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[02x03] August 7th, 2011
- Thread starter Viper007Bond
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Initial_B
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10
i have a soft spot for heavy-duty trucks.
i have a soft spot for heavy-duty trucks.
JohnK
Active Member
I will simply say it was a fun episode to watch.
HansGruber
Active Member
This episode was awesome. The hosts are really finding their stride. They seem very natural and comfortable, and the humor is great. The difference between this episode and any episode from season 1 with the exception of America's Toughest Truck episode is night and day. 9/10.
ZondaR
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Wasn't that impressed. They've really run the truck thing into the ground, to me.
-Last episode of S1 - toughest trucks
-First episode of S2 - cars mimicking trucks
-Third episode of S2 - Strongest pickup
I mean really. Come on.
As to the actual content, I thought it was really half-assed. It seemed so completely random, unorganized, and nonsensical. I know some good stuff stems from randomness, but you need to get a mold together before you get out of it. In music, you don't just start improv as the first thing you do in the musical field, you learn the instrument and style, then learn to wing it. Truck segment - 4/10
Thank goodness the rally fighter segment was actually decent. I thought the cinematography was really well done, and Tanner did a good job of presenting some information about the car and "test-driving" it before moving on to the actual race. That said, I thought some of the camera transitions were a little too quick and it was a bit laughable how Tanner said he went to "the most hostile part of the world" and then revealed that was Louisiana. Right.
Once it got going though, it was a good race. 8/10
Interview. Eh. I knew I didn't care for the guy to begin with, don't think he's funny at all, seen the red neck tour videos that he did with Foxworthy. Pros - I like Adam interviewing more than Rutledge. Don't know why, but he seems more natural in that element, less hokey. Cons - really awkward close-up shots of Bill. Like, uncomfortable to me. They needed wider couch shots, I could see everything up his nose. Also, I still don't like the format of the interviews, how they start outside and introduce the guest. I do respect them for trying something new, I just don't like it 6/10
So yeah, pretty average. Actually, I'm being a bit generous with a total of 6/10, because the only thing I really enjoyed watching was the Tanner Rally Fighter segment.
-Last episode of S1 - toughest trucks
-First episode of S2 - cars mimicking trucks
-Third episode of S2 - Strongest pickup
I mean really. Come on.
As to the actual content, I thought it was really half-assed. It seemed so completely random, unorganized, and nonsensical. I know some good stuff stems from randomness, but you need to get a mold together before you get out of it. In music, you don't just start improv as the first thing you do in the musical field, you learn the instrument and style, then learn to wing it. Truck segment - 4/10
Thank goodness the rally fighter segment was actually decent. I thought the cinematography was really well done, and Tanner did a good job of presenting some information about the car and "test-driving" it before moving on to the actual race. That said, I thought some of the camera transitions were a little too quick and it was a bit laughable how Tanner said he went to "the most hostile part of the world" and then revealed that was Louisiana. Right.
Once it got going though, it was a good race. 8/10Interview. Eh. I knew I didn't care for the guy to begin with, don't think he's funny at all, seen the red neck tour videos that he did with Foxworthy. Pros - I like Adam interviewing more than Rutledge. Don't know why, but he seems more natural in that element, less hokey. Cons - really awkward close-up shots of Bill. Like, uncomfortable to me. They needed wider couch shots, I could see everything up his nose. Also, I still don't like the format of the interviews, how they start outside and introduce the guest. I do respect them for trying something new, I just don't like it
6/10So yeah, pretty average. Actually, I'm being a bit generous with a total of 6/10, because the only thing I really enjoyed watching was the Tanner Rally Fighter segment.
DubyaStep
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thanx viper
I liked it apart from another lame guest but i think they will get better with time and also the studio segments are still kinda harsh.
As far as the trucks, i liked the film but i have a hard time beleiving that they chose those trucks themselves. im sure they picked the one they preferred but i would have rather seen the white lab coat hand them the assignment "here are three trucks, choose from them and the there will be a series of challenges ect...". otherwise, thought it was fun, lived tanner doing corcles around them, one of the first things he has done that i thought was just plain great. anyways, much better.
