[01x01] September 29th, 2008

[SL65]

http://www.finalgear.com/shows/topgearaus/1/1/



Well thats it, the first episode of Top Gear Australia has now officially aired!

What'd everyone think of it?! NOW's the appropriate time to judge it. So lets hear it!

And do remember - its not TG UK, even if it takes its format.


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[Tankslap]

Call me harsh, but I've turned it off already. Cox's voice goes through me like prune juice, and the fact they've picked presenters based on how closely they seem to match their UK counterparts really seems infantile. Cox banging on about paddle gearboxes in the same vein as Clarkson's "flappy paddle gearbox" rants shows how little the Australian producers think of their audience...

Cramming 4-5 fast cars onto the lap time board in one episode smacks of desperate credibility hunting, and the inclusion of the stretch Hummer drove the nail into the coffin.

In my opinion, which I expect to get panned for, this one goes into the same box as the US version of The Office.

The highlight for me was pink haired guy, obviously trying to get noticed and/or take attention away from his massive eyebrows...

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by SL65

And do remember - its not TG UK, even if it takes its format.

Emphasis on that. If you compare anything to TG UK of course it's going to be crap, so when voting in the poll please rate it on it's own merits or whatnot rather than comparing it to Top Gear. We can do that in another thread.

[jonathan102]

it was just like many other car shows, rubbish.
they tired to be funny, but failed miserablely.

if you compare it to other normal car shows, it probably did alright. (note: IMO all car shows other than TG are boring, and rubbish)
but if you compare it to TGUK, it was completely rubbish.

i doubt ill be watching it again.

[Clown]

Charlie Cox is annoying as hell.
His Porsche review was nothing but puns, and his conclusion of the car? Its a Porsche so it must be awesome.
I dont care how good the badge is, I want to know about the cars merits.

The show is not funny.
80% of the show was about soft roaders.
The test track has what? 1 camera!!
The music is rubbish.

It just has no focus.
Its not consumer orientated, its not entertaining.... its just nothing.

Did I meantion Charlie Cox is annoying as hell?

[dj.TAKA]

It wasnt that bad actually. Wasnt very funny tho.
I didn't like how they did the laps tho, a preview of the circuit would have been nice.

More Top Gear is always great TV, but its still a carbon copy. TGUK is miles ahead.
Next week should be good Holden v Ford.

[fbc]

Enjoyed that - great to see it finally reach the screen. It was a solid first effort - naturally there's some rough edges here and there, but that's to be expected. The most positive part is there's real signs the three guys are going to gel really well.

The biggest problem seems to be the track - doesn't really flow, and from the camera shots you can't tell where it goes (doesn't seem to be a track that's easy to shoot either). Also seems a bit tight in the corners - no sensation of speed.

'What were they thinking' is a great idea - wouldn't surpise me to see the TGUK pick that one up.

The footage of the sharks was incredible - oddly having the Moke there gave them some (frightening) scale.

I really think it's a good start - in time they'll develop their own ways of doing things and put their own twist on it, and the slight awkwardness will fade too. Looking forward to ep. 2.

To everyone being so utterly negative - it's the first show for god's sake, it's going to take time to get the chemistry & production just right. Give it a chance and be happy we've got what's still a good show.

[Viper007Bond]

Originally Posted by fbc

To everyone being so utterly negative - it's the first show for god's sake, it's going to take time to get the chemistry & production just right. Give it a chance and be happy we've got what's still a good show.

QFT

[ykickamoocow]

I quite liked it. I also think that their chemistry needs abit of work but i actually think that Top Gear Australia did a better job than alot of early Top Gear UK episodes.

On screen chemistry teakes time and im sure it will develop.

[L2D]

I quite enjoyed this episode.
The soft 4WD segment in the snow was pretty good. And its like TG UK where 3 blokes just argue about random things.
911, meh OK just like a regular car review
Those laps, I didn't really get the circuit, it was like left here right here, chicane, bus stop and then it sorta finished.
Vince Colisimo, meh, quite boring. Being Malay I must say Proton Satria FTW
Shark thing was quite stupid.

