[22x00b] December 28th, 2014 [Patagonia Special, Part 2]

[22x00b] December 28th, 2014 [Patagonia Special, Part 2]


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The only redeeming parts were 1) Jeremy speaking about his father 2) the scenery and 3) the amazing photography, as usual.

Otherwise, this was a waste of time. It's painfully obvious the "take three inappropriate cars to the hinterlands" formula has been wrung out and is no longer not only funny, but no longer entertaining on any level. Give it a "3" for the three points above, otherwise, a weak "1".

I certainly hope they can do better than this in the next series...otherwise the show's done.
 
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Pretty solid. Like the previous season, the pace was much better than it had been for years; which makes rehashed yokes much more bearable. But inevitably it feels like I've seen it all before. Because I have.

I think they need more interaction with the locals. Create a mix of the local culture, the three blokes and cars. (Wheeler Dealers Trading Up springs to mind.)
 
The only redeeming parts were 1) Jeremy speaking about his father 2) the scenery and 3) the amazing photography, as usual.

Otherwise, this was a waste of time. It's painfully obvious the "take three inappropriate cars to the hinterlands" formula has been wrung out and is no longer not only funny, but no longer entertaining on any level. Give it a "3" for the three points above, otherwise, a weak "1".

I certainly hope they can do better than this in the next series...otherwise the show's done.

The only reason to continue with Top Gear is the greed of Wilman and Clarkson. Anyone who didn't realize that Clarkson's H982 FLK license would be mangled/painted/burnt/cut to read 1982 FLK by the end of the show, you haven't been paying attention as that gag has been dozens of times before. I predict a shark jumping contest in the very near future. At least the nationalistic mob in the near bankrupt third world country was able to spare the first world from the misery of yet another car soccer match.
 
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So, part 2 then what is to say about the second part of this special apart form I liked it as well. I don't agree with the sentiment that it should have been a 1 part special unless of course it was a 2 hour 1 part special as I'm beginning to like these 2 parters especially played on back to back days like this one was I think despite their plans being cut short by angry locals which created a more interesting ending then a car football match may have done they managed to capture quite a bit of good stuff.
It's a shame James May fell off the horse though, I quite liked the Horse bit in the last special and it would have been fun to have a longer horse segment especially in the scenery they were in, they ruined the cars with the or 2 of them with the traditional modifications but I've grown used to that by now and I enjoyed all the gags.
Anyway, I hope there isn't much of a wait until Series 22.
 
Like others, I think a 90 or even 75 minute single episode would have worked better, although at least we only had to wait a day rather than a week.

I am guessing a factor with the show being two hours is export. Trimming down two hour length episodes for commercials is easier than trimming down a 90 or 75 minute show.
 
I sighed when they got off the ferry and started another offroading segment on the beach. And if they went to such lengths to rewire the 928's electronics, then they should've gotten around to replacing the Mach 1's headlight at some point. At least they admitted that the wheel only snapped because of the (intentional) crash.

I can come up with a lot of complaints, but as others have said these are some great-looking cars and locations, and no other show is going to film them this well. I was going to give it a 7 but some genuine moments like Clarkson's sad story and May almost losing it in the curve push it to a weak 8. To top it all off, they've equipped their cameras with some kind of new technology that allows them to function in the presence of thrown (and soon-to-be-thrown) objects, and it paid dividends.


It was alright for a special a bit boring. Yes the views were great and a nice river crossing. But I can't get rid of the feeling, that they have been drawn to this ending - like with the red necks a few series ago.

The redneck attack never happened, and the American special ended exactly as they scripted it.
 
The scary men with rocks bit was idiotic. 20 minutes of shaky hand-held shots out a hotel window of three or four locals? Generally incompetent local cops bested only by generally incompetent TG security people who couldn't deal with a couple dozen morons with rocks and sticks? And then endless blathering about how anyone was remotely in danger? Please.

All in all it was a good show with beautiful scenery and excellent cinematography-- if they'd just leave it at that without trying to engineer obviously fake "danger" elements, it'd be more enjoyable.


Have you ever been in a situation like this? I most certainly have and I am firmly in the camp that this was neither fake nor safe. I have personally witnessed a person being KILLED with a rock thrown by mobs just like these in Bosnia. Perhaps turn the cynicism down a bit and realize that they were just trying to tell the story in a way that made sense.
 
The special was enjoyable enough- nice to see the guys again, and the camera work just gets better and better- but there was nothing new really, and while I do believe that the team was under threat and it must have been bloody horrible for them, it did still seem as if Jeremy over-egged the commentary a little. Didn't like the Butch Cassidy ending, either- it just immediately belittled the serious material that had come before it.
 
The question remains - did the 'Star Cars' make it back to the UK?
 
