[12x01] November 2nd, 2008

[Mercury]

all in all, a 7 out of 10.

The only point actually worth mentioning was the lambo/porche bit...wtf was that? show JC screaming and the GT2 spinning out of control, then 10 mins of lambo fanboyism and you're done? To the actual petrol heads among us, that had to be annoying. And I'm a huge lambo fan and i don't really like porche too much as well.

When JC actually burnt the GT2's time I was so damn mad, I been waiting for a porche to set a time round that track for ages, it's either they ignored it all together or done it in the wet, never has a proper porche set a time round the track and it's bloody annoying of them to still not give us the time. At least we know the GT2 is quicker than 1:19.5

[The Chad]

So burning the GT2's lap time was predictable, but I still would've at least liked to see the lap the car had, to see if Stiggy thought it was a handful.

[turbokompressor]

Brilliant!
Dog driving the Lamborghini-the next step would have been a blonde supermodel driving it but I guess it's not that easy to drive

"he's got lorry driver sun tan"
James May laughing like a donkey
"change gear,change gear,change gear,check your mirrors,murder a prostitute"
"the cameramen retreated to a safe distance"
"keep the porn"
"he's woken up,stuck in a lorry cab with five fireman "
Genius!

P.S.:Jeremy's Renault is the most menacing truck I have ever seen; they should have played Carl Orff's Carmina Burana,Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi or John Williams's Duel of Fates (the car looks like Darth Vader) or Gyorgy Ligeti's "Monolith" (the creepy music from 2001:A Space Odyssey) and a huge lightning in the background when the truck appeared.

[knewman]

Five pages in and no one has mentioned the stig's morse code? c'mon i know someone out there can decode it

I gave it a 7/10 seems like a great season shaping up.

[Seasonone]

Originally Posted by Mercury

At least we know the GT2 is quicker than 1:19.5

Based on what? The fact clarkson didn't show it? They didn't even show it go around the track so there is a good chance they weren't allowed to and burning it was a funny way alternative to saying it never did a lap.

[Shawn]

All I know is, I don't remember the last time I laughed so much from Top Gear.

Yes, out of the 60 minutes only about 7 minutes featured actual cars, and even then not totally new cars but just new versions. But I have given up on Top Gear being a show for car enthusiasts, this is what it is now and this first episode was full of laughs.

On a side note, I got interested and looked up the recent BBC controversy... give me a fucking break, seriously. I thought the Americans were the ones into dramatizing non-issues in the media.

Edit: Just wanted to add, I hated the Stig's morse code and hope we won't see/hear any more of it. I loved it when the Stig listened to cool music like Focus or Genesis.

I discovered so much great music thanks to the Stig's in-car listening habits... not only do I not get that anymore, but they've taken this joke too far. It started with different genres, then moved on to talking tapes and now Morse code? I said I've given up and come to terms with TG being a scripted entertainment program, but if they keep the Morse code that's just one step too far.

[LurkerPatrol]

Let's break it down:

GT2 + Lambo: Pizzissed myself laughing at the screaming during the GT2 run and then even more urine came out during the old lady, little boy, and dog in the lambo . 9/10

News: A little bit wayward and didn't have the feel of traditional news for some reason, but still funny and great nonetheless. 7/10

Trucks/Lorries: 10/10

SIARPC: Being from outside the UK, can't really say that I could enjoy it as much as the UK people. However I was highly surprised at his laptime . - 6/10

Total/Average score: 8/10

Overall: Great start to the series, pissed myself laughing, and I'm glad the trio are back. I'm tired of watching 24, and old simpsons and old top gear episodes . Can't wait for some American Sinew 6 days+ from now.

[Ironlord]

Originally Posted by knewman

Five pages in and no one has mentioned the stig's morse code? c'mon i know someone out there can decode it

Bah - I knew there was something I'd forgotten. I can do it, it's just that I don't know Morse Code anywhere near as well as, say, a 19th Century telegraph operator. It'll take a while... and I suspect somebody will beat me to it.

[Ziggy Jinx]

Is it truckgear or topgear c'mon.
That was about half hour of trucks so i dont see the point apart from them having a jolly and filling some time.
For me it seems that topgear has become more of a jolly for them bombing around on our cash.

