Hands up who wants a rangie now?

Even my wife was laughing herself silly. And she hates Clarkson.

It is incredible, even with the magic of off shot mechanics and back up crews, that that rangie made it in one piece.

The bit were they lifted the bonnet on the raft, and him going on about V8s, I was half expecting to find a diesel.

SHUT UP, I've not watched it yet....

I've driven an army Land Rover with a trailer on vertically down a cutting side a bit steeper than that but it was only maybe 200 yards long with a nice flat field at the bottom in to brake in. You basically found the bit that was clear to the bottom, floored it and put full lock on when you hit the bottom of the bank. You'd just about make the turn before you hit the wall on the other side.

Yeah but didn't that last dune drop something like 2000 feet and level out just before the beach?

The sandy slope was pretty impressive.

The high altitude bit just before that was pretty mad too.

I didn't enjoy the episode as much as the scooters in Vietnam, with that I got the impression that they really lived the journey and bonded with the bikes.

With Bolivia, although the scenery was incredible, I got the distinct impression that there was a proper road nearby at all times and they just chose not to use it as part of the business of entertainment.

Which is cheating. (c:

I think top gear cheat a lot more now than they used to. Everything seems waaaay too staged.

Fraser

It has to be staged in some way. Like all TV. The camera crew have to be there before the event your seeing takes place.

Hamsters drag racing incident would be enough to make me want to 'stage' a few more things than previously....

Heh heh. In some ways they've taken over from Benny Hill.

Oh sure.

I'd like a few more facts. They decided not to try the sand descent in the landcruiser so wrecked it at the top in a comedy fashion.

Could they not insure Hammond's teeth for such an activity, or was the car really just too wrecked?

The part where Jeremy creeps past the white Toyota on the mountain on the outside and nearly falls in was quite badly put together.

Looks a lot like it was one of the crew cars to me which is fine, but what a stupid place to try and pass and clearly Jeremy was nowhere near either car when they filmed it.

Perhaps I'm being too hard. They carted themselves and a crew to the other side of the world, and it was entertaining. I just think it would have been more interesting and more amazing if it had been a bit more factual and less '3 middle aged blokes being pricks to each other a long way away'.

It was obvious in the "electric car" episode if you watch the front of the car, there are obvious signs of the footage being shot in different order to that shown. There were slots cut in the front of the car for Clarkson's "bumper on springs". These were taped over with silver duct tape and the duct tape appeared in some shots before the bumper had been fitted.

Anyway, who cares? All TV, no matter how serious is pretends to be, is shot like this. It's all play acted to an incredible extent, if its not professional then it is amateur dramatics with the public/politicians/talking heads all being willing participants in the process. Anyone who thinks TV is a mirror to the world is umm dumb.

Would you have driven a vehicle that was in that state - center diff bodged up locker 2 wheel drive, roof cut off sans full welded in roll cage, no effective brakes, useless clutch so all shifts crash, and a bust front spring (they never showed the handy work of the lash up repair for that) - down that F'in soft sand slope?

Maybe they have got a functional H&S dept and took it with them on that tour. But putting one of the stars in a vehicle on a cliff edge road that was losing bits without a safety harness says not.

Neither of them giving the Hamster a lift but shots of him running down to the beach was a laugh.

May falling off the plank. Ouch!

It was ok but the standard this series has been low. Watched the stunning Stelvio pass one on Dave today and you can see the difference. It's got a bit camp. Clarkson has a really good way of describing countries in interesting ways and he said nothing about Bolivia/Chile. They could've been anywhere.

I'm not disagreeing - just saying it's not easy to do. I've worked in TV all my life and can guess at the problems. If it were a feature film with a budget of many millions it could have been done better. For what it cost I'd say it was well done and very entertaining.

No surprise there. To shoot something as it actually happens requires multiple cameras to give the result we expect these days. Like say a footie match where there can be upwards of 10 cameras covering the pitch. When I started working in TV it was done by three - on a 'live' match.

Probably shot single camera. And the continuity person (if there was one) over-ruled.

Does anyone think film mirrors the real world? Going back to the very earliest silent ones? They are the creation of the production team. Bit like a novel is the production of the writer. TV, just the same.

The cinematography on Top Gear is, IMO, first rate. The difference between how Top Gear film cars in motion and the other TV car shows stands out a mile, if one is paying attention. I get the feeling that the production team are flexing ther muscles and doing things they would like to do on other shows if they had the time and the budget.

I also suspect that many of them are developing their technique in the hope of landing a job elsewhere in the industry. Some of what they do reminds me, obliquely, of the likes of Ridley Scott; exploring ways of working even when confined to creating adverts.

Yes, I think the budget and logistics stuff is key. They overdid the slapstick IMHO but perhaps that's all that was left after they cut what the Llamas and insects chewed in the nights.