[19x07] March 10th, 2013 [Africa Special, Part 2]

[19x07] March 10th, 2013 [Africa Special, Part 2]

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The Spie said:
The whole special was dull and unmemorable. There was a complete lack of "great moments" that the good TG specials always have. Think of Hai Long Bay in Vietnam, the Road of Death in Bolivia, the vista shots of the salt pan in Botswana, the rednecks in US, and the boulder field in Polar. Nothing like that here. What few memories I have of it won't have to be driven out like India did, but there's nothing that will sink in and be memorable.

Again, another 6, and again, the Easily Amused Brigade is swamping the voting. Here's a hint: Average is 5. Average is not 7.5. You don't give extra credit because it has the name "Top Gear" slapped on it.
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What if people are not easily amused and just really liked it? Judging by the voting for the last two episodes, maybe you are easily annoyed.

02122 said:
I didn't like the US special either. It didn't feel like an adventure to me (because I live in the US probably) and I don't like that part of the country.
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I have to disagree there. The US Special was the original roadtrip and the best hour Top Gear has ever done IMO. It was the first time we had really seen the presenters as three mates on an adventure rather than three colleagues doing a motoring program. And it was extremely funny.
My special list would now go as follows:
US Special
Polar Special
Botswana Special
Vietnam Special
Africa Special (if part 2 was better than part 1 I would have put it ahead of Vietnam)
Bolivia Special
Middle East Special
....
Have I forgotten anything? :)
 
argatoga said:
While we all know there is a support crew I liked the fantasy that they do these things alone, it was jarring when they showed the half dozen or so crew helping them along.
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When they showed the crew lined up on the car ferry waiting to use Richard's "bonnet loo" there was around 15 crew,not half a dozen.
So how did they get their big 4WDs across the river ?
 
Four Five Eight said:
Better then part 1 I think, I see lots of people complaining about scripting which I don't feel is warranted, I liked pretty much everything my only complaint is that for whatever reason it felt as though it was about to end quite abruptly and the final race wasn't the best final race they've ever done.
Still, solid episode I can't wait for the blu-ray disk to come out so I can listen to the commentary track which presumably will have James May and some of the producers.
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Why isn't it valid to complain about the scripting? While I agree that the show IS and HAS to be be scripted, I think it's valid to complain when it's done in a ham-fisted manner.
 
Webmonkey said:
Why isn't it valid to complain about the scripting? While I agree that the show IS and HAS to be be scripted, I think it's valid to complain when it's done in a ham-fisted manner.
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Because it wasn't that bad, just because you don't like a joke doesn't make it scripted. I'm sorry but that's just how the complaints read to me, there is very little specifics just "I don't like the scripting" or some such nonsense.
The bit where the producers "accidentally put the Ford into the river" was likely a "Scripted moment" but it worked for me same with the bit where they started stealing bits off each others cars it was funny.
 
I dare not scan all the pages but I'm sure someone posted "omg that log hitting the back window was obviously scripted"
 
Four Five Eight said:
Because it wasn't that bad, just because you don't like a joke doesn't make it scripted.
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But how do you define scripted? How shall anyone pull the border between "scripted but still funny" and "too badly scripted"?
 
I think there's a big mix when they're shooting between what's previously been scripted, what came up on the spot, but mostly I think there's the middle term where the guys see something or find something funny then they come up with a situation to use it in the adventure and shoot it. Not kind of first reaction shot (although there are many of those and they're great), but as a on the spot, quickly rehearsed joke. Honestly they can't scan 1000 miles of road trip to know what exactly will happen where.
 
MXM said:
In scoring/grading systems used in most countries, half the score is the passing level. It's only natural that people use a scale familiar from school/uni.

So I would argue that 5 is not the average, 5 is the failure threshold.
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Maybe the rating system here should be simplified then. Just have three or four options along the lines of

1) Liked it
2) Average episode
3) Didn't like it

To be honest while I went to university I never thought about applying the same scoring system here*. 5/10 would be "average" in my mind (because in contrast to a student an episode of a television program can't "fail", it can only be good or bad). But if others see 7.5/10 as "average" the whole system is compromised.

