LAST EDITED ON 03-08-10 AT 11:05 AM (EST)

For notes on leg construction, task design, course layout, camera work, and the other elements which go into the actual assembly of the Race. Last night's episode had a few positives and negatives -- enough to push this thread into existence. It's sort of a behind-the-scenes GUFU with occasional praise, so it shouldn't take more than six seconds to die.

In Hamburg:

Clap The return of last season's highly entertaining All Night Long leg, only conducted in a region with more nightlife to get lost in. Does anyone really know what time it is? Do we have any idea how long people have been awake? No, just that it's still night and they're going to keep running until they find a Pit Stop or fall over. We should have one of these every season.

Slap What time is it, anyway? The giant bunch point of the cross-continental flights might have negated any initial temporal lag between teams, but it always helps to know what the gaps were on the last finish. Last night's opening refused to give us any help at all: here are Jet & Cord opening their clue, and here we are at the airport. Oh, and here's hoping you weren't listening for a money count. Similarly, flight arrival times could have been hours or years apart for all we knew, and the trains? Yeah, right: the trains... Did the money spent on the Intersection graphics knock out the onscreen clock budget?

Slap So who wants to watch multiple teams of desperately sick Racers staggering around the course, clutching at their stomachs and looking for a quiet camera-ready place to die? Overdosing on sauerkraut and beer on top of upset body rhythms triggered by the flight? Sure, that's going to make for a pretty picture in the morning. This had better be a thirty-six hour Pit Stop, because twelve will only bring us to the middle of the dry heaves.

Slap For some strange reason, I don't think that was non-alcoholic beer. It would have been the responsible way to go, not to mention the most careful one -- but what were the odds? Low. Really low. Lower than everyone's blood alcohol level leaving the bar, because that much beer in a short time will send you into the Soused Zone. Admittedly, the placement of the drinking within the leg was done with an eye towards saving the world from the teams: right near the end, no driving yourself after, and nothing more complicated than finding an address left to do -- but you never want drunk Racers. Drunk Racers are a recipe for disaster, and the producers were lucky not to get one.

However, if that was non-alcoholic beer, then the only problem is drinking that kind of liquid volume in a hurry -- still not good for your health. (It's a question I'd love to see asked in an interview.)

Clap The camera work in the red-light district made the area look beautifully surreal: Wonderland with an adults-only access requirement. Taking the time to show the area's link to the Beatles was a major plus (and the statues themselves were a fantastic piece of work). Most of the Racers get a Slap for not seeming to notice or appreciate the area, and no one appeared to recognize the historical significance of their location -- but for Production to include that piece of music lore was a classic way to finish the leg.

Slap Can we get a Beatles tribute band that knows more than one song? And can that song be a little more appropriate to the setting? Not a good time to be singing about minutes...