Top Grand Gear Tour TV Megathread: Because nobody wants to post a new one

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Seat Safety Switch: May 27, 2008; MY RELIGION IS THE SMALL BLOCK V8 AND COMMANDMENTS ONE THROUGH TEN ARE NEVER LIFT.; Pillbug

I'm sort of surprised he didn't just take the control arm off the car to weld it up, although maybe he needed to figure out attachment points and measuring in situ.

# ? Mar 14, 2013 17:56

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# ? May 9, 2024 16:11

Powershift: Nov 23, 2009

nmfree posted:

No, that's a multitool.

Also, I actually believe that while the support mechanic probably did a good bit of work, Hammond actually did at least some of the real work on the car himself. Both he and May have taken up restoring old vehicles as a hobby, so they both will know at least something about doing basic repairs, welding, etc.

Or maybe the mechanic did all of the work and this was just a beauty shot. vv

In England, a multitool is considered a side-arm as it has a 2" blade on it.

# ? Mar 14, 2013 18:15

angor: Nov 14, 2003; teen angst

grover posted:

I just want to know where in his kitchen he was hiding welding tools, a generator, a jack and a half dozen spare wheels.

Probably the same place May was hiding 5-6 spares!

# ? Mar 14, 2013 18:18

Vindolanda: Feb 13, 2012; It's just like him too, y'know?

Powershift posted:

In England, a multitool is considered a side-arm as it has a 2" blade on it.

Has to be above 3" (and locking) to kill nuns, babies, wedding parties and other innocents in Britain

# ? Mar 14, 2013 19:22

InitialDave: Jun 14, 2007; I Want To Believe.

grover posted:

I just want to know where in his kitchen he was hiding welding tools, a generator, a jack and a half dozen spare wheels.

Next you'll be asking where he bought all that Clarke-brand Machine Mart stuff in the middle of Africa. :rolleyes:

# ? Mar 14, 2013 21:33

Daric: Dec 23, 2007; Shawn:
Do you really want to know my process?

Lassiter:
Absolutely.

Shawn:
Well it starts with a holla! and ends with a Creamsicle.

And then you'll wonder where they got gas

# ? Mar 15, 2013 03:04

Foehammer007: Dec 7, 2011; by Pragmatica

Clearly, James has a really good work shop in that Volvo of his.

# ? Mar 15, 2013 03:14

keevo: Jun 16, 2011; WAKE UP

Daric posted:

And then you'll wonder where they got gas

At the gas stations.

# ? Mar 15, 2013 03:17

Powershift: Nov 23, 2009

Daric posted:

And then you'll wonder where they got gas

All hammond cooked was beans, that one should be obvious.

# ? Mar 15, 2013 03:19

AfricanBootyShine: Jan 9, 2006; Snake wins.

keevo posted:

At the gas stations.

Nah, all of east Africa is genocide and starving children. Societies there lack basic infrastructure such as gas stations or running water.

# ? Mar 15, 2013 03:26

nmfree: Aug 15, 2001; The Greater Goon: Breaking Hearts and Chains since 2006

Powershift posted:

In England, a multitool is considered a side-arm as it has a 2" blade on it.

Vindolanda posted:

Has to be above 3" (and locking) to kill nuns, babies, wedding parties and other innocents in Britain

Either way, God bless America.

# ? Mar 15, 2013 04:00

Star War Sex Parrot: Oct 2, 2003

Series 18 is up on Netflix.

# ? Mar 22, 2013 23:16

MechPlasma: Jan 30, 2013

Star War Sex Parrot posted:

Series 18 is up on Netflix.

You forgot to say what country you're talking about. They don't all get them at the same time.

# ? Mar 23, 2013 00:47

Foehammer007: Dec 7, 2011; by Pragmatica

MechPlasma posted:

You forgot to say what country you're talking about. They don't all get them at the same time.

Works on mine (USA)

# ? Mar 23, 2013 00:51

confused: Oct 3, 2003; It's just business.

