Andy's Blog 22/12/08 (We've been mentioned again!)

Thanks so much for posting the full article.

is that Vietnam is the one Special that?s more about the guys than it is about the transport.

Yay :) It is going to be brilliant.
 
I actually think the last episode of Season 3 is one of their most cohesive and best "old style" episodes they made. The segments of them selling bits of the studio were hilarious, and the theme of testing the cheapest XJ resulted in one of James' best ever reviews IMO. So bring on the crap last episode of the season I say.
 
Thanks so much for posting the full article.

is that Vietnam is the one Special that?s more about the guys than it is about the transport.

Yay :) It is going to be brilliant.
james%20may.jpg

Going on holiday with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond: How hard can it be? :D
 
The Vietnam special is also our first foray outside the hour. The final running time ended up at 75 minutes, which was a big worry initially, because one of the most sound and wise sayings in television is ?There?s nothing that can?t be improved by making it shorter?, or something like that.

It?s a maxim we stick to religiously - lots and lots of useable stuff ends up on the floor
~Andy Wilman
I must be getting really old and really boring, because that part made me sad. :(

o we?ll continue SIARPC in this vein for a while (probably should change the car though) and I know that will annoy some of the Final Gearheads, but lads, we can?t make all of this show for you, and whilst I am genuinely interested to know what a 19 year old Skyline fanatic in Oregon thinks of the Japan race, at the end of the day I?m not that bothered about his opinion on Harry Enfield. ~Andy Wilman

At first I thought he meant the entire show, but then I realized he's just talking about the SIARPC segment.

Judging from all the reviews of all the episodes, it can't possibly be just us Americans who don't give a shit about the guests and the SIARPC segment, is it? I've known quite a few of the guests, but that never sparked my interest. I don't mind the interviews so much, as long as they talk about cars. I can listen to Clarkson ridicule celebrities about their shit cars all day. But the plugging of books/tv/movies and the forced banter gets old. SIARPC is definitely the weakest link in the show. I think Andy is right about changing the car, but this time they should get something a bit more sporty. Like a MX5 or a Caterham. :lol: At least the crashes will be genuinly spectacular for once. :p
 
Smaller budget = less over-the-top stuff. Yay.

Exactly what I was thinking. Could be a good thing, really.

SIARPC, its fine for me because I can just skip through it to the next segment, but the guests need to be more compelling, people who are genuinely funny and have a passion for cars. I dont care who they are if they can fulfil those (frankly meagre) requirements.

As for season 12 as a whole, it's been great and a big improvement over the last few seasons.
 
Judging from all the reviews of all the episodes, it can't possibly be just us Americans who don't give a shit about the guests and the SIARPC segment, is it? I've known quite a few of the guests, but that never sparked my interest. I don't mind the interviews so much, as long as they talk about cars. I can listen to Clarkson ridicule celebrities about their shit cars all day. But the plugging of books/tv/movies and the forced banter gets old. SIARPC is definitely the weakest link in the show. I think Andy is right about changing the car, but this time they should get something a bit more sporty. Like a MX5 or a Caterham. :lol: At least the crashes will be genuinly spectacular for once. :p


SIARPC, its fine for me because I can just skip through it to the next segment, but the guests need to be more compelling, people who are genuinely funny and have a passion for cars. I dont care who they are if they can fulfil those (frankly meagre) requirements.


You guys wouldn't think that maybe he's talking to you and the other SIARPC bashers would you? nahhhh, no way!

I have seen more than one female poster say that they began watching TG just because of SIARPC, and I myself find some of them to be quite entertaining, even when the person isn't necessarily into cars. SIARPC adds to the show and gives it another focus.

I've said this before, but I think that Angelina Jolie could be having full on lesbian sex with Keira Knightley, on the SIARPC couch, and people here would still be going BOO! Down with SIARPC!!!:thumbsdown: All the meanwhile, normal people would be going :blink: :jawdrop:. Skip SIARPC if you hate it so much. Some of us just find Top Gear to be a funny and entertaining show, and not something to grab a tub of vaseline and lock ourselves in our bedrooms over.
 
Last edited:
Some of us just find Top Gear to be a funny and entertaining show, and not something to grab a tub of vaseline and lock ourselves in our bedrooms over.

:+1:

Loved the "bits and torrents" bit in the blog post. Plus, I'm sure that even with a smaller budget the crew will still find ways to deliver the goods, and our boys will still be "on the cutting edge of cocking about." :nod:
 
I will admit, I'm not the biggest fan of SIARPC (especially since the two-at-a-time in S 11 is currently showing in Aus), but I don't whinge and whine constantly- in fact, this is the first time I've mentioned it. I still watch whilst it's on, but I may also go and make a cup of tea or check my emails. No biggie, doesn't ruin my day. I am glad they have kept it though, Boris Johnson was brilliant :D
 
You guys wouldn't think that maybe he's talking to you and the other SIARPC bashers would you? nahhhh, no way!

I have seen more than one female poster say that they began watching TG just because of SIARPC, and I myself find some of them to be quite entertaining, even when the person isn't necessarily into cars. SIARPC adds to the show and gives it another focus.

I've said this before, but I think that Angelina Jolie could be having full on lesbian sex with Keira Knightley, on the SIARPC couch, and people here would still be going BOO! Down with SIARPC!!!:thumbsdown: All the meanwhile, normal people would be going :blink: :jawdrop:. Skip SIARPC if you hate it so much. Some of us just find Top Gear to be a funny and entertaining show, and not something to grab a tub of vaseline and lock ourselves in our bedrooms over.

I don't bash it. Or at least I don't recall ever bashing it.

