[13x01] June 21st, 2009

[Holiace]

I gave it an 8. It was a damn good show, even if I don't really think it was all that random that Hammond got the Black Shadow.

It was entertaining and damn cool. Good start, GREAT SIARPC (It was Michael's own FXX right?) and overall pleasing. Well done!

[Wyvern]

I think that was the strongest series opener in quite some time. Andy can allow himself a smile, because after the last couple of series, that was Top Gear back on form, for me anyway. The only part of the show I wasn't impressed with was the News because there has been so much going on while they've been away besides the scrappage scheme, but on the other hand, Top Gear's remit is for an entertainment programme (with cars in it) these days and it was nice to escape from the doom and gloom for an hour.

But that race was EPIC. OK, not perhaps the funniest they've done, but Hammond's heroic struggle with the Black Shadow, Jeremy's obvious rapport with the train crew and James 'Road Rage' May made compelling television. One of the friends I was watching with mentioned that he could happily watch a whole hour of that - just as I was about to open my mouth and say exactly that. I'm a fan of old stuff anyway - I saw an XK120 driving through Plymouth a few months ago and very nearly had a happy accident, love steam trains and keep toying with the idea of buying a geriatric motorbike - and watching it had my heart racing as fast as they were.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. The boys are back and I'm very happy to see them

[robybobey]

Sooooooo nobody noticed Schueys private jet on the track? .

Starting my filming report today .

[speedster502]

Excellent opener, thoroughly enjoyed that. The race was epic, the train looked amazing. Overally I thought that was a really good episode, and the trailer suggests that the rest of series will be good too.

Although, anyone else wonder about this:



Maybe the white Stig's send off at the end of the series?

[Bluewolf]

Hi everybody!

Yes, I think Michael Schumacher can't drive any car that's not a Ferrari or a Fiat on Television (maybe a contract or so), and that's the reason why he didn't drove the Liana. Although, Schumi is not the Stig (And that's obvious) , BUT his lap time on his FXX was staggering.

Schumacher was early in the Year (February) doing some Motorbike racing, and had quite a big accident. (In Cartagena, Spain)

To the Ep:
Now I didn't quite like the Lotus Evora test. And as someone wrote before, I feel that the episode didn't had this "typical Top gear magic" (or a climax) ... don't know, only one Car test? (it was strange for me)

The Jaguar!!!, and the Vincent black Shadow!! ... WOW..

I'm waiting for the next episode... !

Cheers!

[sh4d3]

I agree with some of the opinions that this episode was kind of... strange, like some other show, but not Top Gear.

But still it was huge fun.

[Becka ♥]

Oh my.. The forum was down all night for me so I gave up at 1 O'clock in the morning and went to bed! I gave it a 9. It was a FANTASTIC episode, with a little bit of everything.. Funnys, cars, race etc. The only reason I didn't give it a 10 is because episodes such as the Botswana episode (even though it was a special) would get a 10 from me as thing like that were, for me, mindbogglingly brilliant. I'm going to go catch up with the rest of the forum now...

[Sovereign001]

I must sayed, i enjoyed myself last night watching top gear. It was great to see the guys again. I loved how Richard was making noises on the vincent and Jeremy was completely black in the train. Did anyone noticed that Jeremy made the wall completely dirty in the hotel where James was waiting? I was loving my ass off when i saw that. He falls on the ground and his hand hits the wall. A black stripe was visible.

The Schumacher part was nice but somewhere i was thinking... Stig is gonna put his helmet off and we are gonna see a black sack with a big emoticon on it but still i don't believe schumi is it. The stig walks different.

Nice test of the Lotus!

Jeremy throwing his eggs away, just great.

The intro of the season looks great! I thought it was going to be cheap but hell no, lambo, mclaren mercedes?, panamera, rally, etc.

Looks great!

[Peldie]

I think here's what happened:
TG's production office finally arranged Michael Schumacher into the show, and, best of all, they got him to bring his Ferrari F(ugly)XX with him. Otherwise it would have been quite inaccessible vehicle to "review" in the show.
Mind you, they used the same "let's bring the owner of a Ferrari to the show to plug <some shit>" -trick with the original Enzo, too. And as WE all know, it isn't the first time Stig is being replaced with a "factory driver", so nothing new there. But I think they made a bit of a mess with the whole Schtiggey-nonsense and I was quite unimpressed with the FXX lap too (remembering the staggering DBR9-lap, which was done by, AFAIK, The Real Stig). Bloody afwul to look at too, the FXX...

News bit was just something else, I think they had to spare time from their usual rant and funny commentary for the Schumi-bit and the race. Not that they can blame there being any news, that is. But maybe the normal service will resume in the next episode.

Race was epic, and it's funny that the best part of this car show was a train. That machine is just staggering, oh gods...I didn't fancy the motorbike apart from it's name, which I have to admit is, very cool indeed
Car + James were brilliant, just the proper combination for eachother. Richard seemed to be left to the background a bit, and I started to wonder if he even raced in the same day (or decade) with the other guys, since it was raining almost all the time he was on that bike, while the other enjoyed the sunshine!

