[16x00] December 26th, 2010 [Middle East Special]

[16x00] December 26th, 2010 [Middle East Special]


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C'mon, the top gear shows must have a balance. The audience is pretty much every demography one can think of. Children enjoy it as is supposed to make fun of "daddy". Grownups enjoy it because of it's political messages of how stupid we grown-ups actually behave (religion).

Briliant show, making fun of the stupid fascination with these boring desert-myths is always welcome, bringing attention to the briliant looking mountains/nature and friendly population is great.
 
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I really loved the episode and scored it a 10.

However it struck me as a little odd that this is the first TG special that hasn't made me want to go to the region in which they are filming.

I think mostly it was because Hammond was sick and James got injured, the middle east itself looked utterly breathtaking.
 
Clearly this show is scripted. I know that... I just thought it was funny they didn't even try to cover their tracks. The incident where Jeremy fell and hit his head was supposed to be in Syria where they were trying to avoid being detected by Israel from ever being in the country... yet the vehicle that takes Jeremy to the hospital is from Israel. Look at the license plate written in Hebrew:


AdnPC.png

I'm not examining number plates very frequently but I'm definitely sure the writing on the number plate is in arabic, and the Israeli number plates I believe have yellow background.

Btw it was James who was taken to hospital not Jezza.
 
BTW, they were hunted down in unbelievable ways when they were here. I'm quite surprised they managed to stay hidden most of the time here (when they crossed the border it was on the cover of the biggest news paper here). They were eventually caught in Nazareth which is why I suspect there's no footage from that area, they were just being leached on 24/7. Somehow though they managed to escape again around Jerusalem and made their way to Beth Lehem in relative peace. then when they came back for the air port the media was all over them again. Hop over to the spoilers section if you wanna see some videos and such.
I knew TG has more than quarter of a billion viewers around the globe but I didn't expect the great reception they got from the region's media and the viewers there. Quite pleasant feeling too especially considering it's just a pokey motoring show :D
 
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I'm not examining number plates very frequently but I'm definitely sure the writing on the number plate is in arabic, and the Israeli number plates I believe have yellow background.

Btw it was James who was taken to hospital not Jezza.
Yup you're right. My knowledge of Arabic has waned a lot due to unuse but the number plates are in Arabic. If anyone wants to know, the number on it reads (from left to right): 26773(2?)5.
binarypower, consider yourself emancipated from your initial ignorance on this issue. It would've took less than 5 minutes for you to go and look up whether it was Hebrew or Arabic: Arabic Numerals
 
Yup you're right. My knowledge of Arabic has waned a lot due to unuse but the number plates are in Arabic. If anyone wants to know, the number on it reads (from left to right): 26773(2?)5.
binarypower, consider yourself emancipated from your initial ignorance on this issue. It would've took less than 5 minutes for you to go and look up whether it was Hebrew or Arabic: Arabic Numerals

I speak arabic and yeah, it even says "????" on it which is Damascus.
I hate when people try too hard to spot incompatibilities only to attempt discreditting the show. Just enjoy it ffs.
 
BTW i haven't read it on this topic...but was that Arabic TG episode in that bar's tv in Syria just as fake as the Romanian Top Gear programme in their trip to the Transfalgarasan highway (which was in fact Russian, as i remember)?
 
BTW i haven't read it on this topic...but was that Arabic TG episode in that bar's tv in Syria just as fake as the Romanian Top Gear programme in their trip to the Transfalgarasan highway (which was in fact Russian, as i remember)?

I reviewed that scene, Jeremy says "Oh my god, that's so fast".. But whatever the translated script said, I could not fathom a word of it as being Arabic.
So I'm guessing, that no.

