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

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


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Gave this episode 4/10, although on second thought that might be a bit too harsh. Still, I would say that this was the worst special from Top Gear to date. There just did not seem to be a clear story arc to this at all, unlike previous Bolivia or Middle East specials. If asked to summarize the episode with a single term "waffing about" comes to mind.

Also, like some other posters here I didn't like how they ruined the cars. In the other specials there has been some real reason behind "modifying" their cars, here it seemed to be just chugged in for some cheap (and old) jokes.
 
Not an episode for the petrolheads, more like an episode for, well, the average household. I found it quite entertaining, though it didn't have anything to do with cars really. Think that's why the ratings here are so low. I still liked it, although it obviously wasn't as good as previous specials.
 
I hate spoilers more than I hate spoilers on anything with less than 600bhp.

Last years Christmas special had about 45 minutes of waste.
Bets on James crashing?
Not a V12 XJS?
3 great cars... Dicky wins.
Not bangers for once, should be interesting.
Please no TG comedy.
Ugh.
Mini roofs fucked.
25 minutes of waste already.
Didn't see that happening In the queue...
35 minutes of waste.
Fucking hell Jimmy nearly died.
I swear I saw the muff coming. :blink:
Its illegal to disperse aircon gas... I think
Hmmm not that great so far.
FFS Mexico isn't funny anymore, mainly because you pussied it at the time you short arse.
Who wrote the script, the Chuckle Brothers?
Its a bad version of Top Gear Ground Force, yeah I didn't think it was possible either.
Oh fuck you its not funny.


The worst thing I've ever seen, and I've seen Transformers 3.
Waste of 90 minutes.

This pretty much sums it up.

Not totally horrible. 5/10.

But only because there were straight pipes on a six cylinder engine, and that was mechanically interesting.

And some of you will be thinking that since it's better than "Fast and the Furious XIV" or "The adventures of bible salesman", so it must be worth a 10. But that's only because people are morons, and modern entertainment generally rides the lowest common denominator all the way. Top Gear used to be above that. So rating this as Top Gear, it's a five. Rating it as something else, which frankly it was, it'd probably have a higher score. But if it were anything else than Top Gear, I wouldn't have watched it. No original ideas, dumb executions of what they had, no heartfelt moments.. James looked like he was only in it to get paid. And at that point you know you've outlived your welcome as a car series.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be watching the Vietnam special, which is still easily the best episode in the last few years.

edit:

I think the bottom line is, the premise just didn't work. But it gave me a thought. I would like to see the three of them just go to India or where ever and make a travel type program about the country. They are all three so different, I think it would be great. They could drive cars if they wanted to, they could even do challenges, but let it focus on the people along the way, the country, the culture, the beauty. We got a tiny taste of that here, and I would like to see more.

This and a lot more. I find travel programs and travelling video logs to be very fun and interesting. James and Oz doing the wine thing was awesome. Them going to India as a travel-show, separately or not, would be huge.
 
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I think the bottom line is, the premise just didn't work. But it gave me a thought. I would like to see the three of them just go to India or where ever and make a travel type program about the country. They are all three so different, I think it would be great. They could drive cars if they wanted to, they could even do challenges, but let it focus on the people along the way, the country, the culture, the beauty. We got a tiny taste of that here, and I would like to see more.

D'you know, I had a similar thought to this, but a bit different.

Next year, a trilogy of specials. Each presenter chooses a car, cheap or otherwise, either one of their own or a borrowed new one from a manufacturer, and goes their separate ways. Yes, their separate ways. They each go to a different country (Jeremy goes to one, James to another, and Richard to a different one), they take a small film crew with them, drive some fantastic roads, focus on the locals and the surroundings, and share their experiences along the way.

Anyway. While I may've laughed some, there was a bit of facepalming as well. I was disappointed, too. The boys have done much, much better than this, specials-wise. I don't think this is as bad as the first US road trip, personally, but every other one before this was better, even the Middle East special, and I wasn't overly fond of that one, either.

Be yourselves, guys. Don't force things. Just let stuff happen. It's much better that way. :nod:
 
Shelly that is utterly brilliant!

Richard can do something in America since he is a secret American, Jeremy can do something while on holiday with his family and James can film something in the 1950s.
 
:lol:

In James's case: Fire up the TARDIS!
 
What, you mean like a Clarkson meets the neighbours sort of thing? Or more focused on the car .. ?
 
Too board?

Well done for highlighting your ignorance.


PS : Sorry, I realize it's your first post and that was quite harsh. It's half an hour past midnight, I'm completely mind-numb and utterly enraged by the TG special which I've just viewed today. My brain, at its current state, made me say that.
 
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I would like to see the three of them just go to India or where ever and make a travel type program about the country. They are all three so different, I think it would be great. They could drive cars if they wanted to, they could even do challenges, but let it focus on the people along the way, the country, the culture, the beauty. We got a tiny taste of that here, and I would like to see more.
+1

It should be a separate program. BBC's Three Wise Men's Travel Stories.
 
:|Sorry if I offended you but I'm in your same situation!
My purpose here is to comment on this Christmas special (which is well below my expectations) and not chat!

Sorry ...
 
We heard this said many times before: "if you don't like it, don't watch it". I may take that cue. It used to be a great show (no point droning about why, we all know the reasons) but at this point I feel like I'm watching a beloved pet die a slow, cruel death over and over and over again. It's not fair to the fans. It's not fair to the presenters. Time to move on. Please kill this already...
 
Nice to see Andy bogging in.

Credit where it is not due.

Just been to my nephew's birthday party, then joined my mates in the pub. Nobody mentioned TG India Special whereas in the past TG was always a talking point.

PS. This is literally below the belt - Wilman should stay behind camera because he makes JC look lithe....
 
It left me satisfied yet oh so wanting more. Hamster wasn't into it, Clarkson was playing the role rather than being himself and India was a backdrop. The cars didn't feel like the stars of the show good or bad they felt like simple vehicles. It lacked the road trip that I wanted and instead they filled it in the road trip is the bond and thus the special felt unglued to me. The Nano should have been the backup, it should have played a role. The hill climb should have been politically incorrect, the cars at the party should have been a new reality in the perspective of India and they weren't.

I gave it a 6 and believe I'm right. But lordy I can;t wait for more in the next season.
 
I just read through the 10 pages of posts here, and I'm surprised nobody has said this yet:
I think that one of the reasons that we were all let down so badly was because of the way that the teasers were presented to us.
They portrayed 90 minutes of "epic" voyage through India, but in reality, we just got 90 minutes of scripted jokes.
It think that if they didn't release those teasers in the fashion that they did, that maybe some of us wouldn't be so disappointed
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And one more thought:
I thought that more people realized that Clarkson is actually pretty smart and that he just acts dumb and impractical all of the time.
Lazy, yes. But the dumb and impractical "orangutang" is just a big act IMO.

I rated the episode 8/10, just because I'm happy that I still have Top Gear to watch. It's not going to be here forever, so I try to make the best of it while it's here.
If I was rating by comparing it to other specials I'd have to give it a 6/10 though.
 
What, you mean like a Clarkson meets the neighbours sort of thing? Or more focused on the car .. ?

Focused on the car, each respective presenter's journey, the locals, the scenery, the roads/terrain... everything that a good TG road trip special should focus on, IMO. If anything funny happens it would do so naturally, not because it was planned in advance.
 
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