[19x06] March 3rd, 2013 [Africa Special, Part 1]

[19x06] March 3rd, 2013 [Africa Special, Part 1]

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Lovely. Had to give it a 10/10 and can hardly wait for part deux. What a absolute bargain that WRX was for less than 1,500 GBP! But with all the foreboding of the Subaru's demise in a ball of propane fuelled ball of fire, I have no doubt its end will, unfortunately, be spectacular.
 
I don't think I'll ever give an episode a 10/10 because then it'll be perfect.
And what's next after perfection is accomplished?
So, for me it's a high 8/10.
Can't wait for next week.
 
I have come to the conclusion that anytime Top Gear goes south of the Equator for a special, its gonna be awesome!
 
johnatucker said:
Toto - Africa ?
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*facepalms*

I just now got the joke that Richard had said when they were going across the Salt Pans about the "hundred men or more.." the last time they were in Africa!

:lol:

Crap, I'm tired and I'm headed to bed. :p
 
Had to give this one a 10. Was going to go with a 9, but I can't really think of anything I would have wanted done differently. I suppose the "modifications" were a bit over-the-top, but I can forgive that.

I also thought it was great that they twice set up the joke of having Hammond burn his car to the ground, but did not. Inside joke at all the hate mail they received for the obviously staged fires in the past, I take it.

And the part where Jeremy discovered the missing sheet metal on his passenger side door. I'm not sure if that was genuine or scripted, but it was convincing enough to make me laugh.

Fantastic episode, can't wait for next week's conclusion. This is coming close to being the most epic adventure they've done so far.
 
10. Hammond is by far the wisest in bring the Subaru, but I do think he has dyed his hair...

Looking forward to the next episode.


If anyone is interested, the Hexacopter they were flying around taking great shots with, and also appearing in the next episode piloted by Hammond is a DJI S800. It appears to have a retractable landing gear too, and most likely is carrying a Panasonic GH2 camera.
Google it, it's a nice bit of kit. I'm actually getting one very soon. :)
 
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I give it a 9 out of 10. This special is going to be epic...one others will be based on. I can't wait for next week! Hammond is by far the smartest for getting something awd. :)
 
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This episode for me, gets nothing less than a 10. Perfect episode. Way better than the India Special.

This is what Top Gear is all about! Can't wait for the next episode. I just hope that part is a 10 as well!
 
I liked it! Can't wait for next week! I thought it was really stupid adding living quarters to the cars though, but I guess that was the point. All they needed to do was get sleeping bags and lay the seats flat. I would rather just have stock cars and if they needed to do anything like James' improvised skid plate, that would've been ok. The BMW did surprisingly well off road.
 
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peta303 said:
Let's hope that second part is going to be as good as this one. Proper Top Gear. Not sure whether 9 or 10 so I gave 9 with 10 reserved for next week.

That's what makes Bolivia or Botswana different from other specials - you aren't dying laughing but you are constantly smiling and enjoying it. The other difference is the setting: unlike America and Vietnam specials (which I also like), Botswana and Bolivia specials are set further from civilization and that has its benefits. However, what also made Botswana and Bolivia was the music and they never reached that level ever since.

Now to the hate of Middle East and India specials: Middle East would be OK if it was shorter and editing would help India as well (although it would be so short that it'd be just a part of an ordinary episode with news and SIARPC).
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Personally, I feel like it didn't quite capture a lot of what I enjoyed about the first Botswana special. There stuck to roads a lot. You could just as easily see a BMW stuck like that on a farm in Britain.

I feel like the technical discussion about the cars and the issues they ended up running into were a lot rawer in Botswana. I did immediately think of HighVoltage with the Volvo. I didn't feel anything for the cars in this episode (Honestly, I was really rooting for all the cars to make it through Botswana, even the Beetle!) Kansas City just got hit by a couple bigs snows, and you could have gotten the same shots of stuck RWD wagons here without having to fly to Africa. Maybe the cars they picked were in too good of shape? Maybe its just that its just getting hard to find anywhere on the planet without some form of road. I imagine most places are "passable with a decent enough support crew" and everywhere else you have foreign investors and super powers building nice new tarmac in order to exploit the resources. Obviously you're going to have to take a well built road if you want to go any significant distance and get shooting done in a reasonable amount of time. Anyways, based on the preview it looks like there's more car related bits next week fortunately.

I was amused by the hydrology of defining the source of the Nile to be the easternmost point flowing to the Mediterranean. I mean, I do hydrology as per of my job and its wrong IMO, but I did at least find it amusing :D
 
That was awesome, I can watch this again over the years and properly enjoy it. 9/10

Big respect for the scooby. Truth be told my front spoiler would get stuck in no time...
 
This episode has the top 3 things for me about Top Gear. Estates/wagons, Impreza, cheap car challenge.

I cannot stress how awesome their retrofits are, it just goes to show the utility of a wagon/hatch. I hope the US auto market will wake up soon to this drastically overlooked segment.

As an Impreza owner I'm only hoping for the best after Richard's incident in the next ep.
 
1h passed, and it felt like 10min. I cannot sum it up more, excellent episode!
 
johnatucker said:
Rivals Bolivia and Vietnam for me.
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This. So far one of the best. Props to them for what at first looked like a badly written joke with Hammond and the potential fire in his kitchen, but wasn't.
 
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I gotta know what you guys think...

Do they really spend 1500 quid on these cars?

That's $2255.85, and there's no WAY you can find that WRX for that in the States.
 
Unfortunately...I fear for the last half of the episode in regards to the fire. :(

However, if they finish as well as they start, and don't go that route, I can gladly give the two-parter a strong 9.5/10.
 
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