Bones Had A Decapitation Mishap Behind The Scenes

Special effects shenanigans are to be expected on almost any police procedural. After all, these shows often involve unusual crime scene setups, many with some kind of gag involved. With 12 seasons and 246 episodes, the beloved Fox series "Bones" had plenty of time for a special effect to misfire, and in one spectacularly silly case, it caused a bit of a decapitation mishap! Don't worry, no one was hurt, just a little embarrassed. Just before "Bones" started to find its footing with a stellar fourth episode, there was "A Boy in a Tree," following Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz) and forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan (Emily Deschanel) as they investigate the remains of a teenage boy found hanging from a tree at a prestigious private school. The episode itself is decent enough, but behind-the-scenes things were just a little bit more difficult.

In the book "Bones: The Official Companion" by Hart Hanson and Paul Ruditis, one of the team behind the bones and gore of "Bones" shared a humorous story about his first day on set and how it went disastrously, head-rollingly wrong.

In the episode, the forensics team is looking up at the hanging corpse when the neck finally gives way, dropping both head and body to the ground for a spectacular jump scare. The special effects team had to create a fake body that would look realistic dropping, in addition to some kind of rig to make it drop on command. Special effects makeup team co-lead Chris Yagher explained that unfortunately, things didn't go quite as planned:

"We met with the special effects department a few days before shooting and discussed placing a remote controlled latch in the head and neck. Upon activation, the latch was supposed to disconnect the head from the neck, allowing the head to fall off. As the cameras rolled on the day of shooting, the special effects technician pressed the button –- and nothing happened. We tried it again, and again. Nothing happened. Of course, this mishap was not how we wanted to introduce ourselves to the rest of the crew!"

Some things can be explained away with first-day jitters, but in this case, it's just a case of technology being glitchy. It happens! Thankfully, the team figured out a different rig where they had a hidden cable directly connected to the latch, allowing them to just yank it and force the latch open manually when directed to do so. That rig worked perfectly, and gag went off without a(nother) hitch. 

Despite running for 12 seasons, "Bones" was almost always in danger of being cancelled, and it taught the people making the show to roll with the punches. As early as that accidental de-decapitation, the cast and crew were ready to try a plan B (or C or D) to make things work. Heck, a scene in the pilot totally changed the dynamic of the series, making it more of a romance between Bones and Booth based on the chemistry between the two leads. The show's writers were also big fans of using social media to help them determine how the audience felt about different characters and storylines, adapting based on reactions within the fandom. 

By being malleable and willing to find unique solutions, the folks who made "Bones" were able to keep it going strong for over a decade, finding even more fans after the series ended and it began streaming online. Maybe more networks should take a page from their book and let shows have a chance to change and react instead of just cancelling everything after one season... Oh well, at least we have lots of "Bones" to love.