[13x04] July 12th, 2009

[13x04] July 12th, 2009


  • Total voters
    482
I suppose there are diehard Top Gear fans in this thread that simply won't accept criticism. Also, I'd guess that they are not the ones who do speak up.
 
That was among the worst episodes of Top Gear I've seen. It reminded me of the dashed off post-accident season.

lol, I voted this my favourite episode of the series so far. But then I also really liked series 9, interesting how people's opinions can be so different :p

I would never dream of neg-repping posts like this however, it is after all only a person's opinion not trolling etc. To those that do that kind of thing, GROW UP!
 
None of the hosts seem interested, nor do they pretend to be. It's a bit like 'milking it' stage is in full swing.

By far the worst of this serie.

Easily the worst episode this series for me.
I hope next week is better because honestly, I feel like this episode was a waste of an hour.

I voted 9...but I really want to change it. Much lower.

Hell I'm not sure I'm going to continue watching TG anymore, it just isn't any good :dunno:

It has clearly become a formulaic program.

The only part of TG I still enjoy is the tests they do on the road, and these are so few and far between that its not really worth watching the entire episode for.

I also thought it was remarkably weak.
I dunno... either way, it's starting to get a bit stale.

The more I read your guys' comments on the show becoming a fake, washed up has-been car show the more I hope James gets his own show. All his specials are real and factual. Cars, planes, lego's, I don't care. Anything he does is better than this faux garbage.

I can't get over how much the show has degraded in the past two seasons. I miss the Carrera GT and SLR reviews, the best driving road segment, diving supercars in Paris, the great races, the REAL jokes and comebacks that used to be natural to these guys. Is it the money or the lack of interest?

definetly the weakest episode so far, half was dull and half had been done before.

the 'celebrity' section is always pants this time even more so.

I'm quite worried of what top gear is becoming...

I know that after 13 series is difficult to invent something new but we were hardly disappointed till now, this series instead is going all wrong.

It's as if Wilman and Co couldn't be arsed this week and decided to get the Top Gear Australia production team to make this week's episode. The Panamera piece had a particularly strong whiff of TGA to it - no decent conclusion, kinda pointless but nicely shot etc.

The rest was quite poor by TG UK standards, too. Not that it was bad, but it was just ordinary. Even the army bit was style over substance ... again, something which is usually a TGA thing rather than a TG UK thing.


That was pretty terrible. My first reaction after watching was, wow, that pretty much sucked.

That was among the worst episodes of Top Gear I've seen. It reminded me of the dashed off post-accident season. Cheap, pointless and boring:
Boo hiss, Top Gear. This season isn't off to a good start.

You guys remind me of a younger me. Not much younger, mind you... Perhaps even a little older.
 
I will just pretend this episode never existed ... that might be self-deception ... but I?ll not waste time discussing if or why this was bad ... :)

After all, every show deserved some bad episodes, doesn?t it?
 
I'd like to explain something my point of view...
normally when you really like something, you want it to be every time better, and for me the way to do it, its via critics. If you put every single episode a 10 or a 9... it just doesn't make sense to try to do a voting... because you're not being objective enough. Of course if you compare it with anything else on the TV It would be really good, every single program, but I think the point of doing an evaluation of each Episode is to compare it with the other TG episodes, and being OBJECTIVE! for me is not putting only 9 or 10 every episode. (with all the Respect people who put 9 or 10 deserve)

And that's how you rate episodes; and that's fine. Personally, I prefer to rate an episode as if it's the only episode of TG I've ever seen. (As I mentioned in the 13x01 thread, most of the episodes I've seen would be rated anywhere from 6/10 to 9/10, only a handful have gotten a full 10/10, and there's one I'd rate at 3/10.)

Also TG's new fame means they truly get some great SIARPCs. Schumacher, Stephen Fry and now Bolt...brilliant guests, all of them.

A little FYI: Stephen Fry's been on before (S3). So far, he and Bolt have been my faves this series.

Well, that's typical Jezza, isn't it? Having the last word, wanting to win?

Of course.

