[02x03] May 25th, 2009

[Quake]

Finally, another great episode! They appear much more confident and they lost that boring over-confident bloke!

[SL65]

I went to sleep with that Mitsubishi Sigma ad tune in my head

And I think I'm in the minority of people who LIKE the old adverts. Its a nice intermission. But the presenters don't need to laugh as hard as they do at it. Its not that funny, its more something we can all have a quiet chuckle to ourselves over.

[MP4/14]

The studio bits for me bring the whole show down. It is too start stop and usually choc-full of cringe-worthy phrases or things they do.

I wonder if that version was cut down for Ahn Do last night as he is well capable of talking way more than he did. Worst guest ever I did watch the squiz last Saturday though.

Good on them for trying something different RE: throwing to an add via text message. I like Volvos for how boring and safe and ingenious and good they are but that segment was a bit boring. "Wow look at how great this is, the car stops by itself". Sometimes I feel like I am watching a whole bunch of adds in a row and get a break by watching more adds.

It will get better though. I hope soon though.

[Alpha-Toxic]

I have no idea why they did it, but the Maserati segment was full of sounds taken from computer games. At the 15min mark (when the Stig exits the car) starts a theme from C&C Generals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTjM2Kd2NX8#t=1m28s . Also right after the painting scene you can here a StarCraft Wraith (or Battlecruiser) laser and an unpacking Siege Tank, then another tank unpacking right when he says "and not everyone likes how the GTS looks" (13:30 in the rip). This is the stuff I'm 100% sure about, most likely there are more.

[roundhead]

Great work, I enjoyed that. Is it just me or does James Morrisson look like Stewie from Family Guy?

[rowd22]

Originally Posted by Alpha-Toxic

I have no idea why they did it, but the Maserati segment was full of sounds taken from computer games. At the 15min mark (when the Stig exits the car) starts a theme from C&C Generals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTjM2Kd2NX8#t=1m28s . Also right after the painting scene you can here a StarCraft Wraith (or Battlecruiser) laser and an unpacking Siege Tank, then another tank unpacking right when he says "and not everyone likes how the GTS looks" (13:30 in the rip). This is the stuff I'm 100% sure about, most likely there are more.

I also noticed some "computer game" type sounds being used - i thought i was imagining it, but thanks for confirming it

Definitely need to add some decent music in there, especially with the better camerawork

[logifuse]

Strange one - while I think that technically it was a good episode, it just didn't seem to gel as a package. Each bit in isolation was good though, so I don't know why I feel that way. Mind you, I watched it immediately after watching Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, so anything was probably going to seem a bit flat.

[erb_m92]

Originally Posted by roundhead

Is it just me or does James Morrisson look like Stewie from Family Guy?

It's not just you. Uncanny resemblance.

[Richmondgal]

Originally Posted by SL65

I went to sleep with that Mitsubishi Sigma ad tune in my head

x2

[dnats]

8+ ratings are reserved for fg and tg. Sorry tgau, no matter how hard you try, it's a 6 in my book. You just need a couple more season to mature.

And the guest is ANH DO, not AHN. He's a decent comedian in au with a few gigs on aussie tv. Watched his tv show a couple times, he's ok i guess. Other than than lack luster reviews and still too technical reviews is still amateurish bearing the name Top Gear. Try harder TGAU, you're getting there!

[Eyce]

Several thoughts:

# Ahn for most entertaining lap in the history of Top Gear. Genuine hilarity for the entire eternity it took him to go around the track.

"Shit, there's three pedals here! Which one's the brake? F**k!"

#Ahn for the only louder person than Charlie Cox to appear on Top Gear Australia

# Steve smashing in the window was hilarious until they cut to the inside camera shot of it. That ruined the spontaneous humour.

# Tarago-Ute was awesome, where the hell did Warren think of putting in the Intercom? ahah.

# I want that painting Warren did of the Maserati. That was beautiful.

[stiggie]

The Star In A Bog Standard Car segment took eleven and a half minutes. That is way too long to be spending on it. They could be using some of that time to the news, another car review or making the challenges longer.

