[13x03] July 5th, 2009

[13x03] July 5th, 2009


  • Total voters
    523
Seems like I'm one of the only people (so far) who really liked this episode. It was so very nearly perfect if it wasn't for one thing.

You wear sandals, of course you loved this episode. It was terrible I almost fell asleep.
 
No, she was not.
I am just that sort of bloke ;)
 
I gave it a 9. Good, proper show and loved the soundtrack on the Merc SL segment: it had Danger playing!
 
Also, I thought the cheap car segment was far better than the cheap car challenge of S13E02.
 
Also, I thought the cheap car segment was far better than the cheap car challenge of S13E02.

I have to disagree, although they are certainly very different. The one this week was far more realistic (looking at decent cars that you might actually want to buy), while the one last week was really more about getting absolute sh*t cars and trying to do random funny things with them. I tend to like the latter types more, since I enjoy watching the cars fall apart and the presenters rag on them, but they're certainly not for everyone.
 
This episode was kind of frustrating. Some good ideas, but the execution wasn't very good. The SL Black review was decent, a real Jeremy review without stupid gimmicks for actually doing something else. Not cut short and contained actual info, which is good. The news was better than last week in that it wasn't just stupid toilet humor, but it's still not all that great.

The Ken Block thing was great in principal, but it fell flat somehow. I wish they had had Ken show James some driving skills, like he did with Jackie Stewart and Mika H?kkinen. If they were just gonna have James be a passenger, do something more interesting than drive around the (albeit beautifully shot) California desert, like they did when James was driven down the ski slope.

The cheap car "challenge" was again a decent idea, but it was boring and a somehow lacking. I guess those guys attract a huge crowd wherever they go and can't shoot in London like they did in the old days; also I still don't really get the point of the second half. Anyway I gave it a 6, I think they're running out of ideas.
 
Unfortunately [River] releases don't work properly for me. They will not stream properly to my XBOX360. They work fine for the first 15ish minutes, and then they crap out.

I just thought I would mention it.

-Des!
 
Unfortunately [River] releases don't work properly for me. They will not stream properly to my XBOX360. They work fine for the first 15ish minutes, and then they crap out.

I just thought I would mention it.

-Des!
I guess they (River) weren't thinking of folks watching their caps on an xbox.
Uknova has their own caps, they frown on scene releases on their tracker.
It's a private tracker so you'll need to sign up for an account and maintain a ratio. They also don't want their caps on other trackers either.
http://www.uknova.com/wsgi/index
http://www.uknova.com/wsgi/torrent/find?c=33
 
The codec being used for the last 2 episodes does not work on Xbox360. Please try and host host a functional torrent.

I was a VERY satisfied user of Final Gear up until now.
 

The fix works, thanks for providing it.

That being said, you should look for a better source. There seem to be quite a few people here having the same problem I am. I tried it out in Windows 7 for the hell of it and had the same problem. It's a complaint with an easy solution but you'd make a lot of people happy if it played without the workaround on the 360. I doubt that RiVER is the only early uploader (I will say that until the last 2 episodes I've been nothing but impressed by the RiVER rips) but once it's posted here if it's a quality rip it will spread quite quickly.
 
Actually they're the only early uploader. That's how the Scene works -- first to get it out the door "wins".

Anyway, this is not the thread for this discussion. Take it to the other thread please. :)
 
This episode had both very good and very bad parts.

Cheap car challenge - decent and had its moments, but I can't shake the feeling they just "phoned in" the challenges at the last minute. Not to mention they weren't very imaginative either (except for Jeremy's). And I would have loved to see them demonstrate their hate for the 1st batch of small cars by destroying them in different ways, but I guess this is the new "financially-responsible" TG for you. Seriously, when was the last time we've seen a good car destruction?

SIARPC - No idea who the fellow was, but you know something's wrong when the interviewee is talking so much that the host can't even get a word in, kind of like a British Andy Dick. I can understand being enthusiastic and trying to be funny, but lay off the caffiene, you're being interviewed and not doing a stand-up routine!

