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The Grand Tour - today
Topic Started: Nov 18 2016, 06:59 AM (714 Views)
George K
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Finally
Premiers on Amazon Prime.

Here's the opening scene (it's a window in a window, so bear with it):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMLegGWVoAQ



Shame how stingy Amazon was with the budget.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
Just think of what they could have done with some legitimate backers. :(
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
I fear that this new show is going to inflate Clarkson's already quite monstrous ego to the point where he may be tempted to seek US citizenship and run for office.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
John D'Oh
Nov 18 2016, 08:04 AM
I fear that this new show is going to inflate Clarkson's already quite monstrous ego to the point where he may be tempted to seek US citizenship and run for office.
In these uncertain times, that sounds pretty damn great to me.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
I'd vote for James May. The other two - meh.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
I'd actively campaign for May. I'm talking cold calls and canvassing neighborhoods. The other two I'd still take over most.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Aqua Letifer
Nov 18 2016, 08:08 AM
I'd actively campaign for May. I'm talking cold calls and canvassing neighborhoods.
In my head, when I read your posts, you have his voice.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
:lol: :lol:

You remember his UnemploymentTube channel during the networking SNAFU? When he started making cooking videos? One series was on shepherd's pie.

I make that following his recipe—get "enough potato," add brown, etc.—quite literally every single week. I made it just last night as a matter of fact, and ate the leftovers this morning.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Friday
Senior Carp
It came out yesterday.

I really liked the start, especially the band.
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George K
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Finally
Geez...and you said Nigel Farage had bad teeth...

Posted Image
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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George K
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Finally
Watched the first episode - very "TopGear-ish".

The three are funny, as usual, and Clarkson hasn't changed. But, you didn't expect him to, did you?

They have a mobile studio that they're taking to each location. This week it was in California, next week, Johannesburg.

The usual Top Gear flashy photography.

A new track that makes the airport one look easy.

A new Stig driver to run the track. He's a NASCAR guy (Bobby Skinner?) whom they had to re-educate, because he has to make some right turns as well.

The cars: BMW M2 which Clarkson loved.

The competition: Porsche 918 (Hammond), Ferrari LeFerrari (May), and McLaren P1 (Clarkson) competing in track work, drag racing, etc.

Production: New leaderboard (rather than cheesy magnetic thingies), lots of drone-shots, brief cameos by some celebrities, but no "Star in a reasonably-priced car".

Best line of the show:

Hammond: "The Porsche will be fastest because it has four-wheel steering"
May: "Like a Honda Prelude?"
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Klaus
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HOLY CARP!!!
Just watched it, too.

I liked it, somewhat, but not as much as the best episodes of Top Gear.

The whole show felt more "scripted". For instance, the part about knocking Hammond's house down was not authentic at all.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
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George K
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Finally
Klaus
Nov 18 2016, 03:13 PM
The whole show felt more "scripted". For instance, the part about knocking Hammond's house down was not authentic at all.
http://superunleaded.com/clarkson-loses-his-high-stakes-grand-tour-bet/19335/

Quote:
 
Of course, as the bet was originally made on BBC’s Top Gear the conditions had to be changed. No longer would Jeremy have to become Jennifer if he lost, rather Hammond and May would be allowed to demolish his home – a £4m converted farmhouse near Chipping Norton.

And as Grand Tour viewers witnessed, lose he did.

In the hands of professional racing driver and former Formula One driver Jerome d’Ambrosio the P1 was beaten by both of its rivals, with the Porsche 918 running out as the winner by 0.2s from the Ferrari and another 0.1s from the McLaren.

Newspapers carried the story of Clarkson’s house being demolished in September, and you’ll get to see the film of it happening during the Whitby episode on December 2.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
The cars on the show looked gorgeous, the opening scene was awesome. Overall, I was quite happy with the show. Nice to see the lads again.
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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George K
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Finally
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/09/jeremy-clarkson-blows-up-his-old-home-to-make-way-for-new-cotswo/
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
:lol2: Typical Clarkson! But his new house looks beautiful, very appropriate to its surroundings. I've been spending a lot of time in England recently... so many lovely old buildings here.
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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George K
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Finally
A review: http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2016-11-19/the-grand-tour-episode-1-review--yes-its-bigger-and-brasher--but-theres-some-clever-thinking-going-on

The Grand Tour: episode 1 review – "yes, it's bigger and brasher – but there's some clever thinking going on"

Clarkson, Hammond and May ride again

Well, they were never ones to back down from a fight. (In the end, that was the problem.)
Yet even for a trio of professional naughty schoolboys, the decision to start Clarkson, Hammond and May’s new show with a revisionist history of their leaving Top Gear is ballsy.

