[09x03] February 11th, 2007

[Aston Martin]

This episode was filmed in June.
I know people will hate this but... what if Dicky had 'passed on' and they thought it wouldnt be tasteful to show this episode?

[eMKay]

Originally Posted by torqueless

^^^^

this is what i'm talking about.

people to stupid to realize that not everyone living in *insert various country here* is going to be that way!

i've been to europe several times and have always been treated with kindness, fairness and decency (except when i was in france...but nobody likes the french )

France is the only country I have ever been to where everyone treated me kindly, Germany is great, England is pretty much exactly like the US (the part I'm from), only the cars are smaller and on the wrong side of the road.

[gtrietsc]

Great episode. I admire the TG production crew's ability to find and film the FATTEST Americans possible.

Seriously though, good episode, and I was pretty surprised about the bit in Alabama. That sort of stuff you joke about happening (I am from Texas, so we joke about that sort of behavior now and again) but to see it actually happen was shocking! And, while I dont think it is any one person's fault, it is a shame that N.O. still is in ruins. I have to say though, its been 5 years since 9/11 and we still havent rebuilt those buildings, so a whole city is a pretty tall order. Also, it should be noted that many of those places in NO probably looked pretty crappy before the storm, so its hard to get an accurate picture of some of the damage.

[knihc2008]

I thought this was a great episode. I still miss car reviews, but the camaraderie between these presenters is just so palpable. It was a really great romp of a trip but Top Gear is about car reviews first, characters of the presenters second.

This was still a very special episode though, and I loved it. The ending with New Orleans was especially moving. An American myself, I have to say to our fellow Brits that 99.9% of America is certainly not like that, and going to the deep south and painting your cars like that is just really asking for trouble. I'm sure anywhere else would not have been as bad.

[torqueless]

Originally Posted by Chupacabras

Its a common misconception about the very Conservative in America - anyone that is at all to the left of them is a socialist... there are some that call us "Soviet Canuckistan"

what with your free health care and lax marijuana laws (i need to visit!8)
it wouldnt be that hard to come to that conclusion about soviet canuckistan

[HatMaker]

I think the film best sums up why you would not want to live in any of those lower states.

[argatoga]

Originally Posted by Chupacabras

Its a common misconception about the very Conservative in America - anyone that is at all to the left of them is a socialist... there are some that call us "Soviet Canuckistan"

Depends on how you define socialism. The technical definition, at least what I was given when I took PolSci a couple years back, was that anything which interfered with the private sector was socialism. So the FDA, FCC, US Post Office, et cetera are socialistic institutions. I won't say socialism or a more capitalistic system is bad or good for all peoples; it depends on the society being governed. Despite what many conservative Americans say you can have both socialism and democracy.

As for New Orleans which brought this matter up, I agree with an early poster who reported the main reason the place is a dump is because a large part of the population left. Why worry about fixing up abandoned homes when you can help those who are living inside the city?

[torqueless]

when will people finally figure out that ameriKKKa is not a democracy.

its a democratic republic.

[The Chad]

One of the best episodes ever. I cannot believe that they would create a challenge where they would hope to get attacked, but ask and ye shall receive. It was a scary little bit, I must admit, but they also had it coming.

[Wertt]

Looking forward to seeing this episode here in Canada once the torrent is available. While I do get BBC Canada they rarely show Top Gear, and when they do it's quite an old episode. For some reason they opt instead for random non-British home makeover/real estate shows the rest of the time.

[epp_b]

...and going to the deep south and painting your cars like that is just really asking for trouble.

For a country that preaches free speech until everyone else's ears bleed, that part was pretty disgusting.

[argatoga]

Originally Posted by torqueless

when will people finally figure out that ameriKKKa is not a democracy.

its a democratic republic.

Who cares? I was using the term in a generic fashion to include all democratic nations. Next we will be debating on whether the British or US mispronunciation of zeta is better.

[kronz]

I'm not a massive poster here, thought I'd drop in to say this episode has probably been my favourite TG episode ever. And yes, I've seen all 9 seasons.

[watisdis]

Hmmm... having just read ALL the posts here I'm glad to see we've kept the flaming pretty much non-existant(so far). Great episode, mainly because it was unlike anything they've done before.

[kronz]

Indeed. I thin this subject has potential to be explosive. But let's not, lets just discuss the greatness of this episode.

[MPower]

Havent posted in ages but this seemed like an appropriate time.

Great episode, first and foremost. Their bias against America was obvious from the offset but that shouldnt come as a surprise to anyone.

Amazingly though... I came away from watching loving America more and more. There was one particular scene when Clarkson is driving down the dirt road to their campsite and comments about hanging out with his friends, in the deep South, beautiful sunset, below 90 degrees... I just remember those nights and how great they are.

If you wish, America is a bit like an Alfa Romeo. At some times it is going to really frustrate you and other times, you are going have awesome times. But the important thing is that it is never, ever boring.

[JosefCarlin]

and they get one. It was a stupid thing to do and they could have been seriously hurt. Do you really think you could go into someones house, disrespect them, and expect anything different? Here are some other Top Gear Top Tips: Don't go to Iran and call them "Camel Jockeys", don't go to a football game in Germany and call them Nazi's, and don't go to Berwick, Scotland and tell them what a great King Edward I was. They too might not have a sense of humor.

I have a had a great deal of respect for the BBC, Top Gear, the production crew, and the lads, but I must say I have lost some of that respect and high regard. It was a cheesy (get it), classless stunt and in bad taste. It really is a shame because the rest of the episode was truly inspired.

Oh and thanks for the gift of the broken down pieces of junk. Your charity is quite, underwhelming. As James so elquoently put it once, "Sod off!"

[USA Sport 20]

Well, I don't think I've laughed that hard at a Top Gear episode before. I absolutely loved it.

I thought it was the best episode yet, until the last 6 minutes....

But now I need to get briefly serious.

To answer Jeremy's question, the reason we can sleep at night when New Orleans is in the condition it is in, is because most of us don't know. I read the newspapers, I watch the news on TV and I keep myself informed, but I had no idea it was still as bad as it was. We may be the wealthiest country in the world, but our government does not want to put its money into a low-income city like that. Its sad because the American people want it to be fixed. We care about our fellow Americans, but things like that take time, but it is inexcusable that more has not been done.

On another note, people of the world, please don't get the wrong impression of America. Its actually quite a nice place to live and the majority of us are friendly, caring people. Just stay away from the NASCAR states... To put it into perspective, what if I bought an old Jaguar, painted swastikas on it, and drove it around Picadily?

Okay, out of serious mode...

The car-shower, the windshield washer shower, the grill, the cow... Just brilliant.

-Jeff

[teletubby-warrior]

BRILLIANT EPISODE!

On a different note, this thread has unexpectedly turned into an effective tool for identifying some of the ignorant members...

[kronz]

Originally Posted by USA Sport 20

On another note, people of the world, please don't get the wrong impression of America. Its actually quite a nice place to live and the majority of us are friendly, caring people.

I don't think anyones taking it all too seriously.