[20x01] June 30th, 2013

[20x01] June 30th, 2013


  • Total voters
    333
The outdoor party for the new SIARPC Vauxhall. Again, too much stilted "comedy" (the crap with the little person, and the interactions with Joss and Hammond), and just not a lot of interesting bit.

The "little person" has a name - Warwick Davis
I did like Warwick doing a short joke about Richard :D
 
6/10. A decent episode.?
Jeremy's scripted ?crashes? in the New Zealand race where annoying and completely unnecessary. They ruined what would otherwise have been quite a good film.

I didn't care about the new reasonably priced car party segment, but it was cool to see Brian Johnson back.

I was hoping they would take their time and do some properly awesome films. The last few seasons have felt a bit too rushed.
 
I wouldn't say anything is scripted,


Right.. that's why we got close-up, external shots of both of JC's "unscripted" accidents.


I guess I'm with most of you on this one. Nothing special, but not terrible either.

SIARPC-rehash was a disappointment. How often does TG introduce a new RPC? Can't be *that* hard to not repeat the same skit they did three years ago. They even re-did specific parts of the skit like the rubbish catering or a presenter having a crush on a female guest. Also: How about a little more info on the car and some of the reasons they chose it? 17,000 GBP is hardly what I'd call "reasonably priced" when you can get tons of comparable cars for a lot less.

Hot hatch test seemed a bit rushed, long on visuals but short on actual content/information. The only thing I really got out of it is that DSG isn't the way to go in a hot-hatch (already knew that) and that the Ford is the cheapest, most "honest" of the three. Practically nothing was said about the Peugeot - which, considering Peugeot's long absence from the hot-hatch-niche, should have been the focal point of the review IMO.

Race was ok, even though I thought it was drawn out too long (as usual). One part would've been enough. Also: What was the point of doing the race and of the location? Even the presenters seemed to be a bit embarrassed by the "wind power vs internal combustion"-premise. And yes: Most of the stuff in races is probably scripted anyway, but JC's accidents were done so poorly and obviously that they might as well have played a laugh-track when they happened. Compare this to the scene on death-road in the Bolivia-special. That was probably staged as well, but it was done so much better and felt a lot more "natural" (if that makes sense).

Overall: 7/10 (just barely). Still not too bad of a start for a new series.


S.
 
Gave it a 9, but I'm a biased voter being a kiwi :p

Some of you guys though, you're entitled to your opinion and all, but I think you lot are being slightly too critical. Yes the crashes were scripted, so what.... Yes it was a crappy little Toyota, so what... Oh they didn't show enough scenery... Um... were... you... watching? I think you'll find they covered most of what you can see up in that region of NZ. You want Glacier's, waterfalls and more sheep to look at, you're on the wrong island.

Me myself I don't care that the crashes were scripted, I'm just glad the boys are back on telly, and its cool that they finally came down here to film a segment. Although South Island next time lads :shakefist::p

I know they peruse these forums so if the read this post, I'd like to tell them, thank you and to keep it up guys. :)
 
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poor episode in my opinion, not because its bad. but because it falls in comparison to the high standards these 3 clowns have set in the past. also being an Aussie... don't see the big deal about the NZ segment :)
 
Season intro showed a normal 991, I hope we get to see the GT3 aswell.

Hot hatch part absolutely over-edited. Seems like their trainees now do that part.
But - "Changing gear is a vital form of self-expression that I'm being denied." He just nailed it right there. Goes into my collection of favorite quotes...
 
I thought this episode was fine. The serious review to start with was a surprising dose of seriousness and something that's been missing from the show for some time. The "news" wasn't great but there have been much worse examples of puerile blather in recent years. The SIARPC BBQ was OK, but the one for the Lacetti was much better. The race had some nice shots but I didn't really understand the route--the scenery in the second half looked basically the same as in the first half, and they showed Auckland for all of five seconds. Also Jeremy looked tired for a lot of it.

EDIT: Jeremy said on Twitter: "Thankyou for all the kind comments about last night's show. It wasn't our strongest but we do have some gems later in the series."
 
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'Jimmy Crash' don't know if you spotted that one ^^
Was quite spectacular.

This one screams a 7... It's a shame though :(
Although, if there's something that still isn't thawing, it's the cinematography.
Thank god some incredible air shots with great music are thrown in after some cringing. Makes it all go away.
And yeah, some funny moments.

Funnily enough, the montage made it look rather unpromising, which is surprising since they keep on claiming it's the most outrageous series yet.

[...] properly awesome films.

Yeah, I do miss those quite a lot.

PPS (Pedant PS) : 90 km beach. (~55miles)
 
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8/10
I'm surprised to see so many 7s though, I thought it was better than that. Hot hatch was nicely done. Race was solid and I think the idea of "it's a rental so I don't give a shit" makes up for the 2nd "scripted" wreck (I wasn't expecting the first one so it gets a pass). They also get a +1 for mentioning PJ O'Rorke.

SIARPC was the low point. This the is the third time (I think) that they've done the picnic. There's got to be another way of introduce a new car.

