[13x01] January 21st, 2008

[Explorerman]

That was just plain boring. It wasn't good or bad just boring. Ahh well at least it's something to watch until the very possible trainwreck that is "Gear" shows up on my screen.

[Aiolos]

This ep was kinda "meh" for me. The Black Series seemed kinda boring for some reason, Idk why. The 2CV thing was stupid. I think the series is trying to go in the right direction, and this was a small step in that direction. Let's hope they do a better job as the season progresses.

Originally Posted by blaznee

How to make it better? Let Plato do the shootout, Tiff the dreamcar and VBH the celeb part (Tiff is utterly wasted there - and VBH can instruct just as well). Johnny and Tom supply the wacky stuff and the info reviews.

I think you've got something there. I'm tired of Vicky's shootouts (though this one was the best in a while by FAR), I think Jason could spice em up more.

Tiff is definitely being wasted on celeb crap. Like Who the F*** cares?! Give it to VBH, as she was a racing driver and can do a good job herself.

[Redliner]

I liked it. I gave it a 6 because some parts were boring, but overall it was a good episode.
The shootout was very good! I liked those kind of cars, and Vicky seemed to be having a lot of fun.
The AMG was nice, but I don't care much for them anyway.
Johnny was a bit boring, which is a shame, because I usually like his reviews.
Extending the "It's new, but is it any good" was a mistake. Short segment with a bit on info and quick veredict is better.

Originally Posted by Austere

The celebrity segment in Fifth Gear is way better than the dead-boring SIARPC twaddle that Top Gear is peddling. If you must have a celebrity segment at least make more out of it than an opportunity for the viewer at home to go take a leak or fix themselves a snack.
I have no idea who that chef was but I enjoyed watching him learn to drift. And those knives? I want them! When was the last time Top Gears guest brought his own freakin' knives?!?

I never realized that, and I must agree with you. I liked those knives, anyone know what brand are they?


Overall, a good episode, and as viper said, it wasn't bad, just wasn't special.

[JCE]

I gave it an 8 because as far as FG goes these days it was a good FIFTH GEAR episode.

IT COULD BE WORSE PEOPLE--TWO WORDS: TIM LOVEJOY!!!

[TJP]

Not a bad start to season 13, I gave it a 7.

I must say I agree with the points raised by Austere...especially regarding the SIARPC vs. 5th Gear's celebrity section. I wish both shows would drop them to be honest.

Originally Posted by ahpadt

What I hated was Vicki using TG quote; "Grab it by the scruff of the neck.."

Riiiiight. That saying is as common as bird sh*t in most English speaking countries. It's been pointed out several times already in this thread but I'll reiterate the point: not everything Top Gear says & does is "all original".

Cheers.

[martinthebrit]

Originally Posted by Redliner

I never realized that, and I must agree with you. I liked those knives, anyone know what brand are they?

www.tojiro.co.uk. Very nice.

I can't understand why some people have said that Heston Blumenthal isn't a car-savvy guest. The guy's owned 4 M5s, and wrote an article for TG Magazine about the new M3 - sounds like a car-nut to me. That, and the fact that his food is out-of-this-world made this an above average 5th Gear ep for me.

Generally interesting - got a bit bored with the Merc segment, and I really wanted the 2CV to be better off-road than the C-crosser.

[bos78]

Maybe I was just having a bad night, but I was so bored I couldn't even get through it. I stopped watching during the Mercedes test.

I liked the car auction part though.

[anti-net]

Wasn't that amazing - The 2CV and Crossover just wasn't that good (plus I hate the 2CV - It should be removed from history)

Bernie's auction was cool but it had already been in TG Mag (In fact - Tom Ford wrote it!!) so its not that new to me.

The "Its New but is it any good" was crap - why compare two new cars in a market you've already decided what's the best, There were other new cars out this year you know!!

But - Lotus V Caterham - Very good! I do like the shot outs. The Exige is a personal favourite of mine.

Hopefully next week will be better.

[Redliner]

Originally Posted by martinthebrit

www.tojiro.co.uk. Very nice.

Thank you!

[Nick7]

Well, good and bad.
Good - again a show about a cars to watch.
Bad - quite a lot.

Plato and Tiff should be ones that hold the show. Vicki is fun too, but can get a bit too tedious sometimes.

However, what really did cheese me off was 'chef' part. It took some 12 bloody minutes, while Plato had 5 min in Merc.

Comparison of 'sensible' cars is a joke too, as is 2CV to new Citroen (what was a point of that?!?!).

Seems they still try to go way of Top Gear, but get way lost on the way.

Pleeeease, focus more on cars, and not some mind-bogging stupidities

[M3lover]

Originally Posted by MadCow809

First off, Lotus Exige S segment was quite nice, didnt know it has such an insane launch control.