Cat Terrist posted:

The fact they acknowledged the production crew to me lead to more "organic" moments and a more natural feel to the show - when things did go wrong they REALLY went wrong despite the backup. There wasn't the usual scripted gags in the main - they were if anything actually giving a poo poo about what they were doing. You could see they were thinking about the usual gags like setting Hammond's car on fire but in the end they took a surprisingly competent turn and made a big effort to take a lot of this seriously.

And as they said, they were ambitious but actually not rubbish.

I agree with you. If anything, I'd like to see them do this more often or at least in a more direct way. I'd like to have a better feel of what they are really doing and what is really going wrong and what is just a setup joke. I think it would allow me to appreciate both more. These days, it really takes me out of the show when they present setup things like they happened out of the blue, but then they show it with a camera obviously locked off on the side of the road in front of the action anticipating the shot.

For example, in the Africa special Clarkson shattering his back window and having his air bag go off seemed totally unscripted and the backup car sinking in the river seemed pretty likely to be scripted. However, for the backup car I've been watching the show long enough that instead of enjoying the joke, I found myself trying to figure out whether or not it was planned. I think I would have enjoyed it better if they had said something like, "And then the production team decided it would be fun to sink the backup car in the river."

EDIT: Just thought of another example. I would have loved to have known if they actually did stay the night in the horrible hotel, but only if they did in fact stay there.

confused fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Mar 24, 2013

# ? Mar 24, 2013 18:23

Data Graham: Dec 28, 2009; 📈📊🍪😋

One of my favorite "clearly unscripted" things was when they built their homemade caravans and had them parked on the beach while the tide was coming in. They only managed to shoot one brief snippet of Clarkson shrieking and trying to dig himself out of ankle-deep water, and then cut to him in the driver's seat breathing hard and going "Well... that was intense."

Nothing telegraphs "we didn't set this up, honestly" better than not actually having footage of it. Oddly, the narrative doesn't suffer for it!

Now, having the SLS and the 458 "randomly" lining up at a stop light in New York City, where they just happened to have about six stationary cameras set up all around the intersection in advance...

# ? Mar 24, 2013 19:58

bull3964: Nov 18, 2000; DO YOU HEAR THAT? THAT'S THE SOUND OF ME PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.

What I want to know is did Hammond's WRX fail in a way that's consistent with the lower control arm recall?

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/09/12/subaru-forester-impreza-and-saab-9-2x-recalled-over-control-arm/

# ? Mar 24, 2013 20:24

meatpimp: May 15, 2004; Psst -- Wanna buy

EVERYWHERE
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

I know American Top Gear doesn't count, but holy lack of continuity in last night's cold weather / winter beater episode.

Half of the time Tanner was in a NA 300ZX and the other half he was in a Twin Turbo 300ZX. I guess they thought that :shrug:

they're both yellow, right?

# ? Mar 27, 2013 21:22

japtor: Oct 28, 2005

I like that he's had to resort to ditching his car and finishing challenges on foot (at everyone else's amusement) for the last few weeks.

# ? Mar 27, 2013 21:42

Mighty Horse: Jul 24, 2007; Speed, Class, Bankruptcy.

Foehammer007 posted:

Clearly, James has a really good work shop in that Volvo of his.

You would be amazed what you can fit when everything is organized....and given a name.

# ? Mar 27, 2013 21:47

Aurune: Jun 17, 2006

meatpimp posted:

I know American Top Gear doesn't count, but holy lack of continuity in last night's cold weather / winter beater episode.

Half of the time Tanner was in a NA 300ZX and the other half he was in a Twin Turbo 300ZX. I guess they thought that they're both yellow, right?

You know, I didn't notice. This was likely because I was busy looking at crap online after I sort of gave up with the show after they unburied the cars. Can they just put this show down already?

# ? Mar 27, 2013 22:25

vote_no: Nov 22, 2005; The rush is on.

Yeah, I think season two was the high point. I watch this show while I'm doing other things, and even then there are points where I have to skip ahead. Even though I know for a fact that two of the hosts love cars, the show doesn't convey it at all.

