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Mr_Asa
Mr_Asa UberDork
7/16/21 5:52 p.m.
RX Reven' said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I got half way through the first episode of that desert island thing and turned it off...kind of like how you'd be inclined to look away if a good friend was making a fool of himself.

I keep hearing how bad the desert island stuff is, but I never watched any of it.  Its rare that I love one of the idiots off on their own.  What was so bad about it?

Boost_Crazy
Boost_Crazy Dork
7/16/21 6:12 p.m.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

The desert island one was horrible. I shut it off before the end of the first episode. The analogy above of looking away while a good friend embarrasses himself is spot on. It was so obviously and poorly scripted that it looked like they were just going through the motions, it was uncomfortable to watch. 

Can't wait for the new GT. 

mtn
mtn MegaDork
7/16/21 6:26 p.m.

Yeah, the script and the premise just never worked. 
 

The idea was a good one. If they'd played it just as a "hey, we're gonna pretend we are stuck here, this is what we would do" instead of trying to make a story out of it it could have been decent. 
 

For anyone who is thinking about giving it a chance beyond the first episode, know that it gets better, in the same way that a dog E36 M3 smells better than pig E36 M3. It is still stinky E36 M3. 

DrBoost
DrBoost MegaDork
7/18/21 8:07 a.m.
RevRico said:
z31maniac said:
DrBoost said:

Meh. Give me Clarkson's Farm. They killed the GT brand by putting out sucky stuff in the beginning then putting out......nothing for the next few years. Just teasers for episodes and seasons that never were. 

I really hope they do more of Clarkson's Farm. Yes, it had his normal "....in the world" type schtick, but it was really interesting. 

Drive tribe, the social media/forum/Reddit knockoff the trio started shortly after the BBC ousting confirmed a season 2 from the record viewership. How long that will take to play out is anyone's guess though. 

I for one much prefer the big specials, even if it means we're only getting 5-8 hours of new content each year. It feels more "toury" to me, and the specials were some of my favorite and most memorable top gear episodes. 

https://www.grandtournation.com/thegrandtour/amazon-cancels-clarksons-farm-after-only-1-season-according-to-jeremy-clarkson/?fbclid=IwAR1zQSFSp-936GZVZJr2x_1HZmmIusJrM8SenF98UMQntsHuf9mDFPbGyfM

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy MegaDork
7/18/21 9:17 a.m.
Mr_Asa said:
RX Reven' said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I got half way through the first episode of that desert island thing and turned it off...kind of like how you'd be inclined to look away if a good friend was making a fool of himself.

I keep hearing how bad the desert island stuff is, but I never watched any of it.  Its rare that I love one of the idiots off on their own.  What was so bad about it?

May does some good stuff.  His Japanese tour was quite entertaining, The Reassembler is fun, even his cooking show is good.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/18/21 11:37 a.m.

May is best when it's just being pure may and not dealing with manufactured shenanigans. The Japanese show was at its best when he was just interacting with people and being curious, and I think the Reassembler is the high point in his work.

RX Reven'
RX Reven' GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
7/19/21 4:08 p.m.
Mr_Asa said:
RX Reven' said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I got half way through the first episode of that desert island thing and turned it off...kind of like how you'd be inclined to look away if a good friend was making a fool of himself.

Its rare that I love one of the idiots off on their own.  What was so bad about it?

First, it's a mash up between Richard Hammond and Tory Belleci from Myth Busters which should have been awesome but it still managed to E36 M3 allover itself.

Essentially, as mtn said, it's presented like it's really happening (think bizarre, contorted documentary)...I pulled the ripcord when Richard was struggling to move some material up a beach and announced that he was going to build a car to accomplish the task and then paused to allow for the hysterical laughter <crickets>

Again, mtn nailed it...it's contrived, awkward, and just plain E36 M3'y.

Back to CF...can you imagine what percent of the total production cost for season #2 would/will go to Clarkson's salary alone?

Think about it...skeleton film crew, high level storyboard / wireframe writers, and a few extras; that's it.

I think the ball is totally in Jeremy's court...just don't ask for crazy, crazy money and it'll get green lighted.   

mtn
mtn MegaDork
7/29/21 11:41 p.m.

About 30 minutes into it. Gonna turn in for the night, but so far this is just tremendous. 

ultraclyde
ultraclyde UltimaDork
7/30/21 5:07 a.m.

We watched it last night. It's not the best thing they've ever done but it was pretty good. The last stunt was epic but the ending was, literally, a great disappointment. 

Grtechguy
Grtechguy MegaDork
7/30/21 9:30 a.m.

I agree.. not sure what they were thinking with that pub?  2020 reference?

