16 replies to this topic

[SnideAsides]

Starts April 11.

Credits. Among the stock footage recycled from the American credits is plentiful stock footage of a city they have yet to visit, meaning it's probably a mild spoiler, so beware if you're not into that sort of thing.

[WileyCoyote]

Norway is the size of Montana. So... just to be clear, this isn't racing AROUND Norway, right? Its just Norwegians doing the usual "race around the world" thing, yes?

[SnideAsides]

Yes, it's a proper race around the world. The spoilery city I mentioned is well and truly in the Southern Hemisphere - as the crow flies, almost 16000 kilometres from Oslo.

By the way, the host is apparently former Norwegian domestic soccer player Freddy dos Santos. So he's not quite as famous as Grant Bowler (Australia's host) or Dustin "I Was In 21 Jump Street BEFORE Jonah Hill Ruined It" Nguyen (Vietnam's host), but he's still a less random choice than Allan Wu was when TAR Asia began. Barely.

Edit: In other news: Shecky's Revenge. Looks like it's just going to be a copy of the "You ride the camel, your partner hikes next to it" Road Block from the first American season, but... wow. Just wow.

Edited by SnideAsides, Mar 26, 2012 @ 4:54 AM.

[legaleagle44]

I speak a bit of Norwegian, so this will be a good test of MY endurance when it comes to keeping up with what's being said (since this show will be in Norwegian and without English subtitles.)

Incidentally, I saw the introduction of the teams on YouTube, and I was fascinated by the fact that we've got a pair of third cousins racing together, plus a lesbian team. Props to Norway for thinking outside the box a bit in terms of its casting, unlike certain other versions (Australia, I'm looking at you.)

[SnideAsides]

Props to Norway for thinking outside the box a bit in terms of its casting, unlike certain other versions (Australia, I'm looking at you.)

*snort* Australia really put themselves in a box by not casting any (unambiguously) same-sex-attracted racers last year, didn't they? Either they do it this year and it comes across as a tokenistic attempt to placate a loud minority, or they don't do it this year and it comes across as though the producers have an anti-gay agenda. Or they cast a gay asshole like Survivor's Colton and it comes across as both. At least the Norwegians are starting from an interesting standpoint, which improves their position for future seasons significantly.

Also, now that I've figured out how to work around the lack of a spoiler button,

Spoiler

FUCK YEAH MELBOURNE

.

Edit: It's going to be interesting to see how much of the episodes are actually in Norwegian, because it seems most if not all communication with locals will be in English. Obviously, it makes no sense for the teams to talk to each other in English, but if the producers want to shop the version internationally to counter the show's costs you never know. Of course, the main party interested is likely to be Australia's SBS (who have tried to get TAR Asia and TAR Israel in the past), and their subtitlers are amazing.

Edited by SnideAsides, Mar 26, 2012 @ 12:33 PM.

[LaTaupe]

I've been in touch with someone from Norway on another forum who says he's willing to try to subtitle the show in English. :) (Pretty awesome imo! :))
I've been able to help him out a bit since I had some experience on how to subtitle, and it seems he's been in touch with some people who will probably have the episode up on youtube. (One of the more wellknown channels ;-))
They said they were willing to work together.

I know it's a LOT of work though especially for just one person but it would be great if he tries even I think because it would make watching the show even more amazing. :)

Obviously the subtitling may take some time but I think it might be worth the wait or otherwise watch again with subs. :)

[legaleagle44]

I just watched the first episode, and I think this is going to be an interesting entry in the franchise, the current lack of subtitles notwithstanding (no need to rush there, LaTaupe!) ;)

Thanks to Wikipedia, there's a brief description of the tasks that were required during this first leg (which, surprisingly, was a non-elimination leg, although I couldn't make out what the penalty is going to be for this particular version.)

The only thing I didn't care for was the "go here, get your clue, then go there, get the REAL clue, and then do the task" nature of the leg. That just always seems like a waste of time to me.

Another surprise was that we had the same pre-race elimination that we had on TAR US a few seasons ago, which led to Kenneth and Hassan's elimination at Oslo Airport before the race even started. And yes, there are some recycled tasks, the camel ride (or, as SnideAsides so aptly called it, "Shecky's Revenge") and the waterslide task in Dubai (or, as I like to call it, "Mika's worst nightmare.")

