Top Gear last night

bazz26

I know there is a TG forum but it doesn't seem to get much traffic so I said I would post it here instead.

Did anyone catch last night's episode of TG? Where they had to buy 3 old bangers and drive 1,000 miles from one side of Botswana to the other. Clarkson bought an old Lancia Beta, May bought a 70s Merc W123 and the Hamster bought a 44 year old Opel Kadett. They drove through deserts, game reserves, mountains, rivers, etc. If anyones car died that person had to finish the trip in a clapped out VW Beetle. Of course the Lancia broke Clarkson's heart in typical Italian fashion.

I must say I found it to be one of the best episodes of TG I've seen in a long time. Very entertaining imo, especially when Clarkson and Hammond put pieces of raw meat inside what was left of Captain Slow's Merc while driving through the game park.

Anyone else think so?

For anyone who missed it I think it is repeated again at 19:00 on Tuesday night on BBC2.

CarLover

Thought it was great stuff - but as usual you'll either love it or hate it. Roll on the "I wish they'd get back to cars" heckling...

star-pants

I thought it was great - odd twas the whole show but I don't mind
I just loved Hamsters face -- he was delighted with himself that he was getting places unmodified lol. And the look on his face when they fixed it after the water... brilliant.

*crash* "sorry I've no breaks" ...
That trip had to have been so cool for them to do.


p.s. what was the Archbishop Desmond credits bit to do with? (Did I miss something at the start /during?)

Henry Ford III

Good entertainment.

Alun

star-pants wrote: »

p.s. what was the Archbishop Desmond credits bit to do with? (Did I miss something at the start /during?)

I guess it was a reference to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but seeing as he's South African and not from Zimbabwe, Mozambique or Namibia, the 3 countries they visited, rather a geographically inaccurate one.

positron

Stig's African cousin was a good laugh too! He can drive!!

bazz26

Would anyone take a guess on the Stig's African cousin in that episode being Lewis Hamilton?

SNL

Thought that myself but then thought he would not of got time off mid season depends whenever it was shot.

pburns

bazz26 wrote: »

Would anyone take a guess on the Stig's African cousin in that episode being Lewis Hamilton?

It's a nice thought and it crossed my mind too...

!00% certain he would not get time off for this. Besides Ron Dennis - control freak that he is - wouldn't allow it. Has anyone seen the ITV awards this week where Hamilton presents an award to Jeremy Clarkson? It's on YouTube (split into 2 downloads), including a short movie of Clarkson's career. JC also brilliantly hi-jacks the opportunity to ensure Dennis allows Ham to participate. Don't have the URL at the moment, sorry...

Apparantly he'll be the 'Star in a RP Car' in a few weeks time.:D

(Not that i like the guy - Far too much hype and I'm one of the people that believe Alonso was screwed this year...)

High&Low

It was a great show, nearly as good as the special they did in the US last year.

Alun wrote: »

...Zimbabwe, Mozambique or Namibia, the 3 countries they visited...

BTW it was Botswana they drove accross, they never went near Mozambique, its to the East of Zimbabwe.

Táck

he was darker then lewis hamilton...

Dave!

Great episode

richie_rvf

Yeah, enjoyed it too - laughed out load a couple of times.

Hammond was very funny - think he fell in love with 'Oliver'

I thought the driving through the dust was excellent - and the river crossing :D

Think I'll watch it again now....

mike65

The TG forum would have more traffic is people stopped posting about the programme here!

Mike.

bazz26

mike65 wrote: »

The TG forum would have more traffic is people stopped posting about the programme here!

Mike.

The thing is though that most people on the Motors forum probably don't know that a seperate TG forum exists or probably go to it from here. Catch 22 maybe.

Maybe the Motors mods can put a sticky up linking to it or the TG forum should be moved under the Motors Forum altogether?

MarkN

richie_rvf wrote: »

Think I'll watch it again now....

Richie - I'm looking for a bit from the show, where are you watching it again from out of curiosity? I'm specifically looking for the bit where May starts coughing his lung up on dust (don't ask!).

prendy

ya last nights was brilliant(as usual):D

woop

really enjoyed last nights one
now last weeks was a bit stale and I thought it was going down hill but in true TG fashion it was very entertaining.......obviously I miss the cars but eh if its that good next week I wont complain:D

mike65

bazz26 wrote: »

The thing is though that most people on the Motors forum probably don't know that a seperate TG forum exists or probably go to it from here. Catch 22 maybe.

Maybe the Motors mods can put a sticky up linking to it or the TG forum should be moved under the Motors Forum altogether?

Indeed, in truth I never quite saw the point of a seperate foum esp stranded in the TV cluster.

Mike.

Silverfish

Possibly because it's now more entertainment related that an actual motor show.

Mr Magnolia

I don't like the episode/series. I'd prefer if they reviewed cars. meh!

