Will The Next 'MacGyver' Be An Indian Woman?
With all his homemade gadgets and cool scientific tricks, MacGyver is an engineering superhero.
Seriously. Who else could make a heart defibrillator out of candlesticks? Or blow up a jeep with mirrors and the sun?
Blow up a jeep with just mirrors and the sun? Sure. Especially if a shotgun is resting against the jeep.
YouTubeWell, MacGyver fans, sharpen your Swiss army knives and grab an extra roll of duct tape, because Mac may be back on TV. And the creators of the 1980s series are looking to the fans to design the new show and write the pilot script.
There's just one requirement: The new MacGyver has to be a woman. Yup, that's right. The 21st century Mac is female.
The creator of the original MacGyver, Lee Zlotoff, has teamed up with the National Academy of Engineering and top Hollywood TV producers to launch a crowdsourcing competition. Anyone around the world can submit ideas for the fictional character. Five winners will get the chance to work with a Hollywood producer to develop the character and write a pilot script.
That's all supercool. But at this point, you might be wondering why this story is on Goats and Soda. What does this have to do with the developing world?
Quite a lot, Zlotoff says. "As popular as MacGyver is in North America, it's even more popular around the world. MacGyver is huge in Brazil, huge in South America."
In particular, MacGyver's resourcefulness appeals to kids who grow up with little, Zlotoff says. "MacGyver doesn't use a lot of fancy technology to defeat the bad guy. He uses whatever is at hand. I think people found that very relatable."
Need a heart defibrillator? Just "Macgyver" it.
YouTubeMacGyver's ingenuity and problem-solving skills have inspired kids all over the world to go into engineering, Zlotoff says. He hopes these global Mac lovers will participate in The Next MacGyver competition.
"I think the exciting thing for us is that ideas and stories can come from all over the planet," says producer Lori McCreary of Revelations Entertainment.
McCreary produces the show Madam Secretary. She's also a computer scientist. She hopes the new series will be a chance to portray female engineers more realistically on TV.
"We put so many images [of women] out on TV and cable, and it's really up to us to start portraying people the way they actually are, not that old-fashioned idea of what we think they must be," McCreary says.
For instance, when you look at where in the world most of the new female engineers are, it's not the U.S. — but Asia.
In China, about 40 percent of engineers are women, compared with fewer than 20 percent in the U.S. And in India, the number of women in the engineering industry has been rising so fast that the head count (and percentage) has surpassed that in the U.S.
So could the new Mac be from Asia?
"I think the character could be from anywhere," McCreary says. "I love the idea of anyone, of any race, coming in and showing us what's possible."
So look out world, the 21st century MacGyver is on the horizon, and she's going to be unstoppable — as long as she has her duct tape.
The Next MacGyver competition starts Thursday and ends April 17.
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Transcript
KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
Now we'll turn to a TV legend. Gen-Xers, this one's for you. Can you name this theme song?
(SOUNDBITE OF "MACGYVER" THEME SONG)
MCEVERS: "MacGyver," the show about the secret agent who could get out of any jam with, you know, duct tape, a pocket knife and a paperclip. And now its creators are trying to bring the show back with a twist. Here's NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff.
MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF, BYLINE: With his homemade gadgets and scientific tricks, MacGyver is an engineering superhero. Seriously, who else can make a telescope out of a newspaper and a flashlight?
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MACGYVER")
RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON: (As MacGyver) It took the human race 3 million years to invent the telescope. I figure I had about 35 seconds.
DOUCLEFF: That's Richard Dean Anderson from the original series. And I love the time when Anderson, as MacGyver, blew up a Jeep with just a few mirrors and the sun.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MACGYVER")
ANDERSON: (As MacGyver) The trick is to heat up the ejector port. The gun oil is already smoking.
DOUCLEFF: Hearing those clips makes me want to go and do cool science. Lee Zlotoff is the creator of "MacGyver." He says kids all around the world had that same response to the show.
LEE ZLOTOFF: I literally cannot count the number of times that people have said to me I went into the sciences, I went into engineering, because of "MacGyver."
DOUCLEFF: That's a key reason that Zlotoff wants to bring "MacGyver" back, to inspire a whole new generation of kids, especially girls, because here's the twist - the new "MacGyver" is going to be a woman. Zlotoff has left the details about what this Ms. MacGyver is going to be like up to his fans. He has teamed up with the National Academy of Engineering to launch a crowdsourcing competition to get ideas for the new fictional character. Five winners will get the chance to help a Hollywood producer write a script for the new "MacGyver." Lori McCreary is both a judge and a producer in the competition. Her company, Revelations Entertainment, makes the show "Madame Secretary." McCreary says she hopes the crowdsourcing competition will bring fresh voices TV.
LORI MCCREARY: I think the exciting thing for us is that ideas and stories can come from all over the planet.
DOUCLEFF: Though they'll be engineering superhero stories, McCreary hopes some things will be realistic. For instance, when you look at where in the world most of the new women engineers are, it's not the U.S., but China and India. So could the new Mac be from Asia?
MCCREARY: Well, I think they could be from anywhere, and I love the idea of having anyone of any race come in and show us what's possible.
DOUCLEFF: So look out world. The 21st century "MacGyver" is on the horizon, and she's going to be unstoppable. Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF "MACGYVER" THEME SONG) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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