[20x04] July 21st, 2013

[20x04] July 21st, 2013

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Claw said:
I've watched new Top Gear since series 1, episode 1 (for the record I quite liked series 1&2) and that was one of the worst episode ever. Didn't enjoy it one bit. Electric car was ok, Hugh Jackman - don't care and the hovervan was cack.

It's up there with the TG vs TG Australia epsiode and series 9 episode 2 as total garbage.
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really? Captain Slow maxing the worlds fastest production vehicle and arguably greatest feat of engineering at Ehra-Lessien was total garbage?
 
Guys, relax. This was much better than the truly terrible Gallardo Balboni vs Caravan Airship crap, or the horrendous snowplow thing.
 
I like seeing Top Gear driving a hover van. I like seeing Clarkson enjoying himself trying to steer such a thing. I like the cheerfulness of the accomplishment. I like the banter. But then they decide it isn't funny enough and they need to add big made-up drama, like Clarkson getting out of the van at a silly moment. Only a genius like Rowan Atkinson or John Cleese can make a thing like that funny. To me anyway.
 
911ducktail said:
really? Captain Slow maxing the worlds fastest production vehicle and arguably greatest feat of engineering at Ehra-Lessien was total garbage?
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I was thinking more of the very dull piece about the coupes and the yawn inspiring 'golf' trip, the art nonsence and the contrived end about them all liking the Alfa anyway.
 
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controlspecimen said:
Guys, relax. This was much better than the truly terrible Gallardo Balboni vs Caravan Airship crap, or the horrendous snowplow thing.
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I liked the Snowplow thing! :dance:
 
Kiskaloo said:
The thing I miss about these more recent "How Hard Can It Be?" challenges like the Hammerhead-i Eagle Thrust and Train GTI is that they go directly from "HHCIB?" in the studio to the completed project. We don't see much (if any) of the mishaps encountered during the build itself, which is what made challenges like the Amphibious Cars, Convertible People Carrier, the Renault Avantime tuning challenge and stretch limos so entertaining for me.
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That's because they don't build them. So there's nothing to show beyond what they get in the initial "Jeremy hits things with a hammer" and "James gets cross about stupidity"
 
I just do not understand why there is such animosity for a difference of opinion. So what if people do/don't agree with what you perceive to be the only worthy opinion to have? Is that a reason to wish ill of them?

Seriously, if anything gets you that upset, you might want to consider stepping back. That much anger can't be healthy.
 
I've been watching this series, as I always do, in full. But after episode one, I no longer rush to do so. This is telling to me, as I usually couldn't wait to watch and would usually do so pretty much as soon as the TV was free on Sunday night.

I watched this episode yesterday. So that should tell you how much I look forward to episodes now.

I've worked closely with the TG team, I know they're all brilliant - although I only know a couple of people on the team now, as so many have moved on. But these recent episodes have been disappointing. I know what's going wrong really, it's fairly obvious that there's a desire to make the show funny and entertaining, which is fine, and understandable, but the problem is they seem to have forgotten just how good they can be when they're just allowed to get on with things. There seems to have been a need to engineer events that create an amusing outcome.

Now I've had a TV show of my own where I was a presenter, so I vaguely know what TV production is like. But I also understand that when you have on-screen chemistry like those three presenters have, you just need to put them in a situation and let them do their thing. One of my favourite items from TG was Jeremy's drive from London to Edinburgh in the Audi on a single tank of diesel. That film had it all, it was interesting, witty and had some genuine peril - although it was never serious peril, but the "challenge" was at stake. That film was long, and worked really well. You can watch that episode (s04e04) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBKlo_sfmVE note, it also includes car darts, which is another thing I could live without, but it's not awful and at least it's a real competition.

When I worked on TG, when they moved to the new studio, there was a will to rework the show. The pilot they shot - I have it on VHS somewhere - included a bunch of new studio ideas, but none of them really worked, and it didn't address what the show really needed, which was a refresh. I'm not a TV producer, and I don't know exactly what it needs, but I can certainly see that they've gone too far into entertainment and too far away from being great together, and talking about cars. Come on, these are cars, they are the greatest things on the damn planet, not making them interesting is near-impossible.

I know Chris Harris has been mentioned here, but watch his videos, or anything on Drive in general, and you'll see some great motoring stuff, some of it with humour and interest. I'm not saying it's the answer, but think about how that content is produced on a budget thousands of times smaller than TGs.

Oh, and two thing that generate real humour are 1) boredom and 2) competition

Here is a video that was derived from EXTREME boredom: http://videos.cnet.co.uk/crave-tv/iphone-4-launch-diary-39046267/ you may like it, you may not, but it proves that boredom creates a lot more humour than you'd expect. It's also quite well edited.

Anyway, rant over, I thought the episode was worth a 5. It wasn't the worst, wasn't the best either. The transit was painfully predictable, but it wasn't without humour either.
 
3/10

The SLS review was certainly interesting, but the Hovervan bit went on far too long and turned from "entirely predictable" into "excruciating".
 
