[01x08] December 31st, 2016 [Namibia Special, Part 2]

[01x08] December 31st, 2016 [Namibia Special, Part 2]


  • Total voters
    95
From the guy who insinuated that amazon manipulated the IMDB ratings in favor of its own TV shows, that's an interesting statement. Keeping a grudge for some reason?

I hope you don't mind when I cannot take you serious.
 
From the guy who insinuated that amazon manipulated the IMDB ratings in favor of its own TV shows, that's an interesting statement. Keeping a grudge for some reason?

I hope you don't mind when I cannot take you serious.

I honestly don't care. You've got little constructive to say beyond "it's brilliant" and moaning about everyone else's opinion.

I do try to be fair, I've always been quite clear about my affiliation - and do bear in mind I worked on the show for quite a while when CMH were on it, I've had no such involvement in the new one.

- - - Updated - - -

I voted this one down because they HAD to get in that bit where Hammond got shot, got airlifted and got stuck at the end. It was all bullshit. The rest of the episode felt genuine enough, and pretty much what I want from GT, which is beauty and cars.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TC
I have nothing against people expressing their opinion. I can accept differences in taste and likes and dislikes.

However, what I have always had a hard time to cope with, is people who simply say "it's crap" or "what a waste of time" or "everything is bullshit". It's not exactly trolling but the lack of differentiation in some of the posts show me that the show is not the problem. It has something to do with wrong expectations and the inability to draw consequences.

When I watch a TV show and I don't like it, I stop watching it. End of story.
 
Yeah, and I could give you a lump of shit with The Grand Tour painted on it and you'd give it 10/10.

Some people are like that. They eat the shit, convince themselves it tastes like chocolate, try to convince everyone of the same, and have a hissy fit when a level-headed person mentions that the shit tastes like shit.

My opinion of TGT: They took Top Gear USA, put CHM in it and changed the name to TGT. It's not the worst thing in the world, but it's still MILES away from what they used to produce. In eight episodes I've seen two, maybe three scenes that made me smile. I'm not happy.
 
I loved it. The cable car thing was dumb and not a fitting ending, but this was almost as good as Vietnam.
 
Overall, I enjoyed the two part episode. Personally, I found it to be the best epic road trip episode ever...that the Grand Tour has produced. My opinion may change whenever they produce their second one. *G*

While comparisons to CHM's previous show will be inevitable, wishing & hoping this show will change to be what their old show was, to me, seems silly. It is what it is...possibly still evolving... but it's not the old show. Express your pleasure/displeasure with the current state of the show, but why get even slightly bent out of shape when someone else disagrees with your opinion?
 
Not as bad as Part 1 but still bad.

The trip to Namibia felt pointless, the 'hunt' at night was really lame humour, the cable car thing not just unfunny, this is becoming some sort of home improvement show, did they go there for a nice road trip, or to build elevated cable routs? At the end they just gave up, 'on that terrible disappointment' isn't sounding sarcastic, it actually ends as a real disappointment.

The issue with GT is not that it is scripted too much, problem is that the script is terrible. They now have the best cinematography on television, but they have no writers, no copy editor who would filter out bad jokes, and forced dialogue. It seems all 3 know the script is bad, they are not into it, especially James. I feel so bad for James, he seems visibly uncomfortable.
 
This was better but still not that great. The question "can a buggy be more than just a frivolous toy?" Could have been answered in a 7-10 minute film in one of their normal episodes. Not a two part Christmas special.

It felt like they didn't have time to actually explore a place and have a good argument for why x car would be best for this excursion. Just another rushed "we have to get something out for our viewers."
 
I loved it.
Can't help wondering if everyone's expectations are set too high and you're not approaching it fresh enough to enjoy it.
Great stuff.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Personally I liked both halves, probably for different reasons.

The big one is, creating dramatic tension. It's very hard to make sand dunes seem dangerous, especially high sand dunes, because you have no horizon against which a viewer can measure the incline. I'm convinced that the presenters' screams were in fact genuine fear that they wouldn't survive their screwups.

