[12x08] December 28th, 2008 [Vietnam Special]

[Whappeh]

I desperately want a Minsk motorbike.

9/10

[yeeha]

A very enjoyable episode, not epic as some of the other specials, but still better than everything else on tv. I might just have seen too much top gear but more of the bits stood out as scripted than usual.

The whole episode is worth the watch just to see the scenery of Vietnam. The islands in particular were amazing. I was a bit stunned to hear that some people spend their whole lives on the water like that. Kinda cool as it is such a different lifestyle yet sad that that is all they know at the same time.

Glad to see top gear trying new things now and again even if they don't focus on cars much at all. As for their first foray outside the hour, I say it is a success and hope to see more like it.

[jack_christie]

Gave it 9, no cars

Got to be one of the most dangerous tri

[braintumor]

i want to give it 8.5/10 but gave it 9/10, simply because it feeled to heavily cutted... and like francis ford wilman said in his blog that it was a challenge to edit an eight days trip, I think they could have better made this a 90 minutes special.

But i have to say, what a beautiful country and scenery...

BTW. My favourite special is still the polar challenge and still think it will be very hard to top that *just my opinion*

[Seasonone]

7/10.

Way too forced and fake, nothing that "epic" really happened, the few funny bits were outweighed by the pointlessness of most of the stuff and Clarkson was beyond annoying for the first 15 minutes, it got to the point where I just started skipping scenes that had him alone moaning about how much he hates bikes.

IMO worst special they've done. (unless you count ground force)

[Jon]

10/10 because it was different, it was beautiful, there was no cars but it was still ace and Jeremey said he 'understood' bikes now.. fucking..yes.

10/10..

[shancmf]

Clarkson's final sentence slayed me! Love it!
The only negative in my opinion was the lack of Stig's communist cousin, I can understand why it was cut though, oh well, maybe we'll get outtakes
& what a stunning place! Great episode.

[settler]

The was lack of something. But it was so different and even I'm not into bikes there were good idea, more vietnamese. The soundtrack was just great, best ever in TG I think. When I hear The End or Paint It Black image of Vietnam comes immediately.

The most important is that I've heard that Vietnam is an interesting place and now I now it for sure.

Maybe not the best episode ever, maybe it isn't proper TG, but it was interesting and fun so I'll give 10 just because it was something new.

[nouseferaname90]

Great episode. Hands down. Clarkson on a bike was hilarious. My only complaint was with my copy of the episode, which was 1:13:35 instead of 1:15:00

[Viper007Bond]

9.8 or so outta 10. Awesome episode.

[elweasel]

A very good episode. But if your are going to tease about Stig's Commie Cousin on a motorbike, you have to show it. I guess it will be out later this week.

[Torque]

Wasn't really impressed at all. Sure, it was beautiful to watch, but aside from that, I didn't really find it all that exciting. It had a few funny moments, but aside from that, I thought it was far below average for one of their roadtrips. Africa and America were waaay better.

I'll be generous and rate it a 6.

[idk]

This is the reason why i don't give normal episodes a 10... To get a proper result of a series you must safe 10ers up for this...

[TurnerGTX]

9 out of 10.

Good Points
Scenery
Music
Hot Aussie Blonde
Deaf bloke on beach - quite moving
Snake Vodka
Vietnamese people

Bad Points
No Commie Stig
No cars whatsoever - not even a hire car
USA Bike
Another 'amphibious' challenge

[dMa]

I dont say this lightly, but I think this was probably the best episode of top gear ive ever seen. Sure some of you didn't like it but I dont believe it was missing anything. It was just those 3 doing what they do best, messing up, cocking about, getting hurt, breaking stuff and making rubbish amphibious ... whatever you'd call those.

Excellent; 10/10

And clarkson's crash? I wet myself

[idk]

Yep... the USA Bike wasn't funny imo. They could have left that out.

[pimpinero]

I think that's one of the kind you either love or hate. I didn't enjoy it very much. No car stuff, no Stig or one of his cousins, just three guys on a funny bike / scooter trip somewhere in the far east.. ok the landscape saved a few points but that was one of the least enjoyable Top Gear specials. I rated a 7/10 since there were a few hilarious bits.

[OnlyABS]

being a motorcyclist, I totally enjoyed the show. it's fantastic, riding in such a beautiful country.

[OnlyABS]

Originally Posted by idk

Yep... the USA Bike wasn't funny imo. They could have left that out.

sometimes, you have to look back into the history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War

[acabinian]

Being Asian (Filipino background), I had an inkling somewhere that they would go on about the scenery in Vietnam. Simply stunning in that regard. Asia, in general, is such a beautiful place, with, as Clarkson said, a mixture of modern technology and ancient cultural tradition.

What was the name of the island area where they ended the show (couldn't hear the name well from the ep)? People are really born, live their entire lives and die there? Amazing; I simply can't imagine such an existence; I have the desire now to see what that kind of life is like

The episode, overall, did seem forced at times; didn't understand the point of the "presents," and Clarkson's constant rambling about him hating bikes did get tiring.

I did like how they touched on Vietnam's past tastefully, sans the horrid and appalling USA bike. As TurnerGTX said, the beach scene with Hammond and the local did bring a lump to my throat as they were communicating about the war. Hammond's scene with the four kids in the village was also heartwarming. What kind of camera did he use there? Looked like a Nikon D3 or something similar (go Nikon!!)...

I'd give this ep an 8.5/10, but I round up to 9 for the poll.