[22x00a] December 27th, 2014 [Patagonia Special, Part 1]

[22x00a] December 27th, 2014 [Patagonia Special, Part 1]


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Well Jeremy's dad story was touching and unexpected other than that first part was pretty meh
 
This felt like TG US, a highlight cut resulting in a bunch of scenes with no connection.

The obstacles were too contrived, they didn't even make up a reason for taking terrible roads.
 
Silly, but fun and watchable. This marks the first TG episode where I care that they're destroying perfectly good, relatively rare cars. But, eh.
 
I loved part 1, I ended up watching it a couple of times and it wasn't any less boring the second time around I liked the jokes too, even the one where James may "Threw a log at Clarkson" logically I know he didn't really throw a log at Clarkson's face but I still laughed. The cinematography was incredible the choices of music suited it well and it was the start of I think their best ever special, right up there with Bolivia and Vietnam in my opinion and I've walked away from this with a new respect for the 928 and even the Lotus and I've never liked the Lotus. There was some good breakdowns as well in this, I quite like seeing a good breakdown followed by the car being fixed hastily.
 
It had it's moments, but it felt too tense. That may be just me, but I really wasn't able to enjoy it much. I felt it also was too serious for their standards. Clarkson's story even warmed my heart, he's such a great guy deep inside. Richard's accent was indeed funny, and I loved seeing that Lotus succeed. It's still one of my least favorite specials if I'm honest. Burma in contrast was near perfect in my opinion.
 
Then you missed a great deal. They more or less deconstructed Top Gear in the space of the hour. May is no longer the butt of the others' jokes - it's now Hammond who is bearing the brunt. I loved the description of him being chirpy and annoying (which we have been saying here for a while), Clarkson actually showing more than a passing knowledge of the workings of en engine, referencing very old gags with the cow on the roof and so much more.

I think we are very close now to the end of Top Gear in its current incarnation. Possibly one of the reasons why the upcoming run is longer than we have come to expect. I wouldn't be surprised if it's the last one. Fingers crossed they bow out on a high.

I was pleasantly surprised how good it was, I enjoyed the episode for the most parts.
Stunning scenery, well made and cut and I also get the feeling they are enjoying doing the show again.

I really hope this is not the end of Top Gear (This season), but I would understand it.

Very well put, exactly what I felt. To say it with Clarkson's words "it felt like (the beginning of) an ending", especially considering there seem to be no new contracts signed.
But it was a good show, even though it wasn't their best. Still amazed that the cars survived all the abuse.
Maybe I am missing something, but I am seeing that Clarkson signed a new contract taking him and the show to 2018
 
It was ok, but afterwards i watched the Africa (origing of the river Nile) episodes wich was much more fun to watch !
 
Great scenery, not much else in it unfortunately...:-(
7 out of 10
 
I've only watched part 1 yet, only about to watch part 2. I don't like this special very much so far. The whole thing feels quite wooden to me. Sure, the secenery is beautiful and there were some good moments, such as Jeremy and James talking about V8 firing orders and Jeremy explaining why he has a deeper bond with the Porsche 928. Also, I adore that Lotus Esprit, what an awesome looking car despite its age. The Mach 1 is surpisingly weak, that vague steering alone looks scary enough on the in-car footage.

However, this special so far feels forced and constructed to me. It already started during the introduction when May was over-explaining and Clarkson corrected him. The same thing has been going on for the whole time: they are playing roles, they are not themselves. If you follow The Simpsons closely, you may understand when I say that it is kind of like that. Up to series 10 they were great, a dysfunctional but loving family. Today's Simpsons are nothing but playing out jokes on current society and being needlessly mean to each other. I'm afraid that this special rather copies the Simpsons of late than the early good ones.

Additionally, most of the happenings on screen feel deliberate as well. Of course, I understand that many of the things shown in Top Gear are deliberate and then are made to look like an incident. However, they always were very good at hiding that, but here it is too obvious. Almost everything feels staged and fake, some things up to a painful extent. The highlight was the poor joke of James throwing a log at Jeremy off-camera.

Also, the cutting feels somewhat choppy, it doesn't introduce the natural flow and easy-to-follow logic of events of previous specials. It rather seems like a series of single events that do not really have too much in common.

As a result, I cannot be very generous for part 1: 4/10
 
This felt like TG US, a highlight cut resulting in a bunch of scenes with no connection.

I couldn't figure out why I didn't like it either but I think you figured it out for me. It was such a long trip that they were continuously cutting ahead dozens-hundreds of miles between clips. Something far shorter would have been better I think.

