Bill Nye the Science Guy

Bill Nye the Science Guy
A shot of the opening sequence.
Starring	Bill Nye, Suzanne Mikawa, Ivyann Schwan, Jaffar Smith , Pat Cashman, et al.
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	100
Production
Executive producers	Elizabeth Brock, Erren Gottlieb, James McKenna
Producer	Bill Nye
Running time	26 minutes
Original release
Network	PBS
Release	September 10, 1993 – October 3, 1997

Bill Nye the Science Guy was an Emmy Award-winning educational television program, hosted by Bill Nye. The show aired on PBS syndication for a brief time. It still airs on some educational PBS stations as part of the itv schedule. Each of the 100 episodes aims to teach a specific topic in science to a preteen audience. The show is frequently used in schools. KCTS of Seattle and Buena Vista Television (now known as Disney-ABC Domestic Television) produced the show. The show ran about the same time as and covered similar topics to Beakman's World. He made an appearance on the Disney Channel's New Mickey Mouse Club in its forty-eighth episode Anything Can Happen Day. His latest show is called Stuff Happens. It only appears on the Planet Green network on cable.

Bill Nye the Science Guy has been likened to a modern Mr. Wizard. Bill's TV person is a tall and slender scientist wearing a lab coat and a bow-tie. He mixes the serious science of everyday things with fast-paced action and humor. Each show begins with Bill walking onto the set, called "Nye Labs", which is filled with scientific visuals (including many "of science" contraptions announced dramatically, such as "The slingshots of Science!") relevant to the topic of the show. Each show has a mock music video in the "Soundtrack of Science" by "Not That Bad Records", substituting a scientific roundup of the episode for the lyrics to a popular song. Each show ends with Bill explaining his departure in a clever description of an activity on topic. The credits sometimes rolled next to a series of outtakes from the episode. Other times, outtakes are shown at the time they actually happened.

Another popular member of the cast is the announcer Pat Cashman, whom Nye knew from his time on Almost Live!. Some announcers who subbed in for Cashman include Ernie Anderson, Gary Owens, and Brian Cummings. In 1996, Bill made a guest appearance on Cartoon Network (United States)'s talk-show Space Ghost Coast to Coast in its twenty-fourth episode,Boo! with Michael Norman. A year later, he made a guest appearance on the long-running PBS series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

