[17x07] December 28th, 2011 [India Special]

[17x07] December 28th, 2011 [India Special]


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I'll have to harp what everyone else said, and that this was probably the least memorable of the specials, but it did make me laugh and smile. It was great to see the production team working with them on camera for once. I really liked the ending and I would watch it again, just had that slight breeze that blew away some of the magic until the end when some came back. But overall, I enjoyed myself with my family, more so than any other TV show on right now, and it did make my night better. <.< 8/10 from me.
 
First time I have paused an episode of Top Gear to accomplish another task.
 
Some of you guys are insane!

I was entertained and laughed. They created some fantastic cinematography that definitely beats anything else I could have watched on television! This special really captured some brilliant images of the overall essence of India.

Not TG's best, but seriously, what other show is better?

9/10
 
I give it a 7/10 for all the reasons listed above. Looking back I probably should have given it a 5.5-6/10, but whatever. Just felt average. I love TG for the beautiful films, the passion for cars, and the amazing things they do with them. It just didn't feel like they really tried with this one...
 
^^ cinematography = eye candy ..... The show should have more substance than some nice pictures. If cinematography is all you want, the BBC's Natural History Unit beats Top Gear (by a HUGE margin).
 
With all the downer comments on this episode I?m almost compelled to liven up my ?It was OK? to something better, but alas, it wasn?t that good really.
Regardless how staged it may have been, I think the ?mini winching? gag was the funniest for me ? a combination of how it came about, the camera angle & the likelihood of something like that happening .
 
Hmm...not the best of Top Gear, but it wasn't bad either. I had a good laugh, even if the jokes were predictable (scripted).
However, it could have been better.

6.8/10
 
I enjoyed it, had serveral laughs, but guess I had been expecting more. India is such an amazing, vibrant, colourful country, why not just stick to the old idea of going on a road-trip? There's plenty for them to see and to show us. The whole idea of the "economic mission" felt contrived and took up way too much time.
Also, I don't mind TopGear being scripted, but some of the jokes are getting very old. :(

Still, I'm glad I watched it. Not a waste of my time, still very much looking forward to the next series. :)
 
I gave it a 5, as I thought it was exactly mediocre. Saw the gags a mile off, intentional and willful property destruction isn't funny, and the only 'set piece' that I figured would be there, but was lacking was a mandatory 'light this on fire' segment. I suppose the firework kind of fit that, but still...

I get the impression that they were a bit rushed for this, and they tried to do a lot with not enough time to really make it work, thus trying to stick to the 'easier to fit the time' scripted pieces rather than picking the good bits of 'natural flow' out of the filming.

The hype led me to be a bit disappointed with this one, but it was 'mediocre'. Certainly not that 'make your own motorhome caravan holiday' of a couple series ago or 'Geoff the car' kind of woeful, but I did find myself checking the clock, even with a lack of better things to do.

If the guys really need a break between their other projects and this, I would much rather see them take it and recharge rather than try to force it. The guys are presenters, not actors... and it shows.
 
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Watched it last night. Enjoyed it but it wasn't their best moment. The stuff was predictable. However knowing that it was coming made me appreciate it in other ways and enjoy the more unique moments.
It wasn't the best but as a friend stated last night their is far worse crap out there that passes as entertainment. I saw The only way is Essex for the first time a few days ago and I would gladly sit through a bad episode of top gear than a episode of That show.
 
Thought it was hilarious.. can't see how some of you aren't liking it. It's like American Top Gear... but entertaining
 
First time I have paused an episode of Top Gear to accomplish another task.

That my friend, is so true. I stopped the episode for the first time in my life, I waited so long for this episode since the end of season 16 and yesterday evening I preferred to go to sleep rather then watching the episode entirely.

HUGE disappointment. India has some of the most breathtaking landscapes, mountains and lots of everything and they came up with this? Sad, really.
 
Would rather have had a travelogue of their actual trip over there and the places and sightseeing they did off camera. Can guaranty that they had more genuine fun, and a much more interesting time off camera and between shoots where they visited places and did things they themselves found worthwhile. Shows like this should be about escapism and wish fulfillment, and they managed to deliver neither. How they managed to visit a place like India, with their budget, running time, and quality of production crew and deliver so little was probably the most impressive thing about the episode. Maybe the average age(or IQ) of their BBC audience now is sufficiently low enough for the producers to feel satisfied with that, in which case - good luck to them.
 
I thought it was ... good.. not very special-like, i mean the tasks they had to do were better in the other special-episodes.
Why are they driving up that mountain? In the Vietnam special for example they got a challenge (buy a cheap set of wheels and then acquire what the americans failed to do go from Saigon to Hanoi or so..
In the india special they don't get any challenges and use their 'improving english-indian exports' as a lame excuse for everything. The party they throw was very odd (just a lot of embarrassing-top-gear-failing.. i don't like that), and the food-race against the train was also not that good.

But i have to say the parts where the boys are on their own (cocking about), like the campfire (i laughed my ass off when James told the fictive story about him "doing it properly" :D), the race up the hill and the modifying parts are very very good.

Overall 7/10.... but: i'm gonna watch it a second time right now. :)

(Was Andy Wilman driving the Follower-Car? Am i the only one to think he should get an inside-camera too?)

I recommend watching "Jeremy Clarkson - Motorworld INDIA" first (just google it, it's 23 minutes long), and afterwards the Top Gear India Special. Makes it a lot better. ;)
 
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Well that was terrible. Others have already pointed out the flaws and I won't bother reiterating them. I wouldn't give it more then 4/10
 
Whilst watching the various mishaps of the garden party, :sleep: I started thinking about the Top Gear mantra, "Ambitious but rubbish". I suppose it depends on how you define the word, but from what I've seen so far, there's nothing particularly ambitious about what they're doing at all. In fact, I don't think they've done anything properly ambitious for years. There certainly is a lot of rubbish though.

Had a few genuine laugh out loud moments, which was nice, but there's a real lack of depth or any sort of purpose at all. Much the same as the Middle East special last year.
 
We've always wanted them to drive nice cars on a special, but we were wrong. How much better wouldn't have been if Jeremy bought an xjs for ?1000?
 
We've always wanted them to drive nice cars on a special, but we were wrong. How much better wouldn't have been if Jeremy bought an xjs for ?1000?

That would have been extremely better, especially since they got a backup car. I want them to drive "on the cutting edge", just before a complete breakdown, but still driving. Just so they don't have to use their backup car, like in the Africa Special or in Botswana ("that's my steering - i'm inches from death." "the brakes don't do anything"). :rolleyes:

..oh and with cheaper cars there would be a lot more crashing into James. :D
 
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