Top Gear

dont know who the girl is but tonight was a good episode

I'm loving the ref's to how much The Stig now hates Rubens Barrichello! lol.

(26-06-2010 22:02 )vostok 1 Wrote:  Thanks for the reminder Rascal.
I'm not sure the page 3 girl in the link really qualifies as a "star" compared to previous Stars in a reasonably priced car such as Roger Daltrey, Patrick Stewart, Lionel Richie, Ranulph Fiennes, Christian Slater, Eddie Izzard, Stephen Fry, David Soul, Michael Gambon, Simon Cowell, Gordon Ramsay, Peter Firth, Eric Bana, Hugh Grant, Ewan McGregor, Simon Pegg, Mark Wahlberg, Jay Leno, Sienna Miller, Ray Winstone, Tom Jones, Guy Ritchie, Dame Helen Mirren, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lewis Hamilton, etc.

She is great looking and I'm sure she is a nice person, but not what you would normally call a "star"...

I hope they feature the SLS AMG this series.

Good point Vostok.The word "star" and "celebrity" are the most over and incorrectly used words in the English Language these days.

(28-06-2010 18:52 )lucent-x Wrote:  

(27-06-2010 21:43 )Censorship :-( Wrote:  Predictable and contrived...

Sadly Top Gear has been going more and more in that direction for the past few series.

(27-06-2010 21:43 )Censorship :-( Wrote:  ...but I found Jeremy's 'adventures' in the Reliant Robin utterly hilarious; then again, maybe I'm easily amused?

But then again Predictable and contrived can be funny.



I thought it was a good start to the series, not a classic episode by any means, but a steady start.

Although they joked about Top Gear being more serious with less cocking about I actually think - and hope - it will be. If there's one thing that's driven me mad about Top Gear over the last few years it's the, at times, absurd setup and scripting of it. I don't mind it being scripted as long as it's natural. This is a show that won an Emmy for "best unscripted programme", which Clarkson couldn't be there to collect as he said he was 'busy writing the script for that week's show'.

I just want the natural chemistry and humour back between the lads, a shit load of expensive metal on show and more awesome cinematography and beautifully shot films from Producer/Genius Andy Wilman.

Just reading through this thread and thought I would add my 2 pennorth worth....

I worked for BMW for a few years and went on many "jollies" with the company which were always very good and well run .

One of these was a few months after the launch of the X3 and the discussion of Clarkson's dislike of the BMW brand particularly in light of his "trashing" of the X3 on the programme which resulted in dealers receiving order cancellations(happpened in the dealership I worked in)
At this particular event we had the head of marketing in our "syndicate" group and we talked to him about the X3 situation.Here's what he said(roughly it was about 6 years ago)

1-Clarkson contacts BMW before X3 launch and requests a free car for his wife to drive around in
2-BMW refuse "free" car but will offer him cost price terms on an X3 for his wife.
3-He refuses
4-X3 features on Top Gear Clarkson trashes it and puts it through a number of tests really only suited to dedicated 4X4s of which the X3 was never supposed to be.
5-Cancellations flood in
6-Marketing manager from BMW phones BBC and talks to Producer & Clarkson who state
"Top Gear is primarily an entertainment programme and should not be used by viewers to make buying decisions"

Interestingly Clarkson is the highest paid motoring journalist in the world and has in the past had "free" cars from Jaguar and Merc(Who says you can't be bought?)

In fairness Clarkson is very witty and writes excellent articles.Recently he has become less funny as he strives to be funnier both on screen and on the written page but there you go.

Another point during my time with BMW all dealerships were issued with a directive to refuse any requests from the programme "driven" for cars for tests are they caused a couple of thousand pounds damage to an M3 which they handed back without a word of apology.

I watch TG occasionally and though Capt Slow's trip to the volcano was one of the best features on the show for a longtime.Brilliant.

We all know the challenges are largely designed for Clarkson to win and that Hammond and May are really there as his stooges.In terestingly enough I was watching an old rerun on Dave a few weeks back and it was the show where James May made his debut.

Almost a completely different guy.Clearly he was told to "tone" it down as Clarkson was the star of the show as his whole delivery and attitude was very different to how he is now.Shame

(19-07-2010 11:24 )speedybert Wrote:  Just reading through this thread and thought I would add my 2 pennorth worth....

I worked for BMW for a few years and went on many "jollies" with the company which were always very good and well run .

