The Best Top Gear Special of all time?

The Best Top Gear Special of all time?

  • Total voters
    327
Botswana and Bolivia - 10/10
North Pole, America (both) and Vietnam - 9/10
Winter Olympics - 8/10
 
Bolivia - 10/10
Vietnam- 10/10
Botswana- 10/10
Polar- 7,5/10
America- 9/10
Winter Olympics- 7/10
 
1. North Pole 10/10
2. America 9/10
3. Winter Olympics 9/10
4. Botswana 9/10
5. Vietnam 8/10
6. Bolivia 8/10
 
Dave2003 said:
The Best Top Gear Special of all time? Which is it?
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This would be my ranking (top to bottom).

1. North Pole Special
2. Vietnam Special
3. Botswana special
4. Bolivian Special
5. American Southwest Special
6. Winter Olympics Special

It is very close between 1 and 2 ... and between 3 and 4 ... for me. It?s really hard to call a winner between the North Pole and Vietnam as well as giving Number 3 to Botswana or Bolivia ... but right now, I think this is how I would decide. As for ratings ... even the last one (winter olympics) would still get 9/10 from me ... so there isn?t really use in adding ratings :)
 
1. Botswana (10/10)
2. Bolivia (10/10)
3. Vietnam (9/10)
4. American Roadtrip (9/10)
5. North Pole (9/10)
6. Winter Olympics (8/10)

I will always love the Botswana trip, but maybe once I get the Bolivia DVD my mind may change...

Love the Vietnam special aswell, but it was that little bit too structured, compared to Botswana and Bolivia, still great though, the cinematography was great, but just lost out to the moon rise in Botswana :)

Liked the American Roadtrip, there was just something about it thought that didn't match it up with the others,

North Pole, liked it...but (and this is just me) the drama and tension it made me too uncomfortable. Seeing Richard struggle, Jezza and James want to kill each other. Just found it kind of upsetting in a way :( Although, to be honest, I haven't seen it in a while, so I may just track it down and see how I feel

The Winter Olympics, liked it, but I was kind of put off by how they used old clips, like Richard in the freezer car and, I think, James in the rally car vs. Hammond in tights.
 
seems silly considering bolivia is the freshest in peoples minds, so it's going to get the most points.

now if we were to do a marathon of each episode in a row, then i could believe the poll.
 
North Pole Special - 10/10
Vietnam Special-10/10
Botswana special-10/10
American -9/10
Bolivian Special -8/10
Factual America-7/10
Winter Olympics Special- 7/10
 
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American SOUTHEAST Special: 10/10
Southwest: 8/10
Bolivian Special:9.5/10
Vietnam - 8/10
Botswana - 8/10
North Pole - 9/10
Winter Olympics - 6/10

The American SOUTHEAST special is my favorite. I'm from northeast America, so could still sit back and laugh at Jezza's jokes. "Maybe I'll offer him a burger." Great episode. Southwest not as memorable.

The Bolivian special was fantastic, but felt somewhat staged. I laughed a lot, but in parts, mainly where Jeremy passed the SUV on Death Road, it felt unreal. For one, Jeremy was facing the other way on the road so must have turned around, and I think I've seen that Toyota in use as one of TG's trucks that they use for the crew. And they never showed the top of the Range Rover while he was on the edge.

The Vietnam special was nice, but wasn't worth watching again, like most episodes are.

The Botswana special I remember was good, but I barely remember anything else about it. It wasn't groundbreaking.

The North Pole special was worth watching again... and again... ...and again. Really good episode.

Winter Olympics is the only episode of TG that I won't watch if I catch it on TV. Not too good.

EDIT:
Top Ground Gear Force: 12/10

Never laughed more in a TG episode.
 
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I voted for the Botswana special, because it's about as good as television has gotten this decade. The use of repetitive themes in the music was really effective, the way they managed to capture the vastness of the salt flats was amazing, and the fact that they let the film crew into the film a bit gives it that extra bit of authenticity.
 
Polar Special ~ 10/10
Bolivia/Chile ~ 10/10
Botswana ~ 9.8/10
Vietnam ~ 9.5/10
Winter Olympics ~ 8/10
US Special (which was in the southeast, not the southwest)* ~ 7.5/10

(I recently rewatched both Botswana and Vietnam (the latter, I believe, I originally rated a 10); and while I'd put Vietnam above Botswana for a little while, I've since switched them in my ranking.)

* 9x03. I don't count the muscle car road trip to Bonneville as a special because it was part of a regular episode.
 
shellygrrl said:
US Special (which was in the southeast, not the southwest)* ~ 7.5/10
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No, while there WAS a South East special, there was also the South West special where they went from San Francisco through Reno to the Salt Flats with the CTS-V, the ZR1 and the Challenger.

While I'd hope the poll wouldn't be missing the SE US special, there WAS a SW special, as well...which wouldn't need to be on there, really...because it wasn't a whole episode...
 
NecroJoe said:
No, while there WAS a South East special, there was also the South West special where they went from San Francisco through Reno to the Salt Flats with the CTS-V, the ZR1 and the Challenger.

While I'd hope the poll wouldn't be missing the SE US special, there WAS a SW special, as well...which wouldn't need to be on there, really...because it wasn't a whole episode...
Click to expand...

Did you read my disclaimer at the end?

me said:
I don't count the muscle car road trip to Bonneville as a special because it was part of a regular episode.
Click to expand...

If you count that as a special, then, IMO, the supercars in France film from 7x03 ought to be counted as a "special", too.
 
Of the ones mentioned before, the American special was my favorite.
The one that started on the East Coast, where they ran into the Hillbillies at the gas station :lol:, heading towards New Orleans.

I like it because it was about cars, and it was about people.
And it was funny too.

---

My all time favorite special/challenge is the 'Car vs Train' one with the Ferrari Scaglietti.
Going from Britain to Verbier in Switzerland in this fantastic car, that was just built for long trips like that,
what a dream.
I must have watched that like 20 times already.


The Old Porsche challenge, Car vs Train with the DB9, Supercars in France.... Some other favorites.


Maybe from my selection it is obvious, that I like specials/challenges, if they're about cars (in a somewhat car-friendly environment), and about people.

It doesn't have to be about breathtaking cinematography (even though that might come in handy to fire up the old Full HD), about danger, or staged lunacy.
 
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Polar, Vietnam, Bolivia, Botswana, Winter Olympics and America in that order. The first three are really close together with Botswana not far behind, while the other two (while good) aren't in the same league as the other specials.

Although it's not a special, I'd also throw in Japan between Botswana and the Winter Olympics.
 
Pole - 10/10
Bolivia - 10/10
Botswana - 9,5/10
America - 9/10
Vietnam - 8/10
Winter Olympics - 6/10

The winter Olympics one was the first and as we know contained also some stuff shooted before (bobsleight) so therefore it's obviously crap compared to the others but still good.


I voted for both the Pole and Bolivia, I couldn't decide between this two, really amazing stuff. The one in Africa was majestic too.

I don't see why everyone praise the Vietnam special, was just good to me, more than average but nothing special.
 
1. North Pole
2. Botswana
4. Vietnam
4. Bolivian
5. American Southwest
6. Winter Olympics

North Pole is number one for me because it was great entertainment, amazing cinematography, and IMO being in the cold made it that much more challenging for them. No matter how much support they had, you just can't escape being cold.
 
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