[21x01] February 2nd, 2014

[21x01] February 2nd, 2014


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I knew that TG standard had dropped in the last few seasons so I wasn't expecting much but this was a new low. I fail to understand the target audience? Its clearly not the gearheads, nor is it the adults which leaves us with juveniles (as the humor suggests) but then why have pudgy old men present the show? I'll still watch the rest of the series but I'm not anticipating much.
 
After downloading it a week ago (well, Sunday evening) I finally got around to watching ALL of it. Whoah... Probably one of the best episodes ever!


...just kidding. It sucked. :cool:
 
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Granted, all the specials have been brilliant, but I just loved the feeling of escapism from the Nile one. Like Richard Hammond, I'm a bit of a wild camping nut, and it was when they turned their cars into their sleeping quarters that I knew the episode was going to be brilliant.
That was a pretty good part. I really liked Clarkson's.

It was a good special, but for me it slightly dragged on a little bit. In my opinion, the premise was kind of lacking. Granted, the premise isn't all that important (mostly involving just going a very long way) but I found the whole Nile source thing a bit of a distraction. I think the best specials have been those that just set a "simple" goal of driving across a particular nation/area with some challenges, both "scripted" and otherwise, in between.
 
Not a good episode. It started decently, and I was willing to put up with the obvious "silly" approach so I even accepted Hammonds "crash" back downhill as a comedy nod to the image of Nova drivers. But when they abandoned actually trying to race through the supermarket (which would have been cool), it went downhill. The police chase segment was simply unbearable - the best things about that were the silly explosions with them sitting in the wrecks cartoon-style.
The only really good thing about that whole 80s hatches thing was the soundtrack. As D-Fence said several pages before, it would have been nice to have them do a comparison old vs. new - to show how far this car segment has come in 30 years.

Also, Jeremy Clarkson: With a belly like that, closing only the topmost button of the jacket is a bad idea.
 
At one point I started to think there re back with cheap car challenge announcement but I was brought back to reality with hammond 'crash' and the worst part about it there was no point in or message at all. Then closely followed by clarkson stupid joke about time... And the rest of the episode was even worse.
I lost my hopes long time ago that TG will ever be good as it once was..
 
I won't say I thought this was a bad episode, but I think that when the SIARPC segment is more interesting than the rest of the program, there is a problem. In fact, it is the only thing preventing me from saying that the episode is on par with the India Special needs episode.

The news part was good, was current and a decent combination between joking around and serious bordering on heartwarming regarding Michael Schumacher's accident.

My main complaint with the used car challenge is not that it was silly/staged with obviously planned stupidity. It is with the fact that they actually didn't prove what they said they were going to prove. To prove something they needed to have a modern car(s) to compare theirs against, as far as I saw, they didn't. It was just the guys buying 3 used cars that were on their last legs (no budget mentioned either), then destroying them. This was truly sloppy work and the whole team should be ashamed.

There were moments in the show that made me laugh, it wasn't all bad, but there is room for some badly needed improvements. The guys don't need to act like jackasses to be funny.
 
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There's never a bad Top Gear episode. But they can be great and memorable or they can be average and easily forgettable. This one is definitely at the average and forgettable end of the spectrum.
 
I agree with the "fake" bomb. Wasn't too impressed, seems like they were milking the episode... I really hope this show isn't going downhill...
 
It wasn't that interesting but the "don't try this at home" bit was awesome and lifted the episode overall.
You could really see the presenters enjoying themselves which is how i like Top Gear and not so much the scripted stuff.
 
I honestly thought this was one of the least interesting episodes in years. They milked the cheap cars far too long and the "police" chase was a snoozer. Thank goodness they more than returned to form with 21X2.
 
This was a strange episode. Some parts of it had the predictable modern Top Gear hopelessly obvious "accidents" and horrendous acting (particularly by Hammond who is consistently a lousy on screen presence these days). But other parts really had Clarkson come into his own and demonstrate his genuine deep-seated love for cars and having fun with them, which is theoretically the whole premise of the show. If they had cut out the stupid wrapping thing and the incredibly stupid army police chase and ended with messing around on the airfield, it would have been a nice little film. As it was it stretched out for far too long and relied on increasingly implausible and silly gimmicks.

