[02x03] May 25th, 2009

[insane]

I liked it.
I do, however, have only one phrase to sum up the show:

Hey, what am I?
*sitting with two sheep next to me*

[whitehornmatt]

I really think they need to include all three presenters in these challenges, it makes it sooo much more exciting/interesting.

I get the feeling they filmed a lot of this season before Morrison was available, but already got rid of Cox.

The episode was a mixture of very good and very poor, to end up at average. Ahn Do was way over the top, I stopped listening because he was shouting too much. Decent review of the Maserati, but I wish he'd have spent a bit more time being negative, instead of tacking it on.

I was looking forward to the ute thing, but it seemed to miss the mark and miss a giant part of the construction, they went from chopping the roofs of to being completed without anything in the middle. Add to that the lack of a real point (and a roof for the people in the back of the Tarago) it made it a fairly poor segment.

The stunt thing shows that they need to watch some more Fifth Gear, who have just about perfected the teaching someone how to do stunts thing. End result was fairly pointless.

I found the ad bit interesting and liked the thing with the Volvo.

Barely 6/10 for the episode as a whole.

[metallix]

I think the product placement criticisms may be jumping the gun a bit here.

The Evo used in James' segment was part of a new, multi-million dollar refresh of what was previously the Police Academy Stunt Show at Warner Bros Movie World - it was big news about a month ago. The 'story' to his segment was to see if he could get a job as a stunt driver so it made perfect sense that he would visit the Hollywood Stunt Driver show. I actually thought it was great they went out there, can't believe no one thought of it earlier.

Also the orange inflatable VW has been used by Volvo at every public demonstration of the new City Safe system, starting with the Melbourne Motor Show earlier this year - this wasn't just some random product placement prop. Top Gear have demonstrated the Lexus self-parking system in-studio so I see no reason for TGA to not show City Safe - it's definitely within the spirit of the show.

Yeah, the media wrote stories like that about last series as well. They're full of it. One of the manufacturers they named was Lamborghini, who were supposedly fuming that the car they took to Tassie suffered many thousands of dollars worth of paint damage from stone chips. Yet come episode 1 of this series, Steve was in an even more expensive Lamborghini.

Both LP640's were borrowed from private owners. Lamborghini is quite stubborn when it comes to handing out press vehicles in Australia, even Clarkson struggled to secure the LP560-4 for Top Gear Live despite being a customer.

As for stone chip damage, this is unavoidable - you should have seen the front of the Gallardo's when we handed them back. Difference being that was at Lambo headquarters in Italy where it could be fixed with a quick visit to the paint shop - or even just a new bumper - whereas here in Australia it would be a rather costly exercise to fix.

[Icedvovo]

Originally Posted by metallix

I think the product placement criticisms may be jumping the gun a bit here.

The Evo used in James' segment was part of a new, multi-million dollar refresh of what was previously the Police Academy Stunt Show at Warner Bros Movie World - it was big news about a month ago.

Yeah, I did read that, however 20 years in the ad industry leads me to believe that the spate of Mitsi 'appearances' aren't merely coincidence. Thinly veiled product placement methinks.

Originally Posted by metallix

As for stone chip damage, this is unavoidable - you should have seen the front of the Gallardo's when we handed them back.

Who's 'WE'?

[bootlegapparel]

Originally Posted by insane

I liked it.
I do, however, have only one phrase to sum up the show:

Hey, what am I?
*sitting with two sheep next to me*

Haha yes, loved that.

I enjoyed the ep, I don't know why you guys didn't like SIARPC, Ahn Do was great, they should've turned his mic volume down in post production though, but his stories were great, and he's a funny guy (i haven't seen his standup show so i wouldn't know if he's repeating jokes - though, EVERY comedian just repeats jokes when they're guests on a tv program).

The ute segment was great, I still love the old commercials that sigma one was just ridiculous, the stunt driving was really good, i liked how a quiet modest guy like james is actually a really skilled and talented driver. The mas review was yeah, stunning, the first few shots was really nice cinematography too complemented by warrens painting.

the only thing i was a little pissed at was that steve jumped out of the way of the car haha

[gti138]

Liked the review of the Maserati - particulary the shot where Warren was in the back with the champers and the stig was driving... That shot was pretty cool.. The whole review of the Maeratti was excellent I thought.

The utes didn't really go anywhere but had loads of promise.... They need a challenge like "real" TG. Drive here, do this, then go here do that.. hillarity would then ensure..

The big let down was Ahn Do. He actually had a good story to tell about coming out to Australia on the boat and the gig at the RSL but spoilt it by shouting the whole story...

TGA is starting to come of age I reckon... Will go an 8 this week...

[freeferty]

I was at the filming for this episode, it was interesting to see the finished product, it looked much better than I remember! The filming was delayed by 2 hours due to a thunderstorm overhead, it was too loud to film. During this time Ahn did some standup, he really had to yell to be heard, I guess he was still projecting his voice to the audience rather than the mike. You can still hear the rain during the interview if you listen closely.

[xsirhc]

i guess my favorite bit was the cinematography around the maserati, as warren was painting a sketch of the oh so godly looking car (and what a sketch too...). gotta give the production team credit for making your jaw drop to the floor at the sheer beaty of the thing, and in BLACK as well....yes I cant get over that maserati...

