[17x07] December 28th, 2011 [India Special]

[17x07] December 28th, 2011 [India Special]

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Oh come on, it really wasn't that bad. There were a few really cringe worthy bits like Hammond purposely ignoring the destruction of his Mini by the winch but I laughed a lot in this episode. Especially with the new cricket bit and the brake/horn dilemma. I agree this was the worst special though. I don't ever think we're going to get a better special like Vietnam. That special was really great. This one was missing something. I don't know what exactly. Maybe the fact that they didn't receive any good challenges. The garden party also seemed like a waste. Nothing really funny/interesting happened there. Also, at first I thought the top gear band was a great idea...but it just sounded horrible. I did enjoy the credits though. I love how they add something to the credits for each special.
 
captain_70s said:
The cars weren't even interesting, it wasn't like the Botswana or Vietnam specials where you were willing them on, they were just 3 normal cars, bought for a decent sum of money. 7k would get you a MINT Mini and XJS, and a tidy Roller in a undesirable colour, not exactly surprising they didn't break down when you bought such nice condition examples...
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This. I didn't see a connection between them and theirs car until the end where Jeremy was launching cans and balls from the Jag's exhaust. A good chunk of the show didn't even involve the cars.

What made the Bolivia special so incredible was that the drama was interwoven with their vehicles, they were all seen to be fighting side by side with their trucks to reach the end. In this the cars just happened to be props for their tired comic formula. That is until the end at the village which was incredible.

I don't have a problem with using scripts, a good deal of the show has always been scripted. They don't just grab a camera and start narrating a car review. Here though the segments try too hard and rely too much on the T.V. personas.

What I would rather have is a single goal (fighting the elements in junky vehicles or recreate a historic journey). The revolutionary thing about cars is that they allowed travel that wasn't possible for most before, I want to see that limit reached and exceeded.
 
I gave it a 7 because i treated it as an entertainment program not "factual car program"

But I do have to agree that this is the worse special.
And i am very pissed that they trashed a really really good looking Mini.
If i am the guy who sold that mini to them, I'd go and burn TGHQ....
 
aaurora said:
Skylock had a point though. I would have liked to have seen more cultural interaction, like the guy with the snake. I did really enjoy the straight 6 cricket and interacting with the locals.
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You see, you are wrong about that part. I have never been out of India in my 24 years of existence and i don't remember the last time i saw a snake. We DON'T have snakecharmers at gas stations, for starters. Which is also the reason i suspect they only flashed it for a couple of seconds and commentated on it as "a typically indian fuel stop". Bit of a joke there, i believe.

We do however have urban roads as dangerous as depicted (that road would probably be 4/10 or 5/10 on how bad it gets here). Also, we do play cricket, a lot, with whatever equipment we can find, like they show towards the end. They got those parts right.
 
Guess I'll have to jump on the wagon and say it was disappointing. Even suffering TG withdrawals and in good need of a laugh it just didn't deliver. India is even more diverse exotic and different than Vietnam yet this simply doesn't come close to how good that show was. Couldn't have put it better than a previous post it didn't want me have the urge to rush out and check on ticket prices. Had a few laughs but far and few between. What was the reason for the "party"? Can't find keys. something breaks a window (assuming it was the fireworks but...) and the lawnmower won't start.

I don't think the show has finally jumped the shark but has really got that flat scripted feel for the most of it. I do wonder if the last names of the writers are "Cut" and "Paste" as most of it was just recycled bits from the ghost of good shows past. They need to throw out the damn word processor and get some crayons and just let the show be fun and fresh again.
 
In light of previous great work, this was OK. I laughed but the show didn't seem to have direction. It was still better than anything else on TV. India looks exciting to drive in. They should hold a Baja 1000 type race on those two lane roads.
 
Wragie said:
I don't think the show has finally jumped the shark but has really got that flat scripted feel for the most of it. I do wonder if the last names of the writers are "Cut" and "Paste" as most of it was just recycled bits from the ghost of good shows past. They need to throw out the damn word processor and get some crayons and just let the show be fun and fresh again.
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It is hard for the same people to make something "fun and fresh" after nearly a decade straight of making a show. If anything I'm thinking there is a need for new blood (not necessarily new hosts).
 
awful. the worst thing about top gear is that i enjoy fifth gear a lot more for the last 2-3 years. top gear has been sick since 2008 and it's slowly dying.

i gave india 5/10. it wasn't worse than iraq but it was just as bad and iraq was crap. there's no point making these specials anymore when the presenters can't act. you sense it's all fake in every second of the footage and to achieve that is remarkable.

the james may oz clarke wine program was a million times more entertaining than top gear is today.

maybe the worst of all is that they didn't take a second of all of those 90 minutes to say something about india's car industry. i'd like to learn something sometimes!! are we all idiots today and learning stuff became stupid and uncool? if that's what they plan to do in the china episode i don't even have to think about watching. i want to see them challenging themselves. i want them to make a 100mpg car, stuff like that. i want them to do stuff seriously, not just ruin everything because it's scripted and that's what kindergarten kids think is funny.
 
"Executive producer: Andy... oh, and 35 pints of lager". Well there's your problem, to quote one A. Savage.

Only genuine laughter moment was the bit in the village with the straight-6 cricket. As others have said, everything was a bit of a rehash. Come on chaps, dump the lager, get some brainstorming done while sober for Pete's sake. Maybe it will help bring some originality back.