Here, by the way, are some handy Norwegian words: Veivalg (Detour), Veisperring (Roadblock), and Snarvel (Fast Forward.)

I do have one question for anyone who speaks Norwegian better than I do (which isn't hard to do, trust me!): The father-daughter team incurred a time penalty that almost got them eliminated from the race (or would have, if it hadn't been a non-elimination leg), but I couldn't figure out what they had done to incur the penalty. Exactly what happened?

Edited by legaleagle44, Apr 15, 2012 @ 7:53 PM.

[SamB]

It was the married couple Kari & Bjørn who got the penalty at the end, not the father/daughter. When they have to go take a boat to the Gold Souk, they ended up getting a taxi there instead (hence the wandering around lost and then ending up on a boat and realising they were *at* the Souk already). It seems that they then just got the clue there as the other teams did, and continued, so they got the penalty for having taken a taxi, rather than the boat.

The twins did the same thing, except when getting on the boat at the wrong end like Bjørn and Kari did, they didn't realise it was wrong until they were halfway back across to the start point, so they did eventually end up taking the boat as instructed. Bjørn and Kari just realised they were wrong but didn't rectify the mistake, they just continued on.

[legaleagle44]

Ah, tak så mye, SamB! I'm working harder on improving my Norwegian so I can keep up with what's going on.

Were there any other details that I missed? I completely missed, for example, the fact that there was a starting-line elimination like the one that TAR US had a few seasons ago.

What's the reaction to the show been like in Norway?

[SamB]

I can't answer that I'm afraid - I'm not Norwegian! I'm British, and learning Norwegian, so watching this show online as a way to improve my language comprehension abilities. The start-line elimination confused me too, as I hadn't figured out that it was the last to get a clue in the airport who lost, rather than the last to complete the task.

Overall a promising first episode, I'm looking forward to more!

[TDWT Kristen]

Incidentally, I saw the introduction of the teams on YouTube, and I was fascinated by the fact that we've got a pair of third cousins racing together, plus a lesbian team.

What? Who are the third cousins? And Martha & Elise can't be the lesbian team since I could definitely translate their relationship tag as sisters. So that leaves only Julie & Vichy and Cathrine & Michelle. Which of them is that one?

[SamB]

Julie and Vichy are the lesbians (or rather, are just described as a couple - Kjærestepar), and the third cousins (Firmenninger) are Pål Christian and Ivar. See this page for an overview of all the teams - http://www.tv2.no/un...ne-3674875.html

[legaleagle44]

The thing is, though, that "Kjærestepar" has a definite romantic connotation ("kjæreste" is Norwegian for "sweetheart," "boyfriend," or "girlfriend," depending upon the context.) The meaning, therefore, is that Julie and Vichy are indeed a lesbian couple (by the way, did anyone notice them doing a Guido-esque toast during their introduction? I wonder if they'll turn out to be as deliciously evil as the Guidos were.)

[SamB]

Sorry, that is what I was trying to explain about Julie and Vichy, just not very well! I just meant it doesn't say 'lesbians' on screen, or 'gay couple' or anything like that :)

And I hope they can be as evil as the Guidos. There's something about them that makes me feel like it might be the case too!

[legaleagle44]

I just caught up with Episodes 2 and 3, and there are a couple of interesting things that I've noticed that this version does that sets it apart from the other versions, in my opinion.

First, this version's idea of a Speed Bump (which this version refers to as a "Handicap") is simply to increase the difficulty level of one of the regular tasks for the team who cam in last during the previous NEL. Thus, while everyone else had to make 50 dung cakes and stack 200 of them at the Kachpura Village, Martha and Elise (the sisters) had to make 75 dung cakes and stack 300 of them.

Second, this version doesn't use greeters at the Pit Stop. I have to wonder why that is.

[SnideAsides]

I really like their penalty. Seems like an easy way of doing a Speed Bump without having to design, stage, and explain an extra task, and it's a clear disadvantage on its own without travel time to the Speed Bump being an issue. (Plus, it means it's less likely we'll get "wait there for X minutes" tasks like the US version seems to love.)

[SnideAsides]

This season is very quickly turning into the best one since at least the first TAR Asia. They even managed to make India and Thailand feel new!