I have yet to be disappointed by anything Ricky Gervais does. That is, until this Christmas Special. I was so looking forward to this episode too!

I think a bit of Andy Millman started to leak into Ricky's brain (aaaahhhhh Riiiicky), as it felt like the very Hollywood movie Mr. Millman was whining about getting into all this time. The emotional cliches, the incidental music, the oh my gosh look at what fame does to you and how it affects the people you love! it was all there. Part of what made Extras and The Office such amazing series was their lack of background music (or very sparse, if any). It added a level of realism, like you were suffering right along with the characters. Very Ernest Hemingway! And there was just the right amount of emotion, believable emotion, not the kind that every other movie would have you feel. What am I trying to say... it felt like the emotions were forced on us, rather than us feeling them right along with the characters, in this special. But what about the jokes?! You didn't make any jokes, Andy... any new ones anyway! They all felt very forced and/or recycled. Also, are we just supposed to forget about that whole thing with Robert DiNiro?! I was under the impression that this special existed to tie up loose ends such as The Office specials did for that series.

Nitpicking aside, it wasn't all bad! I mean, I wasn't completely bored out of my mind watching it or anything. Like a lot of fellow viewers, I loved Andy's huge speech at the end about the film/tv industry. It made me cry. It made me cry a lot! I was bawling like a little girl. Very, very good speech, one of the best I've heard in a christmas special! It wasn't enough to make me forget the rest of the episode, however it was nice to end on a high note. And flying into the sea is such a cute idea! Penguins or flying fish, I love it!

Aaaanyway, you should definately watch it if you've seen the series. Just don't get your hopes up too much!

This was the best Mythbusters episode in quite some time. While I have enjoyed every episode they've put out, the recent ones seemed to be lacking a bit in enthusiasm (though I suspect that was mostly due to what myths they were working on). Also, with the exception of a brief Grant appearance, this episode was all Adam and Jamie. Tory and Kari have their moments, and are definately preferred to some of the previous build-team members, but for me Adam and Jamie are the best part of the show, and the reason I love watching it.

That being said, the steam cannon was something to be excited about. Was it possible to create a steam cannon with 2000 year old technology? They did only show one of two ancient designs, but the most likely reasons are a) design two was too similar to design one, b) design two was too vague to accurately recreate, or c) time limitations, probably in conjucture with a or b. And that's just fine with me, as we get more time to see Adam and Jamie's uber modern design in action.

The myth about the cereal box having more nutrition than the cereal itself had completely obvious results, but it was such a small part of the episode, that it didn't really detract too much, and provided a bit of comic relief between steam cannon builds.

Overall, an excellent episode.