[20x03] July 14th, 2013

[20x03] July 14th, 2013

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I gave the first episode a 6 (boring) and the second an 8 (I liked the reviews, news and trial bike riding). This one deserves a big fat 8 also. Without the news and the SRPC it would have been a fat 9 but the guest was really boring (I know, it's subjective) and the news was quite average. Still a lovely episode!

btw this supercar special was so much much much better then last year USA trip to Mexico ...
 
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I'll write my review later, but I was just watching the road trip and I noticed that in the part were they go around the Sierra Nevada, in some shots the windshields are blurred and in some of them the drivers don't appear to be any of the presenters... maybe I'm a bit out of date, but do they use stuntmen in Top Gear? :|
 
The_Doctor said:
I'll write my review later, but I was just watching the road trip and I noticed that in the part were they go around the Sierra Nevada, in some shots the windshields are blurred and in some of them the drivers don't appear to be any of the presenters... maybe I'm a bit out of date, but do they use stuntmen in Top Gear? :|
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Yes and no. They sometimes have to go back and refilm bits for one reason or another, and the presenters might not be available. So not stunt drivers in as much as the presenters can't drive the hairy bits (although, who knows with all the H&S crap now) but more for logistical reasons.
 
^ Well, that's a surprise, I really thought the presenters drove all the bits and pieces they show in the program (call me naive if you want).


About the episode, it's a huge improvement over last week's failure. A road trip in three great cars, nothing to say about it... Good old Top Gear. :) And nice to see a crash that (supposedly) wasn't staged... BUT:

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That's at the start of the street circuit race, after the crash, so why does it look already fixed? :|



I couldn't really appreciate the SIARPC because: a) I didn't know who he was; b) most of the time I didn't know what they were talking about. But no matter, the SIARPC is never really important to me.


All things considered, a solid 8, nice one. ;)
 
The_Doctor said:
That's at the start of the street circuit race, after the crash, so why does it look already fixed? :|
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Hmmm....

I'm just guessing but maybe they got the permit to close the streets early, and had to do the rest later? There are still people living there, despite the ghost town look, so the crash could've happened after the race :think:
 
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The_Doctor said:
That's at the start of the street circuit race, after the crash, so why does it look already fixed? :|
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ScreenShot2013-07-17at14227PM.png


If you look closely at that shot there is a suspicious box over the location of where the damage should be. In a later shot you can see small evidence of damage in the form of a faint black mark.
My theory is this, the production crew cleaned up the damage as best they can to look good for the street circuit filming, the first shot was digitally fixed as it is a long still shots but for everything else they decided that the on set fixes where sufficient.

ScreenShot2013-07-17at14335PM.png
 
This episode is just as scripted as the previous two:

There just *happens* to be crowds around to take pictures of the McLaren but not the Audi...
They just *happen* to stop in a ghost town for coffee...
They just *happen* to drive up a mountain road (to a ski hill, in June) that is closed part way up...
They just *happen* to spot an airport when they are about to give up looking for a straight bit of road to do a top speed run on...
The airport just *happens* to be closed yet the front door is unlocked...
The airport has been closed for a year but the computers just *happen* to be on...
The security gate onto the runway just *happens* to be unlocked...
They randomly pick an empty house and the door just *happens* to be unlocked...
They *agree* to let Jeremy do the cooking...
They would *rather* sleep in an empty house with no furniture than a hotel that the BBC would pay for...
They just *happen* to find another ghost town...
No one *notices* that they setup a race track on public roads...
They just *happen* to have a Jaguar convertible available for the Stig to drive...
They just *happen* to have crash helmets available...
They race just one lap of the track and they just *happen* to have 20 camera crews to film it all...

And then there are all the recycled jokes:

James has long hair...
"We have super cars, let's see how loud they are"...
A drag race with a funny start...
Jeremy is incompetent at doing something (cooking)...
They spend an uncomfortable night not sleeping in a hotel...
Hampster crashes his car...
They ship the Stig as cargo...

Add in the lack of any actual news in the News segment and the boring star in the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment and I gave the episode a *nine*. I don't care that it's scripted, I don't care that they recycle jokes, I don't care that there is no news in the News segment (if I want car news I use that interweb thingy). The show is entertaining as hell, it's funny and wonderfully filmed. They only reason this episode didn't score a ten is the star was boring, as most stars are.
 
