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

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


  • Total voters
    356
God I had the stupidest fucking grin watching that WRX thrash through the mud. Makes me happy :)
 
Wasn't bad by any means, but I'm not feeling this 10/10 best of all the time love.

Just seemed a bit plain; I felt the same after the supercars in America from earlier this series. Had all the right ingredients but somehow just didn't add up for me. Some genuinely funny moments though, and the resistance of a scripted fire has already been well noted and received.

7/10, see how we go next week :)
 
I thought it was pretty awesome. It didn't feel forced and it looked like they were just having a good time (mostly). Also, they played my favourite song! (Radioactive - Imagine Dragons). Looking forward to seeing the second part.

9/10.
 
been a while since Ive seriously enjoyed a TG episode. Loved it, cant wait for pt2.
 
8 and a half.....shouldve gave it a rounded 9 though :p

the amazon one, and maybe the polar one get a rounded 10 :)
 
This didn't feel good at all. Like the rest of the season, the Top Gear "magic" from earlier seasons is lost (Botswana, Bolivia, the race to the North Pole). The reason for that is Top Gear is not a show about cars anymore, it's an entertainment show with childish jokes repeated over and over. The cars are just the side dish. Obviously that is what they have to do to get more viewers in total. Since a few episodes I enjoy TG USA more, because it feels more authentic. Still 7/10 as the scenery hopefully looks good in HD.
 
Exceptionally good, highly entertaining.. looking forward to next week!

Gave it 10/10.. obviously it isn't perfect but I guess I felt like being generous.
 
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A solid 9 from me, with the 10 being reserved for possibly next week.

I really liked the pace of this episode, they took their time and didn't rush trough the film.
And the scene with the cooker on while they were looking at the map was pure evil. They deliberately placed a mic next to it just to tease us :lol:


?: And they really are in incredibly poor shape (except Richard). Jeremy's smoker laugh is getting worse with every season.
 
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James and Jeremy look in really shitty shape, noticeably worse than season 18 even

Seriously, I couldn't stop looking at Jeremy's huge pot belly.. he's clearly in poor shape but I wasn't sure if it was worse than usual.. definitely caught my attention though.
 
I thought "oh god, the car's going to go up in flames in the background and Jeremy will say something like 'What's that?'"

Same here.. when the camera zoomed in on the pot, I literally went "oh no.. please don't go there". And then ... they didn't.

Pretty solid effort, IMO. It's not quite up there with their best road trips (Botswana, Vietnam, Bolivia) but not nearly as bad as India.

Pros: Beautiful landscape shots, refreshing lack of TG-standards (no A-Team-music, no "forced" mishaps like fires/explosions), some genuinely funny moments, car-modifications that kinda make sense, opening montage set to beautiful Rambo 4 music.

Cons: Just one thing really ... JM's and JC's obviously stupid choice of cars - given the lack of restrictions placed on them. Especially James "as you'd expect.. I've done this properly" May buying a sporty model for an African roadtrip and not, say, a Subaru Forester or an Audi 100/A6 quattro?

And so far, the Ford Scorpio (good choice, BTW) seems to be thrown in as an afterthought. They might as well have done without it.


Still: Pretty entertaining. I for one am curious to see the conclusion next week.

7/10


S.
 
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I voted 8, but I didn't want the episode to end after an hour. I enjoyed it completely, with a few exceptions which is why I didn't give it a 10.

Firstly, like some of you, I think James and Jeremy's car choices were awful. As soon as someone says "Africa" I think the car choice needs to be something that rides a littler higher that those things. That said, I think Richard's choice is a bit of a cheat. I do wonder how that car will manage as the show goes on though.

The chair bit annoyed me. I don't see any reason for this gifts thing UNLESS, there was a decision that Hammond's car was so much better that they needed to slow him a bit. But it didn't seem to work really.

The car modification I can really do without. I get the need for beds, but all the woodwork just pisses me off. I can see the comedy value, but I really think it's just stupid waste of time and adds weight to the cars. You wouldn't do it if you were trying to get across Africa, so why do they? In fact, it seemed well managed, and there wasn't much to worry me about it. If they were going to mod the cars, I think they should have just switched tyres out and tweaked the suspension instead.

The beans thing on the hob, that was a little joke for everyone who complains about stupidity. I promise you, that's the production team playing with us :)

On the whole, the challenge is a nice idea, Africa is without peer in its beauty, and I usually learn as much from Jeremy on these shows as I would in a proper show about Africa. Can't wait for part 2, and overall I think this is going to rank along with Bolivia for me. I DESPISED Vietnam, for what it's worth.
 
I voted 8, but I didn't want the episode to end after an hour. I enjoyed it completely, with a few exceptions which is why I didn't give it a 10.

That said, I think Richard's choice is a bit of a cheat.

How so? A Subaru eastate would've been my first choice.

The chair bit annoyed me.

Yeah.. that seemed a bit pointless. Although the car does look kinda funny with that awful chair on its roof.

The car modification I can really do without. I get the need for beds, but all the woodwork just pisses me off. *snip* You wouldn't do it if you were trying to get across Africa, so why do they? *snip* If they were going to mod the cars, I think they should have just switched tyres out and tweaked the suspension instead.

Very true. Especially the bit about modding the suspension. Throw in an air-mattress and a good sleeping bag and spend the rest of your modding resources on minimizing your chances of getting stuck on those muddy trails. But then again: Getting stuck/running into trouble due to inadequate cars is what these specials are about, I guess.


The beans thing on the hob, that was a little joke for everyone who complains about stupidity. I promise you, that's the production team playing with us :)

My thoughts exactly.


S.
 
How so? A Subaru eastate would've been my first choice.

Yeah, but I think it's weird that Richard chose such a god car, and Jeremy and James chose such pups. I had a quick look on Autotrader though, and my first choice of car would probably be a Audi Allroad, although the Subaru is a brilliant choice. The problem is, you can't get an allroad for that money, and I'm VERY surprised you can get a Subaru. My second choice would have been a Merc I think, millions of taxi drivers can't be wrong...

But the Volvo and BMW are both such mind-numbing stupid choices, I'm amazed. Everyone knows that in an Africa special you're going to need some offroad chops. So why have they gone with cars that have low-profile tires and less ground clearance than a dachshund.
 
I was really shocked when they went up the stairs of the former training house of the Mossad or what it was...
:lol: That wasn't a training house, it was the old terminal building of the Entebbe International Airport where a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission called Operation Entebbe took place by commandos of the Israeli Defense Force in 1976...
The Mossad (israeli intelligence service) was "just" the force which supplied them with intelligence.
 
I also enjoyed the WRX going through the mud, helping poor 2wd drivers. Its just fun watching a (relatively) powerful 4wd roadcar off road. Other than that, nothing special IMO. And I also couldnt get my eyes off of Jeremys gut, its almost beyond comical the way its protruding out, bordering on being satirical. FFS man, start looking after your health a bit.
 
Yeah.. that seemed a bit pointless. Although the car does look kinda funny with that awful chair on its roof.
You could see him use it several times as well, i thought it was brilliant.
 
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