[19x07] March 10th, 2013 [Africa Special, Part 2]

[19x07] March 10th, 2013 [Africa Special, Part 2]


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Didn't think anyone actually believes their theory was anything more than a plot device to drive the episodes...
 
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Hm.. They will not go to Russia/Siberia.
Clarkson mentioned on the radio that fans request Russia, but he said it's not interesting.
Actually, based on all those Russian drivers' dash-cam YouTube videos, I'd think it would be nothing more than a really dangerous road trip. lol

Edit: Scandinavia might be really fun, as long as they also involve Netherlands, Finland and/or Denmark.
 
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Hm.. They will not go to Russia/Siberia.
Clarkson mentioned on the radio that fans request Russia, but he
said it's not interesting.
Actually, based on all those Russian drivers' dash-cam YouTube videos, I'd think it would be nothing more than a really dangerous road trip. lol

Edit: Scandinavia might be really fun, as long as they also involve Netherlands, Finland and/or Denmark.

Hmm not so sure about this. Jezza replied to this tweet

Vitaly Medvedev @vitosh
But still, there is no TG special in Russia. @JeremyClarkson


with the reply

Jeremy Clarkson @JeremyClarkson
@vitosh Aha. But there will be this year.


So it looks as if a Russian special is on the cards
 
Hmm not so sure about this. Jezza replied to this tweet

Vitaly Medvedev @vitosh
But still, there is no TG special in Russia. @JeremyClarkson


with the reply

Jeremy Clarkson @JeremyClarkson
@vitosh Aha. But there will be this year.


So it looks as if a Russian special is on the cards

Yep. Russia. The place where JC and RH kept running into Audis blocking the view.

You know what this tells me? The cars they'll use on this trip are all going to be Audis, ranging from 15-30 years old, sprinkled with bits of Audi history.
 
Hm.. They will not go to Russia/Siberia.
Clarkson mentioned on the radio that fans request Russia, but he said it's not interesting.
Actually, based on all those Russian drivers' dash-cam YouTube videos, I'd think it would be nothing more than a really dangerous road trip. lol

Edit: Scandinavia might be really fun, as long as they also involve Netherlands, Finland and/or Denmark.

I'm a little unsure; In which way (and also why?) do you think they should involve the Netherlands? There's a substantial bit of Germany between the Netherlands and the closest parts of Scandinavia.

(Just for the record, since many people seem to be unclear on this, Scandinavia consists of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Add Finland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and you get the Nordic countries.)
 
I'm still surprised to see how many people gave this (and the previous) Africa special episode 10 out of 10. It is really interesting to see what people classify as perfect. For me however this episode comes nowhere close to perfection unfortunately.

I absolutely loved the narrative concept. I really thought it was one of their best, and was so excited at the start. What followed though was pretty bland. Two highlights were - log hitting back window (I thought it was hilarious), second highlight was the river crossing on the raft. I know it was a little contrived but I still found it fun and interesting to watch.
That's it though. Two moments that I can think of that were interesting out of two episodes. The rest is filled with driving, more driving, some bumpy roads, a couple contrived "humourous" scenes, some flat tires (surprise surprise), and getting stuck in mud, which required employing some "locals" to come and help them out. Not exactly riveting tv to be honest.

That being said, I will always remain optimistic for TGUK. It's probably my favourite series on tv at the moment, even though the last season have been average at best.
 
Amazon.ca has the the DVD/BR coming out on May 14th, as does Amazon.com. Currently, Amazon.co.uk has it listed as "unavailable - we do not know when this item will be back in stock".
 
I just rewatched the second part and thought to myself: why the hell did they destroy each other's car? It is pointless and I never liked them doing it.

However, if they canibalized that backup scorpio it would have been funny.
 
Agree with both. Whatever happened to "let's drop 3 guys with 3 knackered and inappropriate cars into a harsh environment and give them a (semi) serious task to achieve and just see what happens"?

Part 1 gave me high hopes for part 2 but then they reverted to type and just went with one silly cliche after another. Last season (bar the appalling India Special) gave me a glimmer of hope but this run has been disappointing. They have no new ideas and the old ones are getting really really tiresome.

I never thought I'd say this but I think they have reached that point where it is time to hang up their driving gloves and go their separate ways.

I completely agree with you sir.

I just had the chance to watch both episodes of the Africa Special in succession last night and wound up (unsurprisingly) disappointed.

What killed this episode from the starting gates was a completely irrelevant challenge. I think had the challenge been to drive along the the Nile from its source to where it meets the Mediterranean would've provided for a much more interesting episode. Instead they were left wandering aimlessly around in search of what was essentially a puddle. The humor throughout was scripted and left the hosts to fall into their usual roles of actors playing caricatures of themselves. It's a shame because it seems like they're all quite good friends in real life, especially James and Jeremy, and you'd think some of that off camera chemistry could find its way onto the show...

I felt that despite the difficult roads, they never really faced any challenges. The gift buying and defacing of one another's cars has also completely run it's course. Hammond looks to be detached from the show and really struggles to hide his disinterest in his co-hosts and the challenges they face. Overall the show needs to set itself a firm end date. It would give everyone involved some perspective and finality. It would allow them a specific amount of time to go out with a bang, however that ship may have already sailed.
 
Hmm not so sure about this. Jezza replied to this tweet

Vitaly Medvedev @vitosh
But still, there is no TG special in Russia. @JeremyClarkson


with the reply

Jeremy Clarkson @JeremyClarkson
@vitosh Aha. But there will be this year.


So it looks as if a Russian special is on the cards

:O

Well... it seems I was wrong.
It also seems that Jezza has been doing a bit of travelling around Russia recently (according to his Times articles).
Doing a bit of location-scouting, perhaps??
 
I still don't understand why they had to make this two hours long. It was nowhere near interesting enough to warrant that--75 or even 60 minutes would have been fine.
 
I still don't understand why they had to make this two hours long. It was nowhere near interesting enough to warrant that--75 or even 60 minutes would have been fine.
... as opposed to the Spain piece of 20x03 which ended abruptly and could easily have lasted another 15 mins or so, maybe more.
 
I'm not good at spotting the scripting and there is a scene that makes me hate Jeremy Clarkson so I'm hoping it's fake. When they cross the river w/ their homemade raft Jeremy behaves like an arse the whole time. 1) the BMW is the first on the raft and while crossing the river he freaks out about James May walking forward on the raft, panicking that the 2" dip will sink it. 2) when they all get on to move the second car, the Subaru, he gets on last on the wrong side and causes the raft to dip much deeper than when the BMW was on it, when told to change sides he furiously demands that it's impossible, he easily changes sides 1 minute later. 3) they last put the Volvo on the raft and use the Jeremy's BMW to pull the raft across, in predictably Clarksonion fashion he pulls it way too fast despite Hammond's cries to slow down, he nearly sinks the raft, then he whines about being shouted at.

Please tell me all this is for show. The sinking of Hammond's chair and the sinking of the backup car by lab coated producers, while framed in a perfect shot, makes me think it's fake. Thoughts?

My fav specials:
1) Vietnam
2) Oliver! (Botswana)
3) Polar Special
4) Burma
5) Bolivia
6) USA, as an American I'm just plain embarrassed by the South. 1st we almost kill them because of some writing on their cars then they point out how we haven't done anything to repair New Orleans after Katrina
6) Africa (Nile River)
7) Middle East
8) India
 
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