[11x03] May 14th, 2007

[Quiky]

No torrent talk(requests, comments, links) here.

Discuss the episode!

[paul007]

bordering on being as bad as the last series. What was that French crap all about ? What was the point ? The Bentley bit was pointless too. The best bit was Plato in the Beemer...and that was only a few seconds.

[RichW]

Good Shit!

Lexus Review! It parks itself!!!!
Smart Cars (Though the 12 hours thing was a rip off of James n Richards 24H in a For Four)
M5 Comp
Bentley GTC (Tiff is always good. Though they seem to get 2 of the thickest models for the job. One was scowling the whole time! Have to say not a huge amount of info on the car though



Bad Shit!
Cheapo Lexus (rip off of Clarksons S Class)
Birds into Windscreens (Rip off of Mythbusters)
Rendevous Recreation (Im so sick of VBH gurning and squeeking at the camera! First person to shoot her gets £1000) EDIT! Her Flabby stomach and her wrinkliy neck. Oh my God I think Im going ot be sick!!!
Christian o Connell - Bored of seeing this. Russ is God but its the same shite every time. A "celebrity" trying to handbrake turn

They are struggling a bit with this series. Nowhere near as bad as the last one. But they need to concentrate on new ideas. Not easy but IMO thats where they fall down. Direction is pretty good these days And the 4 guys Tiff, Jason Tom and Johnny are very good. Especially the chemisty between the later 2. So all the ingrediants are there. Just need making into a Cake.

[Cobol74]

I'm not quite so critical, OK show, not great but OK. I liked most of it actually, oh and the answer to the quiz is answer a.

[ahpadt]

The Lexus was awesome! Self parking!!!

The smart thing was a total rip off from top gears 24h in a fourfour..

[jack_christie]

Originally Posted by RichW

Bad Shit!
Cheapo Lexus (rip off of Clarksons S Class)
Birds into Windscreens (Rip off of Mythbusters)
Rendevous Recreation (Im so sick of VBH gurning and squeeking at the camera! First person to shoot her gets £1000)
Christian o Connell - Bored of seeing this. Russ is God but its the same shite every time. A "celebrity" trying to handbrake turn

Any show that gives away an M5 has to get the thumbs up

Thought Tom managed to do a good job on the the Cheapo Lexus. The weather station was cool

Birds into Windscreens was very lame. Even worse if you saw the Mythbusters version.

Can't have enough Russ, even if we have to suffer a little with another celeb knob.

Probably won't see much of Plato till after the BTCC

[awdrifter]

It's an ok ep. I quite liked the Smart review, too bad they showed off the most riced out tuned Smart. How about asking Brabas for one of their Smart, that would've been better. The LS460 review is ok, I didn't know it has that much gadgets, the lane keeping system is pretty cool. The Rendezvous remake really sucked, she needs to do it at a qiester time like in the early morning like th eoriginal, or even late night using a infered camera. It could be like "Late night tryst with a mistress". Anywys, it's much more watchable than the previous season, so I'm ok with that.

[Jacobfox]

I just hate how they're completely ripping off TG and Mythbuster eps that are more than a year old.
This show is not impressing me at all.

[ske]

I wonder when or if they'll realize they're not - and will never be - Top Gear. FG was at it's best when it was a bit dry and informative... The show had it's strengths that set them apart, but now it's just a poor imitation.

I really had my hopes up for this season as they got rid of mr Clueless, but I'm sad to say it's not getting much better at all... They just made VBH's lines even more annoying instead, which is almost worse since we know she can (could?) be a good presenter.

If I was to get my way, they'd go back to the nerdy "old" FG and just let Ford handle the comic relief. Stop trying to imitate TG and go back to being FG ffs... we liked that! This just isn't funny anymore

-------------------------------

My 2c on the episode itself:

Good stuff: Tom Ford (as usual). Although the old Lexus bit was pretty daft, it was better than what the other presenters could come up with. The cafe transitions are stupid and unnatural no matter who's doing them.

Bad stuff: Everything else (as usual). I usually enjoyed Plato's segments, too bad he's not getting any airtime. Tiff also used to be fun to watch as he really seemed to enjoy driving... but lately he comes off all cocky and his parts seem - to me at least - like meaningless ego trips.

That new guy can be good at times, but the Smart bit was just too much of a rip-off... I actually felt embarrassed watching it.

