[20x02] July 7th, 2013

[20x02] July 7th, 2013

  • Total voters
    249
5/10... :yawn: really boring in fact. they have a habit of showing the best/second best episode on the start of every series. it wasn't that great, i gave it a 7/10 but if that's what's best of this series i have nothing to look forward to. series 19 was way above average and now they have no option but to let us down a bit.
 
Crap show.

The trials thing at the BBC office was stupid and not even remotely car-related. Glass and wall punches seemed scripted, adding insult to injury.

Richard's piece with the race was amusing enough, though predictable (and he did even mention that they put the stretch limo in to "not" screw with it).

BAC Mono review was quite good.

F12 piece was average; I feel like they could have done a lot more with it, and it wasn't given that much airtime in lieu of the two other mediocre pieces.

SIARPC skipped as usual.
 
Not really sure what to do with this one...a 7 or an 8, perhaps.

The BAC (which reads as "blood alcohol content" to me) Mono review was solid - and did feel like an actual review, which was good.

And now, the news?and, for once, good hair on everybody (even Jezza - well, relatively). I eagerly await the apocalypse. Another "grandma's wallpaper" shirt on James, who is one of the few I've ever seen who doesn't look totally ridiculous in such a shirt. Oh, and the actual news was a nice balance information and entertainment, especially the Pirelli discussion. I liked the mental image of a fleet of rudderless, confused Volvos all giving up and going home. Wish last week's news had been more like this.

Another silly race with Richard? and I'm OK with this. Actually, I always enjoy these, and it's been a while since the airport vehicle race, so I enjoyed this one too. I do miss Tom Chilton's awesome hair from races past. No need to pretend that there's any scientific merit to these events, though - let's just watch 'em race each other round the track and smash each other up. Wouldn't mind a little more of the former, actually, and a little less of the latter. Stretch limo drift!...OK, maybe not that much...oh dear. (Yes, perhaps these aren't the most relevant or unscripted segments ever, but still better than TG Stuntman.)

Ron Howard! Always nice to see him. Well, perhaps if it had been a self-parking Volvo...

James and parkour...again. After the various James vs. not-a-car races we've had, is the outcome in any doubt? Oh, wait, he's not racing this time - just standing around watching others race. Too bad. The result was very fun to watch, though, if rather irrelevant to a show ostensibly about cars. I'm always impressed by the non-car racers in these pieces, as well.

I'll echo what others have said about the Ferrari review; interesting commentary about a beautiful car filmed lovingly and in great detail in a spectacular location. More like this, please.

All in all, a mix of solid segments (reviews and news) with some less-necessary ones (taxis and parkour vs. bike race), and a SIARPC with someone I have heard of and like. So far, so good.
 
Better than last week's. I'm sort of surprised Jeremy didn't mention Arrested Development during the Ron Howard interview. Perhaps he hasn't watched it? The news felt a little more substantial (or car-related) than usual. Solid Ferrari review, though the tennis bit was a one-joke bit spoiled by BBC America's previews.
I'm going to defend the free-runner/biker BBC race--it involves a motorcycle, which automatically makes it as relevant to Top Gear as the Vietnam special. And while James was reduced to just watching, it's not as if he'd have done a better job on foot or on the bike. Having runners and a bike jet through a vast empty office building was beautifully surreal, and the segment clearly featured the best cinematography of the entire episode. Though the race was obviously staged, the visuals and choreography (especially when the bike and runners were in the same shot) were superb enough to make it worthwhile.
 
9/10.

I laughed myself silly during the news (which is mostly why I come to this show in the first place);

I love parkour and Tim "Livewire" Shieff;

I'm exceedingly fond of Ron Howard's entire body of work;

I'm still amused by Hammond's "crucible of motorsport" even though it's predictable and silly;

The Mono is a very very cool piece of machinery;

Jeremy had some interesting things to say about the Ferrari, and damn that whole sequence was beautifully filmed.

A keeper.
 
I give it 7/10, leaning towards a 6. The parkour vs trials bike race really brought it down for me. Too many staged/added-in bits that drew me out of it. Episode would have been a solid 8 without it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top