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Ask 'Junkyard Wars Diva' Cathy Rogers
Junkyard Wars (and the British Scrapheap Challenge) have long been popular with Slashdot readers. Now Cathy is co-host of a new show, Full Metal Challenge, that also involves teams building strange machines out of this and that. Take a look at this 'Cathy' fan site (and possibly her less interesting official biography), then ask away. (Usual Slashdot interview rules.)
What was your reason for leaving JYW? Was there a specific reason, or was it just time to move on?
Out of all the teams that competed over the years, did you have a particular favorite team in terms of either technical innovation, work ethic or oddball team members? Which team do you feel was the "best (cough, Long Brothers, cough) overall Junkyard Wars team?
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Side questions: what did you play in the band and what sort of music did the band play?
Was there a "vision" for these shows - an overriding philosophical reason to make them - like getting kids interested in science, pushing the boundaries of tech, enhancing popular understanding of engineering principles? Or did the game show part of the show come first and a realization of their value later?
What's the coolest thing you've ever built yourself? Or, what's the coolest thing you've ever tried to build yourself?
Watching on TV, it often seems that the expert provides some good initial insight into a problem, but then often becomes superflous. Sitting through many hours of actually watching the challenges unfold. How valuable were the experts in comparison to teams with general inventiveness?
Was there much difference between UK and US teams on Junkyard Wars? Did they have notably different attitudes or approaches?
rOD.
Rod Begbie done this, and he's not
Which of the various co-hosts you've worked with over the years are your favorites? Least favorites? Did you ever just want to smack the crap out of the "punkins, punkins, punkins" guy?
Some men spend their entire lives trying to kill themselves for having been born. --Ross MacDonald
You have said in the past that it would be good to have an all female team, but as yet, we haven't seen this.
Why do you think so few women are interested in technology?
I see that your interests include both music and science. Do you find that those interests complement eachother, or are they often conflicting? Who are your musical role models?
How much testing goes on off screen?
For example, the episode where participants had to build a diving bell, descend to the bottom of a small pond, and retrieve a chest of gold.
I don't believe that this was not tested off camera, if for no other reason solely to insure you didn't inadvertantly end up making a snuff episode.
Same thing goes for pretty much any device where explosives were used, or even the airplanes.
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I do love watching Junkyard wars, but something always bugged me - Why is there the turnover in hosts for the show? It seems that each season has a brand new host for a show that I'd think most hosts would like to stay on in order to achieve name branding.Is there something going on behind the scenes? Power plays? Or is it just cursed to have a new host for each season?
_ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
Cathy,
What are some of the challenges that were rejected for the show, and why (too dangerous, too easy, too hard to do in 10 hours, etc)?
BTW, love the show, and glad to see you back on US TV with FMC....
So, what's your favorite screwdriver tip ?
If you don't understand anything I post, please accept that I ate paste as a small boy...
Just because he lifts weights, doesn't mean he's dumb?
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
If Cathy and John Carmack ever got together, their children would rule the world like gods!
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
I KNOW Henry Rollins. It is obvious that you are an idiot troll and are also totally clueless about Rollins and his work. Rollins is NOT a, quote: "muscleheaded retard". In fact, he is one of the most intelligent and sensitive individuals I have ever met.
Is a person who not only is physically but mentally fit, in spite of being 40, an impossibility? Were you dropped on your head a few too many times by jocks in High School?
Why don't you sit down and actually WATCH some footage of Rollins doing his spoken-word stuff? Someone dubbed him a "Stand-up Poet" and that's actually pretty close to the mark. He's FUNNY. He's clever. He's sensitive, amazingly enough.
I also know I'm being trolled, that I've lost, and I should have a nice day. But man, when someone who is of your acquaintance who you know to NOT be a "muscleheaded retard", you have to respond. Rollins is a national treasure. I'm glad he's successful. You, sir, are obviously jealous of his status.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Extra credit: Do you prefer mousse or gel?
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
Cathy, One of the best parts of Junkyard Wars was all the humour, I found many things to laugh at in each episode, especially when the hosts were talking to the teams about their plans going awry. My question is, what was your favourite funny moment in the whole series? And as a side question, because he's just too funny, what was your favourite moment involving Robert Llewellyn?
Thanks,
-stu.
Cathy,
Junkyard Wars is the only show I watch on TV - my girlfriend tapes it each week, and we watch it together later. Over the years, we've noticed some unfortunate trends in the format of the show.
In the earlier Scrapheap Challenge episodes, two teams competed against each other for the entire season, and we got to know and love them. Each episode dealt with a basic scientific or mechanical process (hydraulics, bridge building, etc), and a good bit of the airtime actually focused on the science involved.
In later seasons, and especially this season, the teams almost always have a gimmick - usually a flamboyant leader who dyes his hair or gets in fights with the other team. The challenges are almost always car-oriented, and most of the airtime deals with cutting down the cars to make them lighter. There's very little explanation of the science behind the challenge, and the difference between the two vehicles is usually just "light and fast vs. big and heavy". Several of the shows this year have devolved into "bumper cars" matches as both teams realize their design works better as a battering ram than as their original plan intended.