One of these was a few months after the launch of the X3 and the discussion of Clarkson's dislike of the BMW brand particularly in light of his "trashing" of the X3 on the programme which resulted in dealers receiving order cancellations(happpened in the dealership I worked in)
At this particular event we had the head of marketing in our "syndicate" group and we talked to him about the X3 situation.Here's what he said(roughly it was about 6 years ago)

1-Clarkson contacts BMW before X3 launch and requests a free car for his wife to drive around in
2-BMW refuse "free" car but will offer him cost price terms on an X3 for his wife.
3-He refuses
4-X3 features on Top Gear Clarkson trashes it and puts it through a number of tests really only suited to dedicated 4X4s of which the X3 was never supposed to be.
5-Cancellations flood in
6-Marketing manager from BMW phones BBC and talks to Producer & Clarkson who state
"Top Gear is primarily an entertainment programme and should not be used by viewers to make buying decisions"

Interestingly Clarkson is the highest paid motoring journalist in the world and has in the past had "free" cars from Jaguar and Merc(Who says you can't be bought?)

In fairness Clarkson is very witty and writes excellent articles.Recently he has become less funny as he strives to be funnier both on screen and on the written page but there you go.

Another point during my time with BMW all dealerships were issued with a directive to refuse any requests from the programme "driven" for cars for tests are they caused a couple of thousand pounds damage to an M3 which they handed back without a word of apology.

I watch TG occasionally and though Capt Slow's trip to the volcano was one of the best features on the show for a longtime.Brilliant.

We all know the challenges are largely designed for Clarkson to win and that Hammond and May are really there as his stooges.In terestingly enough I was watching an old rerun on Dave a few weeks back and it was the show where James May made his debut.

Almost a completely different guy.Clearly he was told to "tone" it down as Clarkson was the star of the show as his whole delivery and attitude was very different to how he is now.Shame

All three of them have become 'characters' now for every show, there's very little of the natural chemistry between them evident anymore. Hammond in particular has become increasingly annoying over the various series.

I fully agree with them that Top Gear is an entertainment show, and anybody who bases their buying choice on what they say is a moron. They have to keep things interesting, if people want a 'serious' review go and watch Fifth Gear, Top Gear is about entertainment and a big part of that is the 'quirky' nature of the scripts. Yes, they do say some ridiculous things about some cars, but I honestly don't believe that they (Clarkson) would trash a car for the reason/s given above. His reviews are his entirely subjective opinion, he has his likes and dislikes, and as full of stereotype and bias as they are, he says exactly what he thinks - but don't think for a second that he actually means everything he writes, he knows what people expect of him and that what he gives them. I like that, and that is the reason why Top Gear is so globally popular.

They do seem to be running out of ideas for challenges, some of the past ones have been epic, but they are getting a bit tired and predictable now. I still love Top Gear, but I think if it wasn't so beautifully filmed and edited then I might not be so bothered about tuning in each week. I give Top Gear a few more series before it either ends or goes on a long break.

I do think the series is in a bit of a decline, but that said, Sunday's was the best of the series

They've painted themselves into a corner with the challenges. One every so often is fine, one every week becomes predictable.

I don't really notice the scripting of it much, except after a while you start thinking about who's holding the camera, how many takes do they need to do the lines & drive, and so on. The Vintage Time-Trial rally was a good example where it was more obvious in its scriptedness, especially the stuff with the delectable Maddy Welch.

The repeats on Dave are still better than some "new" programmes.

Well Clarkson's dislike of all things Bavarian is legendary.I think like a lot of journalists he can be bought(his love of all things Jaguar bears this out.The cars for many years were awful,believe me I drove anything from XJR to X types to S types to XK8s most of which were horrible while he seemed to come from a different planet in that respect.The same planet that provides "free" high end Mercs

I hark back to the older Top Gear (which Clarkson was on which featured Tiff Needell(great driver his demo of the Ford Puma was extraordinary,Chris Goffey and the rest)in those days it was 30 minutes of great entertainment and more about the cars rather than the presenters.

(19-07-2010 11:24 )speedybert Wrote:  We all know the challenges are largely designed for Clarkson to win and that Hammond and May are really there as his stooges.In terestingly enough I was watching an old rerun on Dave a few weeks back and it was the show where James May made his debut.

Almost a completely different guy.Clearly he was told to "tone" it down as Clarkson was the star of the show as his whole delivery and attitude was very different to how he is now.Shame

Clarkson, in a radio interview with Steve Wright, admitted that the three of them hate each other. And he wasn't saying it as a joke.

To be filed under "WTF"!!!

A softly spoken, smart, afro haired Clarkson giving a positive review for the Rover 800 and telling the viewer to drive in a safe a responsible manner!:

Hi

Just heads up but I have read on Sky Text and the Top Gear website that the stars in a reasonably priced car this weekend are 'ALLEGEDLY' TOM CRUISE and CAMERON DIAZ!! I'll believe when I see it!!