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[02x09] February 14th, 2012

[02x09] February 14th, 2012

  • Total voters
    120
Viper007Bond

Viper007Bond

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Woo! I'm number two! :D

The Big Rig challenges were fun to watch. Naysayers will chant "It was done on the sacred TGUK already", to which I reply "Yeah, but TGUS could take theirs on the road!". Good start, if a smidge too much mucking about.
 
Solid 7. Truck challenge was slow to start, but had some good moments, especially considering the cargo. Ended up with a more honest feel to it than the original UK version as they drove on the street, IMO.

Star was interesting given the sense of intensity he put into the drive, though the interview was a bit of a yawn.
 
Because my dad is a truck driver, I had nearly no interest in this episode. I chuckled at the uphill, but that's it.
 
I was there in the audience, it was a lot of fun being at the show and seeing how it all went down.
at first I was slightly disappointed at the topic but was amused to see the un-edited cut.
It payed off in the end, because Tanner actually had no idea what happened to his phone until someone in the audience blurted it out.
apparently they did not get to see the clips until after it was all put together.
 
The relationship between the three hosts has improved greatly since the very first episode.

Overall, this was a decent episode. Not fantastic, but not bad either. Watching Tanner's truck bounce on the hill start was great. Never seen a big rig bounce so violently.

I cracked up laughing when it was revealed what each of the three was carrying.

The rest of the episode was OK...

7/10
 
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"Bearded Lady" and "Mother Trucker". If that's not an indicator of how far the chemistry has come, I don't know what is. :)

Meanwhile, yay for the three of them driving those rigs with their precious cargo on actual roads! Take that, mothership!

Pretty decent start to the season.
 
Cutting immediately to the shot of Adam smashing Tanner's phone put me in stitches. The rest of the episode wasn't bad either.

I gave it an 8.

BTW, who the Hell is Ed Burns?
 
Not bad really. Good to see them goofing around. A few parts were obviously scripted but not too bad. The public roads stuff was damn scary though! I felt sorry for the other drivers!
 
You want scary, Viper? I grew up in Battle Creek, halfway between Marshall and Kalamazoo. Every time they use Eaton, I'm seeing my old stomping grounds; I recognized damn near every shot in the episode. And was able to say, "Waaaaaaaaait a second, Tanner, you went the WRONG WAY from the fountain!" ;)

For the record, the "trucker rage" scene was at the I-69/I-94 interchange (the one you saw the "Exit 38" sign for) that's about two miles north of where they got onto I-69 (easily distinguished by having separate collector lanes that parallel the freeways, with the ramps actually connecting those, resulting in a distinctive single-level quadruple overpass carrying I-69 over I-94). I'm pretty sure that the initial eruption of fireworks was shot on Wheatfield Parkway, a short connector from exit 104's westbound exit ramp terminus at 11 Mile Road to East Michigan Avenue/Business 94, which allows traffic using the exit there to get to Battle Creek to avoid having to deal with traffic for Firekeeper's Casino (which is accessed by driving south on 11 Mile from 104). That's actually new since I lived there; I'm surprised they built it, but it appears that the "no re-entry westbound/no exit eastbound" exit 103 that could have been used for that purpose has been decommissioned. Not sure exactly where they shot the ending, but the clearly set up New Yorker wreck was done on a side street a couple blocks east of the fountain in Marshall. (And for the record, the road from Eaton comes into the fountain roundabout on the south side; the road they wanted to get to I-69 was the road they took into town... but they wanted to go WEST on it, not east, so they were just half a turn out of sync.)
 
I really like the electronic lap board. I hate it how the UK guys have chicken scratch (except Richard?). It will definitely be useful when they get a lot more power laps and star laps on the board.

I also like how they're starting to use the inside studio, too.

Best Top Gear US episode that I've seen so far, hopefully it will keep getting better. Gets an eight from me.
 
While they didn't drive through brick walls or mobile homes, I was kind of surprised they let them out on the streets! Personally, it doesn't bother me that they copy ideas from the UK show. I think our cultures are different enough that both can be fun to watch. I gave it an eight, since I think the three of them have come a long way from season 1. They just need to figure out a way to make the BSLC better, and maybe get some bigger stars.

Overall, I love the way the show is going, and look forward to seeing more.
 
Complete and utter trash. I really don't see what you guys like in this. The humour is awful. People complain about Top Gear UK being too scripted yet praise the terrible acting in this version. I don't get it. The fireworks made absolutely no sense, the obviously staged car crash with the piece of garbage car parked in the way. The hosts still suck and have no real chemistry other than what the writers put on the script. It's just terrible. Is it simple American chest thumping that's happening here? This version needs to be cancelled before it tarnishes the Top Gear name any further.
 
A.J. said:
I really like the electronic lap board. I hate it how the UK guys have chicken scratch (except Richard?). It will definitely be useful when they get a lot more power laps and star laps on the board.
Click to expand...

That's sort-of the point, not to take the SIARPC results too seriously.
 
Solid to high 7/10.

truck challenge was alot of fun but they really need to do something about the studio segments and the damn intro. thats what kills it for me. As far as the electronic lap board, i dislike, i want chicken scratch.
 
Loved the Episode. A solid 8 for me, but would probably be lower had I watched the SIARPC. Who was he?
 
If a lot of that wasn't staged, then it was kind of dickish.
 
Kinda liked it, it has a sense of freshness the British version is lacking (which is kinda natural after so many years I might add). Something I find TGUS to miss is a bit of structure: proper intros, endings and conclusions for the segments. It seems like a somewhat rushed sequence of happenings with little context. Other than that however, it was mostly fun to watch.

The SIARPC (or BSSC) piece feels random as a whole and is hardly worth watching as it is, and there were a couple of things in the truck challenge which seemed a little too staged, like when Tanner "accidently" hit the car. Weirdly, they just continued driving like it never happened after the ads. Same goes for the fireworks, which were bound to happen when the initial setup in the trailer was presented, but were obviously staged as well. And still, this version of Top Gear has developed its own, different charm for me and is innocent fun to watch.

7/10 on the TGUS scale.
 
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grossman said:
Complete and utter trash. I really don't see what you guys like in this. The humour is awful. People complain about Top Gear UK being too scripted yet praise the terrible acting in this version. I don't get it. The fireworks made absolutely no sense, the obviously staged car crash with the piece of garbage car parked in the way. The hosts still suck and have no real chemistry other than what the writers put on the script. It's just terrible. Is it simple American chest thumping that's happening here? This version needs to be cancelled before it tarnishes the Top Gear name any further.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the exact same thing
 
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