I finally came round to watch this one:

- SLS: good review of the petrol version, looks like a quick and serious car, albeit a bit overdone optically. Also loved how the E-SLS was thoroughly explained. The verdict was good, too. Loved this bit.
- News: were uneventful, but not bad.
- Hovervan pt.1: I'll make it short: this was made of stupid scriped fail from beginning to end.
- Hugh Jackman: good SIARPC, was great fun to see. Good laptime as well.
- Hovervan pt.2: Seriously guys, how you can waste your valuable time on such bullshit is beyond me. Just stop it.

The verdict is simple: SLS and SIARPC very good, news neutral, Hovervan very bad. And because the Hovervan was the dominant piece of the episode: 3/10
 
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Look, I don't post on here to complain and moan about everything wrong with a particular show, I'm just expressing my opinion based solely on observation. We are given this forum to share our views and opinions about the shows. There's no point in criticizing other people's views, because someone will just come along and criticize your criticisms, and so on. And by the way, while abcxyz may agree with some of my points, I don't agree with his style of debate. If you can't construct your point without a stream of curse words, your observations are meaningless to whose who would read them.

The only verifiable fact that Top Gear is on the upswing or the downswing is the viewing figures. If they're down, the show is not so good. If they're up, it is. Everything else is opinion, especially on Final Gear. I think some of you take these threads too seriously. If the opinion of someone contradicts your own, it doesn't mean it's wrong or bad, it's just different.
 
OldSkoolGP said:
And by the way, while abcxyz may agree with some of my points, I don't agree with his style of debate. If you can't construct your point without a stream of curse words, your observations are meaningless to whose who would read them.
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You seem to have confused me with the guy I quoted in my post!
 
Topgear has become Flopgear, get those lazy old men some Viagra.

What irks me is for all the money they spent of daft stunts they could spend doing real exceptional car journeys like "Peking to Paris rally" in oliver of africa fame. There are great things adventures going on in the motoring world, but I get the feeling they would rather just do a stunt in the back lot and go down the pub.
 
And the same again from the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring...broiled-in-another-row-over-faked-scenes.html

Must be another slow news day...

To me it was obvious that some scenes were set up; they would obviously have to stop river traffic whilst their creation attempted to go under a bridge, and the rowing boat scene would at least need to be 'reconstructed' as a bare minimum (even if by some fluke it originally did happen by accident) in order to get the best camera shots, etc., but this also applies to everything else on Top Gear including the serious road tests. Taken "as is", I still thoroughly enjoyed this edition of Top Gear and is worth an 8/10 score, with 3 points awarded by default for James May's river remark regardless of what else may or may not have happened.

As for why they don't include more road trips, they are expensive and time consuming to shoot, and a fair number of viewers would be bored by too many road trips. Part of Top Gear's success in its current format is due to the sheer variety of content, and some of its best-remembered moments like the Fiesta test were both scripted and didn't involve a road trip :)
 
Zorlac said:
Ok lets get 1 thing straight. The episodes with Dawe were garbage. Pure fucking shit gutter trash. That wasnt Top Gear. That was some weird awful amature shit. TG didnt know what it was then and was trying to find its way. Thats why TG isnt proper TG until season 4. Fuck every episode before that.

I dont mind the *occasional* humor or bit. When the boys insult each other (i.e. the cop car episode when Clarkson and May were railing on Hammond for choosing that shit Suzuki was funny because it felt funny). The part in the 2nd Africa special (as if we needed that piece of shit) when the TG "boffins" or whatever the fuck you Brits call em lose the car into the river, that shit is what pisses me off. These stupid gags that can be seen a mile away, and thats supposed to make me laugh? Eat a bowl of cocks.

Anyway I've more than explained my reasoning and wont waste more fucking time typing it again. If ppl cant grasp my criticism in my last couple posts that's their goddamn problem not mine. But I've already experienced the 2 camps of TG fans, i.e. the mouth breathing moron asshole crowd who thought the hovercraft was "SOOOO HILARIOUS BRAH, I was laughing so hard dude" and the rightful "this episode sucked, fuck Top Gear" crowd, which I find myself increasingly in the latter. And another reason Im getting bored of TG is the stupid audience itself. Its too big, too full of young yuppie cunts. The crowds who clap at everything. And this isnt just confined to the live audience. Im sick of all the idiots who gather around a Top Gear shoot with their retarded cell phone cameras recording a TG scene as if they're doing something special. TG has grown too big to be surreptitious. Nowadays whenever they do a location shoot all the local yokel fuckheads come out in droves and watch.

I can only hope the stupid assholes who got drenched with water during the lame hovercraft bit were for real, but being that this is Top Gear we're talking about Im sure Wilman hired them all as extras for effect.

I have no doubt the same fucking drooling idiots who thought Clarkson wrapping his fucking legs in black electrical tape to mimic a pant suit during the Gran Turismo/Panamera/Rapide wedding episode are the same unfunny cocksuckers who went to see Grown Ups 2 and thought it was great. Its ppl like that who frankly should be euthanized and if you were one of these ppl who willingly gave Adam Sandler your money, kindly disembowel yourself.
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You, sir, jumped your own shark.
 
Eh, only a 6/10 this week. I enjoyed Jeremy's Merc reviews, and Jackman was good, but they spent way too much time on the Hovervan and I actually got bored with that whole segment.
 
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