Top Gear S21 Episode 4 (23rd February)

colm_mcm

4/7. Jeremy Clarkson heads to Italy to get behind the wheel of the exclusive, hand-crafted Touring Superleggera Disco Volante, which is based on the already rare Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione sports car.
Richard Hammond asserts authority over the sand dunes of Abu Dhabi in the six-wheel-drive Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6, while
James May defies his status as Captain Slow by blasting two Caterhams around the test track - the minimalist entry-level Seven 160 and the full-fat supercharged Seven 620R.
Comedian Jack Whitehall sets a lap time in the Reasonably Priced Car.

Radio Times

Nody

Has potential depending on how good the reviews are done...

Duggy747

colm_mcm wrote: »

Comedian Jack Whitehall sets a lap time in the Reasonably Priced Car.

Am oooot

Toto Wolfcastle

Jack Whitehall can't drive so it could be interesting.

spank_inferno

That little caterham 160 looks a hoot.

Red Kev

Hammond is so bloody annoying. Catherhams were excellent. Would love to see the 620 in the dry.

pixelburp

God the news segment is so poor; I know SiaRPC gets a routine kicking, but at least that can be good if the guest is decent; the comic routines during the news are so terrible. 10 minutes of Hammond gurning and overacting

bnt

Good to see James using the skills that Mika Hakkinen taught him ... :cool:

spank_inferno

Get on with it.

What was the point of that pizza gag.

weekaizer

I LOLd at the gt3 gloves!!

Mycroft H

That Alfa is something special.

Thargor

Painful to watch the constant stream of lame jokes and forced laughter, I don't think Ive actually laughed at TG since the Reliant Robin rolling around corners.

bnt

About that motorbike / tablecloth video, I'm pretty sure the MythBusters busted that one years ago ... so I knew how it was going to end.

colm_mcm

The bmw video was obviously faked though

Mike Litoris

Apart from Whitehall I thought it was pretty good. I ****in want that 6x6 Merc NOW!!:cool:

Thargor

Yeah that Merc kept this ep from being complete sh1t, loved the little hop it did from the desert onto that nice road at full speed.

Is TG that stuck that they're starting to mine Youtube and Facebook for motoring related videos everyone was sick of 6 months ago though?

Myrddin

Pretty decent episode I thought:

May's segment on the Caterhams was decent
Clarksons segment on the Alfa was very good (what a car)
Hammonds 6x6 section was alright too (Hammond aside)

The SIARPC car was just painful, the pizza thing was pointless, as was the tablecloth thing. But all in all, prob the strongest episode of the season so far for me (which isn't saying much)

Bigus

colm_mcm wrote: »

The bmw video was obviously faked though

Yeah myth busters recreated it by having a sheet of clear hard plastic between the table cloth and under the Delph settings, having proven that anything else won't work.

Delph (&&&&&)
Clear plastic (______ )
Cloth ( ~~~~~~) pulled
Table (

---

)

Result


Delph (&&&&&)
Clear plastic (______ )
Table (

---

)

pixelburp

Yeah it was an episode that see-sawed between being watchable, entertaining (the Caterham & Alpha segments) and downright dreadful (the pizza and tablecloth portions). Honestly, I had zoned out during the news so it was positively surreal when I looked up and saw a pizza being tied around Hammond's crotch. Who in their right minds thought this was a good idea? I wonder how many people in the audience felt a bit bewildered and annoyed that this is what they queued all day to see...

Dartz

Complicated.

I like the piece with the Merc 6x6 a lot, it was the redeeming piece of the episode. Hated the pizza flaming porsche antics. Just wasn't funny.

A lot of the time it feels like they're trying to be cool, and trying too hard. While being very much stuck in a mould.

Zascar

I really liked it, very good episode. Now the Pizza bit was rubbish - but i did like how they took the piss out of the GT3 and Hammond. Their guests are getting worse and worse - honestly - a guest on a car program who can't drive. Seriously can we please have some guests who have an interest in cars ffs. But overall I really enjoyed it and made me LOL on many occasions.

Watched it on demand on upc, the recording ended just after he showed the "Datsun" - what happened?

spank_inferno

Zascar wrote: »

Watched it on demand on upc, the recording ended just after he showed the "Datsun" - what happened?

Man it must suck to be a UPC customer!

The Nissan was predictably unsuccessful in its attempt, though did make a good effort.

cdeb

Zascar wrote: »

Their guests are getting worse and worse - honestly - a guest on a car program who can't drive.

Thought that was quite interesting actually!

georgefalls

Was I the only one that noticed..?
At the end of the interview with Jack Whitehall, Jezza called him Joe..!!

Dravokivich

Zascar wrote: »

Watched it on demand on upc, the recording ended just after he showed the "Datsun" - what happened?

The problem with Top Gear is the show always over runs its slot. You need to add an extra 5 mins when set to record. Doesn't matter if it's UPC, Sky Plus or whatever other DVR setup you have.

fryup

^^^^^^^^^^^^

that the thing about epg, it records to the advirtised broadcasting time which doesn't always work out

Soarer

fryup wrote: »

^^^^^^^^^^^^

that the thing about epg, it records to the advirtised broadcasting time which doesn't always work out

You can set the amount of time to record before and after the allocated time.

Mc Love

Cant believe the voting! Above average?

The show realistically could be shortened to half an hour cutting out the bull****.

Zascar

Why is every thread full of people talking about how rubbish Top Gear is - if you don't like it, don't watch it! Or get your own thread to b1tch...

mickdw

Zascar wrote: »

Why is every thread full of people talking about how rubbish Top Gear is - if you don't like it, don't watch it! Or get your own thread to b1tch...

Seems to be the new cool now around here to rubbish it.
I don't think it had changed a whole lot. The first episode was strange in that it went way over the top with the silly comedy. The rest have been ok.

Myrddin

Zascar wrote: »

Why is every thread full of people talking about how rubbish Top Gear is - if you don't like it, don't watch it! Or get your own thread to b1tch...

I think most here would be watching Top Gear in the hopes that they'll get a decent episode. TG has provided some fantastic tv over the years, & any complaints over the show aren't born of not liking the show, but instead of disappointment.

Thargor

It has/had a massive following and it went from the best thing on tv to this current dumbed down mess, of course people are complaining.

Gillespy

The Alfa is glorious. Overall it was a good episode. Their middle finger to health and safety this week was kind of stupid but the GT3 lend itself to something like that. They should have learned long ago that a pair of goggles are needed when there isn't a windscreen, those Caterham look fun but better alternatives out there. I know it's silly but this is good too.

ScumLord

I thought it was a good episode and expected people to be happy with it. People complain when they do specials so this year they've gone back to the more standard format and people are still complaining.

pixelburp

ScumLord wrote: »

I thought it was a good episode and expected people to be happy with it. People complain when they do specials so this year they've gone back to the more standard format and people are still complaining.

People aren't complaining about the format, seems to me they're complaining about nonsense such as the pizza or tablecloth sketch used as filler. Bare in mind we could have had an extra 5 or 10 minutes with that Alpha, instead we got those asinine segments and Hammond shouting in studio to the backdrop of some strained audience laughter. If Top Gear truly wants to be a comedy sketch show, then they can hire some actual writers, otherwise they shouldn't take up time that could be spent on-track with some interesting looking motors.

muckwarrior

Very good episode let down by the, even more cringey than usual, in-studio pieces.

The Black Oil

Liked the Merc and the Alfa (Touring?). The overacting in the news is so bad.