*Kol*

Great show. It's up there with the polar special that they did. I think I'll consign it to the keep list on Sky+:cool:

richie_rvf

MarkN wrote: »

Richie - I'm looking for a bit from the show, where are you watching it again from out of curiosity? I'm specifically looking for the bit where May starts coughing his lung up on dust (don't ask!).

Hi Mark,

I have it on sky +

I have yet to record anything from it onto hard drive or disc - any tips?

I have a DVD recorder that I could connect to it....

Richie.

RobAMerc

i did enjoy it but I will ask the question again - is there any decent car shows out there ?

Mr Magnolia

richie_rvf wrote: »

Hi Mark,

I have it on sky +

I have yet to record anything from it onto hard drive or disc - any tips?

I have a DVD recorder that I could connect to it....

Richie.

Info: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055171310

JoeA3

If you have Sky, one of the Discovery channels had "Auto Trader", with Mike Brewer (he with the annoying cockney delboy accent) and his tall mate Edd China, running all day long yesterday, one episode after another! This is the type of show Top Gear used to be... so be careful what you wish for...!

the_syco

Really disappointed. All that meat, and not one lion attack? Fo' shame ******, fo' shame.

mike65

Wheeler Dealers was never like TG really, I don't recall too much about fixing cars ever.

Mike.

JoeA3

mike65 wrote: »

Wheeler Dealers was never like TG really, I don't recall too much about fixing cars ever.

Mike.

What I meant was, it loosely followed that sort of format - half-hour long, relatively serious, "normal car" reviews, etc.. I guess the Top Gear people decided that in the age of multi-channel saturation and the internet they needed to do something very different.

mike65

True, it was dying on its arse towards the end of its 30 min-post Clarkson era. Too many Ducatis did for it.

Mike.

bazz26

5th Gear was probably as close as you get to a spiritual successor to the original Top Gear format. Ironic considering most of the cast came from Top Gear too. Vicky, Tiff and Quinten all worked on TG at one stage.

I think Top Gear has evolved and needed to do so to survive. There were just too many car review programs on TV and it's being done to death so they had to offer something different. Granted it's not always about cars but the entertainment factor always revolves around motoring and has captured viewers who know nothing about motoring or had no interest.

I think it is a good formula rather the usual boring test driving a car and commenting about how practical the boot is or how good the quality of the dashboard plastics are.

Johnny Storm

Have I mentioned recently that Clarkson is a big-headed twat?
Every word that comes out of his mouth is 100% predictable.
Having said that I think Top Gear has become more entertaining in the last year or so. Oddly, the less the show has to do with cars the more enjoyable it seems to become. The US trip, the Polar trip and last nights program were all very good IMHO.

RobAMerc

TG used to be a sort of tv based car magazine testing good vs evil cars - explaining good driving techniques etc, Clarkson was a really excellent journalist on it too, but since he re-joined it became less and less informative and more and more entertainment - thats all it is now.

TV does really need a good car magazine - TG aint it.

unkel

mike65 wrote: »

I never quite saw the point of a seperate foum

Neither did I. Posting about it here is fine, lads

I enjoyed the episode but was expecting a bit more happening with all that meat!

mike65

Clarkson said it himself at that TV awards thingy last week - "fact free for 5 years"

Mike.

Alun

High&Low wrote: »

BTW it was Botswana they drove across, they never went near Mozambique, its to the East of Zimbabwe.

Ah, sorry about that, I was doing it from memory Anyway, they didn't go through South Africa anyway, which was my point.

woop

Great show. It's up there with the polar special that they did.

didnt really like that polar special to be honest

also does anyone remeber top gear before when it was more lets say practical...........shudder, still though I do prefer when they did car reviews,


here have a look at youre own peril(youve been warned it gets worse as it goes on)
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=M4AEtY5kcqE
the bit where they compare them is just terrible

positron

Also noticed "Long Way Down" was on right after TopGear - the same team that did 'Long way around' - Evan McGregor and Charlie Boorman etc. I am really looking forward to how it will turn out. I really liked 'Long Way Around'.

MercMad

I didn't even know there was a TG forum !!

Where is it ?

I missed the programme AND the repeat, her indoors cant stand JC, and I am rather bored of the typical TG layout. I hadn't realised this one was anothe "expedition".

Any links ?

cjt156

MercMad wrote: »

I didn't even know there was a TG forum !!

Where is it ?

I missed the programme AND the repeat, her indoors cant stand JC, and I am rather bored of the typical TG layout. I hadn't realised this one was anothe "expedition".

Any links ?

I thought the repeats were Tuesdays at 19:00 - am I wrong?
(I never see the repeats)

Mr Magnolia

MercMad wrote: »

I didn't even know there was a TG forum !!

Where is it ?

TopGear

Mitch Connor

The new series is being shown on Dave a couple of weeks behind the BBC2 eps - so you can catch it on there at some point.

mike65

Bump its on bbc2 now.

Mike.