To back this up, Syria doesn't appear in the list of countries that broadcast Top Gear. According to this
 
Clearly this show is scripted. I know that... I just thought it was funny they didn't even try to cover their tracks. The incident where Jeremy fell and hit his head was supposed to be in Syria where they were trying to avoid being detected by Israel from ever being in the country... yet the vehicle that takes Jeremy to the hospital is from Israel. Look at the license plate written in Hebrew:


AdnPC.png


Sorry to disappoint my friend but that is not Hebrew. That is Arabic and the plate seems Syrian as well.
 
Eww, um...no.


Err, um...yes.

Tell you what. When you religious types stop supporting clergy who rape children, stop advocating for the control of women's bodies, stop trying to give more rights to an unfertilized egg than the needy living, stop supporting politicians (in America) who don't believe in global warming or environmental damage because "it is god's will" that we can do whatever we want to the planet with no repercussions, stop voting for and supporting criminals like George W. Bush and imbeciles like Sarah Palin, stop glorifying religious dogma and celebrating ignorance and lack of education, stop trying to push your archaic beliefs on the rest of the world, and stop basically making the world a more difficult and dangerous place to be than it need be,

then I'll stop making fun of you. And don't give me that crap about all the good religion does in the world. AFAICT, nearly every war/conflict happening in the world today is, at its root, a religious one (I say nearly, because even though I can't think of a conflict that isn't religious, there may be one that I don't know about). It takes a lot of soup kitchens to make up for the millions of people killed and displaced around the world due to religion.

I also think that some of you (especially in America) are missing one critical social issue in the UK: as of now, more Brits report themselves as non-religious/questioning/atheist than not http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/10/religion-typical-briton-fuzzy-believer . As Top Gear is a British show, it stands to reason that the tenor of the writing and the humor would reflect that, ignoring the tender sensibilities and hurt fe fes of the American audience.

Notice that the Euros tend (overall) to find the humor in the religious aspect of this episode, while the Americans are the ones with their panties in a twist. Screw that. The sooner the religious are relegated to backwaters of history in this country, the better.
 
I'm not examining number plates very frequently but I'm definitely sure the writing on the number plate is in arabic, and the Israeli number plates I believe have yellow background.

Btw it was James who was taken to hospital not Jezza.

that is arabic

its a Damascus plate
 
Found some nice high resolution pictures, which you folks might find interesting :mrgreen:



And
:p
 
BTW i haven't read it on this topic...but was that Arabic TG episode in that bar's tv in Syria just as fake as the Romanian Top Gear programme in their trip to the Transfalgarasan highway (which was in fact Russian, as i remember)?

Yes, it was a bit of a fake. It's the Farsi dubbed version they broadcast on BBC Persian.
 
Err, um...yes.

Tell you what. When you religious types stop supporting clergy who rape children, stop advocating for the control of women's bodies, stop trying to give more rights to an unfertilized egg than the needy living, stop supporting politicians (in America) who don't believe in global warming or environmental damage because "it is god's will" that we can do whatever we want to the planet with no repercussions, stop voting for and supporting criminals like George W. Bush and imbeciles like Sarah Palin, stop glorifying religious dogma and celebrating ignorance and lack of education, stop trying to push your archaic beliefs on the rest of the world, and stop basically making the world a more difficult and dangerous place to be than it need be,

then I'll stop making fun of you. And don't give me that crap about all the good religion does in the world. AFAICT, nearly every war/conflict happening in the world today is, at its root, a religious one (I say nearly, because even though I can't think of a conflict that isn't religious, there may be one that I don't know about). It takes a lot of soup kitchens to make up for the millions of people killed and displaced around the world due to religion.

I also think that some of you (especially in America) are missing one critical social issue in the UK: as of now, more Brits report themselves as non-religious/questioning/atheist than not http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/10/religion-typical-briton-fuzzy-believer . As Top Gear is a British show, it stands to reason that the tenor of the writing and the humor would reflect that, ignoring the tender sensibilities and hurt fe fes of the American audience.

