Top Gear Season 22 & Xmas Special

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opstrat said:
are people saying that top gear who have been accused twice before for racial slur did not intentionally put a licence plate on a car that reads H982 FKL and drive it through Argentina?
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gurdas said:
You have to be incredibly naive to think the plate was a coincidence.
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So you guys are saying that in an effort to annoy Argentina the TG crew travelled back to 1991, committed espionage at the DVLA to make sure that the plate ended up on a car that would be put up for sale in 2013, then made sure nobody bought the car until they did in 2014, and then concocted the whole V8 challenge just so they could use it to annoy the Argentinians?

Wouldn't a more logical explanation be their one that the oldest member of the team who buy/check/ship the cars was 6 years old when the war ended in 1982, and nobody noticed anything until filming had started?
 
opstrat said:
so what, just because the Germans didn't riot that means the argies don't have right to?
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Yeah, exactly that.

ubersonic said:
So you guys are saying that in an effort to annoy Argentina the TG crew travelled back to 1991, committed espionage at the DVLA to make sure that the plate ended up on a car that would be put up for sale in 2013, then made sure nobody bought the car until they did in 2014, and then concocted the whole V8 challenge just so they could use it to annoy the Argentinians?

Wouldn't a more logical explanation be their one that the oldest member of the team who buy/check/ship the cars was 6 years old when the war ended in 1982, and nobody noticed anything until filming had started?
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Don't be ridiculous, the whole thing was based around this football match and diplomacy, of course they knew full well about it.
 
Clarkey said:
Don't be ridiculous, the whole thing was based around this football match and diplomacy, of course they knew full well about it.
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I'm sorry but can you please explain why you believe the official story is ridiculous? especially as I have just shown how completely sensible it is when put next to the conspiracy nonsense?


Kamerad said:
A poor excuse for being ignorant of world history if true.
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The thing is, it's not really that historically significant, hence why they don't even mention it in schools. Most people who were children/young at the time can't tell you anything about the Falklands war except that we won, hell most people who were children/young at the time can't tell you much about the first Iraq war or the dissolution of Yugoslavia (and which countries it became) and they happened in the 1990's (most people couldn't even say for definate we were involved in both wars). Until this media thing with TG I didn't even know the Falklands war happened in 1982 and I'm not exactly stupid/uneducated, I knew all about why it happened, the story with the Vulcans, the ships and "Gotcha", etc.
 
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ubersonic said:
I'm sorry but can you please explain why you believe the official story is ridiculous? especially as I have just shown how completely sensible it is when put next to the conspiracy nonsense?
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i don't believe for a minute that a British motoring show took a car to Argentina with a licence plate with the year of the Falklands conflict and the initials of Falklands was purely a coincidence. Stephen hawking couldn't even calculate those odds.
 
opstrat said:
i don't believe for a minute that a British motoring show took a car to Argentina with a licence plate with the year of the Falklands conflict and the initials of Falklands was purely a coincidence. Stephen hawking couldn't even calculate those odds.
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Okay, firstly the initials of the Falklands Isles are FK or FKI, not FLK. Secondly the odds are actually not that high as mentioned in the previous thread on this, in fact it's the odds on them actually being able to set it up that would require Stephen Hawking.

Here is the statement from TG's producer at the time dispelling all myths and explaining just how silly the idea of it being a set up is:

The truth is, however, this is most definitely not the sort of stunt we’d pull. For starters we would not base a joke around soldiers in conflict. Anybody who knows Top Gear knows how much work the presenters and the show does for Help For Heroes, and in our eyes soldiers are soldiers whatever the uniform.

Secondly, we set out on that trip to shoot a two-hour Christmas Special. It’s the most important film we make all year, and we would not plan such a crucial undertaking based on a number plate joke. Because, if you think about it for a moment, that’s precisely what we would have had to do.

We would have had to gather the whole team and say: “Sod what the cars are for this trip, just find one that’s registered with a number plate containing 982 and FKL.” The plate was a genuine plate, remember, not one we made up.