Admittedly, the low point for me was James setting his buggy on fire. That was definitely scripted. You would never have gotten that perfect a camera angle to catch it if it *weren't* scripted.
 
Uhm ... 6/10...
I think at around 50 or 60% through it started picking up and I was laughing out loud, but it quickly died down again...

I think the general issue with TGT is that Jeremy STILL can't trust that if you chug the trio somewhere with a basic plan and not script everything you'd get a fantastic show, and so everything's planned... But we had a bit of that before, the problem now is they also script in the acting as if it isn't scripted bits and they're a bit low IQ. They're offensive at times to the viewers' intelligence.

Let's just say that a Botswana special this was not... Cars got under your skin? Gimmie a break.
 
Like I said the last time when commenting on the previous episode, I'm sure they had fun filming it but it was not so engaging for the viewers. I'm massively disappointed in the direction the new show has taken. The only good segment I can remember in the whole series so far is the May's GT40 one which was a classic.
 
I enjoyed this special, but it wasn't without it's flaws. The only one that bothered me enough to complain was James pretending to accidentally set his car on fire.

Still, I give it an 8/10.
 
Not as bad as Part 1 but still bad.

The trip to Namibia felt pointless, the 'hunt' at night was really lame humour, the cable car thing not just unfunny, this is becoming some sort of home improvement show, did they go there for a nice road trip, or to build elevated cable routs? At the end they just gave up, 'on that terrible disappointment' isn't sounding sarcastic, it actually ends as a real disappointment.

The issue with GT is not that it is scripted too much, problem is that the script is terrible. They now have the best cinematography on television, but they have no writers, no copy editor who would filter out bad jokes, and forced dialogue. It seems all 3 know the script is bad, they are not into it, especially James. I feel so bad for James, he seems visibly uncomfortable.

You nailed it.
 
In case you didn't know yet, the whole production, writing and editing team is basically the same as they had on Top Gear.
 
Jokes like "James sets fire with an angle grinder to his own buggy" I take as an insult. That's comedy for 8-year-olds and even those will have noticed how they staged it.
 
I feel so bad for James, he seems visibly uncomfortable.

I think it's because he knows that what he is doing is just plain wrong. That's not James May.
 
So what is James May then? The guy who drives to the North Pole while chewing chocolate bars and drinking Gin Tonic? The guy who leaves a tent with a headband and a machete in his hand in the Amazonian jungle? The guy the Stig always had to stand in for in order to win a race?

If you haven't realized it yet: All of them are acting, or trying to at least. In each and every film or studio segment. In no episode of Top Gear you have ever seen the true Jeremy Clarkson, the true Richard Hammond and the true James may. Not. In. A. Single. One.

Everyone of them is a stereotype on TV. They always play a role. They will never show their true nature on TGT, as they have never shown their true nature on Top Gear either. They're clich? characters, they have fixed roles. And they are playing with it, experimenting with their roles. Constantly. Trying to find the boundaries, how much they can get away with. Sometimes it works good, sometimes it doesn't so well.

Genuine moments are rare. They were rare on Top Gear as well as on TGT. They were intended to not be believable on their shows. It is an essential part of their system to be over the top and being parodies of aging men.
 
Last edited:
Genuine moments are rare. They were rare on Top Gear as well as on TGT. They were intended to not be believable on their shows. It is an essential part of their system to be over the top and being parodies of aging men.

I completely disagree. There were tons of genuine moments within top gear. Even during the more scripted segments, there were plenty of times where you could tell the emotions you were seeing were real. And it is very easy to tell the difference because all 3 of them are atrocious actors so it becomes blatantly obvious when something is 'put on' for the cameras and when they are genuinely reacting to something in the moment. They only became overdone caricatures of themselves towards the later seasons which is why the freshness of TG started to wain. It has always been a scripted show, but only as of the last handful of years did they start forcing their 'characters' to be so over the top.
 
Top