Top Gear Burma
Special AKA ‘Top Gear Makes a Bridge’
The Top Gear Xmas specials are my favourite TV event, they
mix real life challenges with scripted bits and even cultural documentaries
with a light and at times gripping tone that’s always engaging making it for me
the best show on TV. This very delayed Xmas special is a journey from the south
of Burma (Myanmar) up through the country through it’s area of civil war to
northern Thailand to build a bridge over the River Kwai using three lorries
bought over the internet.
On the surface it is a fine concept for the latest special
but the first part airing last Sunday reveals where it has gone wrong this
year. The formula usually works well but this year they are struggling to
derive much humour or even new challenges with this special relying on recycled
bits from earlier specials. For example the jungle roads from the Bolivia Special,
the dangers of night time driving from the India Special or the state of remote
roadside motels from last year’s Africa Special. A lot of the jokes are far
more scripted and noticeably fake than previous years such as the use of horses
to get petrol at one point or Hammond trying to get his very high truck down a
narrow street of low lying wires. None of the natural, spontaneous problems
that arise in other Specials but a series of well-orchestrated mishaps. The
first part crams in a lot of challenges but never seems to allow them to pay
off, rushing through them without much humour and borders on elliptical as each
problem with their lorries’ engines are miraculously fixed without much delay
and without any tension that their vehicle might have broken permanently.
The choice of Burma is slightly ill fitting as it lacks the
inherent and unique challenges of previous specials such as the danger of insurgency
in Iraq in the classic Middle East Special, the dry salt pans of the Botswana
Special or the chaotic inner city travel of Mumbai in the India Special. This special features the least engagement
with the local people seen in a Top Gear special since the Polar Special.
The best part of the Burma Special, oddly for a TG special
is after the journey is complete and they must start work on the 60 metre
bamboo bridge. At this point the laughs are bigger with Hammond floating down
river, Jeremy’s crane collapsing on its side in a very dangerous but real
moment and James falling from his suspended tent into the River Kok. These gags
are far funnier than any of the mishaps encountered along the way like the
party in the Shan rebel camp, with it’s blatant Apocalypse Now references.
Verdict; In
essence it is a rushed repeat of gags and challenges of other specials, the
team dawdling about mishap after mishap till they get to the bridge making when
it is back to classic Top Gear fun; This could have just been Top Gear Makes a
Bridge extending the 30 minutes into the whole 2 hour slot considering the
pointlessness of the journey they took to get there. It is a shame that it
takes an hour and half before the special becomes enjoyable, but it ends on a
tense and triumphant climax that only Top Gear can do.
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