[09x03] February 11th, 2007

[LoneWolf]

Originally Posted by siulaba

i wonder what the budget is for each episode of top gear (especially the previous few seasons where they said they ran out of money). I suspect that they run a pretty heavy budget to produce such a show.

Other than budget, it's the crew and the talents that build the show, which is shot by producers with some artistic talents.

i can't believe how stupid i was watching the american auto tv shows before, looking at a stupid guy fixing a truck for 10 weeks.

Believe it or not TG is actually very good value for money for the BBC. The BBC spends a lot more money on Saturday night TV talent crap like Fame Academy and what not, in comparison it spends less on TG, a BBC2 program which pulls in BBC1 viewer figures. Those people who moan about BBC wasting license fee payers cash on TG really need to check what else the BBC is spending cash on.

[Gonoc]

Originally Posted by Ventura6

"Ah, it's rainin'. I'm goin' north. And I'm lookin' for a WHORE!!!" Hammond.

I think you got it a bit wrong, Im pretty sure Hammond says: "Ah, it's rainin'. I'm goin' north. And I'm lookin' for a WHUURE!!!" Hammond.

[Peter3hg]

Originally Posted by siulaba

i wonder what the budget is for each episode of top gear (especially the previous few seasons where they said they ran out of money). I suspect that they run a pretty heavy budget to produce such a show.

Other than budget, it's the crew and the talents that build the show, which is shot by producers with some artistic talents.

i can't believe how stupid i was watching the american auto tv shows before, looking at a stupid guy fixing a truck for 10 weeks.

I've heard the figure of £1 million an episode bandied about but not sure where I heard that.

[Nano]

Originally Posted by Gonoc

I think you got it a bit wrong, Im pretty sure Hammond says: "Ah, it's rainin'. I'm goin' north. And I'm lookin' for a WHUURE!!!" Hammond.

I, not totally sure he says whore... to me it sounds more like hooker with no K

"Ah, It's rainin', I'm goin' north. And I'm lookin' for a hooer!!...

which actually brings the question... I wonder if he's not looking for a "hooters" and hammond missunderstood.

[Manic Moran]

'hoor' is an accentised 'whore'

NTM

[Ventura6]

Originally Posted by Gonoc

I think you got it a bit wrong, Im pretty sure Hammond says: "Ah, it's rainin'. I'm goin' north. And I'm lookin' for a WHUURE!!!" Hammond.

Originally Posted by Nano

"Ah, It's rainin', I'm goin' north. And I'm lookin' for a hooer!!...

Originally Posted by Manic Moran

'hoor' is an accentised 'whore'

Hmmm. Perhaps I'll take all of your advise. How about Whuooor?

[Gonoc]

Originally Posted by Ventura6

Hmmm. Perhaps I'll take all of your advise. How about Whuooor?

Love it

[Ventura6]

Done.

[Alpha_One]

EASILY one of the best hours of entire TV history! The show's very funny, and while there were stereotypes here and there but none of that America-bashing-every-5-seconds-and-wasn't-very-funny in TGTBTU. No, I'm not American.

The in-car shower and the cow on the roof was pure genius!

It's amusing how the $1000 cars actually made the entire journey with minimal breakdowns. Where I live, $1000 will get you a beat-up Daewoo, that in about two miles either a) the engine explodes or b) it breaks in half.

Originally Posted by Electrastar~Indochine

Guess where I'm going on holiday? Erm, any Alabamians here fancy taking a Brit-chick under their wing? I have my own Crimson Tide shirt!

Call me Deacon Blues... Deacon Blues... (nothing, just popped out of my mind - hey this is American too right?)

[Jonax]

Originally Posted by conceptualman

i do not know if jc or anyone else at tg really likes hillary clinton or what but if she were british and she were voted prime minister this is what you would have :
a. a speed camera every ten feet
b. everything under the sun would be nationalized
c. everyone would be forced to drive a prius
d. the government would confiscate everything that can be construed as a weapon
including butterknives
e. the individual diet and all personal activities would be regulated and controlled by
"the ministry of health","the ministry of freedom"or some such entity
f. one would not be allowed outside ones home without safety glasses

To be truthful, the UK already has all of those in some way except c.

(e maybe not a "ministry of health" but we have Jamie Oliver )

[NathanWoodruff]

Here is the gas station that they stopped at.

State Line Pride 32485 Us Highway 90
Seminole, AL 36574

Here is their phone number to call the gas station 1-251-946-2080

The woman was not the gas station owner, just a local resident. The person that worked at the store says that she was provoked into being agressive.

Call them your self.

