[21x06] March 9th, 2014 [Burma Special, Part 1]

[21x06] March 9th, 2014 [Burma Special, Part 1]

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Viper007Bond

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7 days and fewer breakdowns than the FG roadtrip from last year.

So far so good, quite a few obviously scripted moments but a great laugh none the less. The look on the bear's face gets me every time. :lol:
 
I have no complaints overall, quite enjoyable. Fantastic scenery. I lost it when Clarkson named his horse Tesco (a UK specific joke after an equine meat scandal). Shame it couldn't have been a two hour special. They would never get a two hour slot on BBC 2 on Sunday though.
 
Wow, Burma is amazing. Tesco the horse was funny, as was Hammond's get up. May in the tent was hilarious. I wish I was a Top Gear presenter and did that stuff. Any where I can get a bandana like May?
 
It started out pretty weird, until they left Rangun. From then on it got much better and I really enjoyed it. Top notch photography as well.
 
I don't know, the whole routine of "improving" vehicles which then "surprisingly" leads to "unexpected" side-effects is getting old.
James getting lost is getting old.
Scripted crashes and mishaps galore are getting old.
Clarkson playing dumb is getting old.

This was a very weak effort. 2/10 for the content, 10/10 for the visuals.
 
Very, very good. Tempted to give it a 9 but it's so obviously the precursor to something even better next week. Some parts may have been scripted for obvious reasons (and to make it entertaining) but there was enough spontaneity to keep it fresh as well.

This wasn't the Indian special! :)
 
Probably a fairly average first hour, by the Specials' standards. As others have said (Jeremy included, it seems!) there were a lot of terrible contrived bits that were really detracting, especially the first bits in Rangoon. But there was also quite a lot of good stuff. I liked the modifications aspect, Naypyidaw is just bizarre and the scenery was pretty stunning. As a former resident of the region (never visited Burma, but my mother goes for charity visits annually), it made me miss it a lot. The trailer for part 2 looks good. I went to visit some Shan people in Thailand, they're a fascinating bunch who have suffered from very troubled times.

By the way, Jeremy's explanation as to why Naypyidaw's roads are so big is charitable. It's more to make revolutions and invasions harder to pull off, by using geography. Think about it - the roadblocks (for example in Ukraine) would basically be impossible to replicate in Naypyidaw. It's the same reason why all the government buildings are so far apart in the capital, and the fact that the capital was moved 200 miles away from the sea in the first place. The other reasons are due to national stability, which I guess is explored by next week's episode.

Edit: Had a rewatch (yes, after only a few hours). Think I underrated it a bit. The first few minutes in Rangoon can do die in a fire, but the rest was good.
 
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stretching specials to two episodes doesn't really work. at first i thought burma is going to be another disaster like the iraq and india specials but it wasn't that bad. not great either, 6/10
 
Started off slow but progressed quite nicely with next week's finale looking rather promising. There were obvious scripted moments but for me, they didn't deter much from what was a decent start to a special. 8/10.
 
Having started out ready to hate this on the basis of the trailer I have to say I really enjoyed it. Haven't laughed so much at a scene in a special since the cow on the roof of Jezza's Mustang a few years back but the part with the horses had me in hysterics.

Agree with Matt that the moments that were set up worked pretty well and the stuff that happened on the way was genuinely entertaining. Sure they are playing to type and caricature but for me it seemed to work this time. And so far at least they have showed respect to their hosts and appear to have learned their lesson after the backlash over India.

At least a solid 8 from me and if this was the lame bit then next week should be epic.
 
MWF said:
Having started out ready to hate this on the basis of the trailer I have to say I really enjoyed it. Haven't laughed so much at a scene in a special since the cow on the roof of Jezza's Mustang a few years back but the part with the horses had me in hysterics.

Agree with Matt that the moments that were set up worked pretty well and the stuff that happened on the way was genuinely entertaining. Sure they are playing to type and caricature but for me it seemed to work this time. And so far at least they have showed respect to their hosts and appear to have learned their lesson after the backlash over India.

At least a solid 8 from me and if this was the lame bit then next week should be epic.
Click to expand...

Almost forgot to mention the horses bit. That's the funniest couple of minutes TG has produced in a long, long time.
 
8/10, would've been a 9 if the improvements were actually improvements (these crap improvements are getting boring, come on guys, you can do better). Great views there, and still had some great laughs. Looking forward to the next episode.
 
Once the episode got rolling it became really good. I really enjoy when they are placed in vehicles they don't have a lot of experience with (like the lorry and tractor challenges minus the rubbish parts of those) and this was no exception. I would've liked a bit more detail on the trucks but then...they are just trucks that are basically garbage. The modifications were alright, not really over the top, still worse than the africa ones. Jeremy's beds alwas look so comfy when he does these....

But it could have done with less animal genitals I think. Otherwise really funny and also gut wrenching at times.
 
Vietnam is my all time favourite special. Africa, Botswana, Bolivia, Middle East, Polar are also great and not far behind.

The scenery seems spectacular but the episode lacks some sort of journey-passion-emotion similar to the India special (although it is far better than india) As of now 6/10. I hope part 2 will improve on it.

I also wonder if one of those top down shots towards the end was shot from some sort of drone. I liked that.
 
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Great episode, thank god for a lot less scripted manure (Although a lot is scripted, but it don't feel that way).
I hope that the next part is as good or even better.
 
Couple of things - one or two 'forced cocking about that were not needed'. JC is wrong about TV programmes and the SHAN state I remember seeing a programme on heroin and the Shan state army back in the 70/80s. May well have been a This Week programme from the time ITV did serious Journalism and before they became shit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Week_(ITV_TV_series)
 
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