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[18x02] February 5th, 2012

[18x02] February 5th, 2012

  • Total voters
    391
Going for a nine again. Nascar was as brilliant as Italy, the Merc not quite as bad as Willdot but still a lot of re-hash[1], News mostly very funny plus some better background distractions, you gotta love LeBlanc being drunk all the time, and China was also brilliant, plus more diversity (although just one thing isn't bad per se in my book as long as it is worthwhile.)
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[1] (and since when is it a bad thing to be a show-off? In Clarkson's book, of all people? !? !? Come on. Lambo scissor doors are every bit as show-offy as gullwings. Not to mention the rest of the car, come to think of it, and that he's all right with. Hel-loh-ow! Consistency? But I digress.)
 
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aaurora said:
I watched it again last night and liked it a little more on second viewing. I know this is me being too emotional, but I was not pleased with Jeremy's reference to running over a cat. Nothing Jeremy says ever grates on me; I love him and his out-there comments and the fact that he doesn't censor himself, but that comment just left me thinking of James' cat, Fusker, who suffered the same fate :( I know it's scripted and all, of course, but...
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Don't forget that in the past he has threatened to bone someone's dog and kick a barn owl to death, not to mention cutting off his own leg and beating himself to death with it. Please don't join the massed ranks of Waily Failists who take everything he ever says literally.

In reality his family have quite a menagerie plus they rescue donkeys.
 
MWF said:
Don't forget that in the past he has threatened to bone someone's dog and kick a barn owl to death, not to mention cutting off his own leg and beating himself to death with it. Please don't join the massed ranks of Waily Failists who take everything he ever says literally.

In reality his family have quite a menagerie plus they rescue donkeys.
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I think that, at some point in time, Jeremy is liable to say something that will hit the wrong spot with a viewer - could be insulting where they live, or making a joke about an animal getting hurt, or whatever. I know I cringed at the cat joke too, because I've lost cats that way (and, yes, I thought of Fusker too).

I guess the key is not to over-react to it and remember that this IS Jeremy and he wouldn't be Jeremy if he wasn't saying stuff like this... ;)
 
I think that, at some point in time, Jeremy is liable to say something that will hit the wrong spot with a viewer
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^ Exactly. Considering my nationality, I shouldn't even be watching TG anymore if I took all those Clarkson insults seriously.. :D


And I'm sure the same can be said for almost any nationality/minority/etc.




S.
 
Red Falcon said:
I don't remember if it was with both Liana and Lacetti, but when the car goes in "retirement", Stig and the boys take it for a fast lap, no?
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I dont think that ever happened.

Jezza did do a lap time in the lacetti way back when, to start the SIARPC board going. I think Jason Dawe was riding shotgun.

I give this ep a 9, and love chinese stig.
 
Instant 10 just for Attack Stig and having Team America music during the China segment.
 
Fiorano said:
Jezza did do a lap time in the lacetti way back when, to start the SIARPC board going. I think Jason Dawe was riding shotgun.
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You mean with the Liana. And both Jason and Richard rode shotgun. Jez never did a lap in the Lacetti.

Anyhoo. Another fab episode. I like the silly ending with the Chinese versions of the boys.
 
Sascha77 said:
I grant them one recycled joke per episode, if the rest is funny/original/entertaining. :D
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Actually that would be two recycled jokes this episode.

The wheel shufflers and the Dodge Viper - "They must not be proud of the styling since this is the photo they sent of it..." was the same thing they said when Subaru sent them a really dark photo of the Impreza STi several episodes ago.


Doesn't bother me - given how long the show has been running I expect the same thing to be said/done on occasion.

I'm really liking series 18 so far.
 
This one was an eight- although I still wouldn't go to see NASCAR, I have a little more respect for it and it was great to see Richard having so much fun.

Team America music gets an automatic ten, but it was spoiled by one or two too many kicks from Attack Stig. He should have quit while he was ahead.

Ok, enough American guests. Aren't there any interesting Brits left to have on the show? And although I like the lapping part of SIARPC, I'm getting pretty fed up with the not so interesting conversations that seem to have a lot to do with what the guest is flogging at the moment. I never used to skip the segment, but I'm considering it now.

I enjoyed the China film, thought it was educational and scary at times and laughed out loud at the Chinese presenters at the end, nice touch.
 
i cried laughing during the news

10/10

perfect.
 
