[14x07] January 3rd, 2010

[14x07] January 3rd, 2010


  • Total voters
    500
This show was really good, except for a few small complaints. Mostly with the LFA review.

I didn't like the Japanophile sort of cartoon editing. Made it look childish. .


I think that was kinda the point. Richard while reviewing the Zonda had once said something like:

"When I sit in a super-car, I need to feel like I'm 8 years old again, in short trousers. "

So, the whole 'comic book' theme was perfect for that. :)
 
The gear leaver was obviously wrong as it wasn't the same as in a Golf but the same as in every racing or rally car. The flappy paddles also used the same method as rally cars.
Agree with the gear leaver bit - either he was talking rubbish or he confused the directions - its much more logical to upshift by pulling leaver towards you and downshiftin the other way, on to flappy paddles its really more logical and easier to use ( in a road car ) one paddle for up and other for down.
Onto the ep. wasting our time by repeating "We have no money left" well... It may have been funny couple of years ago but It's not anymore. Altough I understand why there was no cool wall this season - most cars reviewed and one that could be brought to cool wall were just new version of existing cars - various Gallardo's, DBS volante, R8 and Zr1, couple of Suv's and 2 supercars, which are seriously uncool ;) I guess if there were some important changes to be made ( like "Cocks moved to Audis" or "Astons are not cool anymore" ) Cool Wall would have been added.
 
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Good ep! I gave it a strong 8. As others have covered i didn't like the slightly annoying editing in the LFA review.
Hopefully the boys can take a breather now and return stronger than ever! :)
 
I haven't seen this episode yet....and it is the last of the season. With that said, where is Ken Block on the TG track? Last series the episode that he was in they mentioned that he would be on their track but I guess that isn't the case? Of all the things this season that is what I was looking forward to most - I really enjoyed that bit last season with captain slow as the co-pilot. Anyone know why this hasn't happened?
 
10/10 for this episode!
After i've seen the "sin city"-effects i was sure this episode will rock!
And it did, james part was very interesting and the opposite of jeremys rubbish bmw review....

Car of the decade: bugatti veyron fullack!! very good decision....
 
If this is the "crap" episode, I'll take more crap, please.

Three decent car reviews, with two on the roads (and the Lexus is a track car, so it was appropriate to film it there). Top Gear Awards. Seasick Steve was okay. Very cute female audience.

Solid 8 in my book.
 
I'm afraid I do not share the opinion many of you have on this episode. It surely was not bad, likely the best of this series behind Bolivia, which I shall take out of the equation because it was a special. Anyway, what I found ever-apparent was the over-the-top nature of this episode.

Lexus: good points well made by Hammond, but too flashy on the effects which detracted attention away from the car

News:
they mentioned several cars, but there was not a bit of seriousness in any of that segment. I don't expect them to read out technical specs of the cars, but this is 5 minutes of car pictures and prepared jokes

Studio segment:
too much acting / too staged, no point to the whole segment

X6 review: correct verdict, but it was more about Jeremy's around-the-world running gag than about the car

SIARPC: skipped parts of it, but seemed like a funny and interesting guy (will watch that again)

Vauxhall:
good start, but when James should have started talking about what the car is like, the sign lady came on. That could have been an interesting piece by itself, but it was totally out of context and made this bit very odd and unsatisfying, because it neither achieved to tell one anything about the car, nor was it well made in terms of Britains road sign system

Awards: as before, too much acting / too staged. They ridicule the Stig too much these days, he has slipped into his "role" as well. The only glance of a genuine bit was the car of the decade, which seemed like a serious moment

Overall then, I was not too happy with this one either. As you may have noticed from my comments, my biggest gripe is that they turned away from "letting the car be the star" and shooting a good film around it and replaced it by a "flashy/funny/surprising joyride" which contains some car. In my eyes, this one would have been a very good episode if they had dropped the over-the-top-ness and would have come to simply do the job that's in their blood, as opposed to trying to make a "Look, the volume on Top Gear goes up to 11!!!!" show. I'm afraid the only thing I liked, as sad as it is, was the picture quality, which is outstandingly good in the 720p rip. I like all of the three blokes, and they all have their individual qualities. It's just that for me, they don't show any of them in this format of the show.

For the moment however, I will refrain from a vote. I will give them that the general criticism which has come up lately probably came too late to do anything about this episode, given that the heads of the show tried to. Also, I need to ask myself whether the show probably still is brilliant, and that it simply is me who just liked the calmer, more serious way they used to do earlier seasons with better. So I'll let this one ease down a while, will watch it again in a few days and then vote.
 
