The Top Gear Thread

Long live Top Gear.

 

There is one more episode in this season.

I think this episode was the best of the season so far, by MILES. There are rumours that they are going to change the format of Top Gear, so there might be only one more series of the stupid scripted rubbish that they show, and more of real car testing etc. I hope they keep the challenges and the SITRPC, and the lap board but quite frankly the rest of it can go.

P.S. If you are a member of Facebook, please join this group. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=217697316191&ref=nf. Thanks!

 

Yeah it was, but it was pretty clear they weren't going to let the talent take a suicide drive down that hill. Hammond said throughout the episode that the brakes were shot... and then they showed up there.

He probably saw the hill and said "F that!".

 

Lots of people are complaining about the Land Rover incident. Yes, it is obviously scripted, but think about it for a second.

There is no way in hell Richard could drive it down that hill. It just wasn't going to happen because it was completely unsafe for him to even try. So rather than look at the camera and say that, they rolled it down the hill and the 7 year olds got a laugh out of it.

IMO, this was totally excusable. I knew the minute they showed that drop Richard wasn't driving down it.

... and yes, there is an episode on Sunday, highlight below for spoilery information...

Series director Andy Wilman calls Sunday's show "The Sh*t Show", due to the show having run out of money for this series. We kind of knew this was coming. They had told the fans that rather than lower the quality of the entire series to fit the new lower budget, they would instead make great shows and the last show in the series would have to get made with whatever they had left. From what Andy says they didn't have much.

That said, the final show for series 14 will feature, according to Wikipedia, the Lexus LFA, The SLS AMG, Vauxall VXR Insignia and the BMW X6 being tested in Australia, Barbados and Spain.

 

Just one more.

 

Yeah there are only 7 episodes in this series. Shame really, they seem to be going less and less every season.

 

i enjoy TOP GEAR. but they do need to get back to testing cars. why dodnt they do another test pitting similar year old exotics against each other? say a 911, that Jeremy can hate, a Lamborghini Jalpa, for James May, and a Ferrari 308 whatever for Hammond. and then they can actually drive them, and (gasp) test them. they did something similar with a 308gt4, a Maserati, and a Uracco. this would be a progression of a previous work.

maybe they could do the test in a place like Prague, or a sceneic part of Europe with really good roads. we know Jeremy will drop a piano on the 911 at some point.



ps : anybody on FCHAT been to a TOP GEAR show in person?

how hard is it to get in, and how much does it cost?

 

Yeah, that would be good to see again.

Not much chance of that I' am afraid, tickets are free but I think the waiting list used to be like 2 years or so. And that isn't an exaggeration. Don't know if it is that bad, but if you're serious then I'll put a link below which tells you more. I would love to go personally, but when I heard about the huge waiting list I gave up on that. Maybe I'll decide to go some other time. Unless you mean TG live on stage?

http://www.applausestore.com/applausestore-show-detail.php?id=15
http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/participate.shtml

Or for TG live on stage.

http://live.topgear.com/

 

I think i heard Jeremy saying the waiting list is over five years long?

 

TG forever. Best TV on.. TV. Even though I download it.

Long live torrents!

 

I don't remember that but you're probably right. Technically if everybody that watched Top Gear on TV wanted to be in the audience the waiting list be be 19 years. Or at least thats what Hammond said when Jezza tested the M5 and said the waiting list for one was 2 years.

 

Well... kinda...


Series 1 - 10 Episodes

Series 2 - 10 Episodes

Series 3 - 9 Episodes

Series 4 - 10 Episodes

Series 5 - 9 Episodes

Series 6 - 11 Episodes

Series 7 - 6 Episodes

Series 8 - 8 Episodes

Series 9 - 6 Episodes

Series 10 - 10 Episodes

Series 11 - 6 Episodes

Series 12 - 8 Episodes

Series 13 - 7 Episodes

Series 14 - 7 Episodes

 

I'll be surprised if the current format of Top Gear makes it past its 10th year, 2012. This format has peaked and it's getting time to put it away, let Top Gear have a holiday in the south of France for a year and then see what it looks like with a tan and some new presenters.

 

Yeah, the first 6 series in fact all had a quite high number of episodes in them then after that it just falls off a lot. The last season that had a decent amount of episodes was series 10. I think this is because all the presenters are starting to different shows and new projects to pass their time. They said they would only quit when the ratings are very low and they're not enjoying it anymore, and while the ratings have dropped a little it's not disastrous and you can still tell they all enjoy themselves.

Overall I don't think a slight change in format would be a bad thing, which will apparently will happen soon.

 

Can't wait for 1407.

 

Thye may go until 2012, but I do think we're much closer to the end of this version of Top Gear than many fans think.

I've really enjoyed the presenters' other shows, James May's 20th Century, Top Toys, My Sister's Top Toys and Toy Stories, Richard's one-shot specials and Engineering Connections, and of course Jeremy's endless series of Top Gear-flavored DVDs.

If you haven't seen them, find them.

I also like to see Jeremy on Stephen Fry's QI... one of the best shows on TV, IMO...

 

I agree with all of that.

 

TopGear and QI.. the two programmes i watch.... thats it, the rest of the licenece is wasted!

Meanwhile, check this site out... nice bit with Herr Schumacher playing in his FXX

http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/behind-the-scenes-1?VideoBrowserMode=categories&VideoCategory=OutTakes

 

Have you been watching QI XL? They're 15 minutes longer than regular QI... I've only been able to find the last two episodes, G5 and G6, in the longer format. Have they been doing this for a while, or did they just start?

 

They have only been doing it in the last series... they tend to be the 'total filming output' from the shows rather than the 'edited down - made for the half hour slot' ones...

Although its difficult trying to keep up with them at the moment as all of them are being randomly repeated on DAVE (a digital channel) as well and its quiet strange to see two episodes back to back from different series where Stephen Fry wieghts 20 stone in one and 14 in the next such was his recent shedding of excess fat!

 

I have just caught up to Series G myself. A Kiwi friend and I each download the shows and then we watch at the same time and comment over an instant messenger, so we've actually gotten to watch Stephen shrink and shrink! LOL!

I'll have to look for the XL versions of G1 thu G4, thanks!