List of episodes

Episodes

Season	Episode number	Episode name	"Soundtrack of Science" Video / Real artist (in bold)
1	1	Flight	Nyevana - Smells Like Air Pressure / Nirvana "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
	2	Earth's Crust	Magmadonna - Crust / Madonna "Vogue"
	3	Dinosaurs	J.C. - Mr. Dino / Arrested Development "Mr. Wendal"
	4	Skin	No music video
	5	Buoyancy	Sure Floats-alot - Bill's Got Boat / Sir Mix-a-Lot "Baby Got Back"
	6	Gravity	Attraction Action - G-R-A-V-I-T-Y / 2 Unlimited "Twilight Zone"
	7	Digestion	Dy Gestion - Can't Eat This / Public Enemy - Can't Truss It
	8	Phases of Matter	Phaze Change - Solid Liquid Gas / Digable Planets "Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)"
	9	Biodiversity	Bio Di Versity - We're Call Connected / Stereo MC's "Connected"
	10	Simple Machines	The Pulley Ramp Five - ABC's of Machinery / The Jackson Five "ABC"
	11	The Moon	The Lunatics - Moon Cycle
	12	Sound	Gloria Wavelength and the Vibrations - Sound is a VIBE / Gloria Gaynor "I Will Survive"
	13	Garbage	Trash E. Trash - R.E.C.Y.C.L.E. / Aretha Franklin "Respect"
	14	Structure	Stress N' Tension - Let's Talk About Stress / Salt-n-Pepa "Let's Talk About Sex"
	15	Earth's Seasons	A Tilted Development - Rhyme and Season
	16	Light & Color	The Bent Wavelengths - Light and Colour
	17	Cells	Mighty Chondria - Celluar Haze / Jimi Hendrix "Purple Haze"
	18	Electrical Current	Billy Ray Cyrcuits - AC/DC Charge / Billy Ray Cyrus "Achy Breaky Heart"
	19	Outer Space	Elve Centuri - Celestial Hotel / Elvis Presley "Heartbreak Hotel"
	20	Eyeball	The Eye Doctors - Two Eyes / The Spin Doctors "Two Princes"
2	21	Magnetism	N.S. Cool J. - Opposites Attract
	22	Wind	Wind Dee - Wind Is In Your Hair / Deee-Lite "Groove Is In The Heart"
	23	Blood and Circulation	AB+ - Blood Stream / The B-52's "Love Shack"
	24	Chemical Reactions	Chemical Reactions - Don't Try This at Home
	25	Static Electricity	The Sticky Socks - Static Electricity / The Vapors "Turning Japanese"
	26	Food Web	Food Webby Web - (It's The) Food Web / Snoop Dogg "Who Am I (What's My Name)?"
	27	Light Optics, Bending, and Bouncing	Queen Lighteefa - B.E.N.T. / Queen Latifah "U.N.I.T.Y."
	28	Bones and Muscles	Steppenbone - Bones in my Body / Steppenwolf "Born to be Wild"
	29	Oceans	Gulfstream Girls - Deep Ocean Currents / Beach Boys "California Girls"
	30	Heat	LeHot - LeHeat / Chic "Le Freak"
	31	Insects	UB Buggy - Jah Mon, Insects Rule
	32	Balance	Torquer - Balance This / Cracker "Get Off This"
	33	Sun	Deep Yellow - My Favorite Star
	34	Brain	En Lobe - Whatta Brain / En Vogue with Salt-n-Pepa "Whatta Man"
	35	Forests	John Cougar Loggincamp - Second Growth
	36	Communication	Mary Chapin Communicator - How Can We Communicate / Mary Chapin Carpenter "He Thinks He'll Keep Her"
	37	Momentum	Momentisey - The Faster You Push Me / Morrissey "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get"
	38	Reptiles	No music video - the commercial-free PBS version of the episode, however, had a brief spoof of Foreigner's "Hot Blooded" entitled "Cold Blooded", which appeared a couple times throughout the episode. All but one very brief glimpse of this song appears in the Disney edit.
	39	Atmosphere	Warm -n- Wetta - Fresh Aire
	40	Respiration	Ali Veoli - What A Pair
3	41	Planets and Moons	No music video
	42	Pressure	PSI Garden - Pressure / Soundgarden "Spoonman"
	43	Plants	Rhoda Dendron - Cross Pollination / Björk "Human Behaviour"
	44	Rocks and Soil	Sedimentary Fools - Rocks Rock Harder
	45	Energy	The ERG's - N-R-G / Beastie Boys
	46	Evolution	Evolver - Survival
	47	Water Cycle	J.A.C. - Water Cycle Jump / Kris Kross "Jump"
	48	Friction	Grace Slip - Friction Happens
	49	Germs	Does of Soap - Just Wash Your Hands / Ace of Base "Don't Turn Around"
	50	Climates	Climate Report - Whether the Weather / Lucas Secon "Lucas With The Lid Off"
	51	Waves	Big Amplitude - Baby I Love Your Wave / Big Mountain "Baby, I Love Your Way (Cover)"
	52	Ocean Life	James Baleen - Power To The Plankton / James Brown
	53	Mammals	Fake Fur - Jennifer's A Mammal / Suicidal Tendencies " Institutionalized"
	54	Spinning Things	House of Spin - Spin Around / House of Pain "Jump Around"
	55	Fish	Salmon Dave - I'm a Sole Man / Sam and Dave "Soul Man"
	56	Human Transportation	Carpoolio - Move Groove / Coolio "Fantastic Voyage"
	57	Wetlands	Maria and the Mudflaps - Where The Land is Wet
	58	Birds	LL Bloo J. - Talkin' Bout Birds
	59	Population	Shirell Crow - All We Need To Do / Sheryl Crow "All I Wanna Do"
	60	Animal Locomotion	Bjorn Turun - Loco Motion / Bush "Everything Zen"
4	61	Rivers and Streams	Talking Headwaters - Take Me To The River / Talking Heads "Take Me To The River"
	62	Nutrition	Knute Trishan - Good Food
	63	Marine Mammals	Marina Cesealia - Breathe Like Me / Dionne Farris "I Know"
	64	Earthquakes	Mistah Richter - Earthquake Rumble
	65	NTV Top 11 Video Countdown	Mudhoney - Bill Nye The Science Guy Theme
	66	Spiders	Foo Spighters - This is A Spiders Life / Foo Fighters "This Is a Call"
	67	Pollution Solutions	No music video
	68	Probability	Steven Odd - 50 Fifty / Beck "Loser"
	69	Pseudoscience	Dare L. Pseudo - Pure Proof / Crystal Waters - 100% Pure Love
	70	Flowers	Daisy Birdsenbees - So Many Flowers
	71	Archaeology	Mob Barley - Diggin' / Bob Marley "Jamming"
	72	Deserts	Deserette - Always Dry / Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know"
	73	Amphibians	P-Swamp All Stars with DJ Hoppy - The Amphidelic Mothership Metamorphisis / George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars
	74	Volcanoes	Volcanque - Lavaflows / TLC "Waterfalls"
	75	Invertebrates	S. Khar Go - Crawl Away / Janet Jackson "Runaway"
	76	Heart	Vinny Vein and the Pumpers - Gimme Back My Heart
	77	Inventions	En Vent and the Process - It's An 'ing Thing
	78	Computers	La Binary - One Zero 001 / La Bouche "Be My Lover"
	79	Fossils	Etchton Stone - Fossil Man / Elton John "Rocket Man"
	80	Time	The Tim E. Zone Experience - Time Time Time Time Time... / The Chambers Brothers "Time Has Come Today"
5	81	Forensics	Krime Seen - We Will Find You / Queen "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions"
	82	Space Exploration	The Space Princess of Galactic Grooviness - Planets All / Planet Soul "Set You Free"
	83	Genes	Alice in Genes - It's Called Genetics
	84	Architecture	The Artist Formerly Known as Archie T. - Makin' Plans / 311 "All Mixed Up"
	85	Farming	"Farm Food", Performed by The Presidents of the United States of America's Chris Ballew of "Peaches"
	86	Life Cycle	Roberta Fungi - Everything Has A Life Cycle / Roberta Flack "Killing Me Softly"
	87	Do-It-Yourself Science	Nye & The Family Crust - Do It Yourself Science / Squirrel Nut Zippers "Hell"
	88	Atoms and Molecules	Third Nye Blind - Atoms in My Life / Third Eye Blind "Semi Charmed Life"
	89	Ocean Exploration	The Posies "Voyage of the Aquanauts"
	90	Lakes and Ponds	The Foggy Boyz - Found of Lakes and Ponds / Bone Thugs-n-Harmony "Tha Crossroads"
	91	Smell	Turbinator Two - Come On Use Your Brain (Smell This) / Quad City DJ's "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)"
	92	Caves	Batilda & Guano - Cave Thing / Peaches & Herb "Shake Your Groove Thing"
	93	Fluids	Weflo - Drip it / Devo "Whip It"
	94	Erosion	Earth, Wind & Ice - Causing the Erosion
	95	Comets and Meteors	Halley Comet - Got Me Looking
	96	Storms	Mighty Might Thundertones - Stormin' / Mighty Mighty Bosstones
	97	Measurement	The Meter Men - Every Measurement You Make / The Police "Every Breath You Take"
	98	Patterns	Downward Spiral - Patterns of Joy / Prodigy
	99	Music	There's Science In Music / Richard O'Brien "The Time Warp"
	100	Motion	Slow Moe - All in Motion