Notice that the Euros tend (overall) to find the humor in the religious aspect of this episode, while the Americans are the ones with their panties in a twist. Screw that. The sooner the religious are relegated to backwaters of history in this country, the better.

i normally stay out of peoples opinions but i just think you may have crossed a line here. the first paragraph was a little over the top. i do repect your views (doesnt mean i agree) but there is a thread for this kind of rant in another area of this forum. your welcome to bash my country and our views all you want i just think this needs to move to another place. IMHO
 
Err, um...yes.

Tell you what. When you religious types stop supporting clergy who rape children, stop advocating for the control of women's bodies, stop trying to give more rights to an unfertilized egg than the needy living, stop supporting politicians (in America) who don't believe in global warming or environmental damage because "it is god's will" that we can do whatever we want to the planet with no repercussions, stop voting for and supporting criminals like George W. Bush and imbeciles like Sarah Palin, stop glorifying religious dogma and celebrating ignorance and lack of education, stop trying to push your archaic beliefs on the rest of the world, and stop basically making the world a more difficult and dangerous place to be than it need be,

then I'll stop making fun of you. And don't give me that crap about all the good religion does in the world. AFAICT, nearly every war/conflict happening in the world today is, at its root, a religious one (I say nearly, because even though I can't think of a conflict that isn't religious, there may be one that I don't know about). It takes a lot of soup kitchens to make up for the millions of people killed and displaced around the world due to religion.

I also think that some of you (especially in America) are missing one critical social issue in the UK: as of now, more Brits report themselves as non-religious/questioning/atheist than not http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/10/religion-typical-briton-fuzzy-believer . As Top Gear is a British show, it stands to reason that the tenor of the writing and the humor would reflect that, ignoring the tender sensibilities and hurt fe fes of the American audience.

Notice that the Euros tend (overall) to find the humor in the religious aspect of this episode, while the Americans are the ones with their panties in a twist. Screw that. The sooner the religious are relegated to backwaters of history in this country, the better.
Sounds like someone needs to move to a new country. This one was founded on religon and I don't see it going away anytime soon, buh bye now.
 
Yes, the USA are built on religion. They worship the almighty Dollar :p

It's the only country, where religion is actually a business model.

Too bad there probably isn't a God. I bet he would be rolling on the floor laughing.
 
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Problem is, not all Americans are religious. Sure, the religious extremists/fundamentalists make the most noise and get the most news coverage (like in any other country), but there are tons of reasonable people who are either atheists/agnostic or are casual church-goes, the sort of Christians who find it an identity rather than a way of life. I know plenty of people who really only go to church on Sundays in keeping with the Christian faith, but then live their lives in an otherwise secular fashion.

It usually causes trouble when you (general "you" here) make sweeping generalizations about a country based on a small percentage of the population. This was even shown in this episode when the presenters acknowledged that, although all you see on the news about Iraq is war, bombings, and the like, the people there are ... well, people. You simply can't say "All Americans are religious nutbags" because there are plenty who aren't. Yes, we play host to people like Sarah Palin and the Westboro Baptist Church, but we also have people on the other end of the spectrum, and plenty of people in between.

For the record, I'm American, and, admittedly, an atheist, but I found this episode funny, especially the religious humour. I was raised Protestant, so I got all the references and ha-ha-that's-clever moments. Anyone who would be seriously offended by a joke on a "pokey little motoring show" needs to either grow thicker skin or stop taking things so seriously.
 
7/10.
Solid, but not exciting, a good gap-filler. Bring on season 16!
 
I'm apparently badly late to the party but this is actually the first time I've given any episode a 10, most episodes I really enjoy get 8's or 9's.

I really think Jeremy Clarkson just surpassed Dave Chappelle in terms of outright humor in my eyes. and Hammond seems a tiny bit less funny.

I've always been a fan of James regardless and that never changed, really never expected him to take that fall though, cool how they actually kept it in the episode too.

odd ending but really how else could they have done it?
 
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