In the past twenty years, I've gone to High School, I've got my GED
And in that time frame I've saw the original Bill Nye TV show plenty of times.
If you haven't stayed up-to-date with Science Guy's Post '98 Shenanigans, he's been up to a lot actually.
He's the current CEO of the Planetary Society,
He's talked about climate more times than a mountaineer instructor with Tourette's,
CLIMB IT, CLIMB IT, CLIMB IT!
He's also starred in some amazing film roles like:
This Science teacher in a 5.9/10 1998 Disney Film.
But apparently that star role wasn't good enough for Greedy Ol' Bill,
So he decided to go and get another TV Show, 19 years later.
Bill Nye Saves the World tackles a lot of polarizing topics.
Like Climate, Artificial Intelligence, GMOs, Non-Binary Vaginas,
Aliens: not really sure how that last one saves the world, but you do you Bill.
I'm not making this video to talk about the topics themselves,
Because frankly, there's so much bewildering shit going on with the show itself
that'd I'd be doing you a bit of a disservice focusing on anything else.
So to lay the scene: What got me interested in the show was that a few years back,
Bill Nye held a live debate with Ken Ham.
Throughout the discussions, Bill Nye had an impressively well-researched and articulated presentation,
without coming off as condescending or personal.
Contrast this with Ken Ham, who...
Ken Ham: When we look at their technology and we can't even understand today, how they did some of the things that they did.
Who says Noah couldn't build a big boat?
FUNKe: You know, took a DIFFERENT position.
I was so impressed with the way Bill conducted himself, that I was legitimately hyped up for his eventual new TV Show.
It was kind of like a spiritual successor to the original show that made science class FUN,
but now it would treat its audience on an eye-to-eye level, and provide a non-biased, objective discussion on important world topics.
Ughhh, Only, to my dismay, the show wasn't that. At all.
And that's what I really want to talk to you about today.
Number One: PRESENTATION.
The presentation of this show is constantly a conflict with its target demographic.
This show is intended for people with opposing ideologies, in an attempt to persuade them into understanding other perspectives on the topic.
If you don't believe in global warming, this show is supposed to convince you why you should worry about it.
If you're worried about the effects of GMOs, this show is supposed to convince you why they're beneficial.
Sounds great, right?
WRONG
Because the show heavily favors sitting around, jerking themselves off, discussing their side of the argument, and minimizing discussion of the opposing side as much as they can.
They have these panels of professionals who sit around discussing the topic,
but the SECOND somebody with a conflicting opinion tries to talk, Bill Nye just...
Shhhhh.... Shhh Shh Shh... Shhhh.
Take this one guy, who is just trying to defend crystal therapy, and Bill Nye ends the entire panel to shut him up.
Crystal Therapy Guy: ...And I think crystals, if you go to places like Cydona, then sit on a crystal bed, and if you are like in a...
Bill Nye: I've been to Cydona. Dude, I'm like picking up what you're putting down, and I'm not seeing it.
Thanks you guys, very much.
(Audience Clapping)
FUNKe: Like what's the point of even having them there, if you aren't gonna left them explain their justification of their stance?!
Who are you going to persuade by sitting around fuckin' jacking yourselves off?
I'll give the show one thing: sometimes they do demonstrations with the intention to disprove certain myths and arguments,
But this leads the show to the next problem:
Number Two: It's just really AWKWARD.
The show is just really, really uncomfortable to watch sometimes.
In the original Bill Nye, every single movement and action that somebody made was dubbed with a cartoon sound effect.
In this show, it feels like they intended to do that, but they just forgot to edit it in.
There are these big, long, awkward silences...
Bill Nye: These guys disappeared!
(Awkward silence with very little laughter)
FUNKe: There are moments of completely forced laughter...
Bill Nye: I.. I don't know...
Random Actor: Bill, let me talk to you for a second, just just... yeah, go over there. (Forced Laughter throughout this conversation.)
Bill Nye: How can we talk about BASEBALL? (Odd Laughter) For everybody watching overseas...
These guys... DISAPPEARED!
FUNKe: And 90% of the time, Bill just can't fucking help himself for making evil scientist voices.
Bill Nye: DNA is precipitating from the strawberry pulp! (Grunt) It's exciting!
ABACUS OF SEX
Pitchforks and Torches!
Yes, BWAHAHAHAHA! I'm sorry.
FUNKe: Which, in my opinion, is not a good way to present an argument.
And I can't blame the show this much for this next thing, but sometimes jokes just fall completely flat.
And sometimes, Bill will 180 the silence, and it's pretty funny.
Bill Nye: I like rubbing alcohol which.... I keep on ice.
Huh..
FUNKe: But other times, it makes me feel awkward that I have to sit there through it all.
Bill Nye: Just a.. little bit of cold isopropyl a... shmink, as I like to say.
FUNKe: Having an awkward, unpolished presentation for your show is alright, but it suffers a lot more from its next problem:
Number Thr- PACING.
The show can never quite decide what speed it wants to be going.