So our researchers would have got on the phone to the DVLA, asked them if such a car existed, and then when the DVLA came back and said, “There is, actually, on a Porsche 928,” we’d have then asked for the details of the owner. At this point the DVLA would have refused, because that would be a contravention of the Data Protection Act (and they don’t pass on requests the other way to specific owners). So let’s say we persevere and obtain, probably illegally, the details of the owner of that car. Then what? Then we would have to knock on his door and try and persuade him to sell us his car. And all this because we’re desperate to find a number plate with joke numbers and letters on it. It’s just nonsense beyond belief.

So let’s say we did know what cars we wanted for this shoot – V8 sports cars, as it happens. We would then be saying to the research team: “Make sure the Porsche has a number plate with that combination of numbers and letters.”

Right. Do you know how many Porsche 928GTs there were for sale when we were looking? Two or three, tops. The odds of one having the number plate we “wanted” are millions to one. The plate was genuine, remember, not one we had made up.
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opstrat said:
are people saying that top gear who have been accused twice before for racial slur did not intentionally put a licence plate on a car that reads H982 FKL and drive it through Argentina?
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Your not mentioning that the material for one of those accusations wasn't aired and the other one was highly debatable and only got pushed when the daily fail etc took it upon their moral high (hypocritical) horses. Its not like they were going out of their way on either cases to offend.

Are you suggesting they knew that plate existed, luck would have it, it was a v8 on a car that Clarkson liked (personal story from ep 1) and then they drive through most of Argentina perfectly fine and then intentionally bribe police and a mob to act that way whilst endangering people and their own jobs? :rolleyes:

I think unfortunately they have become a target for the uniquely odd mix of anti BBC wallahs (public money rarara, bad management to employ.someone so popular) and nanny staters who will write in and complain a week or so later without even watching the show on the back of a daily mail/mumsnet invented fuss
 
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TheVoice said:
It's "hardly implausible" that someone on the Top Gear production team knew about an old grey Porsche with a numberplate that could be interpreted as a reference to the Falklands war, and that said car happened to be for sale at the time of needing a car for an episode filmed in the Falklands?

Really? I'm coming at this with an open mind despite having already formed my own opinion, but even I can't see a convincing argument for it being deliberate other than "Well that's just what they do innit".



He also said that it was the same car that got him to his dad's deathbed in time to say goodbye. Perhaps that had something to do with why he had a 928? It seems unlikely any of them went out shopping for their own cars.
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He didn't say he used that exact porshe 928. He said at the time he was given one for testing that he used to drive to hospital.
 
Stuff all this debate, why are they doing this to that Esprit? :(

And I know the Mustang was a dog and the 928 isn't uber valuable, but why did they turn them into trucks :( They're not Ford Escorts :(
 
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ubersonic said:
Okay, firstly the initials of the Falklands Isles are FK or FKI, not FLK. Secondly the odds are actually not that high as mentioned in the previous thread on this, in fact it's the odds on them actually being able to set it up that would require Stephen Hawking.

Here is the statement from TG's producer at the time dispelling all myths and explaining just how silly the idea of it being a set up is:
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Shock horror that the media might be lying to cover their tracks:eek:

It's exactly the kind of gag Top Gear would go for. Just like the subtle reference to the "slope on a bridge" joke (which by the way I do think JC meant, again naivety to assume he was actually referring to a sloped bridge......
 
Silly show does silly things for entertainment purposes, citizens of country that was silly enough to invade soverign british territory and get repelled get upset.

No big deal from my point of view, the argentines have been keeping the Falklands a big domestic issue ever since, their reaction was way OTT.


The episode in whole was a bit silly, which given TG hasn't been a serious car show for years is no surprise.

The irony of all this is that TG has a large following in Argentina as they do in many far flung places!
 
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gurdas said:
Shock horror that the media might be lying to cover their tracks:eek:
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Why would the media cover the tracks of a few television presenters? or any ones tracks for that matter? If there is a story they will exploit it, much like they have in this case already.
 
Scania said:
The irony of all this is that TG has a large following in Argentina as they do in many far flung places!
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To be fair the "protestors" in the end were not indicative of the average Argentinian, they were like their EDL. Most Argentinian viewers were probably ashamed/embarrassed by their actions.
 
gurdas said:
They are the media genius.....
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They are a bunch television producers and presenters that have a lot of people to answer to. While they do technically work in media industry they are not part of the communicative media capable of creating the spin that you were insinuating.
 
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