I actaully enjoyed that celebrity segment. it was far better than some boring ones TG have.

CLK BS review was good, pretty much what i expected from Jason.

Overall.. i rekon a 7

next week looks promising : ) M3 v.s C63.

X 2

[nefarious79]

passable episode,

I would be more interested in the VBH segment, if she drove topless, or at least braless.

[M3_Powered]

I gave this episode a 7, Only For the M5 segment and Jason in the AMG. I didn't care for anything else.

[Handonam]

Austere = genius

[Austere]

I'm surprised it took this long for someone to notice!

[Handonam]

but yea that is true. I do like the celebs trying to attempt things like that. Too bad im' not familiar with a lot of the celebs on there.

[braintumor]

I gave it a 4 ... I think it was really boring and they are trying to hard to be TG ... they should just be the informative show they were seasons ago
The shoutout bit wasn't interesting at all and I personally don't like VBH; the "its new but is it any good" bit was crap! (like all of them in the last season); Toms bit was not that bad, but could be longer and a bit more interesting, like the stuff he did in the past (japan, goodwood, ferrari auction ...); Johnys bit wasn't bad, but not great either; IMO Jason with the merc was the best part of this episode, but sadly too short; And the celebrity thing with tiff was just a waste time!

Sorry to be that harsh but I would rather watch to any TG episode of season 1 again than this episode ... to me that tells a lot

[mads]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

It wasn't a bad episode, there was just nothing... special I guess in it. Average. There have been much, much better and interesting Fifth Gear episodes.

No worries though. It was worth the watch and much better than watching nothing.

My thoughts too, very forgettable episode.

Originally Posted by Austere

I really liked this episode. I think it was one of the best Fifth Gears I've seen in quite a while.

Is it just me or does Vicki not usually wear make-up or something? She looked different. Slightly hotter than usual. (yes, I know most of you loath her but I think she's lovely)

I liked the test of the Lotus and the Caterham. The shoot-outs are good fun. That Caterham walked all over the Lotus and I think it would have beaten it by even more if the track had have been dry. Seeing Vicki 'enjoying herself' in that Caterham made me go kinda firm.

The new Laguna looks very cool. I didn't even know there was a new one. Shame Renault are going to leave the Australian market again because their cars seem to be really improving. The Cadillac looks pretty woeful tho...

The Bernie Eccelstone segment annoyed me because nobody smacked him in the mouth even tho plenty of people got close enough to do it.

I liked the idea behind the 2CV vs Other Thing Who's Name I've Already Forgotten but Johnny just didn't quite make it work. He made the segment seem a bit slow when it could have done with being a bit more fast paced and snappy to mask the fact that it was pretty stupid. He has a very slow and measured way of speaking which dragged the pace down.
I swear he could have picked a better line when he tried to get the 2CV up the hill - I think it could have gotten further. it also would have been cool if he reviewed the car a wee bit more.

The Audi TT segment was informative. Can't really knock it for that. It's a shame that they gave that Ferrari to someone who wasn't me. Even more of a shame is the fact that the woman who won it looked like she'd never even left her house, let alone driven a car.

Vicki looked good in this episode.

The Mercedes-Benz CLK 63 AMG Black Edition has a pointlessly long name. The review was good and informative and full of good opinions and everything but meh, it was still kind of boring for some reason.

The celebrity segment in Fifth Gear is way better than the dead-boring SIARPC twaddle that Top Gear is peddling - If you must have a celebrity segment at least make more out of it than an opportunity for the viewer at home to go take a leak or fix themselves a snack, which is pretty much what SIARPC is.
I have no idea who that chef was but I enjoyed watching him learn to drift. And those knives? I want them! When was the last time Top Gears guest brought his own freakin' knives?!?

And no, they didn't steal the cucumber idea from Top Gear - Tiff himself said they stole it from a Japanese TV show.

I liked the whole thing! Some parts could have been better but overall I've got no major complaints.

So I really liked an episode and all the rest of you hated it... this is weird... it's usually the other way around... this is like backwards topsy-turvy world or some shit.

Thats one of the best post ever on this site!

[maateuszz89]

The lotus vs Caterham bit was the best. The rest of the show was boring.

They try to copy TopGear, but it makes them even more pathetic.

I just don't like Fifth Gear. I watched the first episode of the season because of curiosity. And they let me down.

Waiting for TG

Edit: Tiff with cucumber sums it up the best

[Martin]

Originally Posted by JCE3000GT

IT COULD BE WORSE PEOPLE--TWO WORDS: TIM LOVEJOY!!!

*shudder* What an awful series. I hope they didn't just fire him but execute him too.

Anyway, I gave it a 7 because as FG episodes go it was decent. I can't compare it to TG since that wouldn't be unfair.