Now, I will use this as the comment on the whole special.

I really enjoyed it, nice scenery, beautiful cars, lots of funny scenes and not too much of scripted nonsense. There are limits on how many different things you can do with cars and TopGear is slowly running out of options since they have been producing a ton of content already. One thing they could still do is to dive more into the "local" cars, each continent has it's own group of "slightly weird local cars".

Regarding the whole controversy: You could see that it was not supposed to happen. Now, this being TopGear, there is a huge problem: Due to their previous mockeries the statement that they didn't see the numberplate before is unbelievable. Could it be true? Of course. If it really is, nobody will be able to prove. Fact is, that plate was on that car before. Did they buy it because of the plate? Guessing game. James May's plate can read KING too, so who knows. Is this a reason to do what the Argentinan Nationalists did? Of course not. However, rule of thumb is, the more stupid people are the more agressive and nationalist they are. My best guess is someone at TopGear did know about the plate but completely underestimated the reaction, and once word was out it was too late to change, and someone in Argentina used the opportunity for political propaganda.

Comments insulting Argentina now are just ridiculous, as they said (and from personal experience) these people were super nice to them, just a bunch of small minded nationalist assholes ruined everything, the same thing can happen to you everywhere in the world.

All in all a very nice special which tingled my Wanderlust again, Argentina and Chile are still on my "need to explore more" list, such beautiful places.
 
I'm going with an 8, had some great laughs here and there but the special was a bit too similar to all the others to my taste and missed a special touch. Might be due to the planned ending missing and thus having to 'extend' the other parts, but still felt it could loose 30 minutes or so.
 
Have you ever been in a situation like this? I most certainly have and I am firmly in the camp that this was neither fake nor safe. I have personally witnessed a person being KILLED with a rock thrown by mobs just like these in Bosnia. Perhaps turn the cynicism down a bit and realize that they were just trying to tell the story in a way that made sense.

Actually, I have. Generally speaking the guys with the guns win.

And when I had my "hits the fan" moment, I didn't get to sit in a hotel, drink scotch and moan about it.
 
I liked it, not so much for the fresh ideas or amazing stuff they did with the cars, because there was none of that, but more because of the journey itself.

The whole Argentina thing shows exactly what kind of country it is especially due to the little remark they made about how Argentina also quibbles over ownership of a few islands with Chile and frankly, as a country it can just fck off. There's a valid reason why the other South American countries don't like Argentina too much and it's not just because of the extended holidays of some Germans.

Next year they should go to Canada, if they manage to piss off the Canadians they should get some kind of medal.
 
Next year they should go to Canada, if they manage to piss off the Canadians they should get some kind of medal.

It wouldn't be too hard. The conditions are very similar: both countries are full of bored people living in the middle of nowhere, just waiting for an excuse to go ape shit. Canadians often do when there's a major sporting event, for instance.
 
It wouldn't be too hard. The conditions are very similar: both countries are full of bored people living in the middle of nowhere, just waiting for an excuse to go ape shit. Canadians often do when there's a major sporting event, for instance.

Yeah, and no other countries do that. Why, just the other day, I was looking out the window of my igloo/fishing hut, over the vast tundra/ice flows, and thinking I can't wait for the next big sporting event so I can go out and destroy something. Been far too long since I've gone ape shit. :lol: :p

As for me, I quite enjoyed both parts of the special, had a few moments where I laughed. I do wish the very end had been different, as well, some sort of footage of the guys getting out would have been more interesting to me, but I definitely will be rewatching this special.
 
My plate AM-02-88 clearly reads 'America February 1988'. So I'm not going to either Nicaragua or Russia with that car. I'm not stupid!

(Wikipedia on Febr 1988: The Democratic-controlled United States House of Representatives rejects President Ronald Reagan's request for $36.25 million to support the Nicaraguan Contras. / Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy intentionally rams USS Yorktown in Soviet territorial waters while Yorktown claims innocent passage.)
 
I enjoyed both part 1 and 2 quite a bit. As part 2 obviously had different focus at editing room. I won't indicated as boring. All of the TG special are the pretty same premises, "cars or the hose that are out of places". I like the choice of cars for May and Jeremy. I was intrigued by May's Lotus. It is amazing to see a car was not designed for this type of road do so well.

Of course there are some silly bits, but as usually there are some interesting parts like the beach passing, crossing the river on a truck bed, and at the end that crews trying to get out harm's way.

I think a lot people are too critical of this special, I for one are OK with this. I was entertained by the show for two hours.
 
Is it just me or does that Lotus Esprit still look pretty good after all these decades?
 
I gave the special a 5. It's losing its edge, the chemistry between the presenters is slipping away and the scripting is showing itself. (Who fills up a car by holding the fuel nozzle between their legs?).
 
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