I liked it apart from another lame guest but i think they will get better with time and also the studio segments are still kinda harsh.
As far as the trucks, i liked the film but i have a hard time beleiving that they chose those trucks themselves. im sure they picked the one they preferred but i would have rather seen the white lab coat hand them the assignment "here are three trucks, choose from them and the there will be a series of challenges ect...". otherwise, thought it was fun, lived tanner doing corcles around them, one of the first things he has done that i thought was just plain great. anyways, much better.
v0od0o
Well-Known Member
The best episode they've done so far, and that's from someone with no interest in trucks at all.
My main gripe is with the person who edited and chose the music for the race segment. He should get at least 6 months of hard labor with his segment playing in the background at all times.
That was all over the place and the transitions in both cuts and music were extremely jarring. It's like someone watched some videos on youtube/vimeo for a week, decided to use all the techniques but didn't know when. So awful.
A shame because it was a fun segment otherwise.
My main gripe is with the person who edited and chose the music for the race segment. He should get at least 6 months of hard labor with his segment playing in the background at all times.
That was all over the place and the transitions in both cuts and music were extremely jarring. It's like someone watched some videos on youtube/vimeo for a week, decided to use all the techniques but didn't know when. So awful.
A shame because it was a fun segment otherwise.
BlindZenDriver
New Member
Season two is better than season one but that is not saying that much.
One thing that bugs me is all "America" this and "America" that. The Truck segment for instance would have been cooler had one of their trucks been a Tundra (and then they could all have been V8's). Sure the original Top Gear has pride in being English/British but that is with a sense of humor not something where you half expect that next moment the national anthem will start playing.
PS. It's pretty clear they can not do math. I mean 280.000 pounds = 140 tons is what they say several times but 127 tons would be the correct number.
One thing that bugs me is all "America" this and "America" that. The Truck segment for instance would have been cooler had one of their trucks been a Tundra (and then they could all have been V8's). Sure the original Top Gear has pride in being English/British but that is with a sense of humor not something where you half expect that next moment the national anthem will start playing.
PS. It's pretty clear they can not do math. I mean 280.000 pounds = 140 tons is what they say several times but 127 tons would be the correct number.
SteveBC420
New Member
Tundra isn't a Heavy Duty truck, only the three "American" Companies make one.
As for tons, just like the gallon, the USA version is different from the EU version
Red Falcon
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well, not the best, not the worst. Truck segment was nice, didn't cared for the interview. 7/10
Couple things that came to my attention:
Rally fighter car: Yeah, "Ambitious but rubbish" was the first thing that popped in my mind. First it breaks down, later the insides start to fall apart during the race. But it's a new car, will probably be improved. (But I loved its "Mad Max" looks, would like to see one in black)
Who the hell told Tanner, a professional driver, that starting a drag race during a burnout is a good idea? This may work in a Need for Speed Game, or a Fast & Furious movie, but reality? NO. A burnout BEFORE a race is good, but starting with one? C'mon, not only you lose time, it also make you look stupid.
Couple things that came to my attention:
Rally fighter car: Yeah, "Ambitious but rubbish" was the first thing that popped in my mind. First it breaks down, later the insides start to fall apart during the race. But it's a new car, will probably be improved. (But I loved its "Mad Max" looks, would like to see one in black)
Who the hell told Tanner, a professional driver, that starting a drag race during a burnout is a good idea? This may work in a Need for Speed Game, or a Fast & Furious movie, but reality? NO. A burnout BEFORE a race is good, but starting with one? C'mon, not only you lose time, it also make you look stupid.
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Seriously? Go watch season 4 through 6 of TG:UK, and then tell me again that TG:US is over the top with rooting for the home team. Clarkson was all but unwatchable back in the day with his constant nattering.
And FYI, 280,000 lbs is 140 US short tons, which is the unit they were referring to.
UK "long" tons equal 2,240 lbs.