MWF said:
Don't forget that in the past he has threatened to bone someone's dog and kick a barn owl to death, not to mention cutting off his own leg and beating himself to death with it. Please don't join the massed ranks of Waily Failists who take everything he ever says literally.

In reality his family have quite a menagerie plus they rescue donkeys.
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Yes, I know about Jeremy's love of animals (I have to say James Bray was an awesome name for a donkey). I do apologise for my moment; I assure you I will not be joining the ranks of the Failists :)
 
It was a good episode, it felt much longer than it actually was. When Jeremy introduced the guest I was surprised to see we're only there. All in all however, I didn't find it brilliant. It certainly was better than the whole of the last season, but there were some minor bits that they could have done without. I liked the martial arts Stig idea for example, but him beating everyone around up got old pretty quickly. Still, series 18 is looking to be the best one of years. Nascar was good, SLS was good, guest was a little empty for me, and the China bit was very interesting as a topic, but executed much worse than the bit about communist cars.

I give this episode a 6/10 (bordering a 7/10), regarding how the last one was an 8/10 for me and that a 1/10 would be the worst of Top Gear, not of television as a whole. I find it a little sad that I have to explain this, but it seems that many people give every episode at least a 7/10 "because it's Top Gear" and thus render the 1-10 rating system moot.

P.S.: the SLS convertible is one sexy-looking car. Usually I don't like convertibles, but this one looks so much better than the coupe.
 
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sebberry said:
Actually that would be two recycled jokes this episode.

The wheel shufflers and the Dodge Viper - "They must not be proud of the styling since this is the photo they sent of it..." was the same thing they said when Subaru sent them a really dark photo of the Impreza STi several episodes ago.
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Just to be complete, they also did that one with the Porsche Cayenne ;)
 
Foreign cars are in fact much more expensive to buy in China, imported or not. An BMW 325i SE costs 28K in the UK, whereas in China a locally made one starts at 41K. Also M3 is nearly twice the price of UK at 100K. With such price tags I can't imagine their quality could be much worse.

Chinese motorists seem to care more about price, brand, looks, space inside and showmanship. Therefore Chinese-market-only foreign cars are usually long-wheel based versions of the originals(like the A6L in this episode), trimmed down of safety features and performance enhancements. Boring, really.
 
Everything Jeremy complains about in car reviews such as flappy-paddle gearboxes and electronic driver's aids were born out of Formula One. Meanwhile, everything he wishes these supercars had such as manual gearbox with a stick, rear-wheel drive, and no traction control or other driver aids, is exactly what exists in NASCAR. NASCAR is everything Jeremy wants in a car and yet he hates it. Well, he'll hate it until he's forced to actually get in one and go around for a half hour and then he'll love it.

My beverage did spew fourth from both nostrils when Jeremy said "In the plums!"

I enjoyed this episode. I think I liked the Italy trip a bit more, but this was the first proper Top Gear in a while. The SLS is as beautiful to look at as it is to listen to, however I completely disagree with Jeremy and would gladly take the coupe with the gull-wing doors. Jeremy goes on about how he wants Lambos to be fitted with big guns and other explosive devices. The SLS coupe fits explosives to its doors and he lists it as a fault of the car. Jezza is not a man who is what he says.

What is it with the Chinese naming their cars with a really big number? I bet the Germans are in love with that idea. Coming soon: the new BMW 34814-A8471-N.

I wonder if we'll see a flamboyant international Stig in each episode this series.
 
Liked the episode a lot. I even watched the whole guest segment (wich I tend to skip often because of idiots). Not so much a fan of Nascar or the SLS cabriolet myself ... but the segments were still very enjoyable and made a good point for both.
The chinese segment showed again, that James and Jeremy are quite a good duo when it comes to reviewing cars. They complement each other while in other combinations (aka both or one with Richard) things start to lose focus more quickly. While James and Jeremy often don?t seem to see eye to eye - they make and excellent "on screen duo" ...
 
Trollbooth said:
Everything Jeremy complains about in car reviews such as flappy-paddle gearboxes and electronic driver's aids were born out of Formula One. Meanwhile, everything he wishes these supercars had such as manual gearbox with a stick, rear-wheel drive, and no traction control or other driver aids, is exactly what exists in NASCAR.
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F1 is RWD without TC :dunno:
 
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