Nathan

[TheGreenKRS]

It was set up, but the fun was 10 from 10

[115spider]

Originally Posted by conceptualman

hello all,
i guess i am a little late to the party ... but ... here goes !

i am a big fan of top gear and have seen almost all the episodes including the one with the interview with the hannibal lechter actor whose name i do not recall .it does seem that jc is speaking of this episode during that interview .is this show older than they are letting on ?....

as far as humor goes on this episode it had its moments , however i think there are only so many ways that you can rip on a country or group before it becomes distasteful ,like a comic who just insults members of the audience and it's supposed to remain funny indefinitely .

i used to drive 18 wheelers and i did plenty of driving down south and i can say first hand that from all of my experiences the people of the south are good people . also ,if you need to know , big-truck drivers are in fact civilized people as well ,most of whom drive to earn money to feed their families ,pay for their homes,and pay for their children's educations etc. not the type of people who go around looking for whores .

i find it kind of ironic that jc dislikes america so damn much . i would say most of america has the same political views that he has , especially about regulation , green laws ,greenies in general ,lawsuits and that whole crowd . i think he is speaking from the british political point of view , though . not that anyone takes hin seriously.noone should take anything he says about America with more than a grain of salt .

about bush : he is not always well spoken and that leaves him open to ridicule by those who want to selectively lampoon certain gaffes of speech that he makes ,BUT say what you will , he is a man of conviction who is willing to defend the country .after all this time , despite the apparent changes in the political winds , he still has not flipped , changed or wimped out . it is nice to see someone who cares more about doing what is right than his own political fortunes in the office of president .

i do not know if jc or anyone else at tg really likes hillary clinton or what but if she were british and she were voted prime minister this is what you would have :
a. a speed camera every ten feet
b. everything under the sun would be nationalized
c. everyone would be forced to drive a prius
d. the government would confiscate everything that can be construed as a weapon
including butterknives
e. the individual diet and all personal activities would be regulated and controlled by
"the ministry of health","the ministry of freedom"or some such entity
f. one would not be allowed outside ones home without safety glasses

last but not least
as an american , i do appreciate the british contribution to the effort in iraq ,especially since historically , the british have so much experience in that region .

good day all,
G

hillary clinton - bring her on cant be much worse than what we have now

to answer your statements

a) we already do
b) some of it is, those bits that were privatised have caused the prices to double in 5 years (dontcha just love that free market economy / private cartel)
c) they're trying that here and failing, doesnt have that celebrity feelgood factor
d) we get 46 handgun deaths a year, its feb and we have 8 in london alone already - gun control is a good idea
e) it is, they're called school dinners
f) only the terminally stupid who think the right to arm bears is cool

btw, did you hear the one about the new jersey school kid who was shot by SWAT on his way to school? they heard he was carrying a compass, a protractor and a calculator. he was killed for carrying weapons of maths instruction....

[carlover]

Originally Posted by conceptualman

d. the government would confiscate everything that can be construed as a weapon
including butterknives

Sounds good to me.

I think freedom to own a weapon is about 50% of the problem there is in America. My ex-girlfriend (who's from America) was stunned to see that in Europe we'd just ask people for directions. Even in the middle of the night in a large city. Kinda says enough IMHO.

And having a butterknive in your house (or even a carving knife ) makes sense. Carrying it only does when you just bought it....so it's in a box. The rest could be banned today and non-violent people like myself couldn't be bothered less.

[KIJIMA]

Just so you all know, I have it on good authority that the next time the TG team do a shoot in the Deep South, the support guys shouldn’t have rocks thrown at them if they ever venture into a service station because they finally have support vehicles that blend in with the locals. Range Rover has built a one of kind vehicle just for the TG support team!

I wonder instead of cup holders it has a tray for keeping your chewing tobacco fresh?

[janstett]

Originally Posted by siulaba

i wonder what the budget is for each episode of top gear (especially the previous few seasons where they said they ran out of money). I suspect that they run a pretty heavy budget to produce such a show.

It's produced so beautifully, yet they complain about budget... In a recent Top Gear mag, Jeremy was complaining about how incredibly expensive it would be to start shooting Top Gear in High Definition. Yet over here PBS crap show MotorWeak has already started doing it.

On the guns issue, that's something the rest of the world is so downright against but Americans are mixed.