DangerBunny said:
This episode is just as scripted as the previous two:

There just *happens* to be crowds around to take pictures of the McLaren but not the Audi...
They just *happen* to stop in a ghost town for coffee...
They just *happen* to drive up a mountain road (to a ski hill, in June) that is closed part way up...
They just *happen* to spot an airport when they are about to give up looking for a straight bit of road to do a top speed run on...
The airport just *happens* to be closed yet the front door is unlocked...
The airport has been closed for a year but the computers just *happen* to be on...
The security gate onto the runway just *happens* to be unlocked...
They randomly pick an empty house and the door just *happens* to be unlocked...
They *agree* to let Jeremy do the cooking...
They would *rather* sleep in an empty house with no furniture than a hotel that the BBC would pay for...
They just *happen* to find another ghost town...
No one *notices* that they setup a race track on public roads...
They just *happen* to have a Jaguar convertible available for the Stig to drive...
They just *happen* to have crash helmets available...
They race just one lap of the track and they just *happen* to have 20 camera crews to film it all...

And then there are all the recycled jokes:

James has long hair...
"We have super cars, let's see how loud they are"...
A drag race with a funny start...
Jeremy is incompetent at doing something (cooking)...
They spend an uncomfortable night not sleeping in a hotel...
Hampster crashes his car...
They ship the Stig as cargo...

Add in the lack of any actual news in the News segment and the boring star in the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment and I gave the episode a *nine*. I don't care that it's scripted, I don't care that they recycle jokes, I don't care that there is no news in the News segment (if I want car news I use that interweb thingy). The show is entertaining as hell, it's funny and wonderfully filmed. They only reason this episode didn't score a ten is the star was boring, as most stars are.
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Why do you post all this? Top Gear plans their trips. Therefore they have crash helmets, a Jaguar, some cameras and locations before they start fiming things. Would be quite bad if they didn't. And then you give it a nine. Your review makes no sense to me.
 
hajolaser said:
Why do you post all this? Top Gear plans their trips. Therefore they have crash helmets, a Jaguar, some cameras and locations before they start fiming things. Would be quite bad if they didn't. And then you give it a nine. Your review makes no sense to me.
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His review is like something Jeremy would write about a car.
I hate this and this and that...
But I love this car, it's amazing!!
:D
 
47 said:
His review is like something Jeremy would write about a car.
I hate this and this and that...
But I love this car, it's amazing!!
:D
Click to expand...

It's good to be original.
I just realized this episode is like Romania. Basically. If you think about it in car terms. But Romania was better. And at the time and all, this episode is great. Nonetheless, Romania.
 
The_Doctor said:
I'll write my review later, but I was just watching the road trip and I noticed that in the part were they go around the Sierra Nevada, in some shots the windshields are blurred and in some of them the drivers don't appear to be any of the presenters... maybe I'm a bit out of date, but do they use stuntmen in Top Gear? :|
Click to expand...

he-he said:
Yes and no. They sometimes have to go back and refilm bits for one reason or another, and the presenters might not be available. So not stunt drivers in as much as the presenters can't drive the hairy bits (although, who knows with all the H&S crap now) but more for logistical reasons.
Click to expand...
It's a matter of money as well as logistics: The presenters are much more expensive per day than a picture vehicle driver (who will make in the ballpark of ?150/day and stays in a way cheaper hotel) is. Thus, keeping the TG three around for a grueling week of filming beauty shots over and over again until the cameraman is satisfied makes no sense economically.
 
Gave it a 9. Brilliant episode. News was funny, SIARPC was entertaining and the rest of it was pretty epic. The last segment with the street circuit- wow, some of the filming there was stuff to be proud of! Also nice to see some of the country as well - I know people who bought property in Spain during the bubble and it's now sat empty and unsellable, it really is like that in places.

DangerBunny- of course it's scripted. Even when we say we like the unscripted humour better, it still will be (more or less). It's the BBC, they will have to get permission and carry out risk assessments for every single thing they do, many of the shots probably need to be filmed 2 or 3 times to get them "just so". Would you rather they just hopped in the cars in Gibraltar and drove a few hundred miles on a motorway without stopping anywhere interesting?
 
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