Theme music composer Mike Greene | ||
 | ||
Created by Bill NyeJames McKennaErren Gottlieb Starring Bill NyeChais DeanSuzanne MikawaIvyann SchwanJaffar Smith Opening theme "Bill Nye the Science Guy" | ||
Bill Nye the Science Guy is an American half-hour live action science program that originally aired from September 10, 1993, to June 20, 1998, and was hosted by Bill Nye. The show aired on PBS and was also syndicated to local stations. The show aired for a total of 100 half-hour episodes spanning over five seasons.
Contents
Format
Nye's TV persona is a tall and slender scientist wearing a blue lab coat and a bow-tie. He combines the serious science of everyday things with fast-paced action and humor. Each half-hour show begins with a cold open, where Nye was introducing the episode's topic, which leads into an opening credit sequence, as Nye is seen floating through a montage of science images. In later seasons, the theme song was cut short by a static screen. After the opening credits, announcer Pat Cashman would say "Brought to you by...", in which a product name was related to the episode's topic, followed by Nye walking onto the set, called "Nye Laboratories", which is filled with scientific visuals including many "of science" contraptions announced dramatically, relevant to the topic of the episode. Parodies of movies and television shows configure the facts of the episode's topic. Guest appearances were featured on Bill Nye the Science Guy, such as Jenna von Oÿ, Robin Leach, John Ratzenberger, Ross Shafer, Graham Kerr, Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert, Bob Ross, Richard Karn, Candace Cameron, Alfonso Ribeiro, Sinbad, Nate McMillan, Mudhoney, Christopher Walken, and Samuel L. Jackson. Each episode also featured Nye in diverse places, focusing on the episode's topic.
There are several individual segments that are featured in each episode, such as "Way Cool Scientist", which features an expert on the episode's topic, "Consider the Following", where Nye discusses a certain aspect of the episode's topic, "Nifty Home Experiment", where the audience is shown how to do a simple home experiment relating to the episode's topic, "Try This", where the audience is shown how to try a simple demonstration relating to the episode's topic, "Hey! Look at This", where the expert shows us how to give us a closer look by relating to the episode's topic, "Check it Out", where the audience is shown how to affect their environmental issues by relating to the episode's topic, "Clever Science Trick", where the audience is shown how to do a simple science trick relating to the episode's topic, and "Did you know that...", where an interesting factoid related to the episode's topic was presented. "Luna Van Dyke, Private Detective" was one of the recurring segments on the show. The segments feature private detective Luna Van Dyke focusing on the story that is related to the episode's topic.
Most half-hour episodes contain a mock song parody and music video in the "Soundtrack of Science" by "Not That Bad Records". "Not that bad" is a catchphrase that Nye will often say in those episodes, substituting a scientific roundup of the episode for the lyrics to a popular song. This is usually the last segment of each episode. Each half-hour show ends with Nye saying, "Well, that's our show. Thanks for watching. If you'll excuse me, I've got some..." before explaining his departure in a clever description of an activity on topic, followed by him saying "See ya!" afterwards. After that, a female announcer says "Produced in association with the National Science Foundation". The credits sometimes rolled next to a series of outtakes from the episode. Other times, outtakes are shown at the time they actually happened.
Soundtrack
The show's theme song is written by Mike Greene. The lyrics mostly repeat the title of the show itself, saying "Bill Nye the Science Guy" in a male voice, which comes across a bass-rhythm line, and the show's theme song is set to a house beat, where the number is punctuated by repeating the word "Bill!" as a percussive shout. The sound and speed fluctuations of the voice were accomplished through a vocoder, and electronic pitch fluctuation.
Production
Co-created by Bill Nye, James McKenna and Erren Gottlieb, the show was produced by McKenna/Gottlieb Producers, Inc, in partnership with KCTS-TV Seattle, and distributed by Buena Vista Television, a division of Disney. Nye, McKenna and Gottlieb all met while McKenna was a producer on Almost Live!, a comedy show in Seattle.
The announcer was Pat Cashman, whom Nye knew from his time on Almost Live!. The theme song is credited to Yourself.
Before this show, Nye had previously worked alongside Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future: The Animated Series, where he played Doc Brown's assistant and demonstrated several experiments.
The show has been likened to the next generation version of Watch Mr. Wizard. The show ran about the same time as and covered similar topics to Beakman's World, in fact sharing one crew member, editor/writer/director Michael Gross.
The show has been primarily funded by the National Science Foundation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the annual financial support from the viewers/stations of PBS. Other funding sponsors included Ore Ida, The Boeing Company, and Intel.
Episodes
100 half-hour episodes were produced.
Season 1 (1993-1994)
Season 2 (1994-1995)
Season 3 (1995)
Season 4 (1995-1997)
Season 5 (1997-1998)
Awards
During its run, Bill Nye the Science Guy was nominated for 23 Emmy Awards, winning nineteen.
Daytime Emmy Awards
Home media
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the series in its entirety on DVD, as part of the series' 20th anniversary. In the United Kingdom, it was distributed on VHS by ViewTech, Bristol.
As of May 17, 2015, a 31 episode collection is available for streaming on various platforms through Netflix.
The same set of 31 episodes is also available for purchase on the iTunes Store, though they have been split into two separate volumes; one containing 14 episodes and the other containing 17 episodes.
Video game
A computer game based on the series, titled Bill Nye the Science Guy: Stop the Rock!, was released in 1996 for Windows and Macintosh by Pacific Interactive.
In the game, a large meteoroid called "Impending Dumé" threatens to make a catastrophic collision with the Earth. A team of scientists develop a laser satellite-controlling computer system called MAAX (Meteoroid and Asteroid Exploder) to destroy the meteoroid; however, MAAX develops a personality of its own and refuses to save the planet unless Earth's scientists can solve seven science riddles. Nye Labs decides to take on MAAX's challenge, and the player, depicted as the newest member of the Nye Labs team, is asked to solve these riddles using Nye Labs' equipment before Impending Dumé hits (represented through an in-game timer). The game featured a fully explorable Nye Labs, as well as video cut scenes featuring Nye and other Nye Labs scientists. However, the characters and cast members from the TV series, sans Nye and a few others, do not appear in this game, instead being replaced by game-exclusive Nye Labs team members and new actors.
Syndication
Starting in 2016, reruns of Bill Nye the Science Guy have been aired on MeTV on Sunday mornings.