I've never owned a gun and I have no sane reason to own a gun. I have a mild interest in (non-living) target shooting but have never done it. The closest I have come is paintball. I am against hunting animals. However, I'm starting to change my mind on these gun laws. The framers of our Constitution wanted the Government to be afraid of the people. And in the Bill of Rights the ammendments are in the order they are for a reason, not by random. There's a reason free speech is first and the right to bear arms is second. I know those were different days when militias were common, etc. etc. But I look at how large and unresponsive the US government has become, and how inept it is and how defenseless we all really are here (the only adequate defense put up on 9/11 was by civilians on Flight 93; that shows how helpless and inept the Federal Government really is; Katrina underscores the point). If there is some day an Intifada on American soil (and with our borders uncontrolled and inept leadership it may happen in the next several decades), I want to go buy a gun to defend myself. If we have to live with suicide bombers blowing up shopping malls like in Israel, I don't want to be a defenseless sheep. And I'm somewhat grateful that I can do something about it other than crying and laying flowers and teddy bears AFTER my loved ones are killed. If you've got an oppressive government that wants to keep the people under its heel, OF COURSE they're not going to allow their subjects to own guns. And after that they're not going to want them to speak. Or read. Or congregate in mass. Oppressive governments want their people defenseless -- physically first, then intellectually. I don't want a gun, but maybe it's in the realm of the possible to need one.

[MadCow809]

brilliant episode, topgear at its best. it was great to see an TG ep dedicated to american bashing.

[Manic Moran]

Originally Posted by janstett

On the guns issue, that's something the rest of the world is so downright against but Americans are mixed.

Picture taken in the haven of violence that is Switzerland.

Go to a German firearms shop. It's depressing. They make a Texas gunstore look pathetically stocked. What is not commonly known is that there are fewer restrictions on what you can buy in most places in Europe than there are in the US. Restrictions such as the UK are by far the minority. For example, in the US, silencers are illegal without special permits. In France, using a silencer is considered courteous as it doesn't disturb the neighbours. And any rifle built in Europe after 1986 is impossible to buy in the US unless parts are built in the US which is why rifles like the AUG are so expensive over here. The difference is that European firearms are subject to much greater restrictions on use or storage.

By way of example, about two years ago, the Irish courts declared the restrictions on firearm ownership null and void. For the first time in over thirty years, anything became legal to hold, to include fully-automatic weapons. As you can imagine, every shooter in the country went shopping, and on Irish boards I'm seeing people displaying pictures of newly purchased arms that I can't buy in the US, at ages much younger than in the US. It's depressing. The catches are that before the local Garda superintendent will sign the import papers, you have to prove that you have a place to shoot it (eg a club), and that you have satisfactory storage facilities (an alarmed vault), and of course, you can't carry a loaded firearm down the street.

The streets of Dublin (or more to the point, Limerick!) have not seen rivers of blood as a result of this de-restriction.



[Edited to display civilised Continental European gun control in action]

NTM

[Komplex]

That episode was simply hilarious, and yes I am an American. Every part of the "American culture" that they made fun of(being fat, rednecks, breeding with vegetables, etc) is something I (and many other Americans) make fun of too.

Top Gear is awesome

[conceptualman]

(e maybe not a "ministry of health" but we have Jamie Oliver )

hahaha that was a good one .

hillary clinton - bring her on cant be much worse than what we have now

to answer your statements

a) we already do
b) some of it is, those bits that were privatised have caused the prices to double in 5 years (dontcha just love that free market economy / private cartel)
c) they're trying that here and failing, doesnt have that celebrity feelgood factor
d) we get 46 handgun deaths a year, its feb and we have 8 in london alone already - gun control is a good idea
e) it is, they're called school dinners
f) only the terminally stupid who think the right to arm bears is cool

a. in the home of the autobahn , no less .
b. your govt probably privatised because it could not afford the expenses or was not doing things efficiently enough and was not allowed to sell the service at market prices . also , if a cartel is running the market , it is not a free market .
c. frankly , in a few years , the issue may be moot with the decline of oil and the rise of other sources of energy . the electric car may make a comeback . there is an electric car company in america which has a car with a range of 250 miles and has a 0-60 of about 4 secs . however ,this should be up to the market to decide ...
d. i understand london already has "gun control" .
e. you mean everytime you eat you have to go to a school ?
f. you're right . bears should not be armed !

btw...just wondering , what do you think of angela merkel ?

I think freedom to own a weapon is about 50% of the problem there is in America. My ex-girlfriend (who's from America) was stunned to see that in Europe we'd just ask people for directions. Even in the middle of the night in a large city. Kinda says enough IMHO.

And having a butterknive in your house (or even a carving knife ) makes sense. Carrying it only does when you just bought it....so it's in a box. The rest could be banned today and non-violent people like myself couldn't be bothered less.

i do not know where she is from ,but there are plenty of places in america where you are perfectly safe and concealed carry of firearms is perfectly legal , and there are plenty of places in america or europe where it is absolutely unsafe and the possession of weapons is absolutely illegal .
also , no offense intended , but in holland , is it often that someone's head explodes from the straightjacket of society , or is that belgium ?

some Ayn Rand , anyone ?
g