I'd like to see an expanded News segment in 1st episodes. They've been away for a while and could use extra time to catch up on what's happened in the auto world since they've been gone.

Overall, a solid show.
 
I'm sure this has been the 2nd/3rd time they've done the 'Hot Hatch' feature and every time they use the same, crap bloody cars! - Where's the S3/RS3's (340hp stock), even the BMW 125d has more power than those! [/rant]
 
Fun episode.
Hot hatches are basically my favorite genre of car, so bonus points there.
Kiwi radio joke was silly, but had me spitting coffee. (not sure if non Southerners would appreciate it so much though)
Jimmy Carr's joke about little people having super powers was so wrong on so many levels. Therefore, hilarious.
I give it a 7/10 for a TG ep and 9/10 for general TV entertainment.
To those wanting serious in depth car reviews, Top Gear doesn't do that anymore and hasn't for quite some time. In today's youtube era, by the time they go to air, every motoring publication with a video camera has done them to death.
Top Gear is very much a car themed general entertainment show and I am extremely happy it continues to be on the air.
 
7/10 - a good episode, but not great. Every segment had some good moments (and some not-so-good ones) but I can see rewatching at least parts of it.

Funniest moments: Warwick Davis making the height joke at Richard, and Richard (seemingly) catching Jeremy off-guard with his response to Jeremy wanting to share his 'little secret'. (I don't care if it was 100% scripted or not, Jeremy's reaction was well done)
 
The Top Gear boys have gotten old. They look old, they sound old, and the show now feels old. I like the attempt at being youthful with a hot hatch comparo and trashing a rental car in a race, but it wasn't successful in my opinion, and it doesn't change the reality that Jeremy is totally grey, his face is chubbing up, James can only moan and complain about being on a racing boat, and Richard has more crows feet than my mother. Will I stop watching? No. But for youthful energy, I'll have to turn to TG USA.

EDIT: The new reasonably priced car already looks old. Why did they change it anyway? The old cars were used for 7 series, the Kia only made it 5, and it was the best of them all. And gathering up a bunch of stars to drive it is worn through.
 
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Boring, and not funny, and recycled, and...

TG can do better than this. This is not interesting in the least.

Still, James' suffering deserve something, as does the decent level hot-hatch thing, and some of the sketch in the SIARPC bit.

Still not enough though.

5/10
 
Okay:

Hot Hatches: Hammond's enthusiasm is just fine, bit of a shame that I won't see the cars here in Canada. (I'm not entirely sure about that ST, though.)

News: a bit boring due to standard ranting.

Toyota Corolla rental car vs. Sailboat: I don't mind that lack of continuity in editing (dirty grille vs no dirty grille etc) but I wonder if anyone's picked up that this is the first time in 20 years that Clarkson has driven a Toyota Corolla and *not* banged on about being bored.

New SIARPC: okay, look. They did the party with the Lacetti, they did it with the Cee'd. So you could call it a tradition, of sorts, and it makes sense: you break the car in with a bunch of B-listers. (And yes, I suppose Jimmy Carr took the "breaking in" bit literally.) I actually liked the Warwick Davis bit, with the improvising clutch pedal.

As for the RPC itself: well, the gang's been pretty open all along that the RPC isn't going to be a high-performance supercar. It mustn't be intimidating to the guests (some of whom are nervous about breaking a Lambo), it must be very quick and simple to repair (both by the manufacturer and by TG's Technology guru Steve) so that the time can be recorded, and it must be currently on sale in Britain. I suspect that last bit is what spelled the death knell for the Cee'd, as this year's upgrade is essentially a brand new model.
 
Not bad could have been worse.Giving it an 8/10 just because i enjoyed it.
 
I gave it a six. Just didn't wow me this episode, but then again lately, the first episode of every season has been lacking. Hopefully they raise there game and do better for the last five episodes or it might be time to change the format of the show just to give it some new life.
 
I want to make it plain I'm writing this without seeing what anyone else wrote.

It was, to quote noted philosopher Shaquille O'Neal, "horri-awful."

The hot hatch test should have been brilliant. Instead, it was 10 minutes of just Hammond saying "this car is good, this car is okay, this car is brilliant." Nothing was actually conveyed.

The news was utter shit. I can't stress this enough. Get rid of this segment. It's just awful stilted "jokes" with nothing left to prop it up.

The outdoor party for the new SIARPC Vauxhall. Again, too much stilted "comedy" (the crap with the little person, and the interactions with Joss and Hammond), and just not a lot of interesting bit.

Lastly, the "race." So, you go all the way to New Zealand, and you have some of the best cinematographers in the world, and you can't devote more time to showcasing how gorgeous it is?
This is Top fucking Gear. The car should at least be interesting. The "hire car" concept was novel, but the car itself was horrible. What's the point if it's not at least a car that people who watch car shows can get interested in?

Honestly, I love this show so much, like all here, and I want it to be great. I've been critical of some of their series (such as 14, 16, 19), but this has really been one of the worst (non-India special) episodes I can think of.

Couldn't have put it better myself!
 
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