[11x04] July 13th, 2008

[Hussar]

Beautiful!
Lovely post-production in the Alfa part!
Excellent news part!
Stunning guests - I really love their parts!
Suberb race, but how could it not be. Lost in Tokyo -

Totally fullfilled my wishes for a Sunday night: Its over an hour since I finished watching, and I'm still smiling.
Got one final comment!

[gundamfans]

Originally Posted by DanielR

I'm a little bemused at how you the hell mananged to find my pic, but whatever.I should probably say i wanted a Magnum earlier, but not now.

Me be the X-rated picture on the news? Ha! That would be a dream.


The C8 review was good, it actually could be a living piece of art.It looked a real mess when Stiggy drove it round though. Still, it was raining.

SIARPC was quite good.It was shorter than the others, as someone else noted.There's something quite funny about watching news presenters swearing on camera.

The race! Was great.One of the best ones they've had since...the Norway one? On a par with that.The girl at the petrol station has a permenant smile forever.

Had to feel for Richard and James getting seperated on the train.They really could've won if they hadn't got seperated, and James didn't need to hold back the coach.

FYI: 100% the Facebook pic guy.That picture was taken in February.I think you can see a scarf in higher res.

Also quite weird, i only started reading these forums last week! Alas, a lurker no more.

How'd you find this facebook badge picture?

[Blythy]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

I voted 10. Epic race, epic cinematography on the Alfa.

I think there should be higher standards to get a ten. The race was good, I'm not gonna deny that, but the route did seem sort of contrived and there was the the fact that this is the 6/7th race they've done now, the law of diminishing returns does come into play a bit. There is also the very dangerous territory of catchphrases being toed into. I shuddered when they all said "oh cock" together, I died a little inside as well.

10s should be saved for episodes like 4x01 (the aston race, the lotus exige vs apache and james's cityrover review), milau bridge trip, the £1500 porsche episode - although I'm not gonna lie, all three of those episodes have poor siarpc. especially the porsche episode - cliff fucking richard..... They were no terry wogan.

5x07 is like the perfect normal episode for me btw, it's sort of hidden, but it's got the prius review (small car that clarkson hates - check), top gear awards, evo fQ-400 (clarkson POWER review - with bonus odd test - check), roger daltrey (idol of clarkson - check - even if the laugh is irritating) In fact there's very little wrong with series 5... except maybe the guests.

[Blythy]

Originally Posted by gundamfans

How'd you find this facebook badge picture?

I'm stalking each and every one of you. It's my personal hobby - In fact, I'm actually "woman E" and I have the news of the world on speed dial.

'onest.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by Blythy

I think there should be higher standards to get a ten. The race was good, I'm not gonna deny that, but the route did seem sort of contrived and there was the the fact that this is the 6/7th race they've done now, the law of diminishing returns does come into play a bit. There is also the very dangerous territory of catchphrases being toed into. I shuddered when they all said "oh cock" together, I died a little inside as well.

10s should be saved for episodes like 4x01 (the aston race, the lotus exige vs apache and james's cityrover review), milau bridge trip, the £1500 porsche episode - although I'm not gonna lie, all three of those episodes have poor siarpc. especially the porsche episode - cliff fucking richard..... They were no terry wogan.

5x07 is like the perfect normal episode for me btw, it's sort of hidden, but it's got the prius review (small car that clarkson hates - check), top gear awards, evo fQ-400 (clarkson POWER review - with bonus odd test - check), roger daltrey (idol of clarkson - check - even if the laugh is irritating) In fact there's very little wrong with series 5... except maybe the guests.

It wasn't a perfect 10, but I rounded up from like 9.5.

[argatoga]

Originally Posted by Blythy

I think there should be higher standards to get a ten. The race was good, I'm not gonna deny that, but the route did seem sort of contrived and there was the the fact that this is the 6/7th race they've done now, the law of diminishing returns does come into play a bit. There is also the very dangerous territory of catchphrases being toed into. I shuddered when they all said "oh cock" together, I died a little inside as well.

10s should be saved for episodes like 4x01 (the aston race, the lotus exige vs apache and james's cityrover review), milau bridge trip, the £1500 porsche episode - although I'm not gonna lie, all three of those episodes have poor siarpc. especially the porsche episode - cliff fucking richard..... They were no terry wogan.

5x07 is like the perfect normal episode for me btw, it's sort of hidden, but it's got the prius review (small car that clarkson hates - check), top gear awards, evo fQ-400 (clarkson POWER review - with bonus odd test - check), roger daltrey (idol of clarkson - check - even if the laugh is irritating) In fact there's very little wrong with series 5... except maybe the guests.