Maybe I am missing something, but I am seeing that Clarkson signed a new contract taking him and the show to 2018

That contract probably has a lot of exit clauses and other things in it. If they want to shitcan the show whenever they want they probably could. It'd probably depend a lot on their ratings though.
 
Anyone else notice the reference to the 'slope' incident when the boys are about to cross the bridge that was nearly completed? Jeremy says "...but is it straight" and Richard immediately answers with a concerned face "Yes... yes."
 
Anyone else notice the reference to the 'slope' incident when the boys are about to cross the bridge that was nearly completed? Jeremy says "...but is it straight" and Richard immediately answers with a concerned face "Yes... yes."

I did. And I laugh a lot.
 
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What a fantastic Special it has been. The best part is, it made me laugh hard on so many occasions. These blokes are at the best of their game.

'The definitive V8' and 'arrival of The Bond' had the best laughs. The Mustang, i was in total awe when i saw it. But seeing it needing 'lots of steering to go in a straight line' plus the 'thirst for fuel', well frankly its shocking. 'Love scene with mustang' had me rolling, totally :D Oh and 'Straw' throwing scene :lol: Its equally hilarious to see them leave their man in the middle of the trouble, as Hammond so graciously portrayed his responsibilities.

Story of Clarkson's Dad brought some invisible tears (i blame Clarkson for having one of the best story-teller voice). Glad it didn't last long, or it would have turned into too serious.

The last bit in "coming soon", those bikes finding the Porsche, i guess this is the point i have been missing. In all honesty, i have been keeping a keen eye when they were in Argentina, thinking now 'that' event would occur. It didn't, so i guess its in the 2nd part ... which is looking really REALLY awesome, seeing the "upcoming" video.
 
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The good: Beautiful scenery shot in both Chile and Argentina. Clarkson talking the association he has with his Porsche and his father was very touching and very genuine, something I haven't seen from him in a while. The Butch Cassidy stuff was also funny and thankfully didn't last too long.

The bad: It was dull and slow to start getting interesting. Some of the jokes went on for too long or were just repeated to death, including the "lets screw around with another presenter's car"

The ugly: The dick joke when Richard was filling up the Mustang was funny ONCE, after that it was just crass and desperate looking. I liked the choice of cars, but was it really necessary for Richard to have a car that was not working very well to begin with. There must have been other Mustangs from that period that were in better condition, or was it planned that it would be his car (again) that would not make it to the finish.

It's not the best start for a special in all honesty
 
I've only seen part one so far. It was a decent hour of television, I like their choice of cars, and the scenery was nice, although their didn't make much use of it.

But I'm afraid too many bad Top Gear specials have made me look at it expecting it to be bad, and therefore watching out for crappy details stuff.
For example, Clarkson's car alternated between having a front plate and not displaying it. What's up with that, doing re-shots after the car lost the plate somehow? Also, May nearly losing the car to his spirited driving - and they had an exterior camera to catch that set up in exactly the right spot? Come on people, if you script, do it more subtly. Even Clarksons story about his father - I don't exactly believe he drove from London to Sheffield at such speeds for real. He may have done it, but Top Gear has lost too much credibility for me to believe it.
And in general, the getting lost in terrain very unsuited for the chosen cars had gotten old a few years ago already.

Also, the preview for part two made me cringe. More car molesting. :(
 
Even Clarksons story about his father - I don't exactly believe he drove from London to Sheffield at such speeds for real. He may have done it, but Top Gear has lost too much credibility for me to believe it.
Really? You're questioning the WHOLE story based on the speed he mentioned? Clarkson a motoring journalist who regularly has cars loaned to him for testing couldn't possibly have used one to drive to his poorly father in hospital with a chicken because it's likely that Clarkson known for his hyperbole exaggerated about the speed at which he drove there, that's taking skeptical to a silly level I'm afraid.

As for James May's gone off bit It's entirely possible that after he nearly lost it on the corner they someone said "Let's get out stunt driver in and quickly re-create that moment" since that's basically how top gear is filmed.
 
Really? You're questioning the WHOLE story based on the speed he mentioned?
I do believe that he did have a 928 at his disposal on that sad day, and used it. I also believe he went over the speed limit. But not by that much that he needed a Porsche to do it. Anyway, this is not important.
that's taking skeptical to a silly level I'm afraid.
Which is kind of a point I tried to make, that several seasons of Top Gear getting worse have done that to me.

As for James May's gone off bit It's entirely possible that after he nearly lost it on the corner they someone said "Let's get out stunt driver in and quickly re-create that moment" since that's basically how top gear is filmed.
Possible. To me at least, the on-board perspective alone would have been better.
 
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