Theme Song

Aside from Bill himself, one of the most memorable things about Bill Nye the Science Guy is its theme song. The bass-heavy theme is set to a Hip Hop beat with Bill's name shouted throughout the duration of the song. The sound and speed fluctuations of the voice were accomplished through a vocoder and electronic pitch fluctuator.

Production music

The show's episodes consisted of several compositions from Associated Production Music, some featured tracks include:

• "Act of Heroism (c)
• "Blood in the Gutter" by Laurie Johnson
• "Drama Impact #3"
• "The Gunfighter" by Ennio Morricone
• "Hit and Run" by Ralph Dollimore
• "Killer Birds" by Gregor Narholz
• "Saw Theme"

Many of these tracks were also featured in many Nickelodeon cartoons in the 90s.

Another common track used was the theme from the English show Dave Allen At Large, here used as the theme from "The Jackie Smazz Show."

Funding

• National Science Foundation (1993-1997)
• The Boeing Company (1995-1997)
• Ore-Ida (1996-1997)
• Intel (1995-1997)
• Corporation For Public Broadcasting (1993-1996)
• Viewers Like You (1993-1997)

See also

• The Eyes of Nye
• Almost Live!

External links

• Bill Nye, the Science Guy at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• Bill Nye, The Science Lab Official Site (billnye.com points to the same site)