Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: rpm on December 13, 2010, 02:29:34 AM

Title: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: rpm on December 13, 2010, 02:29:34 AM
OK, first off it ain't Top Gear. Now that we have that out of the way...

The latest episode was the best one yet. The guys are starting to get more comfortable in their roles and the segments are getting much better.  If anyone was wondering if they would trash talk the cars they tested like the BBC version does, they should be satisfied by now that, yes they will. It looks like there won't be any sponsor scripted reviews and the guys will speak their minds. I enjoyed all the reviews tonight, especially the F150 VelociRaptor. I want to drive one of those bad boys!

Big Star, Small Car is starting to come together as well. Kid Rock is the first legit "car guy" they've had (and it showed). He also didn't hold his opinions back (other than network bleeps).

Don't get me wrong, there's still LOTS of room for improvement. One thing that's lacking is the visual look of the segments. It's clear they are not working on the same budget as the original. The scripted studio banter desperately needs to be worked on as well. But if they continue to progress at this rate it may become a legitimately good show in a season or two.

I see it being picked up for a 3 year deal.
Title: Re: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: Nilsen on December 13, 2010, 04:53:39 AM
Have not seen the US version yet but I do enjoy the british one. I think you should measure the success of the show on if people like myslef and others (females lol) who doesnt give a crap about cars will enjoy it  :)
Title: Re: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: scot12b on December 13, 2010, 06:46:33 AM
I like Top Gear the American  version   I think the show is coming along  well  :aok
Title: Re: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: jolly22 on December 13, 2010, 06:48:59 AM
the velociraptor is probably the best truck the any company has ever made, and i like the '56 merc. better than the new one.
Title: Re: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: Babalonian on December 13, 2010, 03:39:52 PM
OK, first off it ain't Top Gear. Now that we have that out of the way...

The latest episode was the best one yet. The guys are starting to get more comfortable in their roles and the segments are getting much better.  If anyone was wondering if they would trash talk the cars they tested like the BBC version does, they should be satisfied by now that, yes they will. It looks like there won't be any sponsor scripted reviews and the guys will speak their minds. I enjoyed all the reviews tonight, especially the F150 VelociRaptor. I want to drive one of those bad boys!

Big Star, Small Car is starting to come together as well. Kid Rock is the first legit "car guy" they've had (and it showed). He also didn't hold his opinions back (other than network bleeps).

Don't get me wrong, there's still LOTS of room for improvement. One thing that's lacking is the visual look of the segments. It's clear they are not working on the same budget as the original. The scripted studio banter desperately needs to be worked on as well. But if they continue to progress at this rate it may become a legitimately good show in a season or two.

I see it being picked up for a 3 year deal.


It is coming along, the show overall seems to be warming up from a very very cold start.  I feel the first episode should of been cut, I've seen a lot better shows/episodes cut for less motives in the industry, but then there would be this void that was the first Big Star in a Small Car, though that could of been edited and put into another episode and made to eventualy work. 

One glaring thing that needs to be polished are their race/challenge segments.  Or at least get a director and editor that grasps basic physics so things don't keep magicly going from where they're supposed to be to somewhere that makes it obvious to be scripted.  The one episode with the snow traction 4x4 vs snow boarders was very poorly edited and orchestrated, and was obviously a scripted/staged race, likely to hype the product.  The car having to "switchback" down the hill through trees, the guys are shown departing the trail and cutting through the trees, should be 0.25-0.5 a mile ahead at least by the time the car makes at least its second switchback after they departed (since before departing the car and snow boarders were keeping the same pace of speed), but no - somehow the car overtakes them to have enough of a lead for them to "randomly" jump over the car at a spot and time that is cinematicly convenient.  The slow truck on the mountain road (should of been edited out, like undoubtedly all the other traffic they encountered on that open public road/cource... so then), lets think, why they put/left it in...  suspence?  Kinda hard to convince anyone else who has been in that same situation that you've been behind a truck for long without any other car stumbling upon the same conjestion behind you, and adding to it... so since there were no other cars that after all that time caught up behind him... was it then really a closed cource?  Maybe a camera car was trailing behind him far enough to cause a traffic break... but if they had that control/coordination of the cource, with all those pre-set camera positions along the road and camera cars to follow/lead the car, someone would of been able to of flagged down that truck and have it pull aside in less than a 1/4 a mile.
Title: Re: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: Tupac on December 13, 2010, 03:45:12 PM
Last night was the first time I had seen the show, and I'm hooked.
Title: Re: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: Shuffler on December 13, 2010, 05:15:36 PM
I've now seen bits and pieces. Nothing grabbed me in what I saw.
Title: Re: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: Motherland on December 13, 2010, 05:50:11 PM
The one they aired a week or two ago wasn't THAT bad, but I changed it...

BBC shows the original enough, I won't need to watch Top Gear America unless there's nothing else on, or it gets significantly better.
Title: Re: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: cooldued on December 13, 2010, 06:16:08 PM
I like the drifting episode with the blind dude oh maybe that's "Top Gear" not "Top Gear USA".  :rolleyes:

friend of cooldued's: Who cares it was still awesome!!  :rock

Me: Who asked you?!

(http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k608/cooldued1/goawaypic.png?t=1292285615)
Title: Re: Verdict: Top Gear USA Doesn't Suck
Post by: danny76 on December 14, 2010, 11:07:55 AM
British Top Gear is a bit of an institution here now, although the plots have become so ridiculous and the banter so obviously staged, that it's beginning to lose it's appeal IMHO.

Would like to see the US one but I just hope they are going to come up with something fresh, not a clone of the British version