[01x02] March 1st, 2009

[freefall]

1. Porsche 911 Cabrio B Turbo vs. Aston Martin V8 Roadster Vantage.
2. Used cars for 20,000 roubles [400 GBP].
3. A star in a reasonably priced car - a singer Alexander Marshal.
4. The Cool Wall.



Discuss.

My opinion is that this episode is worth giving it another try, if you've given up on the first one.

Subtitles are go!

No torrent-related talk, please!

[Lyon4ik]

I gave 6 points. The 2nd ep. was definitely better produced and the hosts communicated better as a team.
But the old cars' test and the news didn't look fascinating enough. So i'd say that the 1st ep. was more 'hot'.

[MXM]

It was much better. Studio bits are still awful, though. Gave it 6 as well, but obviously it's not in the same scale as original TG

[LordKor]

2 points for the second try. A bit better than first but still not worth to hfve the name Top Gear.

1. The presenters. Fomenko can't pronounce properly "Porsche" and "Vantage", he said that "price is cheaper" (I'm not sure is it correct in english, but in russian it's not, the price may be "lower" not "cheaper"). And the Aston has manual gearbox (yes, with P, N, D, R buttons). The jokes are still very silly.
Kuchera is a bit better (as the whole show) but he is still a wrong person in this place.
Petrovsky is still the best of three. And he's a wrong target for silly jokes - Kuchera would be much better, if he would stay in the show.
And all the three still strictly stick to the scenery while talking in the studio, making pauses for the opponent's remarks.
2. The secret track. Now you can see what it is. There's no configuration at all. Just some short lanes with 90 degree turns. How the hell can you compare the cars with that? Nonsense. Well, at least I can understand now how Miata was beaten by Ranga Rover. Awaiting BMW X5 beats Evo IX for 5 seconds. And the track for stars - square and simple. Why?
3. Challenge. The best part of this show. But not without questions.
4. Cool wall. Seriously uncool. Flush out. The bad and silly copy of the original Cool Wall without any sense.

That's one step better than the first one. So the 2 points.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by freefall

My opinion is that this episode is worth giving it another try, if you've given up on the first one.

Good to hear as I couldn't stand the first episode (couldn't even watch the whole thing).

[freefall]

I even had *crowd gasps* a few laughs this time! No really, it was substantially less irritating the second time round. Some bits are still copied blatantly, but others look promising.

Camerawork has somewhat improved, too. It still overuses filters and digital processing to the point of completely ruining the histogram (you know, you regular $700 DSLR shooter on flickr does this), but there were some angles and swings that the UK cameramen wouldn't be ashamed of. I'm talking about the Porsche vs Aston review in particular and some of the cheap car challenge moments (some were horrid, though; take night filming).

[Dan]

I considered the first episode as just watchable, but this one is almost TG-style. I mean it still is not very good, but it really looks like Top Gear now. And if the show will continue improving with the same speed, we're gonna have an awesome thing going on Russian TV and a pretty damn good version of TG.

[lukenwolf]

I'm the first to give it a ten, and it is for one and only one reason, the absolutely staggering rate of improvement over the first attempt. This one had TG UK series 4 written all over it.

The good points:

- They copied the crap car challenge idea, but didn't make it a straight copy but added some russian flavour, unlike the original, who leave the stranded mate behind if something goes wrong, they help each other - exactly my experience with russian people. (btw, 20.000 rubles is WAY less than 100 quid and such cars really run on the roads of mother russia)

- The banter between the hosts improved by miles, especially Petrovsky and kuchera (who still has to prove his worth but was way better than in the first episode)

- They kept the tedious star-in-a-preposterously-overtuned-crap-lada car reasonably short.

- Fomenko captures the role and spirit of clarkson very well, but isn't a carbon copy. Can't imagine the tall fat one loving the Porsche over the Astin

the bad points,

1. whats the bloody point of Kuchera occasionally speaking German ? "Was ist das", "eins, zwei, drei"

2. The track layout should be improved, but bonus points for finally showing it

3. The red dressed whore was in the audience at the exact same spot again, whats that for? wanking template? Not my type, kthxbye

Overall an enormeous improvement, great work

[Dan]

Originally Posted by lukenwolf

btw, 20.000 rubles is WAY less than 100 quid and such cars really run on the roads of mother russia)

20000 rubles is about 400 pounds actually. And cars were really bought for that price, so they do run on the roads.

1. whats the bloody point of Kuchera occasionally speaking German ? "Was ist das", "eins, zwei, drei"

Some people with a not good sense of humor find using some well-known German words funny.

3. The red dressed whore was in the audience at the exact same spot again, whats that for? wanking template? Not my type, kthxbye

As it was already mentioned, she probably is someone's daughter.

[lukenwolf]

Originally Posted by Dan

20000 rubles is about 400 pounds actually. And cars were really bought for that price, so they do run on the roads.

Yeah, my fault - my needing a second attempt at the math exam at university makes a bit more sense now

[Dan]

Originally Posted by lukenwolf

Yeah, my fault - my needing a second attempt at the math exam at university makes a bit more sense now

it doesn't take to be good at math while there's Google http://www.google.com/search?q=20000+rubles+in+pounds

[lukenwolf]

unsubbed full version on rutube

[MXM]

Originally Posted by lukenwolf

Can't imagine the tall fat one loving the Porsche over the Astin

Eh? Watch this ep again maybe, you'll find that here JC would have made the same choice

[SpikeGT]

I gave it 3. And I think the first episode was much better then second. I was really bored when I was watching 02x01. In some way I would say that whole show is shit as it is was expected, but in Russia it is the first car-entertaining-show and first normal car-show that was made on Russian televison ever. so I hoping next episode will be better other two,but it's only a hope...

[colddayin-hell]

Was watching it with subs during tafe earlier, without the sound on.

I thought it was alright.

[TaGRus]

In my opinion, second episode much better than first... But sometimes, "angry" "jokes" of Fomenko and Kuchera about Petrovsky (and his Mazda) really annoyed. "Stars in a cheap auto" - very good, history about vehicle operation "Zaz" was funny About cool wall were spoke above-not very good while.The final in a Top Gear Style

So, my score - 7. There was no such gravel auto show in Russia. I hope, the next episodes will be more better

[informale]

Originally Posted by lukenwolf

btw, 20.000 rubles is WAY less than 100 quid

You shoud have googled "20000 RUR in GBP" before claiming something like that.

[CrazyRussian540]

Studio bits were eh. But the clips were much better. I really hope they don't keep the news to just mentioning 3 cars and 1 product and nothing else. Maybe this week we'll get some commentary on Geneva.

[lukenwolf]

Originally Posted by informale

You shoud have googled "20000 RUR in GBP" before claiming something like that.

you may have seen that I already was corrected on that and admitted my fault

[informale]

Originally Posted by lukenwolf

you may have seen that I already was corrected on that and admitted my fault

i couldn't resist blaiming you for that )