Just finished watching 14x3 again just to make sure my 9 rating was not influenced by the Alsatian Riesling I was drinking at the time, and I am happy to say I enjoyed it just as much when sober.
Yes, there were gags that have been used before, and you can see them coming, but because they were well executed they were still funny. The boys seemed to be enjoying doing the show, which didn?t seem apparent last week, and because they appeared to be enjoying themselves, it was a lot easier to join the fun. The show transported me to the magical world of ?TG?, which is why I watch.
And, there were cars. I?m not really a petrolhead, but I did enjoy learning about the Lancias-and their many ?firsts? in automotive engineering and because I really didn?t know much about the rust problems with them in the UK, it made the choice of Beta in Botswana just that much funnier. As an aside, the British pronunciation of Beta sounds more like our ?beater? due to the ending ?a? being pronounced as ?er?, which just adds to the hilarity on this side of the pond.
And, OMG, do want one of those Integrales! Richard seemed to be having a lot more fun with it than the Lambo.
The airship bit scared the crap out of me, convinced me that James does have serious courage or he?s completely nuts or both. I was so relieved when it was over with no real harm done. I don?t care if he was actually flying it all the time or not or it was staged or whatever, I think lighter than air aircraft are very scary because of the absolute dependence on wind direction and strength. Yes, he had a prop, but it certainly didn?t do a lot, which was part of the point. I know this from personal experience, having been in two hot air balloon crash landings (ok, I was an idiot to go again), both caused by unpredictable wind conditions. Yes, I?ve bested Hammond in a crash category! Seriously, I?d rather jump out of a perfectly good airplane (again) than go up in a balloon. But, there are 3 or 4 that fly over my house regularly on summer evenings and I know someone who got engaged on a flight and they?re still alive and married, so it must be that the balloon gods hate me:lol:.
Finally, the countryside shots in HD are just stunning. I love the English countryside anyway, and it was wonderful to see it from the air.