I never skip through it either, I'll listen while I surf the net, until they do the lap or show any mistake footage. Sometimes it's funny, but most of the time it's rather dull. I'm not saying they should lose it, but it does feel rather boring at times. Maybe there is a way of lightening it up, I don't know.
 
ANDY WILMAN!!

The final running time ended up at 75 minutes, which was a big worry initially, because one of the most sound and wise sayings in television is ?There?s nothing that can?t be improved by making it shorter?, or something like that.

It?s a maxim we stick to religiously - lots and lots of useable stuff ends up on the floor


This is entertainment, not womens skirts, and that is why you are wrong beyond repreve .


Mr. Andy you need to do some series thinking buddy.


Don't ever shorten the commentary! If you need to speak over the scinimatics then do that!! its so much better then sitting their in silence watching a huge GT3 commercial that appears to made by a bunch of krautaphiles.
 
Last edited:
Everyone remember 03x10? They did the whole "We've run out of money" thing. Perhaps take that idea, and refine it further. A whole episode on cheap thrills, maybe?

@Red_Bull True! Hopefully this just makes the guys think more creatively, ideas that are still amazing yet not utterly expensive.
 
Speaking of bits and torrents, any idea how big the rip for this will be? Surely 700 MB isn't enough to get decent quality for a 75 minute show. 1.36 gigs? Something else?
 
Speaking of bits and torrents, any idea how big the rip for this will be? Surely 700 MB isn't enough to get decent quality for a 75 minute show. 1.36 gigs? Something else?

It will be about 900mb
 
It will be about 900mb

The scene usually only release in set, standard sizes. 75min movies usually gets released in 700mb. 900mb is useless to them because it doesn't fit on a single disc. Some movies get released in two 700mb files though, but who knows.
 
I was thinking about the filesize of this aswell, I'm sure it can be compressed a bit more so that it still fits the 700 MB standard size

on rips : how come that a 45 minute, HD show, looks better in a 350 mb rip than the 700 mb Top Gear ones?
or am I that blind?
 
I've said this before, but I think that Angelina Jolie could be having full on lesbian sex with Keira Knightley, on the SIARPC couch, and people here would still be going BOO! Down with SIARPC!!!:thumbsdown:

Well, to be honest I doubt they would be talking about cars while, ummmm, engaged.

I LOVE SIARPC. There have been a few that I could have missed, (Marky Mark), but I have found people I never knew about and have explored their other work and have really enjoyed some of it.

Who knew Gambon was so entertaining. He appeared TWICE on TG and Parky could never get him on.

I really love the ones that are just so excited to be there. Ron Wood, The snooker guy, The Saunders lady, JK, and others.

I am one that found TG in the first place because of it. And what a good episode it was. The Verbier race, bob sled vs car. That car coming down that mountain sideways with James screaming in the front seat, I had to have more.

And I think Andy has made it very clear that SIARPC is here to stay. And I am all for that.
 
I was thinking about the filesize of this aswell, I'm sure it can be compressed a bit more so that it still fits the 700 MB standard size

on rips : how come that a 45 minute, HD show, looks better in a 350 mb rip than the 700 mb Top Gear ones?
or am I that blind?

Probably HD is much clearer than SD, looking past the raise in resolution. So if you've got a clearer picture to begin with, it'll still look good when you downsize it.
 
And I think Andy has made it very clear that SIARPC is here to stay. And I am all for that.

Seconded. I also love SIARPC. (Yep, it was my "gateway drug", too. ;))
 
it can't possibly be just us Americans who don't give a shit about the guests and the SIARPC segment, is it?

I tend to know all of the stars, and it's not that I "don't give a shit about it" - it's really interesting and fun when they have someone that's there because they like cars and want to be there. It's just that at least half of the guests are just there to plug something or other, and couldn't care less about cars or Top Gear.

I can't critisize the production crew for this - it must be very stressful trying to book someone well known each week to come and drive the car, and it's not like they'll have free choice of any celebrity they want, often they'll have a short list of people none of whom are ideal but they have to go with it. I'm sure the TG crew love it as much as we do on the occasions when they get a petrolhead, or someone that has fun there - it's not like the guests are sometimes uninteresting because the TG crew stop trying.

As for money - it's not that important a factor to the show. Sure the high-speed-camera shots are pretty and the epic faffing (shopping centre, aircraft carriers etc) is a laugh and gets people talking about it at work on Monday. But the best Top Gear segments from the show's history (cheap Porsche's, M5 review, Evo Vs Murcielago, could probably be filmed in a couple days (after the paperwork and research)with next to no budget. Even the more expensive good films like the DB9/612 races, the Northern France supercar trip and the isle of man Vantage/911/M6 films - the best bits of them had nothing to do with the money that was spent on them, it was the 'mates tripping around with cool cars for the sake of it' vibe that made them good. Probably because if I (most petrolheads) had loads of money and no need to work, it's what I'd (we'd) do every day for fun.

So, TG has already shown it's more than possible to make a high quality, entertaining show without fixating on the budget.

P.s. Should you read this; Thanks for the show - we appreciate the hard work and pride you put into it, as well as the willingness to keep grounded and in touch with the fan's opinions.
 
This is entertainment, not womens skirts, and that is why you are wrong beyond repreve .


Mr. Andy you need to do some series thinking buddy.


Don't ever shorten the commentary! If you need to speak over the scinimatics then do that!! its so much better then sitting their in silence watching a huge GT3 commercial that appears to made by a bunch of krautaphiles.


Is english your second language? Youre from europe, right?

I'm just asking because lately, your posts have been getting more difficult to understand.
 
Top