Meanwhile, I liked that the laps were shown split-screen--something not done since Series 5 (old racing cars vs. new showroom ones). I'd like to see them keep this up when they send more than one car out for a power lap, especially when doing comparisons.

Dr_Grip said:
Apart from that, i don't know what you're all complaining about. If you take away the army segment (which sucked balls in all its scriptedness) i think you get some of the best parts of the season. The Ford vs. Renault test was exactely what everyone was complaining about it missing last season, namely, actual car content. Now you got car content and go all "why didn't Jezza drive the old Fords, too?". Some people just are never satisfied.

Yeah; I found the Army thing a bit "meh", too.

Ford vs. Renault, on the other hand...thumbs up.

Dr_Grip said:
And somehow i liked the more "strategic", calm tone of the Mail race. After all, when it's all action and close calls, people complain about the race being obviously scripted - and now someone still claims it'd be scripted based on some douche at another forum claiming they'd only done around 50 mph average (which i find absolutely believable, taking into account fuel stops, not one, but two ferrys, construction work and the need to keep the speed limit of 70 while being filmed)...

I liked the race as well. I think it's the first "epic" race (if you want to call it epic, that is) with two in the car that involved an actual thorough going-over of said car. Which, IMO, is a perfect combination.

And yes, it was strategic, for sure.

Dr_Grip said:
Top Gear has been better, especially in the seasons leading up to Hammond's crash and in season 10/11, but some people here make it look like D-Motor or worse - which it is not.

IMO, the reason they've made S8/9 and beyond look horrid is because they consider S5-7 the "glory days" of the show and are pissed that TG isn't going back to that anytime soon. I mean, I like 5-7 myself; but I think S8, 10, and 12 were alright, too. (I didn't like S11 much; meanwhile, I thought S9 started off alright but went downhill with the last two episodes.)

This is definitely the worst episode of the series. It was just plain boring. Sorry guys, but that is just true.

No, it's not true. It's your opinion. Plus, there are still three episodes remaining.
 
Army part was very scripted haha, could have been a bit better, but I did love the ending, especially with the great musik.

Overall was a great simple Episode.
 
And that's how you rate episodes; and that's fine. Personally, I prefer to rate an episode as if it's the only episode of TG I've ever seen. (As I mentioned in the 13x01 thread, most of the episodes I've seen would be rated anywhere from 6/10 to 9/10, only a handful have gotten a full 10/10, and there's one I'd rate at 3/10.)
On the one hand I agree with you, but on the other hand, this bears a problem. Surely, everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, as well as applying his or her own yardstick when rating the episode. The latter however basically renders the ratings useless, since people will automatically arrive at totally different conclusions. Thus, I think the rating we do here can't be more than just a very rough idea of what people thought of the episode.
 
Thanks to the person who neg repped me for simply stating I wasn't going to watch the episode based on what was being said in this thread.

I can't remember if i did it (and can't be bothered to check), but i remember thinking about -repping that comment because posting that you haven't seen an episode and are not going to watch it based solely on word of mouth is what i consider trolling in a sub-forum called "Specific episode discussion" and not "not doing any discussion, but bragging about being ignorant".

So, if i indeed negrepped you i did not do so to punish a negative opinion on this episode, but because you posted a post without any valid content at all.

EDIT: Let's stop all the rep whining in the last few pages at this point. Not only is it off-topic, it's against the rules, too.
 
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Umm, for the first time ever I thought this ep was a bit thin. Maybe they've hidden the meagre offerings in the middle of the series. I hope so.
 
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And that's how you rate episodes; and that's fine. Personally, I prefer to rate an episode as if it's the only episode of TG I've ever seen. (As I mentioned in the 13x01 thread, most of the episodes I've seen would be rated anywhere from 6/10 to 9/10, only a handful have gotten a full 10/10, and there's one I'd rate at 3/10.)



A little FYI: Stephen Fry's been on before (S3). So far, he and Bolt have been my faves this series.



Of course.

Meanwhile, I liked that the laps were shown split-screen--something not done since Series 5 (old racing cars vs. new showroom ones). I'd like to see them keep this up when they send more than one car out for a power lap, especially when doing comparisons.