- - - Updated - - -

I knew that TG standard had dropped in the last few seasons so I wasn't expecting much but this was a new low. I fail to understand the target audience? Its clearly not the gearheads, nor is it the adults which leaves us with juveniles (as the humor suggests) but then why have pudgy old men present the show? I'll still watch the rest of the series but I'm not anticipating much.

Totally agree with this.
 
I was really enjoying the episode when the hill climb race began. It was really 'like' worthy, especially with The Stig's comedy clothing and the Skrillex track that played when he drove the SEAT. But then the destruction in the shopping mall really put me off. I mean common, they destroyed at least a couple of hundreds, if not thousands, worth of stuff all for the sake of a laugh. And in the end all they got were battered cars. Then the 'trip down memory lane' was nice. Whatever they did was quiet funny and enjoyable but then came the last part. Why on earth did they destroy those cars? They were so great. The Golf was especially nice with those aftermarket wheels on it. They could have bumped, trashed and bashed them but why did they blow them up? There was nothing wrong with those. I mean, I would be very happy if I could end up with that Golf, but nevermind. Whats done is done. The score: 7/10.
 
I've rewatched this a few times now and I'm warming up to it. Well, up till the police chase part...still not so fond of that bit. One moment that really made me laugh, though, was when they were talking about how the producers weren't impressed with them doing those 'imitatable' actions. The way James delivers the bit about no viewer ever going into the barbers and saying "Can I have hair like James May, please?" just cracks me up.
 
I was disconcerted by James's new red trousers. :lol:
 
Perhaps someone has already pointed this out, but it's probably the silly, family-friendly episodes like this one that pay the bills for the petrol-head episodes that the car snobs love so much.

Top Gear attempts (and commendably so) to appeal to a large audience, and they sure aren't going to please all you car bores as well as the masses every time.
 
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Perhaps someone has already pointed this out, but it's probably the silly, family-friendly episodes like this one that pay the bills for the petrol-head episodes that the car snobs love so much.

Top Gear attempts (and commendably so) to appeal to a large audience, and they sure aren't going to please all you car bores as well as the masses every time.

But it's not family friendly anymore! They make endless incredibly crude and stupid penis jokes.
 
Perhaps someone has already pointed this out, but it's probably the silly, family-friendly episodes like this one that pay the bills for the petrol-head episodes that the car snobs love so much.

Top Gear attempts (and commendably so) to appeal to a large audience, and they sure aren't going to please all you car bores as well as the masses every time.

That's the sort of defeatist attitude that bothers me most about the show lately. Why does it have to be one or the other? Why does it have to be either brainlessly stupid and silly, OR mind numbingly boring and factual? We already know it doesn't, since TopGear's claim to fame was taking a subject many find boring (cars) and making it hilarious and entertaining. They don't have to choose one or the other, they can do both, if they're willing to put in the effort. Sadly they'd rather take the easy route and just do one or the other. Andy and Jezza even say so themselves in those episode preview videos. Of course, even the "car bore snob" episodes are great fun to watch, so what's the problem? Does the show really need to destroy something or set something on fire to be "family friendly, mass audience" approved?

Ultimately though, no one is complaining about what they're doing, but rather, how they're doing it. It's the fake bullshit that annoys people most. It's like the boys and producers are scared to death of actually doing anything for real and risk not having shit loads of calamities and chaos to keep the jelly brains entertained, so they fake it. But we don't want fake. We get more than enough fake watching "reality" TV, and I'd rather not classify TopGear with Honey Boo Boo, Keeping up with the Kardashians, and Duck Dynasty. TopGear is better than that. If I wanted fake calamities and staged accidents, I'd watch The Three Stooges, they're better at it.
 
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It's always been staged. The only episode I can think of that wasn't truly staged would be the polar special.

The show is and always has been scripted and staged.
 
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