*especially since we had a rather flexible approach, the minimum amount of points was usually adjusted in a way to make a certain percentage of students pass.
 
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any idea about support cars ?
Pickups, how many spare wheels and alloys did they have ?
I saw some cars in the ferry . I guess about 5 dark green landrovers, were they from production team ? Or some white toyotas?
 
Difficult to call, this one.

Just like part 1 it wasn't "bad TG" by any means, but it didn't have the magic of their better roadtrips.

Highpoint: River crossing. I actually enjoyed that sequence, which (for once) justified the use of the A-Team music (nice touch arranging the tune African style, BTW). I didn't care for the punchline (Scorpio sinking). That Ford still felt like an afterthought and if that stunt was the only reason they brought it along, they might as well have left it out completely. Then again: This could've been totally un-scripted, but I seriously doubt it.

Lows: More forced comedy. JM "stealing" JC's door was kinda funny - even though hardly a believable prank, considering the work/noise involved in cutting out a piece of car-door. But they should've left it at that. Instead they repeated the same joke over and over until the Subaru ended up with a toilet seat for an airscoop. Stop beating jokes to death, guys.

Attempts at re-doing jokes from other road-trips. See: "Americans are the funniest creatures, ever." That little scene wasn't half bad, but I couldn't help thinking that it was put in there deliberately to copy the brilliant "comb-over"-scene from the Botswana-special.

Ending: meh.

I mean, the whole premise of finding the true source of the Nile was preposterous anyway. At least with other specials, they had concrete, easily verifyable goals.. such as finding the magnetic pole or reaching the Pacific Ocean. Here, they were just standing near some puddle of water for all I know. Also: Ending the whole thing as a race on foot? Last time I checked, this was Top Gear - the cars should be the stars. I had a feeling they'd end it along those lines when they started to give their traditional "why my car is the best"-speech with almost 20 minutes to go.

7/10 (just barely)


Speaking of which: Almost 40% of users gave it a 10/10.. saying that this is the absolute best TG can do with a cheap car roadtrip. Really? I sure hope those 40% are wrong.



S.
 
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smtk said:
If they're going to do this much scripted comedy then they all really need some acting lessons...

/ducks
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mpicco said:
I think there's a big mix when they're shooting between what's previously been scripted, what came up on the spot, but mostly I think there's the middle term where the guys see something or find something funny then they come up with a situation to use it in the adventure and shoot it. Not kind of first reaction shot (although there are many of those and they're great), but as a on the spot, quickly rehearsed joke. Honestly they can't scan 1000 miles of road trip to know what exactly will happen where.
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I think a classic example of what is possible comes from our very own Ringmeet. Put a bunch of people with a common interest and let the funny happen. Nobody turned up to the campsite with a script last July and yet I can't recall a time in my life when I laughed so often and so hard. I think the problem with the TG boys is that they've forgotten what works best which is simply get into a particular situation and simply be three mates dealing with it and let the fun, adventure and so on happen as they go along. They're doing it by the numbers.

Call James useless. Check.
Clarkson shouting. Check.
Clarkson wields a hammer. Check.
Hammond screams. Check.
Silly, pointless mods. Check.
A-Team music. Check.
Buy a silly present. Check.
Vandalise each other's car. Check.
Pander to presenters' egos. Check.
Patronise local population Check.
Ignore natural beauty of location. Check.
Waste fantastic opportunity. Check.

Sure this wasn't a cringe fest on a par with the Indian trip but they could have made so much more of the whole thing. I know there has to be a plan and a shooting script but leave the cliches and the lame gags at home next time.
 
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I think all the vehicles on the ferry were part of the production. The white and black Land Cruisers, Green Land Cruiser Troopships and the blue pickup (most likely Afriscreen) and the Izuzu box-truck. Also the boat used to film the river crossing.
 
