[Polar Challenge Special] July 25th, 2007

Could somebody please capture the 90 minute special this Sunday? That would be schweet!

second.





Best episode so far in a long time. It did end abruptly, and I would have liked to see them finish and talk to each other about it. Always the best when the three blokes get to dick about, but what made this great, is that this showed also a very much more serious side as well. When they had to put the Caterham together, there was not as much seriousness put into it.

I'm working on downloading the 720p version. It's taking a while. Watched the 350MB version a couple of times. Once the HD version is done, I'll be making my third viewing. :D



Oh yeah, and, I was hoping for maybe something more British. I know the Hilux has been their bulletproof vehicle but a decked out LR Defender would have been really :cool:. An LR3, RRS, or RR probably would just have been a case of, "so, wheres the next bit of thin ice we can fall through?"
 
wow, if the best complaint some of you guys can toss out is that you feel cheated they didn't go to the "true" north pole, then the episode was a success.

yeesh. They went to the exact spot of the yearly Polar Race challenge finish line.
78?35.7'N 104?11.9'W
http://polarrace.com/about/route/
That is indeed the 1996 Magnetic North Pole. If you feel like telling the people who compete in the race each year that they didn't reach the pole either, power too ya, when they set their dogs on ya don't say I didn't warn ya.

The damn thing shifts constantly, even daily (25 miles a year) and can wander almost 80 miles north/south. They couldn't exactly set out and go "oh hey, once we get up there lets phone around and see where it happens to be today and see if we are near it". I went and looked up where it is currently, but the best I could find was that in 2005 it was 400 miles out to sea off the coast of Sverdrup Island.

Anyone on this earth who thought they were going to the 90? north pole needs more geography class :) 600km from the nearest land, visited by under 200 people ever, and surrounded by constantly shifting ice reducing even the countries that have been there to do nothing more than set beacons up on the ice and then hope every now and then it drifts over top of the pole. There's a reason there is no permanent station at the North Pole (like there is at the South).


Anyway, back to the episode. That rocked! I like the specials. It was good to see a part of my country I have no delusions of being brave enough to visit :p
It definately had an abrupt ending, you felt almost robbed by not having Hammond shown arriving.
 
i laughed, i cried (esp. when hammond mentioned about weeping, i wanted to reach through the screen and hug him!) and was completely astounded. the scenery, the music (requiem is my fave movie too, and the soundtrack fitted so well here!), the complete bravery of cast and crew...wow wow wow.

so many favourite bits i cannot pick just one!
 
loved the episode .. in parts.

a) ah, showing my home-country Austria again!
b) christ, these guys are rubbish on skis (yeah I know, for other people this is something exotic .. it's just that we Tyroleans learn skiing at age 4 or something like that)
c) amazing footage, really beautiful
d) friend of mine was in Iceland for 3 years, he mentioned Arctic Trucks quite a lot
e) the climate-change related final sentence was really stupid. Another example for how, if I were a Brit, I would hate Mr Clarksons guts. But from over here, he's just funny.

that's about my thoughts. Now, please some amazing S10 soonish!
 
Certainly one of the best episodes :happy:
 
if they could turn out a show like that every week, there would be no need for other TV shows.

that was brilliant.
 
Im surprised that the tree hugging diesel dykes have not written a tonne of letters complaining about the woman in Team Dog belting the dogs with a whip !!!

Instead they go on about how tyre marks are killing baby seals' chance of survival in a untouched wilderness..
What a load of bollocks.

That was probably the best ever Top Gear Special. I was in awe of some of the tricks they used to get themselves out of trouble. I think the stand out was the lighterfluid trick.

The "Port 'a' loo attachment was funny too. The incident with Clarkson and the bolt being stuck to his mouth was funny....

The look on Mays face when they were making Gin and tonics, and Clarkson asked May "Do you have any ice ?" was pure gold.

I also think that a big mention needs to camera and support crews. Because they went there too. But I think the worst thing for them all would be the fact that what they went through (Boulder Field) they would all have that sick feeling in their stomachs knowing that they have to navigate through it again to get home.

I liked the bit where Clarkson believed there would be like a big ray of light shining down on the spot. (Personally I was hoping they were going to put up a red/white striped pole with a brass top on it with a sign on it saying NORTH POLE)

I do think that all of them deserve a huge congratulations, as not very many people have made it to the North Pole.
 
I agree it is the best episode so far. This is the most challenge race ever.
I kinda feel bad for hammster tho lol.
 
Well, I have to admit, I read some posts on this before downloading it and... I was quite disappointed with it. The start was funny but it got more less funny towards the end and, a bit... boring. Anyone with me?
 
Well, I have to admit, I read some posts on this before downloading it and... I was quite disappointed with it. The start was funny but it got more less funny towards the end and, a bit... boring. Anyone with me?

No. I was captivated.
 
tree hugging diesel dykes
... just the Moment to remind the angry Diesel-hating Mob that Clarkson and May drove one of these rather economic Diesel-Engines to the Pole in their Toyota.

Don?t tread on Diesel. If the going get?s tough, it?s first choice. It?s not the Diesels fault the treehuggers love?em ... ;)
 
I absolutely loved it! As most everyone has already said, this is the best special they've done so far.

My only issue (and it's a small one) is that the editors seemed to use the same "beauty shots" over and over again.
 
Now WAS there a 90minute special Special on sunday with making-of-footage or whatever?! (someone mentioned that) (oh - and could someone please rip it?)

Thanks!
 
Nope - it was just a repeat for thos who missed it!
 
That episode just blew my mind...makes me wonder what will the season 10 be like. then. I have to say that I'm expecting a race to Moon or to the The Mariana Trench, with Hiluxes of course.

By the way, unlike someone said earlier, Jeremy wouldn't be the first man to drive a car in the Moon, that was done by the crews of Apollo 15, 16 and 17 back in the seventies with the Lunar Rover Vehicle.

And finally, I don't know if anyone has already noticed this, but isn't the doctor showing off the frozen penis in this episode very much like the doctor scaring poor old Richard Hammond with the dangers of frostbites in the Winter Olympics Special episode? (aired 2006.02.12, episode 08x00)? :)
 
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[...] I have to say that I'm expecting a race to Moon or to the The Mariana Trench, with Hiluxes of course.
As we learned in Series 9, a Car has to be mighty "pointy" to go bejond the Clowds, a Hilux won?t do ... :lol: Mariana Trench? Black Stig already got there with the TG Jag in Series 3 ("some say he walked on water, all we know is he sank like a Stone") ... so consider that done already :)
 
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