Yeah; I found the Army thing a bit "meh", too.

Ford vs. Renault, on the other hand...thumbs up.



I liked the race as well. I think it's the first "epic" race (if you want to call it epic, that is) with two in the car that involved an actual thorough going-over of said car. Which, IMO, is a perfect combination.

And yes, it was strategic, for sure.



IMO, the reason they've made S8/9 and beyond look horrid is because they consider S5-7 the "glory days" of the show and are pissed that TG isn't going back to that anytime soon. I mean, I like 5-7 myself; but I think S8, 10, and 12 were alright, too. (I didn't like S11 much; meanwhile, I thought S9 started off alright but went downhill with the last two episodes.)



No, it's not true. It's your opinion. Plus, there are still three episodes remaining.
Damnit can't rep you again so here's :+1: for talking sense :)
 
It's as if Wilman and Co couldn't be arsed this week and decided to get the Top Gear Australia production team to make this week's episode. The Panamera piece had a particularly strong whiff of TGA to it - no decent conclusion, kinda pointless but nicely shot etc.

The rest was quite poor by TG UK standards, too. Not that it was bad, but it was just ordinary. Even the army bit was style over substance ... again, something which is usually a TGA thing rather than a TG UK thing.

7/10.

Disturbingly, yes. It had an air of 'post-rationalisation' about it. Challenges with no real obstacles, just 'start here - finish there'. Very TGA.

I do however think it presents an interesting opportunity for all car shows in 'adopting' all the cars about to go to the crusher - hoon driving offence confiscations, drug lord spoils, factory pilot cars, import evaluation models, etc - and using them in destructive challenges such as this. Better than them simply being crushed.

Maybe time for a campaign - Let Top Gear have the Interesting Cars on Death Row

They could do one a week!

"Death Row Cars - Saved From The Crusher only to be Destroyed by TopGear"

:)
 
Why did the trip take 19 hours? I could crawl the distance in that time.
 
Why did the trip take 19 hours? I could crawl the distance in that time.

What was the distance that they traveled by car? A bit over 800 miles I think?

So 800 miles divided by 19 hours = 42 miles per hour. That's an average speed. Considering the mix of highway and rural roads and stops for fuel an average of 42mph on that trip seems quite reasonable.

That's why it took 19 hours.

Disturbingly, yes. It had an air of 'post-rationalisation' about it. Challenges with no real obstacles, just 'start here - finish there'. Very TGA.

It was a car review. The goal was to review the car. The conclusion is provided by their comments as they drive the car. The whole film was the conclusion. The challenge was added in for flavor because after 100+ shows, doing every car review on just the track can get a bit dull. A change of scenery makes it more interesting for the casual viewer.
 
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I just did an AA route planner and it calculated the journey at around 21 hours....
 
(in REF to the Porsche Postage piece)
It was a car review. The goal was to review the car. The conclusion is provided by their comments as they drive the car. The whole film was the conclusion. The challenge was added in for flavor because after 100+ shows, doing every car review on just the track can get a bit dull. A change of scenery makes it more interesting for the casual viewer.

Okay, I get that.

But if we take that POV then it actually wasn't much of either a challenge or a review. We really didn't learn much about the car over 19 hours, other than it wasn't as bad as everyone expected it to be.

Like, why didn't they do anything with the car's one and only unique feature - it has FOUR SEATS and FOUR DOORS! Neither of them took the opportunity to even sit in the back or open the back doors.

I didn't hate the piece, I just thought it was a bit 'thin' is all. Very un-TopGear.
 
Slow. I managed 800 miles in about 10 hours.

You couldn't do that distance legally in that time in the UK; the national speed limit is 70mph, and that only applies on motorways and dual carriageways. One of the counties they passed through doesn't have any motorways.

You probably could do it in less than 19 hours if our roads weren't quite so bristling with speed cameras...
 
Maybe time for a campaign - Let Top Gear have the Interesting Cars on Death Row

They could do one a week!

"Death Row Cars - Saved From The Crusher only to be Destroyed by TopGear"

:)

I'll second that motion.
 
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