[ferret]

They are so wasting Johnny on bits like that Smart ripoff. He's charismatic, and can be interesting to watch. But how do they keep doing ripoffs? How does that conversation in the production office go? How can anyone suggest such a blantant ripoff segment without feeling like a complete fraud?

I know I couldn't have looked anyone in the eye and said "Let's put someone in the car for 12 hours. Sure, Top Gear did it, but it'll be fine."

At the very least, they could have done a more straight-up, proper road test and given up trying to be clever. That would have been better than removing all doubt that you have no imagination.

I'm not saying I could have come up with a better idea, but if you don't have a better idea, don't steal someone else's. It'll just make you look desperate.

That said, I'm glad to have *something* car related to watch in this long hiatus until Top Gear returns. And as long as they get something cool on each show (the Lexus stuff was pretty impressive), it's worth watching. Just wish it could be all great, instead of half-great.

[ske]

Originally Posted by ferret

desperate.

That word pretty much sums up what I feel about FG at the moment. Plato and Ford seem to be the ones keeping their cool at the moment... The new guy (Johnny whatshisname) is all right, he seems to be a bit confused and uneasy in front of a camera but I guess that's due to inexperience.

[narin]

OMG! this idea stealing stunt is really getting annoying.

[VUK]

As said before wtf would they copy tg so much? Its sad.

anyway!

Hope I win he M5!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LeMans GTR]

Yay ! your back !

[otispunkmeyer]

felt like a poor TG rip off

gadget laden lexus - gadget laden S-class
gadget lade lexus on the cheap - woodburning stove and tiled floor laden s-class
living in a fortwo - living in a forfour
tiffs hair test - the TG wig test

then you got russ swift, the man is a driving god for sure, but why 5th gear have to get idiots of questionable celebrity to do some basic manouvers is beyond me.

at least when they do this on TG its something more comical.... like old dears doing burnouts, or old men in a sprite vs young aisan youf's in a 300bhp pug 306, or fastest faith/political party and getting the legalize cannibis and monster raving looney party on the show.

vicki should be gagged.

and the best bit lol, i think it was johnys or maybe vicki's segment the camera crew in the van appear in the drivers window lol!

[pullox]

Last season i loved Tom Ford's reviews, but now he is not what he used to be, thanks GOD he wasn't so silly in the Lexus review and yeah self parking is old news. And the lane assist makes you look like you are drunk .

Ahh Johnny Johnny just keep it up, very good! HAHA last season when Tommy was reviewing some audi 4x4 the camera crew apeared and now the van..

Chickens on windscreens, oilless engine all that crap. They must stop with this Mythbusters/TG need for destruction!

Tiff was nice to see, even more with those chick, but it was for soo little time.

[jonimatix]

It wasn't the worst/best show ever but it was acceptable in my opinion...

[vRS]

The bitch squealed. Twice . That's 2pts out of my rating already

Tom - Awesome review, couldn't believe that it parked itself. Yes the old gadget one was a rip of TG but it was kinda cool.

Smart review - Crappy rip of the TG one, don't like the car either, think it looks worse than the old one. Johnny does give good reviews though.

Didn't watch the stunt because they are boring as hell in my opinion.

The Bentley segment was only good because the birds were fit. The car isn't as good looking as the coupe and I doubt its as fast either. It was a rip of TGs wig test or maybe even the comb over idea they had a few years ago.

Vikki's stupid video was a waste of time, the car was going to slow for the engine noises to make any sense whatsoever. and also when she got of the train her saggy stomach was visible

4/10, 2 pts deducted because she squealed. God I hate her now..... FG need to get some really bright idea for the new few episodes.

[tomppa]

Originally Posted by otispunkmeyer

felt like a poor TG rip off

gadget laden lexus - gadget laden S-class
gadget lade lexus on the cheap - woodburning stove and tiled floor laden s-class
living in a fortwo - living in a forfour
tiffs hair test - the TG wig test

Don't forget that the "12"-thing was seen on TG as the economic 24 hours in an Audi. Remember? It had the same graphics from the original 24 as well. And the chickens breaking glass was on Mythbusters a long time ago.

HOW CAN AN ENTIRE EPISODE BE A RIP-OFF? Fift gear should just be pitied for that...

[M3_Powered]

The best part was the M5 that we saw for about 40 seconds.
It was an Ok episode tho.