Four Five Eight said:
Because it wasn't that bad, just because you don't like a joke doesn't make it scripted. I'm sorry but that's just how the complaints read to me, there is very little specifics just "I don't like the scripting" or some such nonsense.
The bit where the producers "accidentally put the Ford into the river" was likely a "Scripted moment" but it worked for me same with the bit where they started stealing bits off each others cars it was funny.
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In a way, you've sort of proved the point there. The Ford in the river was ham-fisted and awful. The hood stealing parts were funnier, and worked much better. The difference is, with the stealing it felt more natural, less forced and generally more "Top Gear". The Scorpio was utterly pointless in every way. Firstly, it totally proved that the reserve car is pointless because not only did they ditch it, but they also went on to explain they have countless spares in a support vehicle. That makes the whole presence of the car pointless, in addition to the fact that pushing a car in the river isn't funny at all when it's set up, and so obviously set up.

Had the raft capsized with one of the real cars on it, and had it been a real accident, it would have been hilarious. What the did, is fake that happening because it didn't. Which was lame.
 
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It was an eight for me, albeit it a low one. Last week was fantastic (gave it a nine) but this one sort let me down. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but the half-assed modding and only one real challenge (the car-killing road) made it not as good as some of their other adventures.
I also find it rather hard to believe that a puddle between two rocks is the actual source of the Nile. And that Ford didn't really add anything. And the docking on the beach, leaving Hammond, and then docking on a proper ramp seemed odd. And I didn't really feel anything for the cars (apart from the Impreza, quite impressed with it, and it had the most heart).
But aside from those, it was really quite good when you combine it with last week. Probably a high eight overall.

I think I'd rank the specials this way:
  1. Vietnam
  2. Bolivia
  3. Botswana
  4. US
  5. Polar
  6. Africa
  7. Middle East
  8. India
(should note that there is very little between most of these...apart from India)
 
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The Stig's Welsh Cousin said:
I have to disagree there. The US Special was the original roadtrip and the best hour Top Gear has ever done IMO.
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The US "Special" was India-grade dreck for me as they didn't accomplish anything of note, save for go on a relatively short "road trip" with half a dozen predictable, staged and utterly stupid challenges intermixed with endless hypocritical anti-US drivel.

They've shown that the actually can have fun (US East Coast show), and accomplish things (Bonneville, Polar, etc) without the endless tired overscripting and faked OMFG moments.

And I'll even give them a bit of blatant fakery, as was the case with Bolivia (When Clarkson is doing his OMFG moment on the road of death past a film crew Land Cruiser, he's driving away from La Paz, not toward it)-- so long as it's entertaining and funny. The US Special was entertaining and funny for about ten minutes, after which it was the same tired crap. By comparison, many of the other specials are genuinely funny and entertaining the whole way through.
 
MWF said:
Call James useless. Check.
Clarkson shouting. Check.
Clarkson wields a hammer. Check.
Hammond screams. Check.
Silly, pointless mods. Check.
A-Team music. Check.
Buy a silly present. Check.
Vandalise each other's car. Check.
Pander to presenters' egos. Check.
Patronise local population Check.
Ignore natural beauty of location. Check.
Waste fantastic opportunity. Check.
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You forgot one - play Genesis to annoy Hammond. How many more times do they have to do that? It's not funny anymore (even worse - they don't explain the joke now. So if you are new to the show, you have no idea why they are playing Genesis. And those of us who know the joke already are tired of hearing it. It's not entertaining for either camp.)
 
simbaleo said:
The US "Special" was India-grade dreck for me as they didn't accomplish anything of note, save for go on a relatively short "road trip" with half a dozen predictable, staged and utterly stupid challenges intermixed with endless hypocritical anti-US drivel.

They've shown that the actually can have fun (US East Coast show), and accomplish things (Bonneville, Polar, etc) without the endless tired overscripting and faked OMFG moments.

And I'll even give them a bit of blatant fakery, as was the case with Bolivia (When Clarkson is doing his OMFG moment on the road of death past a film crew Land Cruiser, he's driving away from La Paz, not toward it)-- so long as it's entertaining and funny. The US Special was entertaining and funny for about ten minutes, after which it was the same tired crap. By comparison, many of the other specials are genuinely funny and entertaining the whole way through.
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I suppose if you're from America, you would have enjoyed it less. Let's agree to disagree.
 
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