I think the poll should be reduced to just five ( or even three) spots. 10 is too analytical. Rating an episode should be more of a gut thing.

[Blythy]

Originally Posted by argatoga

I think the poll should be reduced to just five ( or even three) spots. 10 is too analytical. Rating an episode should be more of a gut thing.

true, but the less choice you make, the more things get evened out. It can make it harder to spot the truly great from the still quite good - from an observer point of view.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by argatoga

I think the poll should be reduced to just five ( or even three) spots. 10 is too analytical. Rating an episode should be more of a gut thing.

As it is, the votes split between 2-3 numbers usually. If we reduced the vote options, it'd only muddy up the results even more. You might as well just have "good" vs. "bad".

If anything, there needs to be 1-7, and then like 7.5, 8, 8.5, etc. hehe

[argatoga]

Originally Posted by Blythy

true, but the less choice you make, the more things get evened out. It can make it harder to spot the truly great from the still quite good - from an observer point of view.

How about:
5 - Excellent
4 - Good
3 - Average
2 - Poor
1 - Crap

A bit better than:
10 - Excellent
9 - Excellent, but not super duper excellent, I think.
8 - Better than good, but not excellent.
7 - Good
6 - Just above average.
5 - Average
4 - Not good enough for average, I think.
3 - Poor
2 - Probably crap.
1 - Crap

[argatoga]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

As it is, the votes split between 2-3 numbers usually. If we reduced the vote options, it'd only muddy up the results even more. You might as well just have "good" vs. "bad".

If anything, there needs to be 1-7, and then like 7.5, 8, 8.5, etc. hehe

Again too much over analysis. We don't need a 1000 point scale with sections to cover each aspect of the show. If the episode is a classic, give it a 5, if it is poor give it a 2. It would be much more useful for getting an idea of how the episode fares.

Though to be honest I would ignore the ratings either way.

[Reboot]

Originally Posted by ruuman

I think the magic about the big races is the genuinely unscripted action, like james getting on the wrong train. you can tell that was not planned by richard paniced [sic] look, where as the shorter stuff the scripting comes through as they all try and play up to their characters..

Again, James got on the right train. Richard got on the right train, but not necessarily in the right order...

[Martin]

Originally Posted by Speedtouch

Shit that had me worried for a moment there! Don't do that to me!

LOL, that freaked me out for a moment too!

[P5138]

Awesome Episode. I now, more than ever before, want to go to Japan.

[TopGear_Fan_NY]

Loved the episode, but until the last 2 minutes before the end, i was struggling to see why this race was more Epic than the Veyron vs Plane...

I think Veyron race was simply awesome and arguably in some ways better than the Japan one, BUT if it did lack something then it was the "on the edge of your seat ending", which the Japan race had obviously got....

Now as for this show;

News were ok.
Guests were ok
Race was really good

BUT WILL SOMEONE FINALLY TELL CLARKSON THAT PERHAPS THERE IS TOO MUCH OF HIM!?!?!

Richard Hammond, had only done ONE car review this entire season... (audi)
James May, had done NONE...
Clarkson had done ALL OF THEM

P.S. How in the world did they come up with a plan that all of the car reviews will be done exclusively by Clarkson???

Does that seem to bother anyone else that those two simply become sidekicks instead of real presenters???

[corradoboy]

Originally Posted by RichW

repetitive. .... actually......actually..... actually

Originally Posted by RichW

SIARPC - I dont find either of them attractive.

I'd hit 'em both, especially Kate


Some classic Clarkson lines in the 8C review and throughout....

"as fake as a hookers smile"

"Keira Knightley's just an ironing board with a face"

"a cello being played by an angel in a pillow of honey"

"like vomiting on the Pope"

"like buying a porn film for its plot"

"I wouldn't care if the sat-nav had tourettes"

"Sarah Jessica Parker looks like a boiled horse"

"Bill Oddie would spot your beaver 3 miles away"

.... but the race left me a little cold. Dare I say I'm getting bored of TG

[LurkerPatrol]

Quite possibly the single best top gear episode I've ever seen.

11/10

[prizrak]

OMFG I HAVE NO NAILS!!!!! (After watching the race).

[2Billion]

To all the people who don't think it's the best Top Gear:

You're wrong.

Easily, the best, most intense race they've ever done, especially at the end where they made the stupid mistakes. The 8C review? Fantastic. The guests? Actually worth watching for the first time in too long. The news? The news has been pretty good all series, but this one was better than most.

Seriously, you can analyze it as much as you want, and spring up nitpicky reasons why it isn't the best episode ever. But then you'd be wrong, since it just is.

[dMa]

I have been bitching about topgear quality since season 7.5 and for once, i am totally happy excellent episode.