[17x07] December 28th, 2011 [India Special]

[17x07] December 28th, 2011 [India Special]


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Yeah because driving 2 tons of pick up over thin sea ice and trucks through brick walls and crashing jet powered dragsters are perfectly safe, everyday pastimes.
 
Well... it was entertaining, but it was bad compared to all other 'new style' Top Gear stuff I've seen so far.
First time I gave any top gear show a mark below 7.
5/10 :(.
Bit disappointed. Where was the action, the races, the high speed stuff?
Were were the short little jokes? Everything was long and predictable. Pity, didn't see this coming.
Hope the season is better!
 
Still no official response to the negative comments on the Top Gear blog and they're at 52 pages of backlash. That's only in the post-show discussion section. Reading through there I get a feeling people are out for blood at this point.... PR disaster in the making and not being handled too well, is it? They've never seen this side of the coin. And if this is true and they're now DELETING comments from the official blog, it will just add fuel to the fire... Interesting to watch it unfold.

(from "pathetic"):
"I cant believe you have deleted half the posts on here who are you trying to fool they were not offensive in any way and why should Jeremy Clarkson be allowed to express his views but not us? "




 
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Oi, what the heck?

What happened to the glory of series 17? This is the worst episode of Top Gear I've ever seen.

I could count the number of times I laughed in this episode on one hand. The party was painful to watch, the train segment was painful to watch, the lunch delivery was absolutely moronic.

The best parts of the episode were the David Cameron opening, hill-climb rally, straight-six cricket, and the reappearing lawnmower. Those were the only times I laughed.

For a normal episode, this would have been an embarrassment. For a special, this was blasphemy. They even managed to outdo TGGF.

2/10, because the cars were actually decent, and I laughed more than once. Bad entertainment and bad factual coverage made for a completely crap episode.
 
Still no official response to the negative comments on the Top Gear blog and they're at 52 pages of backlash. That's only in the post-show discussion section. Reading through there I get a feeling people are out for blood at this point.... PR disaster in the making and not being handled too well, is it? They've never seen this side of the coin. And if this is true and they're now DELETING comments from the official blog, it will just add fuel to the fire... Interesting to watch it unfold.

(from "pathetic"):
"I cant believe you have deleted half the posts on here who are you trying to fool they were not offensive in any way and why should Jeremy Clarkson be allowed to express his views but not us? "





They must be deleting them. There's a clear discrepancy between the "mixed-ness" some of the earlier pages and the poo being flung in the latter ones.

EDIT: I actually saw this episode on the 28th. It was so underwhelming that I didn't bother to post my usual review on FG after viewing. Instead, I decided to upgrade Windows.
 
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I actually saw this episode on the 28th. It was so underwhelming that I didn't bother to post my usual review on FG after viewing. Instead, I decided to upgrade Windows.

LOL! I immediately watched the Vietnam Special to cleanse and purify myself after that horrid experience.
 
The acid test: re-watch it, fast forward to the good bits.
Result: viewing time was 15mins(includes the time it took to scan the episode).
 
Yeah because driving 2 tons of pick up over thin sea ice and trucks through brick walls and crashing jet powered dragsters are perfectly safe, everyday pastimes.

On first viewing when they were erecting that gazebo for the garden party, the steel frames kept falling down whilst people were working on it. I nearly shat myself thinking someone was gonna get a conk on the head or a length of frame going through someone's eye. Who thought that and all the other disasters of the garden party happened by accident and not planned to happen for the sake of entertainment.

However what you said, they prepared for the worst and they were still alive tomorrow. You fall off a train and there will be no tomorrow.
 
Yes there will and it would start with "Anyway......"
 
Yes there will and it would start with "Anyway......"
If they start season 18 with 'Anyway...', that's enough of a reaction to the special for me.

I'm still giving it a 7/10. If they'd left out the garden party and make it 60 minutes, it would have been an 8. A 9 if it focused more on the country and traveling.
 
I finally watched this special yesterday and, given its dreadful reviews on this site, I was expecting the worst. Given those low expectations though, I thought it was fine. There's bound to be more 'cocking about' on a Christmas special, as it's aiming at a broader audience who want to be entertained over the turkey sandwiches, and I really didn't think it was too different to other specials in the past. The garden party was poor, and indeed the whole 'trade mission' a slender hook for the whole episode, but I can't help but feel had this been broadcast five years ago it would have been heralded as a classic. As for complaining about the durability of the classic British cars, wasn't that the whole point? These three British institutions took everything thrown at them, no matter how pointless or gratuitous and kept going in fine style right to the very end - much like May, Hammond and Clarkson.
 
There's bound to be more 'cocking about' on a Christmas special, as it's aiming at a broader audience who want to be entertained over the turkey sandwiches

In other words, you're giving them an excuse to be low-brow because the audience is a group of mouth-breathing uncontrollable droolers. Don't we have enough of that on TV these days?

I can't help but feel had this been broadcast five years ago it would have been heralded as a classic.

If it had been broadcast five years prior, we would have been incredibly thankful that Top Gear was being broadcast in the first place, since Richard was still recovering from his accident at that time. Your comparison is irrelevant anyway, because shit is shit regardless of time period. In fact, it would have been more noticeable, because TG was coming off of five consecutive very good seasons, rather than two.

As for complaining about the durability of the classic British cars, wasn't that the whole point? These three British institutions took everything thrown at them, no matter how pointless or gratuitous and kept going in fine style right to the very end - much like May, Hammond and Clarkson.

No, you dimbulb. We're complaining not because the cars were durable, but because 1) this was promoted as a Cheap Car Challenge when the cars weren't cheap at all and 2) because they wrecked three classics just for the sake of wrecking them. Read more carefully.
 
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I think this hasn't been posted yet. I found it with Google but not sure if genuine. Might as well be a fake:

Screen-shot-2012-01-03-at-1.48.12-PM-620x495.png
 
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Not genuine, the original was posted in the comments on the TG site and discussed here a few pages ago.
 
Hmmm... I checked before but didn't find it.

Anyway...
 
Well spotted, I never noticed those bum bags! No idea what they are for. I would agree to the mic equipment, maybe they had to improvise for some reason. Or it's a variation of James' "belt of many things" of the South America Special, just using a bum bag this time to make it easier... And maybe Richard liked the idea. Or maybe it's just a secret chocolate storage ;-)
 
Well spotted, I never noticed those bum bags! No idea what they are for.

As those who have travelled to the 'less than secure' parts of the world will understand, I'll wager the bum-bags are not decorative, but are actually there for securely holding passports, permits, money etc. Sometimes you need to have these items with you 24/7 when you travel.

I also have a theory that they intended doing a lot more interesting things whilst in India, but it was simply all too dangerous.

I would love to hear a Wilman debrief on the trip.
 
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I also have a theory that they intended doing a lot more interesting things whilst in India, but it was simply all too dangerous.

You mean more dangerous than Camino De La Muerte or driving to the North Pole? If they start softening down these specials because of potential danger, they shouldn't bother making them in the first place. No one wants the soft-washed versions.

I would love to hear a Wilman debrief on the trip.

Yeah but I haven't got high hopes for self-criticism.
 
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