[01x11] January 20, 2017

[JCE]

9/10

I'll simplify my review for easier consumption.

Things I liked...

• The Maserati's and most of that film. I mean my god that Bi Turbo was sexy as fuck. And the 430 was also pretty damn good and took a bunch of punishment and survived. I wonder if Hammond actually kept it?
• Richard's review of the Fiat 124. Would have this over an MX-5 in a nanosecond.
• Cinematography. Par for the course.
• Jeremy getting hit in the head with the bottle in Conversation Street.

Things I didn't like...

• The ending of the Maserati film. Come on guys, would it kill you to just finish the challenge and not destroy any vehicles? I'm growing tired of the vehicle destruction on purpose in these cheap car challenges/road trips. Just finish the film without the destruction! I desperately wanted to see them actually do the race and all three make it in their cars.
• When The American speaks. Just put a cork in it and just drive because he is quite good at it.
• Celebrity Brain Crash. Kill it with fire.
• The tent stuff. While it was much more subdued this week it was still a bit meh with Conversation Street sliding back in to annoyingness. When they do "the news" Conversation Street is good stuff, everything else is nonsense.
• The interruption of the Maserati film. I just think breaking these films up ruins the flow, but this has been going on since the beginning of TG.

 

[RaphEmer]

I voted 5, the whole episode just screamed "mediocre" to me. I'm truly trying to figure out what the folks voting "10" are watching...

Something that appeals to them, I'd say. To each his own.

I voted 8 (why is it some polls allow you to see how people voted, and some don't?). I was entertained for the hour...not enthralled, "Oh I can't wait to rewatch and rewatch" stuff but also not "Oh please, no more".

 

[JCE]

Something that appeals to them, I'd say. To each his own.

This is an important point I believe that gets lost in the shuffle.

I can usually see how good an episode is by the reactions of my wife. She isn't as in to cars like us petrol heads (only certain ones interest her) but likes these three blokes and is mostly interested in being entertained. But she does have a higher standard than the average viewer so her reactions and overall opinion of the episodes is a good barometer to know how good it was. In this case she was mostly entertained and was less on her phone playing a puzzle game / on facebook. There have been several episodes this series were she was mostly on her phone and only half interested due to the content. She really loved the old TG road trips as well as the cocking about in general back when it at least appeared less scripted.

 

[progi]

Terrible. Absolute rubbish

110% agreed. instead watch their "cheap italian supercar challenge" from tg s07e04. enjoy!

 

[neutron]

(why is it some polls allow you to see how people voted, and some don't?)

When setting up a poll, the creator has to manually check in the option to make votes public. I'll admit - I too sometimes forget to tick in the box, and you can't fix that later.

 

[Aston Martin]

:lol: that's true, about British and Scottish.
Ugh, why is Dicky driving the 124?
"Fi-yacht"
No fucking way, a cheap challenge? This should be epic!!!
Jezza hates biturbos.
Dammit, Dickys 430 looks cool.
I believe this was the first thing they filmed for GT?
"Which arm have you broken?" Fucks sake, Hammond is really funny on GT, and now... I shall murder myself.
Ugh, please no nonsense. This could be a fantastic show.
700 mile European road trip? please don't fuck this up or lie.
Thought so, I knew the dream wouldn't happen.
YouTube clips... bottom of the barrel this week.
Another fucking TG rehash, I don't even know what to do anymore.
The medieval streets was a fucking rehash too.
James misses the boat, I bet you ?5.
That 430 is really fucking cool.
Yay comedy.


Nothing happened, how can 3 Maseratis driving through Europe have no fucking magic?

 

[Tzarrim]

Hammond's car was nice, it didn't deserve the beating it got.

Overall: unimpressed, different episode same shit.

4/10

 

[socorob]

This season reminds me of what the late great George Carlin said... they never had a 10 but they had five 2's....

 

[tamarillo]

5/10 and why can't they show something made in tents home that week? We see three cars in intro we never see again, a teaser this week of hillmans, locally? But no film. Happens every week. The whole travelling tent is pointless at this stage. Work in progress.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[stecube]

Boring, unnecessarily scripted and soul-less cheap car trip. CHM, where are you???

5/10

 

[fisheye]

I kinda liked it. Maybe because I was on holiday where they drove and recognized lots of it. Also almost no 'funny' car changes, so a little more natural. The ending was all kinds of silly, but at least it was cool stunt driving. And they handled some of the silly jokes quickly, instead of stretching them endlessly.

I've seen worse this season.

Jeremy had no brakes, but he could still have put the car in low gearing. And that bridge is actually two bridges, so if he broke down on the first, he couldn't have gone up the second. (Ok, it's TV, so let's not get bogged down in reality.)

- - - Updated - - -

:lol: that's true, about British and Scottish.
700 mile European road trip? please don't fuck this up or lie.
...
Nothing happened, how can 3 Maseratis driving through Europe have no fucking magic?

Driving 700 mile on the high way isn't that interesting. Things don't happen just because. If you want magic during a drive, you won't find it in western Europe. That's what poor countries are for . And even there CHM need scripts to make things happen.

- - - Updated - - -

Why can't they show something made in tents home that week? We see three cars in intro we never see again, a teaser this week of hillmans, locally? But no film. Happens every week. The whole travelling tent is pointless at this stage. Work in progress.

The point is making local jokes and giving meaning to the title of the show. These are small points I agree.

 

[Password]

While it's better than the first episodes (especially the second one), it's still no where near what Top Gear was. And I'm glad to see that people saw that as well and they finally saw beyond the joy of seeing CHM again in action, and saw the show for what it is.