[dophoto]

The reason he was shouting cause there was a freakin storm outside. If you here a weird background noise then you were hearing rain. They had to stop filming for well over an hour due to water getting into the hanger, and by the end of the filming they had lost well over 3/4 of the crowd. Due to people thinking it was hailing and were leaving to protect their cars.

I rather liked this Ep, the stunt school, mazza, utes were good. An Do was funny but he was rather loud (due to the rain). The volvo segment was short thankfully, the Model T dragged on way to much last week.

Solid 7 for me.

The funny 2 liners from 2nite was the Kiwi pimp line. & An Do's "Wow, im doing 140k's thats faster then my Datsun"

[Hidden_Hunter]

Originally Posted by TVR-161

obviously lambo has never seen the quality of an aussie road

Victorian roads are fine thank you !

[Dsemaj]

Originally Posted by Icedvovo

6/10

Starting to get annoyed by all the Mitsi product placement bullshit.

- Redo the Lancer ad
- Charger ad
- Sigma ad
- James picks a Lancer Evo 10
- MovieWorld with Lancers

And this is ep 3!

If I were VW I'd be making calls.

Something positive.

Warren is really funny.

I doubt Chrysler/Valiants could be seen as advertising for Mitsubishi. The EvoX's in the stunt driving thing seems just like a coincidence to me.

It was a good episode. Although, I was a bit annoyed at Stig driving the Maserati hard in the test. Shouldn't the presenter be reviewing the car, not Warren reading from a PR release about the handling?

Also, Ahn Do was a joke. Why he has a TV show is completely beyond me. I guess that's merely inner-SBS politics, needing so much "cultural" content.

[camsinny]

Ahn Do was the only thing that annoyed me this episode, really enjoyed it.
He's already a pretty loud guy from what I remember, but I did notice the rain in the background, after being in the hangar last week it was pretty obvious that it was pissing down in Ahn's segment. Having said that, he should have known he had a mic and didn't need to shout.

Loved the stuff on the GTS, great shots and warren presented wonderfully.
Ute stuff was good, I was wondering what the hell that bloody fake fur was doing on the back of a car. Although there are only 2 presenters doing the challenges at the moment, I'm rather enjoying the "build-offs" between them. It's almost like another thing that slightly separates them from the original TG, will be interesting to see if they continue with the face-off or go for challenges between the three of them.

Solid 8 from me, nearly hitting a 9. This is great. Australia has it's own Top Gear.

[Sik02Stang]

this was a 9 for me. i loved it. by far, the Masarati segment was the best thing they have done so far. that was post-production perfection and should be the standard they shoot from from now on. i just would have loved to see more real emotion out of them, at the moment it all seems so forced. anyways, best show so far. they had me worried after last week but this cleared my head.

i will still continue to say this untill the day it happens: I want the NEWS SEGMENT in the show!!!

[tone76]

Originally Posted by freeferty

During this time Ahn did some standup, he really had to yell to be heard, I guess he was still projecting his voice to the audience rather than the mike.

So the acoustics in the TG hangar are still crap and they haven't got that sussed then? It did sound as though Anh was trying to get through to the whole audience in the studio and wasn't conscious of the mike. I'm surprised Satan* didn't pick up on that and get the sound of Anh's mike turned down so it would sound less shouty on TV.

* Satan = code name for the guy that sits in a control booth out the back and gives stage directions, often via a PA system. He sounds more like Big Brother than Satan to me, but that's what the TGA guys referred to him as when I was at 1x04 ...

Originally Posted by Sik02Stang

i just would have loved to see more real emotion out of them

I have to say that when Steve was asking Waz whether he'd have the Maserati over the Aston, there did seem to be a bit of emotion there ... it seemed less scripted than usual.

[MasterEvilAce]

TGA is getting very interesting! It's very enjoyable in season 2.

[SileNceR]

Originally Posted by Hidden_Hunter

Victorian roads are fine thank you !

You've obviously never left the city then...

[Hidden_Hunter]

Originally Posted by SileNceR

You've obviously never left the city then...

Compared to what the RTA offers up, we're fantastic

[Icedvovo]

Originally Posted by Dsemaj

I doubt Chrysler/Valiants could be seen as advertising for Mitsubishi. The EvoX's in the stunt driving thing seems just like a coincidence to me.

...and the remake of the Lancer ad as the first stunt?

I don't believe in coincidences. Not on TGA.

[DXPetti]

And to further promote the Mitsubishi conspiracy, anything realise that when the WRX STI was in the Challenge V the Tiger Helicopter the WRX STI never made it to the track/power laps board. DAN DAN DAAAAAH

Good episode, had some genuine laugh out loud moments (i.e. Steve running up and smashing the window of the Tarago, James royalling rooting the Falcon attempting the two wheels trick), Ando's story was pretty amazing but his commentry during his power lap was hilarious!

If I gave last week's episode a 7/8, this deserves a 8/10 (If I could, 7.5 feels about right!)

[Kiskaloo]

Another 7 and still better then Series 1.

That Maserati is just perfection inside and out. I never thought an Aston Martin DB9 could be made to look "pedestrian", but the Maser does it.

I did like the Ute Challenge in terms of the basic designs (not so much the interior fittings of the "Prelute") and I agree the SIARPC was quite loud. The "old commercials" section is a bit lame, but still better then "What Were They Thinking?".