Cast out of the grey, rainy stand-in for the BBC’s Broadcasting house…
Posted Image
… our hero travels across the Atlantic to the sunlit uplands of America, mates in tow….
Posted Image
…along with a convoy of fellow petrol heads and producers…
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…only to find an army of fans already waiting for them, arms outstretched, all forgotten and forgiven.
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It’s a cheeky sequence that will raise a smile, but this was a firmly Clarksonian version of events. There were shades of how the Soviets restaged the storming of the Winter Palace as a propaganda spectacle.


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This was followed by a few lines that were either poorly chosen or thinly disguised jabs: of the trio, Clarkson is “technically the only one never to be fired from anywhere” (he was not sacked following his infamous punch, his contract at the BBC was simply not renewed) and they’ve all been “motoring journalists for 20 years” (none of them starred in an American sitcom, for example.)

The intro wrapped up with an off-colour and off-putting joke about gypsies that seemed designed only to prove that the experience (and Amazon’s millions) had not made Clarkson afraid of controversy.
“We’re on the Internet,” he boasted, meaning he’s now safe from sacking, even if he gets intimate with animals on screen.

Without the upbeat music in the background, this could have seemed like so much bitter recrimination. But with old scores put to bed, it was time to show what was new. Forget Top Gear – what is The Grand Tour?
Posted Image

Turns out, it’s a lot like Top Gear. If Andy Wilman hadn’t described the great lengths Amazon’s lawyers have gone to in order to differentiate this new motoring entertainment show from the old one, you might think they were in trouble.

There’s The News, now called ‘Conversation Street’…
Posted Image
…there’s a new track, ‘The Ebola Drome’, that’s full of sheep…
Posted Image
…with a new tame racing driver to master it – Mike ‘The American’ Skinner, a NASCAR superstar…
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…and even a new celebrity scoreboard competition: ‘Celebrity Brain Crash’.
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Well, there would be, if any of the celebrities survived long enough to play it.
Posted Image
It’s here, in a show that stamps out subtlety wherever it finds it, that The Grand Tour starts sketching out its new vision. Yes, it’s bigger and brasher, and Amazon’s money comes spilling out of every frame, but there’s some clever thinking going on.

Star in a Reasonably Priced car was always the most painful part of Top Gear, a seeming hangover from Clarkson’s dream of hosting a chat show. While Chris Evans decided to extend the interviews to almost half the programme (just one of several fatal decisions) The Grand Tour elects to violently kill Jeremy Renner, Armie Hammer and Carol Vorderman before they can even step on stage. It’s a genuinely funny comedy sketch that arrives without warning in the middle of a car show.

Similarly, badinage/banter with the audience is a throughline to the early success of Clarkson’s Top Gear – the idea that the hanger was a ‘treehouse’ for socially awkward petrolheads. Moving the tent from country to country means we should expect an awful lot of local material/casual racism.

But then something strange happens. The mining of cultural differences between the US and UK turns into an elongated editing joke, with hours apparently passing as the hosts and audience get into a long, bloody fist fight over who has the better airforce.

Even the new track betrays the serious thought that goes into stupidity: ‘Your Name Here’ corner and ‘The Old Lady’s House’ already hit like in-jokes you’ve been sharing for years.

Top Gear was always a love letter to mucking about – its best moments came spontaneously or by accident, or at least so it seemed. Over time, this bumbling became strained, a forced kind of artlessness, professional unprofessionalism, crap clowns.

By the end the shtick had worn thin, but they couldn’t be seen to be trying something new, or it wouldn’t work. It’s the difference between your mate telling a joke down the pub, and a stand-up trying the same joke on stage. Expectations are higher when you’re expecting to laugh.

The Grand Tour is brave enough not only to try and be funny but to let the effort show. And at least in this first episode, it’s a welcome and hilarious change.

Posted Image
Of course, one area that was never afraid to try hard was the car tests: more money was never going to hurt a team that turned out stunning footage week after week.