[Doctor Blade]

Liked it. James got to play the horn a bit, the old ute was fascinating, and I prefer the Maserati over the Aston myself.

Anh, however, I totally skipped. No hard feelings.

[Eyce]

Originally Posted by stiggie

The Star In A Bog Standard Car segment took eleven and a half minutes. That is way too long to be spending on it. They could be using some of that time to the news, another car review or making the challenges longer.

Usually it'd be pretty normal to cut out bits, but considering Anh did a stand up routine for the audience during the blackout in the studio, I think the production crew would have felt a little guilty.

[awdrifter]

It was a meh episode for me. Except for the Maserati segment, I didn't find the other segments that interesting. They need to come up with better challenges for their builds, the challenges in this ep seems lame and pointless. 6/10.

[underscore]

I was going to give it a 7, but Anh Do woke me up, so it got an 8. I don't care if it was a copy of his stand-up, I haven't seen it so it was fresh to me

[Tranquillizer]

i dont care who the fuck was that DO guy but i am sure about one thing, something was stuck up his throat making him so loud. i heard he is a stand up comedian. thanks God i havnt watched him making any jokes.

[Zerias]

I gave it an 8/10

The big problem this week was pacing. The whole first segment with the 'Ute took me a bit to get what they were on about. Then again, the only 'Ute that ever really took off where I'm from was Chevy's El Camino.

Anyways, the studio segments felt rushed... and for once I sorta side with those not liking the retro-ads. It really could have been dropped to have left more time to explain the run-up to the 'Utes and trip to stunt-driving school. That being said, I see this week's retro-ad being referenced in a future show. The driving through plate-glass and From Japan is just too much fodder for Warren to pass over.

The Maserati review brought up something that I'm actually looking forward to. Warren's view of the car was in direct contrast to Jeremy Clarkson's view... and I'm actually looking forward to a series of "those idiots on the other side of the ocean don't know what they are talking about" jabs. I did enjoy the review, and especially Warren's use of the Stig to show off how the car handled... coupled with the Champagne (that was Champagne... right Warren?) in the back of the car.

The 'Ute challenge was ... pointless. When Top Gear UK does a car-mod competition, the producers normally come up with evil things for the presenters to do. The lack of refinement showed.. a lot. That being said. It was hilarious. I about fell out of my chair at the manure bit.

The interview portion... I didn't like really. Warren's good at controlling the guests... but his guest this week... Han? Kept seeming like he was shouting the whole time.

Something else I noticed is that the language seemed to be creeping towards more immature boundaries. I don't know if TG-Aus was in a later time-slot or something, but the number of vulgarities were noticeable.

[whitehornmatt]

Something else I noticed is that the language seemed to be creeping towards more immature boundaries. I don't know if TG-Aus was in a later time-slot or something, but the number of vulgarities were noticeable.

We have a prime minister who deliberately slipped 'shitstorm' into an interview on TV at 6:30pm (TGA airs at 7:30pm) in an attempt to be on the level of the average Aussie, this is just another manifestation of that sort of thinking I'd guess.

[GerFix]

Well .. here's my 2 cents. I think this was quite a watchable episode. The Masserati review was well done (very Clarkson on the test track in style) but I would have liked them to show it on the public road and discussed or demonstrated it's real world utility. None of the presenters are Clarkson, so instead of copying his style, I'd like to see a bit of track and a bit of road when they do a review.

The ute thing started OK .. but the challenge was hopeless .. seems they just took the utes to Uncle Don's dirt farm and fart-arsed around for 10 minutes ... bit pointless.

Liked the stunt driving segment and the in studio "stunt" and don't give a flying fruit bat about product placement issues there. The old commercials are much better than WWTT .. I won't grow tired of them unless they run out of material.

Warren is much better than Cox as an interviewer .. but they really need to get some celebrities on the show .. the bunch of D-listers they have had so far are a wasted 11 minutes in my book. Get John Laws on, or Kamahl .. or someone else from the celebrities list in the other thread .. a fringe comedian, who drives a Prius (after pressure from his wife and a viewing of "An Inconvenient Half-Truth") is hardly appropriate material for Top Gear!!

6/10