6/10. Still beats most of the stuff on TV nowadays, but... not working as TG used to.
 
Top up to original thought from last night.

I should have known things weren't going to be great when they referred to their starting point as "Bombay" instead of "Mumbai". It was only changed 16 years ago so it's not as if they had an excuse.

And even copious amounts of beer and some sleep haven't managed to rid me of the memory of that stupid garden party. I shudder every time it comes to mind.
 
Just watched it. It was OK, not as bad as I expected after reading the comments here, but definitely the worst of the Top Gear specials. It seemed like they were worried that it would turn out too dull so they decided to throw in the lame scripted "gags".

They should have skipped the train bit and driven the whole trip by road. It would have been a genuinely epic road trip, like the Vietnam special. The best Top Gear episodes are always when they set out to do something epic. not childish & ridiculous like the "party", which results in the overly scripted rubbish.
 
I found it mildly entertaining, however, to me it lacked a key element: a challenge. Every other special had a challenge with a cheap car (or motorbike). Why mess with that formula? I didn't really see the point in their journey (nor do I think it had a point more than cocking about). Where's the challenge in that?

The best parts were the brake-horn gag, the I-6 cricket game, and the beautiful northern India countryside...

I rated it a low 4/10 because I used the other epic journeys as a reference. (1/10 = worst top gear = still better than 99% of television)
 
After reading all the comments that have come in over night I feel the need to chip in again.

This is partly a response to the people saying things like 'lighten up, it's an entertainment show' and partly an open letter the the production crew at Top Gear.

I get it, OK. Top Gear is an entertainment show now. It is no longer a show about cars, in the same way the X Factor isn't a show about singing. I've come to terms with this. But why do TG still feel the need to script segments? The TG 3 are naturally funny, anyone who watched the original ?100 cheap car challenge or the cheap Porsches challenge knows this. So why not let the humour flow naturally from them? Do the production crew not trust them to be funny enough so feel the need to force the issue by making some supposedly funny situations for them? The fact of the matter is this; we can smell a set-up a mile off and when the punchline finally arrives it's ultimately overworked not funny. And do they really need to keep using the stereotypes anymore? We get it, Jeremy does things too fast and too heavy-handidly, James is slow and gets lost, Richard has bad ideas and ballses things up. It's too predictable and it's not funny anymore. Top Gear can do scripted features that have genuine laughs in them like the 'build your own train' bit. The end was painfully predictable but there were some real funny bits along the way. So why do we still end up with programmes like this one?

The review for the episode could have read: A lighthearted and genuinely funny journey across a fascinating and beautiful country.

Instead it reads: Three outdated sitcom characters ruin some lovely cars, roll out some tired jokes and make things go wrong in exactly the way you think they will. Oh, and they were in some country somewhere but there's too much 'falling over and catching fire' getting in the way of the nice scenery and culture so they might as well have done it in Peterborough and saved a bit of money.
 
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Where's the 0/10 option?

Okay, so maybe that's a bit harsh, but IMO it was pretty dire. I nearly switched it off; the only thing that kept me watching was the hope that it would get better. And there were flashes of brilliance - the drive into the Himalayas (excluding the winch fiasco); the talking round the campsite; the cricket. But the rest? I have no desire to rewatch it, and that's a first.
 
Gingertom said:
But why do TG still feel the need to script segments? The TG 3 are naturally funny, anyone who watched the original ?100 cheap car challenge or the cheap Porsches challenge knows this. So why not let the humour flow naturally from them? Do the production crew not trust them to be funny enough so feel the need to force the issue by making some supposedly funny situations for them?
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I agree with this 100%. instead of setting up the supposedly funny situations, they should just give them a proper epic challenge such as drive across the country in cheap second hand cars, and like you say, the humor would flow naturally from them. This is what made the best Top Gear specials (Africa, Vietnam, Boliva) so awesome.

When I heard Top Gear were coming to India for a special, I was expecting this to be another epic cheap car road trip. I was hugely disappointed.
 
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I've watched it a second time now, and although I was one of the few that did enjoy it, I liked it even more upon second viewing. So I wonder if some of you that didn't like it much should give it another try.

I truly would love to see the TG3 be themselves as mentioned in some comments - I'd love nothing more than seeing the three boys sit around and talk and joke and laugh together for an hour (like the campfire parts in India AND the Middle East). They're funny, entertaining blokes, especially when they're being themselves.

Vietnam was an EPIC special, and possibly my favourite, but that had scripted things in it, too. Impractical gifts. Train journey to Hanoi ("Hop to Hanoi"). Just because things are scripted doesn't mean they are bad, it's just when they are a little too OTT. I wonder, though, if the average viewer (and not huge TG fans like all of us) picks up on this as much. I do think it's asking too much for them to film a week long trip to these countries without any idea at all of what they will be doing (although I would LOVE to see that).

dishayu said:
You see, you are wrong about that part. I have never been out of India in my 24 years of existence and i don't remember the last time i saw a snake. We DON'T have snakecharmers at gas stations, for starters. Which is also the reason i suspect they only flashed it for a couple of seconds and commentated on it as "a typically indian fuel stop". Bit of a joke there, i believe.
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Ahh, okay, no worries :) I've never been to India so I didn't know that the snakecharmers at a petrol station wasn't strictly commonplace.
 
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