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Junkyard Wars ROCKED
What’s better than watching geeks at play?
I miss Junkyard Wars. During its hey day, it was my favorite show on the Discovery Channel. I loved its spirit, the sheer geekiness, and the aspirational value. I talked to a good friend about applying to compete. Not to win, necessarily, but simply to enjoy the process.
The thought of being in a junkyard full of stuff and be challenged to build, say, a hovercraft was like a geek’s wet dream. I was deeply saddened when the show was cancelled.
While there were other shows that appealed to the geek in me, such as Mythbusters, Junkyard Wars was special.
Of course, it’s a competition. So what?
The most important aspect is the creativity involved. I think many of the competitors got this, because you’d sometimes see them help each other out.
You see, in Junkyard Wars, being smart was necessary but not sufficient. Teamwork was also important. Not in an extroverted, in-your-face, marketing-type way, but more in a division of labor and bouncing ideas off each other way. While geeks can be introverted, the show proved they can work well together. One reason they are often good teammates is you can rely on them to do their job. In fact, a good geek is quite OCD about this.
