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

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

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If TopGear was to cameo in Cars 3, they would appear as those three exact cars...

This wasn't their greatest work and to the diehard fans you could spot the jokes coming from quiet a distance. But it still make me laugh none the less.

Honestly this special come across as a bit of a mash-up of previous specials/Top Gear pieces, it just lacked a sense of uniqueness for this special to be remembered. It's about the journey, and honestly I think we need to see 1 or all of the presenters suffer a little bit to keep it real... In all their specials there's a sense of hardship which gives you that emotive bond that was lacking in this one.

It's either about the journey to make the destination, willing the cars on to the finish, but in this special I was cringing at them destroying their cars at the end, it was all a bit rushed and you got the impression they'd all rather not have been there in the first place.

But if I can offer any feedback its that they really do need to trust the process more. It's 3 guys cocking about in cars, it's not a sitcom.
 
shellygrrl said:
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:
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I'm going to quote this so it shows up again. I would watch all 3 of those. That is a completely brilliant idea... let each of the presenters work into their individual strengths, and just flow naturally. I mean I remember awhile ago it had 'James May drives to work in his old Porsche' - and I found that to be completely entertaining... just... as it was. I would watch something like that again!
 
I can definitely see both sides of the proverbial coin here...it was entertaining for some, disappointing for others and most seem to agree that it wasn't up to the standards of previous epic trips.


If they're going to continue to focus on scripted programming so much, maybe they should start making The Interceptors... ;)
 
xECKSx58 said:
It's not going to be here forever, so I try to make the best of it while it's here.
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Exactly. It won't be here forever, perhaps even just a couple more years. Wouldn't it be great, however, if it went out on a bang: give us one of the best series' we've ever seen, and leave us longing for more.
 
Definitely below average, gets a 4/5 from me.

Wasn't all bad though, but I found myself getting bored and letting my mind wander. Eventually I was just hoping it would end soon so I could go find something to fap to. Not a good sign.
 
Predictable, unoriginal, boring. By far the worst special they've ever made. Everything would have been so much funnier if they didn't pretend it wasn't planned. When the banners ripped on the train I let out the biggest *sigh*. Did they really think anyone was stupid enough to believe that wasn't planned?

And since when did they try to make it seem like they weren't smashing each others cars on purpose? Or muck up everything they touch? When Hammod took that super sharp corner at-speed and half the stuff fell off the roof right in front of the camera, we all know that was planned. So why was he acting like he was so concerned back at the station?

This show is falling apart. I'm finding Fifth Gear more entertaining than this.
 
BobAndy said:
I'm going to quote this so it shows up again. I would watch all 3 of those. That is a completely brilliant idea... let each of the presenters work into their individual strengths, and just flow naturally. I mean I remember awhile ago it had 'James May drives to work in his old Porsche' - and I found that to be completely entertaining... just... as it was. I would watch something like that again!
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I still loved that they did that. Too bad the TG website never released the director's cut of it, like they were going to. (However, I did manage to combine all the parts together a while back; I'll upload that in Video Offers in a little bit. :))
 
Obviously not the best TG special, but it was just some ridiculous fun and shouldn't be taken seriously, especially because of what it said at the end of the credits:

http://img560.imageshack.**/img560/3783/capturevm.jpg

:p

7/10
 
xECKSx58 said:
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.
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We know. But his character and acting are now verging on infantile and intolerable. Nobody can be this stupid!
 
I found it thoroughly entertaining, and despite the scriptedness of it (which I really don't care about in the pure entertainment episodes) - the cricket scene was very nice indeed. Excellent post-crimble food coma recovery tv!
 
With all the negative feedback here, it's baffling as to what people find interesting and entertaining when Top Gear isn't on.

If you dislike this, what the hell are you watching that's better?

:)

(Edit: Thanks to the Dr Who Extremist for the Neg Rep and general rudeness. I was actually referring to car shows with my comment. Next time cut the little pills in half)
 
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It wasn't that interesting or entertaining to a lot of people (including me) because they just rehashed the same gags they always do except this time they were in India. I think if I hadn't watched every episode and special of Top Gear over the last few years, then I might have been more entertained. I thought overall it was OK, but you'd think they could have found more interesting things to do in India. I mean, they probably spent a ton of money taking that entire crew to India. It was a wasted opportunity.

I'm just pissed because they ruined the Jag and the Mini for no reason. :(
 
It was as bad as people are making it out to be.
 
I'm going to give this a 6/10, D+ for effort.

Overall, I didn't find it to be that bad. I even found that some of the jokes really worked.