Other than that I gave it a 7

Edit: The studio, carbon copy much? Make it different.

[Clown]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

QFT

Why are we meant to be making excuses for it?

[mitchtj]

I'm unsure, i think its just the main presenter i can't stand (Cox is it?) his voice is very irritating.

The other two are alright, it even kind of feels like top gear.

I'll definitely be tuning in next week for Holden v Ford, but past that i'm not so sure. I'll give it a 6/10, at no point in the episode was i really astonished by anything, and that Porsche review was complete rubbish, did he even mention how the car drives once?

I guess to Australians all exotics are just pose mobiles.

That test track is utter shit too, why not give us a run through of its main merits, it looks more like a auto cross event than a test track.

[bejje]

Registered just to express my anger about Charlie Cox.
He is a very bland and boring host.
Bit disappointed about the test track, felt like a huge rush job (assembly wise).

On a positive note,
Warren and Steve are pretty good hosts though.

EDIT: I feel production value is top notch though, so props to Freehand for not skimping on it.

[hughesie89]

disappointing in short, it was a direct copy and the last story was a big waste of time

[fury-s12]

wasnt too bad the presenters work well together the shows working pretty good for a first episode, the best thing i can say is i liked it enough to watch next week altho i do hope it gets a little better

on and to everyone else out there the entire country is not waiting for a holden vs ford infact most top gear fans dnt give a shit lol

[Necx0]

I agree largely with fbc. I enjoyed it got a few laughs. Was great to see Tassie on telly!!! I have driven those roads!!! I agree with Charlie Cox he is quite annoying, doesn't seem to know how to host. Very impressed with Warren, obvious he has done telly before. I like Steve too although my friends don't seem to, might be the fact he is a racing driver and I have met him haha.

Moke thing was surprisingly cool as those sharks are freaking HUGE!!!! Soft roader thing was pretty cool. A decent start, next week should be good.

No its nowhere near as good or even the same as TGUK, but thats ok. We have more TG!!!

Oh and yes the biggest failing of the show is the poor test track construction and horrible horrible filming. They would be much better off using Wakefield or Oran Park or something

^^^ Hey I know you you're on NS haha. Small world!

[Dielman]

Only a few real positives, the editing for the features is pretty nice, and the quiet guy isn't a douche bag like the others. Why do they need to yell everything? I can see quite a few of the foreign viewers getting a very bad idea of what Australians are like based on those two alone.

[flyingfridge]

They're trying to be way too dramatic, the script lacks focus and structure, I thought Warren fits into the Top Gear thing really well but I'm still a bit unsure about the other guys. The camera work at the track looks like it was directed by Martin Scorsese.

The whole thing felt WAY too rushed.

They tried to do the 'car nut' thing and pander to the analytical car types with stats and info ie the Gallardo segment but ironically the reverse is exactly what makes Top Gear UK so successful. I'm a car nut, I get my hard info on the internet, I watch Top Gear for entertainment.

They also didn't make anywhere near enough fuss about Warren and Charlie breaking the cars in the dunes challenge.

Good effort guys but much, much more polishing to do, might be a good idea to go back and watch Top Gear UK again and see how well everything is structured.

And the editing was NOWHERE

The closest they came to a proper Top Gear story was the first half of Warren's shark piece. the rest needs a lot of work

[jonathan102]

Originally Posted by fbc

To everyone being so utterly negative - it's the first show for god's sake, it's going to take time to get the chemistry & production just right. Give it a chance and be happy we've got what's still a good show.

yeahh you could say that for other shows.
but if you are carrying the name TG, the audience expects it to be good. like REALLY good. so if they cant take the critizicism, they should probably stop doing it.

[SpecOpsBob]

If you compare the first UK Top Gear to the first Top Gear Aus, I think it keeps you in perspective of what it is. For a first episode, I think it turned out great, it just needs to go for a season or two to get to know the business of making a more polished car show - if it can last that long.

It just felt like they hadn't done enough planning, and Cox needs to work on the presenting side of thing. As has been said already, they shout too much aswell - It's mostly in the studio and given it's their first episode, it may just be nerves on their end.