The Grand Tour Two - Opinion

[PrincessB]

I hope I've not missed a thread update but it returned to Amazon Prime on the 8th Dec.

I thought it was stunningly awful and I can only hope that because of the requirement to detail the crash they had to present it in this way.

I have hopes for the further episodes, they just seem so scripted and that ruins the dynamic.

If I wanted to watch scripted people doing things in fast cars I'd just watch the fast and the furious.

Incidentally do we get any more Top Gear, once Evans left it became quite good fun again.

[redsturgeon]

I hope I've not missed a thread update but it returned to Amazon Prime on the 8th Dec.

I thought it was stunningly awful and I can only hope that because of the requirement to detail the crash they had to present it in this way.

I have hopes for the further episodes, they just seem so scripted and that ruins the dynamic.

If I wanted to watch scripted people doing things in fast cars I'd just watch the fast and the furious.

Incidentally do we get any more Top Gear, once Evans left it became quite good fun again.

Couldn't agree more...terrible!

John

[stooz]

Strangely then I thought it was great without the time wasting of blowing up stars etc.
I was very impressed with the electric car.

[redsturgeon]

Strangely then I thought it was great without the time wasting of blowing up stars etc.
I was very impressed with the electric car.

I too was impressed with the electric car. As the owner of a PHEV I have to say I was not surprised at the speed...mine will beat most things away from the lights. Shame the Hamster crash it...how did he manage that?

Basically though apart from the extended road test, where we didn't actually get to learn that much apart from: Lambas are loud, Hondas have a wonky fuel gauge and electric cars are silent but quick, what else was there?

John

[Clitheroekid]

Overall I quite enjoyed it. I'm glad they've dumped the stupid Celebrity Brain Crash and I'm even more pleased they've got rid of that redneck American guy who was a total pillock.

The sequence in the Alps was very enjoyable, though it's hard to go wrong with a film about supercars driving round Alpine passes. But although I wouldn't describe myself as a petrolhead I am interested in cars, and I would have liked a bit more hard information about the cars themselves. After all, it does have pretensions to being a motoring programme.

Some of the banter was amusing, though as with the last series some of it was too obviously scripted and just sounded clunky. However, I understand there's to be a completely unscripted episode set in Croatia, so it'll be interesting to `contrast and compare'.

But a lot of the humour felt rather flat, and the sequences of trying to drive a supercar through narrow streets of a medieval European town have all been done before, so although it's always mildly entertaining it does show rather a lack of imagination on the part of the producer. I also can't help feeling that JC is playing to the stereotype at times. Some of his comments sound as though he's making them because that's what's expected rather than because he genuinely believes them.

But overall it's pretty reasonable entertainment, and for me the good outweighs the bad. In any event, there are so few other UK motoring programmes around nowadays that it doesn't have to be brilliant to attract viewers like me.

Talking of which, does anyone know when / if Top Gear is returning?

[bungeejumper]

Talking of which, does anyone know when / if Top Gear is returning?

I'd be pretty surprised if it doesn't - they've got too big a brand on their hands, and a magazine to fill as well. But as to whether I'll watch it, who knows?

I somehow managed to lose the habit of watching TG last year, and by the time I stumbled across an unwatched edition on the video recorder (last month) I was better able to reach an unbiased view on whether it had improved. And it had, but not by nearly enough to make it unmissable. They'd toned down the sharp-elbowed stuff from Chris Harris, and Rory Reid had grown a lot more comfortable in the role. But somehow they also appeared to have shed any remaining attempt to make the programme female-friendly. Fast cars, fast cars, fast cars. Yawn.

BJ

[staffordian]

For anyone wanting a quickTopGear fix whilst waiting for a new series, this might be worth a watch...

https://youtu.be/mHhZ9jk-DrU

It's Chris Harris test driving a rather quick (and expensive, of course!) Tesla

[stooz]

Well I shot myself in the foot. Expecting the unscripted Croatian episode to be them at the true best, it was in fact so scripted to be unscripted, it was truly awful.

Unscripted does not mean unplanned. They clearly pretended they didn't have that.

Ive done a trip to Spain on my motorbike with friends, with the only thing booked being the return ferry and had more unscripted fun than that show.

[PrincessB]

For those still watching Grand Tour. it has been very hit and miss.

This weeks show (Series Two - Episode 7) did feature something well worth watching for a change.

Clarkson went back in time an did a mini documentary about the battle of the Rally cars in 1982. Audi had four wheel drive and Lancia had far less money, two wheel drive and plenty of tricks.

It is towards the end of the program and the best part of the the show.

It stands alongside James May's review of the VW Up Gti as being one of the most interesting of segments so far.

B.

[iain123]

Yep I agree.
Last Fridays was the best episode since it started imho. A lot less cocking about and juvenile humour made it so much more entertaining.

[Clitheroekid]

I think this series - and the last two episodes in particular - have been generally very enjoyable, and one of the main reasons for this is that it's now almost entirely lost its American features. It seems to have become fixed in rural Oxfordshire, there are no American contributors / presenters and the whole thing seems a lot less forced and artificial than it used to.

The humorous elements also seem to work a lot better in this series. The one about the Jags a couple of weeks ago was quite amusing, as was the motorway refuelling sequence - childish, but quite funny.

And I really enjoyed the sequence about the Audi / Lancia battle, something I'd previously known nothing about, and just high quality motoring journalism, reminiscent of that excellent sequence that James May did in the last season about the Ford GT40 at Le Mans.

The Celebrity Face-off is something I wouldn't miss, but it's mildly enjoyable (though half the time I've no idea who the celebrities are) and certainly no worse than the equivalent in the old TG.

Overall, it seems to me that it's improved as it's got more and more like the old TG, from which it's now hardly distinguishable. I can only assume that the BBC lawyers have decided to throw their hand in, probably concluding, quite rightly, that taking on Amazon is just too expensive a prospect.

But it will undoubtedly make it more difficult for the BBC when the next series of TG arrives in a few weeks.

[redsturgeon]

OK, I'll give it another try...I stopped watching after the first episode of this series.

John

[redsturgeon]

Just watched the Xmas edition which was interesting...looking at the trees in full leaf behind our three amigos.

Loved the Chiron though...a car that makes a Ferrari seem like a cheap runabout!

John

[NomoneyNohoney]

This thread just shows the difference between various people seeing the same thing, because I have loved every episode of this new series.
I was pretty critical of the first one, for being too obviously scripted and every episode carrying gratuitous swearing, akin to product placement.
This time around though, the scripts have been less obvious (except for the unscripted episode!) and the silliness has been Good Fun.
Still too much emphasis on exotic cars, but if you consider it a comedy program about three blokes messing about with cars, then I find it highly acceptable.
Its the highlight of my weekly viewing to be honest, I settle down to watch it with a mug of coffee, and thoroughly enjoy their stupid antics. Obviously its never going to suit everybody, but it suits me, so selfishly, I'm happy and appreciate their efforts. Tick VG.

[redsturgeon]

OK...I can't hold back any more...I have to mention the elephant in the room.

Jeremy Clarkson's stomach!

If it was a dog it would be a labrador that has been locked in a butcher's shop for a month.

It has been slowly expanding over the years but now it just seems to have become totally ridiculous.

Has JC accidentally swallowed an Isetta?

We should be told.

John

[NomoneyNohoney]

He stopped smoking, so I assume this is his metabolism changing.

[swill453]

He stopped smoking, so I assume this is his metabolism changing.

He stopped smoking, so I assume he's eating like a pig instead.

Scott.