[21x01] February 2nd, 2014

[21x01] February 2nd, 2014


  • Total voters
    384
I really hoped for a comparison of 80s and 2014 hot hatches........boy was I wrong. Scripted like hell, had some laughs, the end was so bad I was just surfing the net while having it in background drone...this was an episode for 10 year olds. Only reason it got some points was because I nostalgia'd hard at the trays under rear wheel donuts.

My sentiments exactly. Voted only 2 points. :thumbsdown:
 
This episode was a good example of what's wrong with the show. And also, what's not wrong with it.

It's the same old thing, some people like the silly bits, some people don't. But what's true, is that if they kept the fakery out of the silly bits, it would be a lot more appealing across the board. For example, the wrapping was fine, but the car keys left on the top was clearly fake and as such was annoying.

A lot of people on here seem to think not finding these things entertaining means that you don't have a sense of humour, but the fact is, people fell in love with TG because it was an entertainment show about cars, that managed to be fun, interesting and different. Now, the challenges aren't challenges, they're skits. What used to make them good, was the real sense that a challenge was afoot. That's now been replaced with a choreographed set-piece.

As others have said, the segment idea was great, but the execution was just daft.

I definitely agree, especially with the latter part of this episode. But on the flipside, I do think that people here do give the show a bit of a hard time when they do comedic pieces pretty well. An example is the P45 segment, which I thought was pretty good and cringe-free, but people here didn't like because it wasn't serious or incredibly informative.

A perfect analysis of what was wrong with this opener.

If memory serves, the best series of TG in recent years and one that managed to get the balance perfect in my opinion, was S19, topped off with the best special ever in the hunt for the source of the nile.
Agree that 19 was good, as was 20 in my opinion. But the Nile as the best special ever? Personally, I'd rank the Polar, Botswana, Vietnam and Bolivia specials over it easily.
 
I thought the entire hot hatchback sequence was exceedingly funny with constant original gags on the "Our producers are teenagers" theme.

You youngsters have no sense of humor. :D

8/10
 
Pretty weak, TG, only a 5/10 from me

Didn't they already do an 'old hot hatches are better than new hot hatches' episode a while back?
Felt flat and like I've seen it before
And the whole "Hamster flips a car and Clarkson destroys a shop" bits were just plain unfunny... The wrapping bit was fun though, as was May (as always).
I don't quite understand whey they needed an empty city and some army equipment in their "TG police" function either, but at that point I stopped caring...

They do have the Mclaren P1 next time, so that should be properly awesome...

Also, first episode I've ever seen that features a car I've actually owned (the Golf GTI 8v), even that couldn't save it in my book...
 
Agree that 19 was good, as was 20 in my opinion. But the Nile as the best special ever? Personally, I'd rank the Polar, Botswana, Vietnam and Bolivia specials over it easily.

Granted, all the specials have been brilliant, but I just loved the feeling of escapism from the Nile one. Like Richard Hammond, I'm a bit of a wild camping nut, and it was when they turned their cars into their sleeping quarters that I knew the episode was going to be brilliant.
 
So this woman is back
jTco9J5.jpg


Any idea who she is? I've seen her in like half of all Top Gear episodes.

That's me. (Thanks for the totally non-flattering screen grab!! :p)
 
I just came here to say that pointless food and goods destruction was absolutely unnecessary and utterly stupid (even if it's all off, which I very much doubt).

I'm generally light-hearted about that sort of thing, and never once has Top Gear pissed me off, but this I think is beyond pathetic. You look like spoiled little brats, and not one bit in a good sense. Idiots.
 
usually I am against "goofing around" on TG but if the idea is to do one show of fun and one more serious I actually in. This was ridiculous from the start to the end and worked for me. One complaint: old nokias were bit too corny
 
Great, until they started trying to blow things up.

The episode makes me think they all picked lemons and they had to resort to the tanks (etc) to make the episode interesting.
 
Got to say the majority of it was pretty awful. For me, that was Top Gear at its laziest. The last 20 minutes were just crap and too obviously scripted. I honestly thought I was watching something from Laurel and Hardy. The fact that they blew up two of the cars just didn't sit well with me either. 4/10 purely for the first 15 minutes which wasn't that bad.

I just hope that the silly episode is now out of the way and we get some decent car-orientated entertainment.
 
Last edited:
i became a bit suspicious when Hammond "flipped" his car so soon.

I forgot to mention that. Do the producers really think we are that fucking stupid to believe that was a real crash? They have like 5 cameras mounted in each car, surely if it was legit they would've used the footage from that instead. They even half assed the sound effects from it.
 
I forgot to mention that. Do the producers really think we are that fucking stupid to believe that was a real crash? They have like 5 cameras mounted in each car, surely if it was legit they would've used the footage from that instead. They even half assed the sound effects from it.

It's scripted...remember that.
 
The only part of this episode I liked was the news. I didn't like how they needed to destroy the GTI and the Fiesta.
 
I didn't like how they needed to destroy the GTI and the Fiesta.

I'm sure they had a million miles on them and were pieces of junk. They made plenty of those cars anyway. Nothing of value was lost in this case.
 
I watched the show on Sun and I thought it was just ok. I rewatched it tonight with 2 people who had never seen top gear UK and I got to see it with new eyes.

They enjoyed it immensely. They were not looking for what was scripted. They watched it for what it was. A bit of entertainment you cannot find in any other show on tv. They could not believe Jeremy's lap of his own car was shown on the tv. They loved the supermarket bit and didn't get when they said a second would be added for every pound was talking about money. They thought they added up the weight. I had given it a 7 but after watching it tonight with the new eyes, I would give it a 9. They thought it was so funny when Hammond rolled his car. They loved how all three took a different approach. They thought it was so funny when Hammond went across the finish line on his side. They had no clue who the guest was, but still enjoyed it and thought it was so cool when they saw Steven Tyler had driven the same car.

They loved how the cars got blown up at the end which is the part I did not care for at all. They thought the use of the military vehicles was so cool and lets face it, who would not have enjoyed going out with friends and chasing them around for a few hours just for fun.

I am going to get them around next week and watch it with them again.
 
I rewatched it tonight with 2 people who had never seen top gear UK and I got to see it with new eyes.

This is something we really have to remember. Most of us are gearheads who want the kind of shows that will be happening this Sunday. They mix it up a bit and cater to many different types of folks. Sure, they probably went a bit overboard on this episode but in general it's not a bad thing if they do things other than just car reviews. Go watch Fifth Gear for that! ;)
 
Top