 

[johncartlidge]

Well so far enjoyed around 11 minutes from the first 11 episodes, plus a few seconds of celebrity killing.

I am just not getting it; must be me, but knob gags in a family show, completely atopical context of locations to content, and woefully badly scripted attempts at humour are just leaving me cold. Even James? GT40 film was not much more than a good voiceover to what was in the main old library footage.

Watched a repeat yesterday of the show were the three BL cars were tested including Jeremy?s Rover with doors falling off; enjoyed it even though ?scripted? there was real humour, real events, warmth, charm and camaraderie that could be enjoyed by 7 ? 70 year olds with all relatives present.

Used to be a Sunday night family fixture, a pick up for the week ahead, now it?s a bored flick through waiting for the part where it has to be switched off because of the language or imagery used.

 

[fisheye]

Watched a repeat yesterday of the show were the three BL cars were tested including Jeremy?s Rover with doors falling off; enjoyed it even though ?scripted? there was real humour, real events, warmth, charm and camaraderie that could be enjoyed by 7 ? 70 year olds with all relatives present.

Those were the good years. They haven't been that good since a long time. Just watched that BL episode; it sounds more like they made up the script while filming, instead of writing out all details long before filming commenced.

 

[mgriffeyPDX]

I gave this one a 6/10

On paper, to me, it had the look of something special. All 3 go on a road trip in used Maseratis? Sign me up!

But it just didn't have that magic...it just didn't have the charm I've come to expect through the years of CHM adventures. Don't get me wrong, I thought it had some good moments but overall, very forgettable.

I've been watching reruns of TG episodes and even in the "past their prime" years, there was still this sense of charm and purpose to their road trips and challenges (well most of them anyways). TGT is just missing that I think

 

[BobAndy]

I rated it an 8.

I liked it, it had a bit of charm to it. I like it better when the racing driver isn't allowed to talk, and I share the opinion that I just wish they wouldn't aimlessly destroy the vehicles at the end of them. It's one thing for a car to have a calamity that incapacitates it in an amusing sort of way (like the Biturbo), but driving to destroy isn't really befitting such machines. It's like there's no respect for the car these days... like the first/original/best TG US road trip for example; long journey but I genuinely think that they actually liked their cars. They did a few challenges with them, but none genuinely meant to destroy the cars.

I also like when the road trip has purpose. That's my jam.

It's an almost-return to form. The review again was top notch.

 

[speedyvespa]

7/10... I think some of you watched a different episode to me. I thought the preamble and Conversation Street were great. The part about the team of all female engineers at Volvo coming up with a V8-powered supercar was funny and interesting. Each unto their own...

The Maserati challenge was good, not classic CHM, but still really good. Things are headed in the right direction. For all the doom mongering, anyone who thought they were going to hit the right formula in season one were always going to be disappointed.

- - - Updated - - -

This is an important point I believe that gets lost in the shuffle.

I can usually see how good an episode is by the reactions of my wife. She isn't as in to cars like us petrol heads (only certain ones interest her) but likes these three blokes and is mostly interested in being entertained. But she does have a higher standard than the average viewer so her reactions and overall opinion of the episodes is a good barometer to know how good it was. In this case she was mostly entertained and was less on her phone playing a puzzle game / on facebook. There have been several episodes this series were she was mostly on her phone and only half interested due to the content. She really loved the old TG road trips as well as the cocking about in general back when it at least appeared less scripted.

Same here. I look to my wife to get an objective view as a non-CHM fanperson. She pretty much always hits the nail on the head.

 

[socorob]

When people look to non car enthusiasts, that's where the problem comes in. It was a car enthusiast show that was so good and that made them so popular. Now they are so far off the rails, it looks like they may never make it back on. Now its just another show I watch eventually just because, not in a hurry to see it anymore. It's no longer a car show, it's a show about 3 guys that do things that happen to have a form of transportation in the background. The transportation is tertiary to the show. It could be cars, boats, bikes, skateboards, legs, anything that can move someone - that part doesn't matter anymore, that part is not important to the show anymore. RIP to the best car show on the planet.

 

[TopGearNorthAmerica]

When people look to non car enthusiasts, that's where the problem comes in. It was a car enthusiast show that was so good and that made them so popular. Now they are so far off the rails, it looks like they may never make it back on. Now its just another show I watch eventually just because, not in a hurry to see it anymore. It's no longer a car show, it's a show about 3 guys that do things that happen to have a form of transportation in the background. The transportation is tertiary to the show. It could be cars, boats, bikes, skateboards, legs, anything that can move someone - that part doesn't matter anymore, that part is not important to the show anymore. RIP to the best car show on the planet.

Well, to be fair, they can't do legs because they're none of them in good enough shape anymore. Ditto skateboards (unless they plan on using one in Celebrity Braincrash to off Michael J. Fox).

Thing is, it's still a car show. Otherwise we wouldn't be hearing so much about Alfas and Hondas and Maseratis and so on.

But because TGT isn't allowed to use TG stuff, it's made everyone on that crew more aware that they have to do on purpose what happened by happy accident. They're coming very close, and with a little more tweaking series 2 should work out better.

Ideally, of course, what should happen is that in two years' time, the BBC will give up trying to produce Top Gear in house and contract out the series to W Chump & Sons once the initial Amazon contract is done.

 

[Revelator]

I have to admit that I laughed out loud when "May" hit the boat, wiped out the cabin, and flipped backward into the drink. Felt like a shoutout to the end of the Albania roadtrip. Realistic? No, but a terrific visual (the same goes for Hammond madly driving through the container maze). This felt a lot like an episode of TG, down to the pacing. But I was expecting Nessie to eat the celebrity...