US "short" tons equal 2,000 lbs.
Metric tonnes equal 2,205 lbs.
He alluded to the idea that it was an attempt to start in 2nd gear, presumably to avoid a slushbox shift or a particularly short 1st. Whether that's on the level, or he just did it to goof around, is open to interpretation.
jfrenchy
Member
OMG DID YOU SEE THE AIRBOAT?!?!?!?
9 for me
9 for me
5.5 / 6
Thoughts:
- The trucks segment was fun to watch, but there was no real rhyme or reason to the challenges -- they seemed to be making them up as they went along. This is one area where the show really shouldn't stay too far from home: producer in lab coat hands challenges over, presenters argue about how ridiculous the challenge is, challenges are done, tote board at the end of the show in studio tallies up the results. I appreciate that they're trying to put their own spin on things, but it looks disorganized and silly at times.
- The Big Star / Small Car segment is a disaster. Just watching a lap narrated by one of the presenters is boring -- half the fun of the segment is seeing the people react to themselves on TV (audience laughing at obvious eff-ups, etc.). Just watching a lap with a VO track makes it seem sterile and boring. The interviews are too short and too focused (how was the lap? did you have fun? tell us about the cars you own?), and you can really tell that the show probably made a mistake by not casting one guy with a journalism or television background who could make natural conversation with people on TV. Honestly, they should probably let Ferrara do this segment and tell him to go to town for 20 minutes about any topics at all and then cut it down to the best 7-10 minutes for the show. As a comedian, he's probably the best at improving on the spot to keep things light and funny.
And, really, someone on the writing staff should be doing some better prep-work with these guys to mine interesting topics ahead of time beyond just "so, you own X car now." Hell, if it has to stay car-related, ask about traffic accidents or hatred of hybrid cars or speeding tickets. The interviews are just painfully dull right now, IMO.
- On the fanboat race film, I thought it was pretty well shot even though it was obviously staged for a close finish. Also -- even though it was an off-road vehicle, they established that the car was a road vehicle as well. Road vehicle = Stig should take it for a lap.
- It's been said last week, and it bears repeating: there isn't enough time on this show to do recaps constantly. Everything is already condensed down to begin with, they doing 60 - 90 seconds of catch up after every break is burning time that could be used to make the interviews less awful or the challenges more interesting.
The quality of interaction between the presenters is night-day better than last season, but it feels like the show's formatting and pacing has taken a huge step backwards. The guys are fun to watch, but someone needs to sit down and seriously re-evaluate how these episodes are constructed.
Thoughts:
- The trucks segment was fun to watch, but there was no real rhyme or reason to the challenges -- they seemed to be making them up as they went along. This is one area where the show really shouldn't stay too far from home: producer in lab coat hands challenges over, presenters argue about how ridiculous the challenge is, challenges are done, tote board at the end of the show in studio tallies up the results. I appreciate that they're trying to put their own spin on things, but it looks disorganized and silly at times.
- The Big Star / Small Car segment is a disaster. Just watching a lap narrated by one of the presenters is boring -- half the fun of the segment is seeing the people react to themselves on TV (audience laughing at obvious eff-ups, etc.). Just watching a lap with a VO track makes it seem sterile and boring. The interviews are too short and too focused (how was the lap? did you have fun? tell us about the cars you own?), and you can really tell that the show probably made a mistake by not casting one guy with a journalism or television background who could make natural conversation with people on TV. Honestly, they should probably let Ferrara do this segment and tell him to go to town for 20 minutes about any topics at all and then cut it down to the best 7-10 minutes for the show. As a comedian, he's probably the best at improving on the spot to keep things light and funny.
And, really, someone on the writing staff should be doing some better prep-work with these guys to mine interesting topics ahead of time beyond just "so, you own X car now." Hell, if it has to stay car-related, ask about traffic accidents or hatred of hybrid cars or speeding tickets. The interviews are just painfully dull right now, IMO.