We find ourselves getting less excited about the shows, and suspect others have lost interest as well. So, my question for you is: How do you feel about the way Scrapheap Challenge and Junkyard Wars have evolved over the years? If you had complete control over the way the show is run today, what would you change?
Thanks for entertaining and educating us over the years, and best of luck with Full Metal Challenge!
Of course they seed the yard. You don't just find rolls of mylar film lying around when you are looking for a balloon skin.
Ever noticed how they also always take two different approaches to solve the same problem? I would argue that a more interesting question is
"Do the teams get to pick which of the two solutions they implement or is it assigned by the producer"
"The first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is stop digging."
I thought it amusing that the team found a roll of mylar in the trunk of some junker when they were building an airship.
It seemsed to me that the teams would submit an idea prior to being cast. Once a team was selected, they already knew what they were going to build, and the basics were then planted around the junkyard.
I'm just waiting for the team that submits an idea involving a Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 turbofan. Yep, that's over there next to the '82 Fiat.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
Cathy,
First, you ROCK! . Thanks for creating the only worthwhile TV in a long time.
After watching a Junkyard Wars marathon last year, I realized that you're a female version of Buckaroo Banzai. You both play in a rock band, you both have PhD's, you both appear on TV, and you both have a fascination with science. About the only difference is that he's a surgeon and you're a nurse.
Did you purposely set out to become a real-life comic book hero, or was it just fate?
"Did Henry Rollins read you any of his poetry? If yes, how did you make him stop?"
Cathy,
A lot of people don't realize that not only do you work on all of these shows, you help conceive the initial ideas behind them. How do you do it? Did you just one day have an idea and present it to a network, or did you work from the inside to have your concepts realized? What in your past got you interested in the whole build things from junkyard parts concept?
Have any (and if so, which) of the constructs ever made you fear for your own life? I'm surprised none of them have ever had a major meltdown that sent the crews fleeing the scene.
Have you found any differences between the contestants in different iterations of the show? Speaking as an American who spent part of his youth in England, I find the British contestants much more entertaining, insightful and engaging. Was it easier to work with any particular group? Were there any contestants that made the show difficult?
Coupla concepts here to chew on, junior:
1. Had you written "black" or "Jewish" instead of "40+" in your post, you would have been mod'd down somewhere approximate to Dante's 8th Ring. Of course, since you're obviously young and hip, you probably don't think of yourself as prejudiced as some tobacco-chawin' no-neck Cracker. Here's a Newsflash, Moby -- You are.
2. Even without his celebrity, his published poetry, and his status as a Famous Rock Star, Henry Rollins would still be getting way more girls than you, 'cause he's good-looking and erudite. It's a TV Show, Milton, not a University intranet feed. Viewers like good-looking and erudite. The producers can hire the Long brothers or Stephen Hawking to write the damn thing if they're afraid of losing the SlashDot crowd.
3. And finally.... [eek!] Hey, errm, Seth, I just clicked on your webpage. Forget I said anything, kid. You've obviously got a lot on your mind, saving the world and all. Never mind! (Just don't set me on fire, 'kay? Please?)
[walks out of forum, slowly, backwards, hands where all can see them, smiling sweetly...]
As a musician, what do you think of the music industry these days, specifically about the slave-labor-like recording contracts, industry ownership of copyrights, Peer-to-peer song sharing (MP3s), and the current fruitless atempts to copy-protect CDs?
Is there anything that you can do in your current position to help change any of that to the betterment of recording artists and consumers everywhere?
Ok, it was two questions. So sue me! ;-)
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
I like the show, I've probably seen 10 or 11 episodes, usually in the company of several friends. Every time, we ponder the oddity of your clothing selections; the shiny-skirt-over-pants thing looks completely bizarre to us, is this a common look in England (wasn't the last time I was there)? did you come up with this on your own? is that a toolbelt-skirt?
.sig :)
I'm really really surprised that noone has asked about this yet, and I really want to know; what's the motivation?
--theLime
(here comes the inappropriate
The original Scrapheap Challenge teams (British) seemed genuinely likeable and didn't resort to theatrics or pointless posturing, concentrating more on what they were doing and the end result.
Once the American episodes began to be produced, the teams really seemed terribly obnoxious and offputting. The "Young Guns" teams is of particular note in this regard. In fact, the team behaviors began to become so bad that my freinds and I simply stopped watching.
Was there any pressure from the American side to introduce more conflict into the show, or was the change simply the nature of the American teams?
* As is generally the case, my opinions do not reflect those of my employer.
In Junkyard Wars, an expert in the area of the challenge is assigned to each team. I can not think of a time when the two experts "came up" with the same approach to the challenge (i.e. if you have to build a sub, both experts decide to use pressurized air). More often, the experts come up with differing approaches (one uses pressurized air, the other uses paddles). Is this by design in the selection of the experts, a pre-taping decision of the director, a flip of the coin, or what? Once it would be fun to see if the two teams build on a similar design and the team itself (not the predeemed methodology) decides the winner.
Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
I heard that you contacted Henry Rollins yourself to co-host the show with you. What made you choose him specifically? Are you a fan of his music/spoken word, a friend, or what? (I think you made a good choice, btw, Rollins has the kind of brash yet intelligent personality that fits this kind of show.)
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