 

yeah..   poor CV19 Spreading quickly joke.  I didn't catch that last night.

ultraclyde
ultraclyde UltimaDork
7/30/21 11:12 a.m.
Grtechguy said:

yeah..   poor CV19 Spreading quickly joke.  I didn't catch that last night.

oh. Okay, I can see that. Boy...if neither one of us got it I guess it wasn't a very good joke...

mtn
mtn MegaDork
7/30/21 11:25 a.m.
ultraclyde said:
Grtechguy said:

yeah..   poor CV19 Spreading quickly joke.  I didn't catch that last night.

oh. Okay, I can see that. Boy...if neither one of us got it I guess it wasn't a very good joke...

Finished it this morning... I really enjoyed the whole thing, but this was confusing. I kept trying to figure out if it was a spoof of some move or something, that just went right over my head. 

 

In any case, the episode was quite reminiscent of their early Top Gear days before they had a huge budget. Between all of the challenges that they had, the modifications (which I really didn't care for at all, that was the part I liked the least), it felt like one of their early Cheap Car Challenges from the first 12 seasons or so.

ultraclyde
ultraclyde UltimaDork
7/30/21 12:14 p.m.

Agreed. I've never seen them modify anything that it didn't turn out stupid or worse. I know they're not actually trying to improve the vehicles and maybe that's why it bothers me. 

New York Nick
New York Nick GRM+ Memberand Reader
7/30/21 1:07 p.m.

The wife and I liked the first Grand Tour a lot. She isn't really into the whole car thing but liked the show so it was a win for both or us (as opposed to F1 Drive to survive which I can't watch fast enough and she loathes). I can't wait to watch this one.

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/31/21 8:58 a.m.

The ending was as if they just ran out of content or got board with it. The rest was reminiscent of the early stuff.  In a way it was nice almost refreshing. They dialed it back a bit. A bit less drama a bit quicker pace through parts that would have been tedious had they actually filmed it.  (Workshop scenes in the past).  They were not trying to up them self and just did what they are good at. 
 

I enjoyed it.  A good watch. 

SkinnyG (Forum Supporter)
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) UberDork
7/31/21 10:08 a.m.

The pub intrigued me.  While it -is- an American bar, it turns out it's in Swindon, west of London. Movie magic, eh?! Enjoyable episode, nonetheless.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/31/21 10:58 a.m.

Best part was Richard's laughter after describing his supercharger. 

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/31/21 2:36 p.m.
ultraclyde said:
Grtechguy said:

yeah..   poor CV19 Spreading quickly joke.  I didn't catch that last night.

oh. Okay, I can see that. Boy...if neither one of us got it I guess it wasn't a very good joke...

With the pub, it could also be a joke about the Chinese trying to reproduce other cultures and getting it a bit wrong. Note the modern MG outside the pub - that's a Chinese car pretending to be British.  Can't say I completely got it myself, but there may be something else that makes more sense if you like in the UK.

Not as good as some of the classic challenges - it didn't seem to have an overall hook other than "let's do goofy things with our cars" and a few of the bits seemed to dead-end like the caravans. But hey, I'll take average Grand Tour over just about anything else.

Mndsm
Mndsm MegaDork
7/31/21 3:03 p.m.

I have one question. Where the hell do you get a Pontiac aztek in Scotland?

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/31/21 3:43 p.m.

Well, there's one less now...

I think the cars might have reflected the budget available to these guys. They're a long way from 500 quid beaters, that Riviera seemed a little too nice and the Cadillac was still on NY plates. There is a matching Lincoln for sale locally for $5k though, even the same color :) 

I suspect the Dodge Charger that suffered the broken wheel actually belonged to Hammond. He says in this clip he wishes his new one was black.

 

Jerry
Jerry PowerDork
8/2/21 8:36 a.m.

I remembered and watched it yesterday afternoon.  I was...underwhelmed.  About 1/2 way through I found myself looking at my phone.

And I didn't get the ending at all.  Guess we'll see what the next "season" brings in 2022 or 2023.  (It reminds me of living out of state for awhile, and someone bringing a can of Skyline chili and generic cheese/hot sauce.  It's better than nothing, but not the same thing.)

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter)
Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
8/2/21 8:50 a.m.

I thought it was frequently hilarious and fun to watch, though the editing was kind of disjointed. Apparently there were a bunch of Prince Andrew jokes that went over my head, too. Agreed about the ending, though. Kind of a whimper.

That plastic "lego" bridge thing is pretty neat.

I will always love the Lincoln Mark V. What road presence that thing has!

einy (Forum Supporter)
einy (Forum Supporter) Dork
8/2/21 9:21 a.m.

Our family all enjoyed it, but the ending was confusing.  I get it now, based on discussion above this post, but not at that time.

SkinnyG (Forum Supporter)
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) UberDork
8/2/21 10:39 a.m.

I thought the ending was weak and didn't make sense, but the more I thought about it, the more I think the ending was a subtle nod to the theory that China is using Covid to take over the US. Best I could come up with.

I had posted this thought just recently, then deleted it because I didn't want things to get political.  Please don't go all political over this.  Let it go.

grover
grover GRM+ Memberand Dork
8/2/21 10:43 a.m.

The boat was the best part, I watched it twice and choked while laughing. 
 

the ending was lame. 

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