The kind of appreciation that’s been expressed by people all over the place for what we’ve done, for encouraging them or their family or kids to be interested in science, is absolutely wonderful. We’ve seen thousands of people across the country and abroad. Adam and I do a live stage tour - and this fall will be my last one for the same reasons I said, about not waiting to be in front of the camera anymore. HYNEMAN: Other than embracing how much I’ve learned and grown in this process, the main thing I value is the show has had an impact on popular culture and science. So it’s understandable that I’d get frustrated when I get pulled in another direction. It’s about building something I might not have access to otherwise. There are times when compromises have to be made that can be frustrating to somebody like myself who’s a purist for the engineering and not in it for a desire to be on television.
I know some reality TV programs that present themselves as giving you something that’s real when in reality it’s totally contrived. The filmmakers often give priority to the results. We had to do this daily dance of interacting with the camera and with production people who have totally different priorities about what’s going on than I do. And the general way this was set up, and the way it had to be set up, is that around 50 percent of what we do is actual science and engineering. But we are somewhat unique in that space. There are always compromises, always give and take. And I understand filmmaking is a collaborative effort and has to be. I’ve been working in film behind the camera, and now in front of it, for over 30 years.
Certainly there are a lot of things I would have liked to have changed in that regard. HYNEMAN: I’m concerned it will come off like I’m complaining about it. But I want to circle back to actually doing build projects where I don’t have a bunch of film people getting in my way and manipulating what’s going on. You present it in a way that’s interesting and easy to follow. I don’t want to sound sour grapes about it, but for a show, you have to tell a story.
There are people I have to work with filming that are interested in how to build things for the sake of the story rather than what I’m trying to accomplish. I’m developing some new kinds of robotic firefighting vehicles to help with the massive forest fires we’re dealing with in the West. There’s an Office of Naval Research project. As far as me personally, there’s some outside projects I’m starting to ramp up. I can’t talk about it yet, but when it comes out it’s going to knock some people’s socks off. HYNEMAN: There’s a scripted show we’re executive producing at CBS that was announced, and that’s exciting.