# ? Mar 28, 2013 00:55

echomadman: Aug 24, 2004; Nap Ghost

vote_no posted:

Yeah, I think season two was the high point. I watch this show while I'm doing other things, and even then there are points where I have to skip ahead. Even though I know for a fact that two of the hosts love cars, the show doesn't convey it at all.

top gear usa could be a better show if it didn't spend so much time doing the coming up next/previously on poo poo. that's why BBC top gear is good, no ads, its why I prefer all the online car shows more now too, all the time is taken up with new stuff, not rehashing and previewing.
I don't know how anyone could watch TGUSA live without the ability to skip the ads

# ? Mar 28, 2013 02:41

opengl: Sep 16, 2010

I'm still really enjoying TGUS for the most part. But yeah, even with a DVR, they spend so much god damned time explaining what's going to happen after the commercial, then after it, explaining what happened before it.

Loved Rut's obvious Subie.

I also had no idea Tanner's 300ZX changed to a TT and back.

# ? Mar 28, 2013 04:20

Kenshin: Jan 10, 2007

Anyone else enjoy the Iceland episode of TGUS?

It wasn't as epic as the North Pole TGUK special, but I thought it was one of their best episodes yet. Also as far as I'm aware, their first episode not on North America.

# ? Apr 3, 2013 22:13

404GoonNotFound: Aug 6, 2006; The McRib is back!?!?

Kenshin posted:

Anyone else enjoy the Iceland episode of TGUS?

It wasn't as epic as the North Pole TGUK special, but I thought it was one of their best episodes yet. Also as far as I'm aware, their first episode not on North America.

I was barely paying attention, but did they end up scaling the volcano that James May may or may not have set off in the first place?

# ? Apr 4, 2013 02:35

Kenshin: Jan 10, 2007

404GoonNotFound posted:

I was barely paying attention, but did they end up scaling the volcano that James May may or may not have set off in the first place?

They apparently (at least, they claimed to have) got up to as close to the top as is possible--the last 300 feet was extremely steep and they weren't about to try to start climbing it on foot as it was getting very close to dark and they were in a minor blizzard.

# ? Apr 4, 2013 02:45

CannonFodder: Jan 26, 2001; Passion’s Wrench

Kenshin posted:

Anyone else enjoy the Iceland episode of TGUS?

It wasn't as epic as the North Pole TGUK special, but I thought it was one of their best episodes yet. Also as far as I'm aware, their first episode not on North America.

I'm just amazed Rutledge found an International Scout II. Sure, most if not all of the drivetrain was switched out, but for radical offroaders that's not rare. The fact that the body and frame was not a pile of rust is the impressive part.

# ? Apr 4, 2013 08:35

Sockington: Jul 26, 2003

CannonFodder posted:

I'm just amazed Rutledge found an International Scout II. Sure, most if not all of the drivetrain was switched out, but for radical offroaders that's not rare. The fact that the body and frame was not a pile of rust is the impressive part.

Our resident Scout expert stated earlier in the thread that he suspected the body was a reproduction tub instead of the original steel body.

# ? Apr 4, 2013 14:19

Rude Dude With Tude: Apr 19, 2007; Your President approves this text.

BBC reveals even the Iranians think Top Gear USA isn't as good - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22020822

quote:

Iranian viewers have been watching the programme on BBC Persian TV (PTV) since 2009.

The BBC cannot operate freely in Iran, so Top Gear's popularity is hard to measure. But last year, when PTV dropped an episode to air an exclusive interview with then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the audience protested bitterly.

Clarkson himself was aware of the show's popularity in Iran, but still surprised by the outpouring of support. "Hillary Clinton has got many things to say about Iran," he says. "You'd have thought that the Iranians would have found this relatively interesting - more interesting anyway than three fat old men falling over. I'm delighted to hear that we're more interesting than Hillary Clinton."

When the Top Gear season ends, PTV replaces it with its sister programme Top Gear USA, and this too has prompted complaints, one viewer objecting - with Clarkson-like bluntness - that the presenters were "not funny".

# ? Apr 5, 2013 12:00

Mister Kingdom: Dec 14, 2005; And the tears that fall
On the city wall
Will fade away
With the rays of morning light

Just a bump to let everybody know that series 20 will start in the UK on June 30 and then on BBC America on July 8. There will be a new Reasonably Priced Car, too.

# ? Jun 11, 2013 00:46