"marshknute" (marshknute)
11/21/2016 at 18:56 • Filed to: None
2
11|
"marshknute" (marshknute)
11/21/2016 at 18:56 • Filed to: None | 2
| 11 |
Spoilers after the spoiler.
Ok, but seriously, actual spoilers after this spoiler (yes, I know it’s actually a wing)
Holy Trinity:
Before I started watching, I was expecting a series of long drives in great cars. Each episode would be a different roadtrip. In this episode, I was expecting them to go on a grand tour with the Holy Trinity, especially since the three cars have already been included in numerous track showdowns. Instead, we got yet another track showdown interspersed with irrelevant and dumb filler “challenges.” I get it, they’re pretty much obligated to get lap times, but I would have rather seen a 30-minute movie about them roadtripping in the three fastest road cars (like when they took a Zonda, Ford GT and F430 to France).
I actually thought the best parts were when Clarkson nearly lost control in the drag race, and when Jerome d’Ambrosio went off-track in the P1. Those were moments of genuine fear, not Richard’s forced pretend screaming. Hey, Richard, you’re far more entertaining when you’re !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
Also, the speed trap idea is nice, because it gives them some discussion material while waiting for the car to finish its laptime.
The Eboladrome:
A huge disappointment compared to the Dunsfold Aerodrome. Yes, it gets the job done, but it pales in comparison to the Lotus-designed TG track. Maybe I can be convinced that the Eboladrome is actually a technically advanced track, but I’m too distracted by the needless gimmicks (bombs, electricity, etc).
I like the digital lap time board. Similar enough to Top Gear, but easier to read at a glance, and helpful to see the animation of each new lap time sliding up the board.
BMW M2 Review:
Great review. No real surprises here. My favorite part, however, was watching the hosts agree on something at the end. Remember how they pretended to bicker about how Clarkson was wrong because it was the slowest ///M car, only to finally admit how much they each loved it? That’s the kind of genuine gearhead moment I like to see from the trio.
All too often on Top Gear, they would blindly disparage their cohost’s cars just for the purpose of scripted conflict (ahem, TGUSA), but the trio are much more convincing and entertaining when they just speak their mind. Remember when James drove the Aston Vantage N24 in season 10 and outright admitted how much he hated it?
Lets have more moments like that. Instead of silly challenges to decide “who chose the best car,” just have all three drive every car and then give their honest opinions at the end (even if it differs from what the other hosts think). That’s what I like about !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ; the hosts don’t bother choosing a winner because they know that they have different preferences and often don’t agree with one another’s choice. Variety is the spice of life.
SIARPC:
Seriously??? What the actual fuck??? Are they going to keep “killing off” guests every episode just to kill 5 minutes of screen time? Hopefully that was a one-and-done mistake and they’ll never ever pretend to have a guest interview segment again. It was the worst part of the original Top Gear, it was even more unbearable with Chris Evans, and it wasn’t funny on the Grand Tour. Just fucking stop it.
Cinematography:
AMAZING!!! Honestly the saving grace of the show. I’m still weirded out by the 4K resolution, especially after spending years watching potato-quality streams of TG, but I’ll get used to it.
Conclusion:
Right now, I’m not impressed, but I’ll wait for some actual road trips before making any hard conclusions. Honestly, they seemed WAY too focused on slighting the BBC rather than just trying to make a good car show. Let’s hope episode 2 is a more convincing effort.
Sorry for being a Debbie Downer. Here’s some dogs jumping over a hedge to cheer you up:
TheTurbochargedSquirrel
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 19:02 |
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I don’t know if this first episode is really indicative of the future of the show. If I recall correctly the footage for the 3 hypercars was filmed when it was still Top Gear (remember the news back before the scandal broke about how they finally got to shot the test of the 3 cars?) I guess Andy Wilman somehow managed to obtain ownership of the footage from that test. I think this first episode was just to tie up that knot from the Top Gear days before moving onto the new stuff in the future. That could also explain the very similar feel to the old top gear layout as the footage would have been intended for that show. We will have to wait and see over the next few weeks.
Probenja
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 19:05 |
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I watched an older episode of Top Gear and they said the only 3 cars they all liked were the Renault Avantime, Ford Mondeo and Subaru Legacy. I guess we can add the M2 to the list now.
Saracen
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 19:10 |
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Be a debbie downer all you want, I freakin loved it and nobody’s opinion sways how I feel.
Though I think you’re being too serious about the SIARPC gag. I think it’s proof that they’re going to kill off what was easily the weakest part of Top Gear. Pretty sure it was one of the things that the BBC lawyers would not allow them to do anyway.
Honeybunchesofgoats
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 19:26 |
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I enjoyed the celebrity bit and I suspect that was there way of putting SIARPC to bed for good. The Renner thing was telegraphed from a mile away, but it was cute, and I thought overdoing it to the degree that they did helped push it into the “so far that it became funny again.” But I think I’m predisposed to feeling that way, because I immediately cringed when they introduced the segment, so I was happy to see it was all a gag.
I agree that the Trinity test was kind of meh. Although the Porsche MPG dig of Jeremy’s excused everything that followed.
I could have done without the overly staged drag race, though.
I agree on the M2 review. There’s a lot of bad things you can say about Clarkson, but he really does shine when it comes to communicating what he enjoys about a car.
I agree that the gimmicky dangers on the test track with awful. Frankly, I’d be happy if they just scrapped the whole test track idea and just tested whatever car they had on hand with whatever track they had access to. I thought the whole M comparison was ironic, since they basically came to the conclusion that the lap times have so little bearing on whether the car is great.
MUSASHI66
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 19:27 |
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Instead of a long review, my thoughts are:
A) Did you like the last season of Top gear with these three? You’ll like this show
B) Dod you not like the last season with these three? You won’t like his either
Let’s be real - it is 99% replica of the old Top Gear
Joe6pack
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 20:01 |
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Overall, I thought it was pretty good. Hopefully they will cut down on some lame gags like the fight with audience, killing the guests, etc. I actually liked SIARPC on the old TG, but I guess it’s gone. I think (hope) it will get even better. No matter what, it’s way better than the new “Top Gear”.
Phatboyphil
> Saracen
11/21/2016 at 20:12 |
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Lol. the ‘dumbest’ part of the show is actually foreshadowing.
gin-san - shitpost specialist
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 20:50 |
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You’re thinking of that trip they took to the Millau Viaduct; that was a great segment, too. I think there will be more to come; I was actually disappointed that they used the three hypercars because I thought Chris Harris’ film (not on Top Gear but on his own YouTube channel) was comprehensive and gave me the technical info I wanted to know. Also, these three have already reviewed these three cars on TGUK, so it was just old news.
To be fair, the disappointment was very, very mild since I enjoyed the episode as a whole. I think we’ll be seeing better stuff as the season goes on; my only wish is that they did a Netflix-style release with the whole season instead of the traditional weekly episode.
Captain of the Enterprise
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 20:55 |
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I agree, I’m hoping it improves
hike
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 22:07 |
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I really enjoyed this episode. It almost felt to me like a segway from old (but not original) Top Gear to The Grand Tour. It had the new tent and such of The Grand Tour with cars on a track like Top Gear. I anticipate far less of that and far more touring in the remaining episodes. The Holy Trinity seemed like it was just a promise they had to fulfill from the Top Gear days.
Mechanically
> marshknute
11/21/2016 at 22:12 |
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Just came from the Nashville filming of episode 9.
Loved it, but I’m still trying to figure out a lot of the same questions.
Particularly the SIARPC bit...