However, this showed that there’s an art to it that goes beyond filters, lenses and camera drones. The battle of the hybrid supercars was not only perfect playground fodder – I’m pretty sure Ferrari stole the design of LaFerrari from a dream I had as an eight year old– but was shot with an unabashed love for these machines. Even while the studio sections were more tightly structured than in the past, the films had space for real, spontaneous emotion.

Clarkson is not a good enough actor to fake being this scared at the wheel of a McLaren P1.
Posted Image

It was gorgeous, TV selling, demo-reel-in-Dixons stuff, and the glimpse of upcoming episodes hinted at even bigger thrills to come.
Posted Image
If nothing else, after the damp squib of the official Top Gear reboot, The Grand Tour’s first episode shows that the format can still work. It's not a total reinvention, yet much as half a second makes all the difference on the race track, every refinement is a breakthrough.

Clarkson’s team may not be afraid of a fight, but until they have a worthwhile competitor, they're happy to keep pushing themselves.

A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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George K
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Finally
Great lines from this week's episode:

"Why don't they just start with 8 cylinders?"
"This thing sounds like a bunch of mice rattling around in a cage."
"Putting traction control on this car is like putting nymphomania control on a nun."
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
George K
Dec 23 2016, 07:09 AM
"Putting traction control on this car is like putting nymphomania control on a nun."
I'm a bitch obviously but I didn't quite get that one. I mean nymphos like sex and I know that nuns don't. Ok, now I get it.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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George K
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Finally
"The perfect Christmas gift for a Hyundai owner is a BMW." :lol2:
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Okay, Luke and I are hooked (though I have had to fast forward through a few parts that I didn't want to get involved into a discussion with him about).

So far, my favorite moment has been Hammond taking the Charger Hellcat to the "Grand Tour" of Italy.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Finally watched the first episode.

Didn't like it.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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George K
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Finally
John D'Oh
Feb 24 2017, 04:59 PM
Finally watched the first episode.

Didn't like it.
I've not been *as* enthused as I wanted.

"The American" is stupid - I think I've said that before (I'm referring to the character on The Grand Tour, not generically, so sit down.).

"Celebrity Brain Crash" is stupid as well. If you didn't like it the first time, you won't like it any more the next 8 times.

Clarkson is more Clarkson-ey, if that's possible. That may or may not be a good thing. I'm unsure.

Traveling from country to country for the studio is a gimmick. Lose it - it doesn't add anything.

As you'll see, if you continue to watch, you'll see that the focus is totally on cars that almost no one can afford (though, in fairness, Top Gear became that later on as well). I'd like to see a car show with the charm of TG reviewing cars that normal people tend to buy.

The "challenges" (wink, wink) are more absurd than they were on TG.

However, despite all of its flaws, it's still better than Top Gear was last year with twat's-his-name hosting. Hopefully LeBlanc and the two guys whose names I can't remember will do better. We'll find out in 2 weeks.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Chris Evans was a horrible choice. When I left England back in the 90's, one of the things I remember telling myself was 'well, at least I won't have to see him ever again'.

I didn't think the writing was nearly as good in Grand Tour - the big trick Top Gear always managed was to make it look as though it was all made up as they went along, the new show doesn't have that sparkle, and the chemistry between the three of them didn't seem as genuine.

I really, really disliked the opening sequence. And that stupid bit with the RAF and the fight with the audience was pointless, contrived and unfunny.

I also disliked the fact that were clearly pandering to American viewers. If I wanted to watch American Top Gear, I would have watched American Top Gear.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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George K
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Finally
John D'Oh
Feb 24 2017, 06:20 PM
Chris Evans was a horrible choice.
Yes. He redefined awkward dweeb.
Quote:
 
I didn't think the writing was nearly as good in Grand Tour - the big trick Top Gear always managed was to make it look as though it was all made up as they went along, the new show doesn't have that sparkle, and the chemistry between the three of them didn't seem as genuine.

I think that gets better as the series goes on. Check a few more episodes, and it seems more natural.
Quote:
 
I really, really disliked the opening sequence.

You mean the "Mad Max" opening? They don't do it again, thank goodness.
Quote:
 
And that stupid bit with the RAF and the fight with the audience was pointless, contrived and unfunny.

Doesn't happen again.
Quote:
 
I also disliked the fact that were clearly pandering to American viewers. If I wanted to watch American Top Gear, I would have watched American Top Gear.
That doesn't happen again either. I don't think we see that amount of silliness later on.
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
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