The challenges have become more silly and false so i dont see the point in them !!! " look lets do a race hundreds of miles away and end up in the same location almost at the same time " yeah like if that would ever happen for real.

Topgear is turning silly and predictable and find myself turning to fithgear but even that has two square idiots what want to be clarksons.

More tiff with drift for me please who understands what cars do and why.

[TopGearFanatic1]

Im just waiting for it to finish downloading

[Goob]

lol - "I absolutely hope James May wakes up in the morning, and 10,000 insects are in his underpants"

[Aiolos]

9/10

Lorries part was amazing!

I was really surprised that the Lambo beat the GT2 in a straight line, it still won on the track though

[halllo_fireball]

I officially announce, that I would like to hit JC in the face!!! Come on, if you don't put it on the board at least give us the time... That's why I rated this episode with a 1 - sadly there isn't a 0...

But to be honest - that was at least equally stupid to what JC did, because I really enjoyed this episode.

Keep on like that *thumsup - and give us the time you ***************************************************

[2Billion]

I'll never understand the problem with scripting in a clearly comedic bit. It was freaking hilarious, I frankly don't care how scripted it may have been. I don't care when a comedy film is scripted, I don't care when a comedy series is scripted, this was absolutely hilarious, so why should I care if this was? Man, if I'm going to get so bothered by some faked shots, instead of enjoying a quite funny segment for what it is, I'll probably have to shoot myself, because then I'd be a joyless bore.

Sorry, this crops up every time and I'm getting sick of it.

Hell, whether or not Richard really DID lose the car, they'd be going back to do some prettier shots anyway, because that's how Top Gear works. Every challenge, no matter the outcome, has extra shots and coverage to make it look prettier and better. So yeah, if they didn't catch the car falling out the back, of if they didn't get a good shot of it, they'll collect it and dump it out again. That's what happens when you've got production values, and standards to maintain.

And if it was faked for the gag, well, it was faked. Whoop de freaking do. It was still highly amusing, and that makes it worthwhile.

And yet, in spite of all my defending, I'm not sure it's a fantastic episode. I enjoyed it immensely, but probably not above a 7. It was strange, like it was both under- and over-stuffed. Seemed to have a lot of footage, they weren't sure what to cut, and stuff ran a bit long because of it. Still, glad they're back, the series preview looks to have plenty of good stuff in it.

[posershadow]

I think the best part of the show was the girl to the right of Jeremy while he was interviewing Parkinson.

[Zorlac]

Poor episode. I know I know, "you should be thankful for getting it at all" blah blah blah.

The MTV style editing still annoys me, the Gallardo review was boring. I know Clarkson hates Porsche but burning the lap time (and not showing Stig throwing the GT2 around) was really stupid. The *TRUCKS* segment was boring as well. Had some good gags, but predictable in everyway. I really hope season 12 doesnt become another S9 or worse, S8.

[M3_Powered]

A perfect start for me. My Favourite car The Gallardo reviewed. Absolutely hillarious when the granny/kid/dog were driving it.
And the Lorry challenge was fantastic as usaul, filled with Laughs.

[Ilpav]

I am disappointed with this first episode.

That Gallardo review was boring and the GT2 treatment was just ridiculous; Jeremy is starting to piss me off with his "not admitting a car he hates is fast" like with the GT2 and with the Subaru Impreza STI last series.

I gave it a 6.5.

Hopefully the rest of the series will be better.

[DrLex]

As for the morse code, the first one is: "-- . .-.. .. -.- . -.-. .... . . ... ."
And this means "me like cheese".
The second is: "... - .-. .. -.-. - .-.. -.-- .. ... -.-. .-. .- .--."
Which means "strictly is crap".

In case you were wondering, I'm not some retired naval communications officer or something. To decode this, I ran the audio through a spectrograph which basically makes the dots and lines visible.

[dnats]

One of these day they are gonna get hurt real bad (not that it didn't already happened). I though Clarkson was gonna get a heart attack or sumthing crashing through the brick wall.

Conscious mind that I am, I though the bit when clarkson's truck caught fire and all the black smoke was a bit unenviromental-friendly. They could have do something else to it.

Otherwise i found this one hilarious and cracking up several times during the show.
8/10