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RTTP: In 2004 Ewan McGregor decided to do a 20,000 mile motorcycle trip... and he made it into a TV show

Pikachu

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,402
I've never made a thread like this. I honestly still don't even know what LTTP and RTTP mean, I've just gathered from context that it seems LTTP is for things that are somewhat recent, and then RTTP is for really old things. So I chose that.

But I'm on the third episode of this show and I just need to make sure everyone knows this is a thing.

In 2004, Ewan McGregor, like, hot off the set from Star Wars and already world famous, decided with his friend that they wanted to ride motorcycles from England to New York City, going east. Then they were like,why don't we film it? Then they were like, why not get another guy to be a film crew? And why not just like, make this a TV show? And... they did?????????? And it's crazy????

The first two episodes are about them planning this trip months in advance. They try to get some sponsors so they can get new bikes for the trip, support vehicles for their producers, tools, camping equipment etc. They also decide to get some basic training in various things like Russian, basic combat in case they get mugged by shady mafia in Russia (I mean, for real. Like that is why they did the training), training for how to bribe an unofficial border checkpoint officer with an AK-47, etc.

Then on the third episode they get going. I just want to highlight that toward the end of this episode they're just riding in eastern Ukraine and they're like, huh we can't find a hotel to stay in tonight, what do we do? And some older guy on the highway is just like, stay with me tonight, and... they do???? And he shows them his Kalashnikovs and they sing music and they invite friends over???? And then the next morning the guy says hey want to see the bottom of the mine shaft (they're in a coal mining town) and they're like... hell yeah????????

This show is just so pure and I love it?????

Long_Way_Round.jpg
 
Darth Pinche

Darth Pinche

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,761
Yeah it's great! I actually met Ewan and he signed my copy of the book!
When you're done, check out the second trip through Africa. I heard they're doing another one with electric bikes.
 
DOBERMAN INC

DOBERMAN INC

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,993
Damn I totally forgot about this,I remember really enjoying it at the time.
Time for a rewatch I guess.
 
WaveBird

WaveBird

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,770
It's a fantastic little docuseries thing. I've bought it twice on DVD and twice again as presents through the years. I actually had a big map of the world covering an entire wall when I was in college entirely because of this. I wasn't as big of a fan of Long Way Down as I was Round but it's definitely worth watching as well.
 
TheMilkman

TheMilkman

Banned
Aug 30, 2019
473
I remember this mostly because of those Belstaff jackets they wore. Wanted one of their jackets ever since.
 
cognizant

cognizant

Member
Dec 19, 2017
13,756
Yeah I remember watching this when it came out, was pretty good. Goes to exotic locations around the world, but only almost dies in the US.
 
KushalaDaora

KushalaDaora

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,838
Pikachu said:
what LTTP and RTTP mean, I've just gathered from context that it seems LTTP is for things that are somewhat recent, and then RTTP is for really old things.
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LTTP means Late To The Party. Used for old stuff that you only recently consumed for the first time. Unfortunately LTTP in gaming side often for stuff that are not even 1 years old (FE Three House, really ?).

RTTP means Return To The Party. Its similar to LTTP, but for stuff that you already consumed before and only recently replayed/reread/rewatch.
 
TheXbox

TheXbox

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 29, 2017
6,560
This was an awesome series. I think the Mongolia episodes were my favorite. They also did a follow-up where they biked from Scotland to South Africa.
 
Loxley

Loxley

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,618
I remember watching both The Long Way Round and The Long Way Down back to back, they're both pretty incredible and fun to watch. The part in in Round where they have to get through Russia was pretty nuts.
They end up hitchhiking with a group of Russian truck drivers who, at one point, stop in the middle of nowhere to run into the woods and shoot a bear they just saw run across the road (because Russia). The whole thing upsets Ewan pretty badly since he's an animal rights activist. Then they have to get across this monstrous river with raging rapids and their truck nearly flips over, it's intense as hell.
 
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Gorger

Gorger

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,628
Norway
One of my favorite traveling TV-shows. I saw it when it came out, and I still remember it fondly so many years later. Long Way Down didn't quite live up to the first one, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Are there other traveling TV-shows similar to this that is recommendable?
 
OP
OP
Pikachu

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,402
Well, here I am. We're flying to Alaska now, boys.
 
OP
OP
Pikachu

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,402
I think what I loved most about this journey was Charley. I turned this on for the novelty of Ewan McGregor but Charley has just been a miracle blessing
 
OP
OP
Pikachu

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,402
Africa has been different, I think because of the sheer amount of people they've met - it's much less remote overall. But still a fun time.
 
.exe

.exe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,240
Used to watch this show on TV. Loved it. Do any of the streaming services have both series?
 
Ion Stream

Ion Stream

Member
Oct 31, 2017
398
Can't wait to watch The Long Way Up! As people have said I can't believed this came out in 2004. Both round and down were great series.
 
Praxis

Praxis

Sausage Tycoon
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,245
UK
I bought it on DVD a few years ago so I could watch it again, it's really good.

The follow up ones weren't sadly
 
Praxis

Praxis

Sausage Tycoon
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,245
UK
Gorger said:
One of my favorite traveling TV-shows. I saw it when it came out, and I still remember it fondly so many years later. Long Way Down didn't quite live up to the first one, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Are there other traveling TV-shows similar to this that is recommendable?
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Not quite the same, but I used to love Holidays in the Danger Zone and Cooking in the Danger Zone. Not sure if you can find them now though.

Vice also have a few docs that give me a similar travelling vibe, most notably the North Korea and Secret North Korean camps in Russia series.



 
Praxis

Praxis

Sausage Tycoon
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,245
UK
PRBoricua23 said:
Thanks for this! I just watched them both back to back. Absolutely fascinating how they live.
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Glad you enjoyed them. Here's a couple more

This one is about a journey into the jungle to get high on frogs



This one is much heavier, about the state of Afghanistan after the troop withdrawal. It's by Ben Anderson, one of my favourite documentary makers.

 
SolidChamp

SolidChamp

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,867
I remember this being absolutely fascinating.

I also remember this being the period when Ewan was growing out his beard for Sith to such a crazy extent because he was being sure there wasn't a repeat of the beard mishap from Clones. lol
 
OP
OP
Pikachu

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,402
By the way, Long Way Up started last month but it's on Apple TV so I'm never gonna see it.
 
OP
OP
Pikachu

Pikachu

Traded his Bone Marrow for Pizza
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,402
I finally watched Long Way Up.

It's over. I'm not crying you're crying

Round > Down > Up, but it really is just a magical series
 

Phinor

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,241
Pikachu said:
I think what I loved most about this journey was Charley. I turned this on for the novelty of Ewan McGregor but Charley has just been a miracle blessing
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Charley ended up making more travel and other documentaries after Long Way Round/Down. There's Race to Dakar about his entry to the Dakar Rally, then there's the By Any Means series (Ireland to Sydney & Sydney to Tokyo) in which he travels with Claudio from place to place, using various methods of travel. There's others too like Extreme Frontiers, but it's the By Any Means series that I quite enjoyed.

No idea where you can watch any of these though, Amazon Prime at least has something and some are on DVD.
 
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