Top Gear New Series

[Ryan]

^As I said - "presented on television". If she's smarter than that in real life then fine but all she could do was pick on James' hair and generally get in the way.

That's what she was supposed to do. None of the guys were meant to get any help from their co-drivers.

I love Top Gear but there's no denying it's scripted to a very high degree. That the dumb blonde bit was fake or an exaggeration wouldn't surprise me one bit. Hell, I half suspect Clarkson purposely blew the race.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

That's the best part of Top Gear. You know full well there's a script, but you're never quite sure which bits are scripted. And even the obviously scripted bits are usually good or funny enough that it doesn't even matter.

 

[Captain Shaw]

I know the show is scripted but they have said they never fake the result of a race.
How ever i have been told that even though they said James won he came 34th and Jeremy came 30th?

 

[FordSVT]

^Well duh, he "won" against the Top Gear guys, but they were technically in a race against other drivers in actual race cars. I'd imagine the only people in their company at the end of the race would the the DNF cars.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I thought the Beeb weren't allowed to advertise...

But what a punchline!

And Leno!

 

[payndz201]

I don't care how scripted the show is, I still burst out laughing at the cheerfully graphic 'suicide' advert. Yes, I'm sick. (And I bet some Mary Whitehouse type will complain about them showing it before the watershed.)

If not for the fact that I knew there's another season on the way (with the Italian Job stuff), the final piece would have seemed awfully like a goodbye for the show itself...

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I still wonder if the show should be re-edited into a sitcom for the international markets...

 

[Captain Shaw]

The ads had me laughing waiting for the daily mail to go off on one now.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

The ads had me laughing waiting for the daily mail to go off on one now.

This week's episode had me laughing out loud more than the others, especially with the ad campaign skit.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

That was a good final episode. Leno was quality and I love any and all Cool Wall.

That last segment though... wow. What a bizarre way to end.

 

[thedude]

That was a good final episode. Leno was quality and I love any and all Cool Wall.

That last segment though... wow. What a bizarre way to end.

Agreed... I just finished watching the episode... I'm not sure what to say about that Aston sequence... was that the music from the end of Crash? Sounded like it... or some other movie like that.

I'm not too keen on this season... all the past series I've had something I remember, and can go back and watch anytime... the insane races, the crazy challenges... some ridiculous car going around the track... but this season... I just don't know. The FXX was stunning, sure... but to claim the Stig is Schumacher... come on. Bolt's segment was ok. But come on, the Mail vs. the squashed Cayenne? The Evo vs. the Royal Army? Really? Is this what Top Gear has come to? The most memorable part of the whole season for me was the pissing on Sputnik story... that's what I'll take away. I hope that they pick it up with the next series, and get back to the insane stuff we're used too, the funny banter between the guys, and just the downright awesomeness that is Top Gear. If they don't... I might have to go download Fifth Gear... (just kidding, but still)

 

[Sheep]

That last segment scared me to death when Clarkson started talking about feeling like he's driving an ending. I kept waiting for him to go into his "powerrrrrrrrrr!" schtick but it never came. By the end of that segment I was fully expecting him to announce that Top Gear was over, although the realist in me knew that'd be all over the internet if it were the case.

 

[Australis]

Still catching up on this series. Just wanted to say the whole "Jaaaaagg" bit had me in stitches, it was so Terry-Thomas and a bunch of other cads and bounders probably driving round Britain today.

 

[StolenThunder]

I've enjoyed this season. I think a few duff features here and there but every episode has been entertaining. I don't quite know where the worries about the show ending come from: it's still popular, the three of them are still well paid, and they're still making cars.

 

[Hermiod]

^The worries come from the fact that the BBC are slashing budgets all over the place. Top Gear is an expensive show to make (though I imagine this is significantly offset by the international success of the show) so naturally people point to it as a possible victim.

 

[StolenThunder]

Possibly, but I think that they'd be highly reluctant to scrap Top Gear. As you said, it has international appeal and high viewer numbers. I expect they'd look to other areas long before.

 

[Lonemagpie]

What's all this "end" stuff? Do you mean that weird bit where for some reason Jeremy drove the Aston through the countryside without talking? I just didn't get that bit at all...

 

[Captain Shaw]

I was saying on another board after they have finished season 14 i am not sure if there will be a 15th series.
I don't think it will end be because of budget's cuts but because of age's and them running out of ideas.

I think the film at the end was saying that Jeremy think's that we will all be forced in to eco boxes.
I do not think things are quite that bad.
The oil is running out so they will have to come up with a new way of powering car's and at the moment the other way's are not working very well but when the car first came out it was a bit on the shit side.
But the men in white coats kept working till we got things like the DB9.
And i think men and women will keep on working in there shed's till they get electric or hydrogyn car that will run like a DB9.

 

[Geckothan]

I can't see the BBC cancelling one of their most successful shows any time soon..

 

[Emher]

Great to see Jay on and also great to see while they didn't have the Camaro on this season, they had the closest thing yet with the Maloo, which has the same engine, platform and pretty much the same weight.

As for the ending, I think it's just really the guys way of making a statement. That they want to send a message that we shouldn't get carried away in our crisises and ruin cars in the process. Also it is a possibility that cars with V12s will disappear. Perhaps it's also bit of a message to car developers to get cracking on alternative fuels even more and not just turn everything into hybrids.

Personally I love V8s and hope that trough entirely possible advances they and other bigger performance engines can get better mileage and be around for a while. But also car fans may have to accept that the future is something like the "hybrid sports package mentioned at this link: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/22/report-toyotas-hybrid-supra-successor-on-track-for-2011/

In any case Top Gear will be back for another season. But I love that they're doing a change of pace an trying to say something. Gods know I agree and I will be working hard to get my Camaro SS before they take the V8s out of them.