Every episode it splits into a bunch of different segments:
Bill providing an exposition on stage with a few visual examples,
Pre-recorded footage of a celebrity assistant doing a reporter's story of something related to the topic,
A discussion panel on the topic,
A Closure section, you get the idea.
But the pacing of every different segment is really weird, and conflicting, and doesn't really mesh well together.
Some story segments will be really slow and nice and mellow,
and suddenly it will cut to a Twenty second interview with a reporter,
and then they'll go to a five minute panel with experts that feels so compressed with them talking over each other and speaking fast.
Random Expert: You're looking for data. You're looking at it in terms of...
Bill Nye (over the Random Expert): I'm looking for beauty, in this case.
Random Expert: ...Human beings relate to media.
Bill Nye: One last thing for me.
Random Expert 2: Showed up and said, *knocking* "Um, you wanna kill people?" to the person who had that twitterbot handle,
And they said "I had no idea it would do this."
FUNKe: The most interesting part of the show, to me, was the pre-recorded segments.
And that's even more perplexing, because most of them are completely different from the rest of the show.
Some of them would have been better off as a separate YouTube video,
Some of them are like The Office and Tim and Eric having a love child...
(Screaming)
(Huffing, Puffing, Trying to blow her house down)
And now I would like to talk about the final problem I have with this show:
Number Five: Tone
Is tone the same as presentation? I'm not sure.
Either way, Tone.
The show has a very condescending tone towards its audience, almost like it already expects you to be on its side with every argument,
which doesn't make sense, because the entire point of the show is to convince people, and not belittle them,
almost every segment centering around opposing arguments is filled with mocking laughter and Jim Halpert faces.
Which, you know, is fine if that's the thing you're going for but I'm almost certain it wasn't intended.
At a certain point in the show, somebody literally stands on the stage and tries to teach you about cultural appropriation, while belittling you for being a white person.
The Belittler: ...lot So I'm gonna come out and say it, white people. White people. It's not entirely your fault white people.
(Sorry I'm White video starts playing in the background)
Stop convincing white people it is real! You know how gullible they are! You know they just wanna (inaudible) ... Chinese tramp stamps...
But this happens a lot, so I'm gonna come out and say it. White people, I love you, but stop using Asian Wallpaper for street cred.
I see what you're doing, and it's stupid.
FUNKe: And here's the thing about cultural appropriation as a basic concept:
It's not a bad thing, it's not even a good thing. It's just what culture is.
Cultures adapt based on existing cultures.
When Eh-van-galion, Ey-Van-Jellion, Ey-Van-Jelly?
When Evangelion used a lot of Christian Symbolism despite nobody working on it being Christian, it was because they thought it looked cool.
And guess what? Nobody gave a shit they did, it was a fucking good series.
But the second I put a dreamcatcher on my wall,
OH SHIT, YOU CAN'T DO THAT!
NATIVE AMERICANS ARE OPPRESSED!
I know it's a more complex topic than that, and frankly I don't have any place to bring it up, but I really can't be fucked to make this thing more controversial,
I just don't like being verbally punished for being a white guy, that's all!
If you think it ends there, No sir, we haven't even cracked the ice.
Get ready for THE SEXUALITY EPISODE.
Let me preface this by saying: You can be whatever you want, you can fuck whatever you want, I don't give a shit one way or the other.
But Save the World treads on this topic really... oddly.
What's oddly? I'm glad you asked, disembodied voice!
How about an ice cream themed metaphor for sexual orientation?
How about an ice cream themed metaphor for persuading a straight white male into an orgy?
This is fun, right guys? Nothing adult about this topic!
I understand the metaphor, it's pretty cute.
Vanilla is a straight white guy who thinks it's wrong to be anything else, and everyone else tries to convince him they can't choose what flavor they are.
But don't you think convincing the straight, white ice cream that he's actually Neapolitan is a bit heavy to put on your target demographic?
And also, you know, fuckin' awkward to watch. But I guess we're well past that point, aren't we?
We're also gonna ignore the fact that they basically re-created the end of Sausage Party, but you know, whatever.
Another honorable mention for this show's track record is its theme song, which is pretty... eh.
(Bill Nye Saves the World theme song plays)
Hearing the original Bill Nye intro got me so fucking hyped for class.
(Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill Nye the Science Guy!)
Hearing the new one makes me think, "Oh god, here comes Franken-Nye!"
Franken-Nye: Pitchforks and Torches!
FUNKe: I got no problems with Tyler the Creator, but it's just the most basic fucking beat and repeat song
The entire song just loops itself for a minute straight.
(Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Save the world... Save the world...)
That's Bill Nye Saves the World everybody. I'd cover more, but honestly the show really doesn't change much throughout its runtime.
Just Thirteen episodes of Bill Nye making evil voices,
Bill Nye: SEX!
FUNKe: and guest panels that last 15 seconds.
I will say there's a lot of cringe value in it! And if you can get past that, there's some legitimate entertainment value in it too,
But overall, I just think the song and dance number about a person's vagina is probably the point where I'm calling it quitting time.
(TV Shutoff noise)
(Turtleneck Cover by OZMA plays)