Rally car segment - This really made up for the faults of the rest of the episode. Awesome cinematography, just the right amount of slow-mo effects, and ridiculous driving. Could have used more side commentary from James tho, which is why I wish Jeremy could have done this segment.

7/10 (and that's being generous)
 
SIARPC - No idea who the fellow was, but you know something's wrong when the interviewee is talking so much that the host can't even get a word in, kind of like a British Andy Dick. I can understand being enthusiastic and trying to be funny, but lay off the caffiene, you're being interviewed and not doing a stand-up routine!
He was too busy laughing/crying to say anything :p I gave the episode a 9, loved it.
 
By no means a bad episode, but it wasn't my favorite. And although I never heard of Michael Mcyntire before the interview, he turned out being my favorite guest yet.
 
Good one, gave it a 8.

The animal mentioned at the end of the credit roll must be the dog in James' car lol

News is great, love the lighting effects during the SL black review, Jeremy almost in tears during SIARPC. This does feel like one of the older episodes.

One point though, can we see more 2-3 way road test of cars pretty please? Any class or cars will do. When cars are on the track you have to make things up to make it seem dramatic, but in the real world things just happen and it could be a lot more funnier.
 
Wow, really really tough crowd in here!

Thought the ep was utterly brilliant. And I laughed so hard I fell off my rowing machine when the guest was on - apparently I'm the only one who thought he had some funny parts (his vibrating face is what did it).

Talking to the bankers - funny stuff, the rally driver in the airport - brilliant, Mercedes review -well done, sitting in the hot car - again, fell off my rowing machine (almost). The only bit that I was a bit bored over was the 2nd small car segment. I think one would have been enough, even if it was "bad" (still funny).
 
That jump was amazing!!:thumbsup: This whole Ken Block segment was great, so many beautiful shots.

Indeed, that was just brilliantely shot - the whole point of this -much-discussed- segment was being a series of car porn beauty shots in the almost otherworldly surrounding of this airfield/plane cemetary.

Good solid episode, but found myself wanting to headbut McIntyre. Surprised they didn't use the top gear dog.
7/10

Doesn't TG dog get sick in cars:barf:
TFD lives with Hammond's family and was acutally mentioned in the news ;)

But some amazing photography. It was hard to tell whether they were using a jib or a helicopter at parts, but either or, it was a joy to watch.

I think they were using neither. They got a chase car on which you can mount a steadycam at almost any height from short above ground level to around 2.5 meters and then remote-control it from inside the car.
If you're interested in this kind of camera setup information, get a copy of Clarkson's "Supercar Showdown"-making of from the FTPs and look at the background... it's the same camera crew that shoots Top Gear, so they will be using comparable equipment.


I gave it a 5. Pretty weak episode by TG standards. The AMG bit was alright, the rally guy I'd already seen in a video somewhere, I didn't know or care about the guest so I skipped past that, and the small/cheap car challenge wasn't very good. A pretty rare off week from TG.

So you say the Ken Block segment did not work for you 'cause you already knew him? I can't really understand your line of thinking.

Wiki puts him as an "English" footballer lol. Civic British maybe, but he's certinly not English.

Why not?


EDIT:
The "car sauna" segment was a perfect example of how "cheap" TG can still work. That clip literally cost ten cent to make and was real fun.

Additionally, i really liked the camera positioning during James' lap with the St. Bernhard dog, that maybe was the funniest thing of the whole ep for me.
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Good then!

JC: ? have you thought about jumping out of a window? ?.. ? :lol:
(JC implied: ? because of the enormous, shambolic cock-up you bankers made)

Random Banker: ? ?. Erm ??
Yeah i laughed quite a bit at that too. Did you hear the cars those greedy b*stards drive? Beemers, (esp M3's) Astons,etc whilst people are losing their homes and businesses...GRRRRR:blowup:
 
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