Long Way Down - Special Edition (3 Discs, 10 Episodes)

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Customer reviews

review by: Avid reader and published writer date: 2008-12-03 rating:
Bring on the next adventure!
This documentary is great entertainment. I read the book before watching this and was pleased to note that they seem to have told some different stories in the book to the ones that have been shown in the final edit of the DVD. So it wasn't at all repetitive. I think in the DVD they seem to have cut out footage of their charity visits, but this could well be because they weren't allowed to film, and because the guys all found the visits quite emotional and wouldn't necessarily want this shown. But whatever their reasons, I feel that having read the book and watched this DVD, I have a fairly full knowledge of what happened.

The DVD seems to focus more on disputes between the people on the trip, and in particular the fact that Ewan's wife, Eve, wanted to join them on the trip for a short while. This seemed a real bone of contention between the guys, and you can absolutely see why. All the fun and camaraderie between the guys seemed to disappear when Eve was on the scene. Her personality just didn't lend to the light-heartedness of the atmosphere and I was glad they didn't show much footage of her visit, it just wasn't as jolly and adventurous. Though it did crack me up when she kept falling off the bike!

Overall, there's not much else you can say about this. If you're interested in this kind of thing, it's great. Long Way Down is beautifully produced, great fun and makes you jealous of their adventure. But it also raises awareness of poverty and other problems throughout the world so that's just another tick in the box.

This is a great gift for motorbike fans and adventurers... or both!

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review by: date: 2008-11-27 rating:
One big ego trip
This series comes a very poor second to the tales of genuine mororcycle traveller/explorers such as Ted Simon and Lois Pryce. The first few episodes are primarily about the massive egos of the travellers, with minimal focus on the journey or the people or countries they meet. Backed by huge budgets and continuously monitored by a team of baby-sitters in 4x4s, this series leaves me cold.

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review by: date: 2008-11-11 rating:
Still a great adventure!
I only bought this DVD after watching the first few episodes on NatGeo. I didn't plan on watching it after reading the bad reviews here. But I loved Long Way Round and knew I just had to watch these two guys again.

The first big criticism abt this series must be Eve's (Ewan's wife) out-of-the-blue decision to join them. As a woman I was slightly embarrassed for her because she had never even ridden a motorcycle before! It didn't help that Ewan was gleeful of the prospect and I felt exactly what Charlie must have felt - oh gooooooood! It all seemed like too much of an indulgence on Ewan's side and Eve looked like a clueless and spoilt, bored housewife. However, what most reviewers did not say is that she only joined for a short section of the journey - thankfully on a realistically easy route from Malawi. Despite my earlier apprehension, I have to say that she did remarkably well and didn't whine and whinge despite falling off her bike riding on the sand. And everyone was very gracious about her being there. That said, I did think it was a bit much to have Charley riding on his own (on one section) while Ewan took Eve on an easier route. But Charley was a real sport and didn't bitch about it, which I though showed why he and Ewan are best mates. If the McGregor decide to go on another bike trip together, they should save it for a trip all on its own. Leave the two lads to go on with their own adventure!!

Second criticism about the show being too commercial is I think being a tad unfair considering how much it must cost to embark on such a journey. Despite the trip being on the poorest continent in the world, the places they stayed at (lodges and hotels) charge prime rate (unless they're all part of the freebies). No one claimed that they were going to do this on backpacker's budget! But neither was it Hollywood-budget!

The thing that stuck to me the most was that there was a bit when Charley and Ewan had a huge bust up which they decided not to show on film. I was in two minds about this. One one hand I think it was a relief they didn't go the "reality tv" route and air all their dirty laundry - this kept the dignity and integrity of the show I think. But on the other hand, it was a missed opportunity and the programme after that just seemed to skim the surface of their friendship. We see them laughing and joking a lot but it certainly would have been intriguing to see another side to their relationship. Still, all credit to them for kissing and making up!

The second and third leg of the journey were certainly more "involved" - the first leg (from Scotland to Sudan) was them just plowing through. But I liked that they realised this hence they took more time to see and experience Africa afterwards. I did think the arrival in Cape Town was a bit of an anti-climax. Not sure why but it just seemed that way. And why do we see Charley reunited with his wife and kids, but no Eve for Ewan? No one mentioned this at all. Just seemed another production hole!

I liked the extras but I wished they had done the same (as they did for Long Way Round) and did reactions about the trip months afterward (not just about the various charities they got involved with afterwards). I would have liked to hear more about Eve's involvement in the trip and hear if she thought it was a good idea and would she continue biking! Even going on a trip herself!

I love love love Ewan and Charlie because I think they are such decent and fun fun chaps!! Sooooo looking forward to Long Way Up!!! And they still have India and South East Asia to tackle!

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review by: date: 2008-11-07 rating:
Better than the Standard 2 Disc Edition
I wrote a review on the first DVD set of this documentary in which I gave it 3 stars because of how little footage there seemed to be. Thankfully having the extra 3 episodes and the extra footage in the other episodes have helped the programme greatly.

There have been complaints about how much the support team, which consisted of Russ & David (producers), Dai (medic), Claudio (who rode with Ewan & Charley), Jimmy & Jim (cameramen + Jim dealt with security), featured in this sequel to Long Way Round. However what seems to have been forgotten is that for the majority of the trip they weren't traveling through the relative safety of Europe, Russia and America, like LWR, instead they traveled through areas which are notoriously unsafe for foreigners - Southern Egypt, Sudan, Northern Kenya are a couple of examples. (For reference this year's (2008) Dakar Rally was cancelled due to security fears). Due to this potential risk it meant that they had to ride/drive as a group for a fair amount of the North African leg plus it was a requirement from the Tourism Offices of several of the countries visited, the Libyan stage is a perfect example. Personally I found it provided a different dynamic which added to the whole programme.

Overall I found it to be a good series, not as good as LWR, but still gave a taste of what's out there and for those who have a thirst for knowledge and travel this is definately worth a watch.


review by: date: 2008-10-08 rating:
Let down by massive support team
The concept for this series is fantastic; two men on bikes across Africa from north to south. Except it isn't two men on bikes, it's let down by a unnecessarily large entourage following them around, at times it feels like the circus is coming to town!

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Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Editions (feature_two_browse-bin) . Box Set
Video . DVD & VHS . Refinements . Region(feature_browse-bin) . Region 2

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