I think something that a lot of people are failing to mention, but something that I've been mentioning since the recession started (technically, everyone is supposed to be out of it, but the guy on the street doesn't agree), is that when you destroy these perfectly good things, you're not seeing the full picture. Here in the US, we have had a massive increase in homeless people. While I understand that things aren't necessarily as bad in the UK in regard to homelessness, there are still a lot of people who are doing with a lot less, and here are the Top Gear 3, dancing around on television destroying perfectly nice, working things. Most people won't admit this, but most people don't want to admit to anyone, even themselves, that they're poor. So, more than anything, and now more than ever, I think there are a large number of people who've had to tighten their belts and who are no longer pleased with the destruction of items that they cannot afford. Again, for the reasoning I just stated, I doubt anyone will admit that.

The formula has become a bit tired, yes. Too much was transparent to the core audience, though people tuning in for the first time would probably find it to be enjoyable. I'm going to go way out on a limb here, but I think that Richard Porter may be part of the problem. I'm not certain of this, but if he's doing a lot of the script editing, then he should be incredibly concerned about losing his job right now.

Too many Final Gearians felt alienated because of the lack of car content. There was a brief spot of sunshine through the clouds of entertainment during the hill climb, but that was short lived. Just seeing cars is not enough, your core audience wants to see them being driven, doing powerslides and being used for basic hooliganism for at least 9 or 10 minutes a show.

This episode was very similar to the very successful Vietnam episode in a lot of ways. It seems that Top Gear the car show has developed some car industry type of problems when it comes to developing new stuff. Car companies don't want to get too far away from the core product that caused their rise to success, but they need to make products that sell even though the needs and desires of their customers may be far from the product that made them successful in the first place. The most successful bank on tradition a little, don't alienate their devoted customers (audience) and create interesting and desirable products that are as much for the moment as possible (which is very hard to do, without question).

From my viewpoint, the fix would be to bring in some new people to come up with comedy ideas and do script. At this point, it's obvious that the well is beginning to run dry in that department. Apart from that, limiting the destruction of vehicles to things that are less desirable and generally hated by all would probably be an improvement for now, at least until the economy improves (which it doesn't look to be doing in your neck of the woods anytime soon). Finally, as much as possible, avoid using old material. Some running gags are alright, some may even be able to be used indefinitely, but the majority of jokes cannot be used indefinitely, and when the majority of the return audience starts groaning, it's definitely time to stop.

Top Gear, for many, is escapism. Many viewers want to be able to live the fake life of the presenter vicariously, through their television screen. That's probably true for many television shows...
 
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Quite surprised how disappointing this was. I think somebody put it best in this thread: a beautifully shot bore. The Top Gear team has immense talent, that is still fact. The Top Gear american special was a genuine journey with the gents, a true experience to be had. The Indian special is so far from what the top gear special once was.

Don't worry though Top Gear, I still love you and i'll never miss an episode. Definitely expecting better next time around though. Throw the script out the window and have another genuine adventure.
 
Icedvovo said:
With all the negative feedback here, it's baffling as to what people find interesting and entertaining when Top Gear isn't on.

If you dislike this, what the hell are you watching that's better?

:)
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I think you should re-read the comments. People are disappointed with this episode, but nobody is saying they would rather be watching anything else. In fact, I am impressed with FG's feedback as it is mostly constructive criticism. It is very clear that many Top Gear fans are tired of the scripts and gags, yet still appreciate the brilliant cinematography.
 
Polish said:
I think you should re-read the comments. People are disappointed with this episode, but nobody is saying they would rather be watching anything else.
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I hear what you're saying and I've read every page of the comments.

So what you're suggesting is that if we compare this to normal programs we'd have a 9/10 average. But comparing it to previous TG specials and standards we're hovering around a 6.5/10.

Given that logic we've all been very spoiled in the past.
 
It occurred to me what might have made this as good as Vietnam. Instead of just spending the money on UK manufactured cars what if they had taken the opposite and bought only native Indian vehicles. Think about Vietnam when they got the shoe box of money and found out it was worth about $20. Think about it this way Indian Superrcars for under !0,000 rhupees. That is about $190. I know there are a few guys on the forum from there and they would have a much better idea of just what would be available for such an enormous sum. How hard could it be?

Oh well could have been worse.
 
Wragie said:
It occurred to me what might have made this as good as Vietnam. Instead of just spending the money on UK manufactured cars what if they had taken the opposite and bought only native Indian vehicles.
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The BBC actually did that in 2011 with India on Four Wheels. They took a new Indian-made 4WD and an old Ambassador and 'raced' North to South.

I'm guessing TG needed the whole 'British Made' angle to be different.
 
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