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Good series. Better than the previous 2. This final ep was pretty entertaining. I don't care if Richard crashing into the tree again was scripted, it still made me laugh.
Too bad about Saab.
 
Yes not a bad show at all - Lexus: great editing, great review and that was 9.5/10 country but there were some slower parts - James' review was a bit off the mark but I loved Jezza's review of the BMW, now that took some organising.

Awards were funny - Stig, what a man!

8/10 in the end just a bit too much filler.
 
The SIARPC, Best in awhile. The guy reminds me of myself (looks like me too, Not as old though).
Jeremy's x6 review was very reminiscent of him in Old top gear.

10. All the way. I think this was a great wrap up of the season.


GREAT JOB TG CREW! :cheers:
 
Good old school TG like some years ago. It's nice that there were so different episodes in this series. Mix like that will help and program will no become boring. For me there could be more shows like this one, with 3 proper car reviews, but general idea is good.

As for a content, Toyota is nice but for it's just six time more expensive GT-R and I would prefer 599 + Lambo.

Jeremy's X6 review was spot on. But of course everyone will buy that ugly BMW.

VW Veyron car of the decade? Can't agree more.
 
i have seen a couple of NFO's for the bia releases. saying the SD runtime is 58min 33sec while the 720p is 61min 36sec.

can anyone confirm those runtimes ?
 
Loved most of the last episode, except it lost one point because of the signs :/

9/10
 
LFA saved this ep. That was a nice surprise and Hammond did a great job. That car sounds how the new 458 should. I agree the price is absurd however.

I normally really enjoy James' segments but this one had me dozing off. Was happy to see Jeremy expose what the X6 really is--a stupid truck. Awards were good but past years were better.

7/10 for this ep and 8.5/10 for the season. Thank you TG!

Hoping the Cool Wall makes a return in the summer. I miss it...
 
Easily the best episode of the series.

Plus they showed footage of the Veyron during series 7, which was probably their best series.

More of this, please.
 
Lexus:

Epic review, epic editing. Love the half-tone polka dot effect, it actually worked really well. And can I just say... am I the only one that thought the LFA sounded almost EXACTLY like the Porsche Carrera GT? I mean yeah they're both V10's so no surprise there but I thought it would sound at least a bit more different. This is of course not to say that it's a terrible sounding car. Oh no. Believe me, I'm writing this review after a change of underpants.

News: Aight, pretty good.

X6: I liked the different countries gag actually, I wasn't expecting it. It was incredibly great of them to show the range rover on the side, unlike in the X3 review for example. It was nice to get a full on real comparison of the same hill, 2 different cars and tangible evidence that the X6 is utter bullshit on a stick.

SIARPC: Moderate. Truth be told I had no idea who the guest was, so I was wondering from what bus station he was picked up from but he was actually not bad.

James: The beginning was great, but with the road signs part it became as dull as dirt.

Awards: Stig fighting with Richard! Great slapstick, the episode needed the silly kick at the end to recover from the insignia review.

After gargling the episode in my mouth, swirling around each component and giving it the typical FG bias/benefit of the doubt, I gave it an 8/10.

I look forward to the next series because of all the purported changes in store.
 
First off I'm back from my long vacation and just finished watching the last three episodes :)

While watching this episode I thought "Thank you guys for a proper Top Gear episode" and I got the feeling they wanted to show us that they still can be an entertaining car show :thumbsup:

Now to the episode, I gave it a 9 just because it was the only proper show this season (except for bolivia special). In a "normal" season i would rate it 8, because it was solid and good... nothing more, nothing less...

LFA review: Fantastic review and somehow a very cool car except for the lexus badge and the price. The post production on this film was quite nice, but the illustration style effects could have been a bit less.

News: Yes Yes Yes... Thats how it should be... Just what I want, the right balance between information/facts and comedy... Please continue the news like this next season... I hope the NOT cargeeks weren't too bored :)

X6 review: Great and creative review. I liked the bits abroad a lot, because it was something new and nicely used...

SIARPC: I thought he was quite interesting. Not the best guest ever but not bad either... BTW nice that jeremy announced that there will be a new SIARPC car next season

Insignia review: Nice review but felt a bit stretched at the end. I think they could have done it a bit shorter and included the cool wall this episode as a "filler"

Awards: To be honest I don't care too much for the awards, but car of the decade was spot on!

During the studio bits I got the impression that they were low on energy and quite tired, but nothing too dramatic.

@Top Gear:
More of this next season, this felt like classic TG and I had a nice laugh after this one! Their are lot of cars out there waiting for you guys to be tested and take your time and a deep breath before starting shooting for the next season...
 
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