by Tom Dey in his feature film debut, written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and starring Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu. It is the first entry in the ...

Dante's Peak ''Dante's Peak'' is a 1997 American disaster film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Leslie Bohem, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, and Charles Hallahan. The film is set in the fictional town of Dante's Peak where the inhabitant ...

Cool Hand Luke ''Cool Hand Luke'' is a 1967 American Prison film, prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman and featuring George Kennedy in an Academy Awards, Oscar-winning performance. Newman stars in the title role as Luke, a pri ...

Ice Cold in Alex ''Ice Cold in Alex'' is a 1958 British war film set during the Western Desert campaign of World War II based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Landon. Directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, the film was a prizewinner ...

Die Hard ''Die Hard'' is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart (writer), Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, based on the 1979 novel ''Nothing Lasts Forever (Thorp novel), Nothing Lasts Forever'' by Roderick ...

Speed In kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a non-negative scalar quantity. Intro ...

Series 2

The second series consisted of four half-hour episodes. "Break-Ins" *

The Score The Score may refer to: Films and television * The Score (1978 film), ''The Score'' (1978 film), a 1978 Swedish film, released in Sweden as ''Lyftet'' * The Score (2001 film), ''The Score'' (2001 film), a 2001 crime drama film starring Robert De Ni ...

– If one fills a safe with water, will an explosion produce a more powerful door-busting effect? * Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves – Could a medieval

trebuchet A trebuchet () is a type of catapult that uses a hinged arm with a sling attached to the tip to launch a projectile. It was a common powerful siege engine until the advent of gunpowder. The design of a trebuchet allows it to launch projectiles ...

fire Robin Hood and Will Scarlet into a castle, and land them on target? * The Thomas Crown Affair – Would knocking out the air conditioning cause

InfraRed Infrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those ...

cameras to become useless? "Gross Out" *

Waterworld ''WaterWorld'', also known as ''WaterWorld: A Live Sea War Spectacular'', is a stunt show attraction based on the 1995 film '' Waterworld'' found at Universal Studios Hollywood (1995), Universal Studios Japan (2001), Universal Studios Singap ...

– Is it possible to sufficiently purify one's own urine to be able to drink it? The team concluded that the film was portraying a

reverse osmosis Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane, semi-permeable membrane to separate water molecules from other substances. RO applies pressure to overcome osmotic pressure that favors even distribu ...

process with a realistic looking unit. *

Fight Club ''Fight Club'' is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel ''Fight Club (novel), Fight Club'' by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays The Narrator (F ...

– Can high quality soap be made from liposuction fat? The team succeeded in making soap from pig fat, but it was not top quality soap. * The Great Outdoors – Could someone eat a 96-ounce steak? The team concluded that this amount of meat would not fit in a human stomach, and thus gave it the "least plausible" award for the episode. "Tricky Situations" * Deep Blue Sea – Is it possible to be surrounded by electricity and water without being electrocuted? *

The Last Castle ''The Last Castle'' is a 2001 American action film, action Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Rod Lurie, starring Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo and Delroy Lindo. The film portrays a struggle between inmates and ...

– How far can a water cannon fire a grappling iron? *

A View to a Kill ''A View to a Kill'' is a 1985 spy film, the fourteenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the seventh and final appearance of Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from ...

– Can one survive underwater by breathing the air from a car tyre? "Escapes" *

Chain Reaction A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events. Chain reactions are one way that sys ...

– Could a hydrogen gas cylinder move a concrete slab? The team concluded it could, but probably not enough to allow escape and with a great risk of explosion. * Escape from Alcatraz – Can one braze together a spoon and some nail clippers using a US dime, and some matches? After initial failure, the team concluded they needed a pre-1960s dime for its high silver content. Although they then succeeded in melting the dime, they failed to make a solid joint, largely due to the lack of

flux Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications in physics. For transport phe ...

. They also could not generate sufficient heat from matches, the heat source portrayed in the film. *

Hollow Man ''Hollow Man'' is a 2000 science fiction horror thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven, written by Andrew W. Marlowe, and starring Elisabeth Shue, Kevin Bacon, Josh Brolin, Kim Dickens, Greg Grunberg, Joey Slotnick, Mary Randle, and Will ...

– Would you be able to move a metal bolt using a hand-made electromagnet? While this may be possible with good electromagnets, the team concluded the power source used in the film (a

defibrillator Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). Defibrillation delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''count ...

) would be too feeble to do the job. This film was given the "least plausible" award of the episode.

References

{{Reflist

External links

BBC series website

The Bad Astronomer

Jonathan Hare's Creative Science Center

Jonathan Hare's work with the Vega Science Trust
Freeview Science Programmes.
Hollywood Science at National Geographic Channel's website

"The Role of Scientific Integrity in Cinematic Science"
David A. Kirby,
Berfrois
', 14 June 2011 BBC Two original programming Scientific skepticism mass media

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

See also

References

External links