- On the fanboat race film, I thought it was pretty well shot even though it was obviously staged for a close finish. Also -- even though it was an off-road vehicle, they established that the car was a road vehicle as well. Road vehicle = Stig should take it for a lap.
- It's been said last week, and it bears repeating: there isn't enough time on this show to do recaps constantly. Everything is already condensed down to begin with, they doing 60 - 90 seconds of catch up after every break is burning time that could be used to make the interviews less awful or the challenges more interesting.
The quality of interaction between the presenters is night-day better than last season, but it feels like the show's formatting and pacing has taken a huge step backwards. The guys are fun to watch, but someone needs to sit down and seriously re-evaluate how these episodes are constructed.
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TopGearNorthAmerica
Well-Known Member
Truck segment: Yes, it was entertaining, right up to the end when no one could agree on a winner. What that showed me was that the crew was being a bit too timid about testing the limits of these demonstrators, not when the reps loaning them were watching. They could've overstressed the cars a bit more. (That said, I wonder how that Dodge would do against some of those military surplus junkers the UK boys used?)
Rally fighter vs. swamp boat: actually that was pretty good at intro-ing a new kinda car. Tanner in that vs. Hamster in Bowler Nemesis = TGUK vs. TGUS challenge, don'tcha think?
BSSC: Meh.
Call it a 7 out of 10.
Rally fighter vs. swamp boat: actually that was pretty good at intro-ing a new kinda car. Tanner in that vs. Hamster in Bowler Nemesis = TGUK vs. TGUS challenge, don'tcha think?
BSSC: Meh.
Call it a 7 out of 10.
DubyaStep
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this is an american show on american TV so why the F&^% not? I mean really? Do you think they planned the show around someone in the FG forum downloading it in Germany? no, they planned it for car people and truck people in AMERICA.
you missed the point of the test, it was on Heavy Duty trucks. Toyota doesnt make anything like that and they probably never will. Besides, IMO, they are crap anyways. Why would that (stupid) thought even cross your mind? (something tells me you drive one)
Yes, they did a great job of making look unstaged, that finish was very close, i loved it!
foxymcfox
Member
This is the first time I can really say I saw the hosts personalities/characters start to emerge, and I REALLY liked what I saw. The segments weren't the best they could be...but it didn't matter, it really felt like they were enjoying what they were doing.
That said, enough with the trucks. Spike TV already has the show "Trucks" so we get it, Americans like trucks. Let's get some more variety and some more super cars.
The studio segments still need work and they need to stop having the SIARPC drive back into the hangar afterwards. It just seems so hokey. I recognize that they're trying to do something new with the format, but the UK formatting wasn't broken for the SIARPC segments.
But for now, all I can say is WOW! Way to see some personality in this show finally...and really solid interaction. And that's exactly what I've been waiting for.
-Nick
That said, enough with the trucks. Spike TV already has the show "Trucks" so we get it, Americans like trucks. Let's get some more variety and some more super cars.
The studio segments still need work and they need to stop having the SIARPC drive back into the hangar afterwards. It just seems so hokey. I recognize that they're trying to do something new with the format, but the UK formatting wasn't broken for the SIARPC segments.
But for now, all I can say is WOW! Way to see some personality in this show finally...and really solid interaction. And that's exactly what I've been waiting for.
-Nick
HansGruber
Active Member
American themed television on an American TV show? Who woulda thunk it!!!??
As someone said before me, it's short tons they're using smart guy.
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Shawnw
Well-Known Member
Overall I liked it. The local motors race was good with some nice filming. The star was a little dull and there didn't seem to be enough footage to make an interesting segment.
The truck challenge was fun and I really enjoyed it, but it could have been more "epic", it seemed like it was filmed in an afternoon at an old abandoned town. I would have liked to see them out on the road, maybe climb a mountain, or have them do a towing drag race.
The truck challenge was fun and I really enjoyed it, but it could have been more "epic", it seemed like it was filmed in an afternoon at an old abandoned town. I would have liked to see them out on the road, maybe climb a mountain, or have them do a towing drag race.