''Prototype This!'' is an American television series with the stated goal to "look into the viability of gadgets and technology seen in science-fiction movies". The series premiered on October 15, 2008, on

The Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It initi ...

. It was filmed on

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure a ...

in Building 180 and occasionally at Standard Metal Products in San Francisco. The show follows a team of inventors: * Doc North – Material Science, University of California, Santa Barbara *

Joe Grand Joe Grand is an American electrical engineer, inventor and hardware hacker known in the hacker community as Kingpin. He achieved mainstream popularity after his appearance on '' Prototype This!'', a Discovery Channel television show. He special ...

– Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Boston University * Terry Sandin – Special Effects Designer, Hollywood * Dr. Andrew "Zoz" Brooks – 3 degrees from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, namely, Bachelor of Science (Organic Chemistry & Computer Science), First Class Honours in Computer Science and a Graduate Diploma in Education plus a Masters from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

's robotics laboratory and a PhD from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

(MIT).Proud to be a nerd, Lumen, The University of Adelaide Magazine, Lumen Summer 2010 Issue
(accessed 17 December 2011)

Production

Although this show shares producers ( Beyond Productions) and location (San Francisco Bay Area, California) with the TV series ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television series created by Peter Rees (producer), Peter Rees and produced by Beyond International in Australia. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast in ...

'', it is entirely distinct. The pilot episode for the series was shot at TechShop in Menlo Park in December 2006. Three sets were constructed in TechShop's large conference room, and the machine shop and sheet metal shop were painted in color schemes that would look good on camera. Many parts of the TechShop facilities were used in the show pilot, including the main workshop, welding shop, and laser cutter room.

Episodes

References

External links

Discovery Channel homepage for "Prototype This"Standard Metal Products - SMP Teaser video - "Inside Optical Glyph Tracking"
* {{Discovery Channel programming Discovery Channel original programming 2008 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings Television series by Beyond Television Productions