Evora, blah. I was left under the impression that they just had to put some car review in this episode for it to be proper Top Gear show. I was also a bit suprised how good Jezza found it to be, after reading the article in the new Top Gear magazine. But hey, opinions, opinions. And I have to say that I love their British bias in everything they do, that's probably one of the reasons TG GB is so lovable

One thing they HAD to do was the bit where the Schtig is driving like an utter idiot with the RPC, especially with Jeremy's comment "I don't think he's the Stig". TG just couldn't give up the Stig-cult so easily. It was just made to make the point clear to the main audience, I'm pretty sure every proper fan and everyone here understands that Schumi isn't the Stig we have seen in the previous episodes. Schumacher would have been a bit boring Stig anyway....

BTW, the're have been quite a lot of motorbikes in the Top Gear recently. That's worrying, if you ask me and catastrophic, if you ask Jeremy Clarkson

[freeone]

Originally Posted by speedster502

Excellent opener, thoroughly enjoyed that. The race was epic, the train looked amazing. Overally I thought that was a really good episode, and the trailer suggests that the rest of series will be good too.

Although, anyone else wonder about this:

http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/e...itled-1-15.jpg

Maybe the white Stig's send off at the end of the series?

And there was a short sketch from a strange funeral. (I've posted a shot here:http://forums.finalgear.com/top-gear...2/#post1017931)
I hope they won't kill him, i like the white stig, no matter who is he.

[Kangaroo]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

Why would anyone give that show 3/10 - there is two of them - how odd (Trolls perhaps)?

/EDIT Trolls no, one of them is Prost264, still very odd.

I'm the other one. To be honest, I was rather disappointed. The whole point of the Stig in my view is that they never even discuss his identity. Schumacher was rather boring, the FXX isn't a road car and the Caparo was just as fast and road legal. The race was decent I suppose, but somehow it just felt.. I don't know.. It just didn't have the same feeling as any other race. I just didn't like it..

I usually don't get this negative about Top Gear, because usually I still like what they do even if it isn't all that great. But yesterday I hardly could be bothered to watch it after the whole Stig debacle.

[Bluewolf]

I've seen the ep. again...

Yes, the race was good indeed, perhaps not as funny as other Races, but quite good, and for the first time (I think) James won one of the Top gear Epic Races, and not Jezza.

And the Train was incredible too.

[Red_Bull]

@Peldie: They got Schumacher to drive an FXX around the circuit on Top Gear and made a great Stig gimmick out of it, and you still complain?

[awdrifter]

We all know Shumacher isn't the regular Stig, but it was him that's driving the FXX, so the Stig tie-in works nicely.

[Jocó]

I gave it a 9.
Very good episode, I loved the race and the interview with Schumacher, I was disappointed with the news but that's hopefully down to lack of time or something similar.
And, according to the trailer, we have great episodes to look forward to!

[Comedy Stig]

Still can't decide whether to give this episode 9 or 10 since everything about this episode was just epic (for a standard Top Gear episode). And the noise of that FXX!

The point of the Stig 'gimmick' was that if the Top Gear producers wanted an FXX on their track they would have to had a Ferrari-approved driver (or at least the cars' owner) to drive it. Now if they had shown the FXX on the track with "The Stig" driving, many people would have guessed that the Stig was Michael Schumacher on that occasion, so instead of just having Schumacher as an 'ordinary' guest followed by him driving his FXX round the track they decided to 'out' him as "The Stig" instead. Which is typically Top Gear and very entertaining, although I was expecting to see James May under that helmet...

[ahpadt]

Originally Posted by robybobey

Sooooooo nobody noticed Schueys private jet on the track? .

Starting my filming report today .

Wouldn't need to know that to know that Schumi was coming, cos he owns the only black FXX.

[ozgirl]

Gave a 9, like many others thought news a bit lacking, but they did have a lot to fit in..
Yes we all know the Stig/MS thing was a setup but as someone said you're gonna complain about seeing him drive his FXX - sheesh some people are never happy Like complaining about the "scriptedness", that's the entertainment industry people!
That Tornado is amazing, what a beautiful piece of machinery, given Jezza's worship of the Industrial Revolution (via Brunel, etc) not surprising he went for the train! I'm embarrassed to mention that i (lately, due to being laid up with a smashed ankle!) watch Cash in the Attic, and there was a middle-aged lady on there who sold stuff to raise funds for this train - how cool is she?!
You notice that yet again the car won, but for once James got to drive it, hurrah! His programme was just as brilliant as ever too.
Sooo happy have TG back to brighten my sad little life!

[turbokompressor]

This episode was the absolute best, so far! Outstanding soundtrack, I mean, perfect! The menacing, attack music combined with the moving pistons of the locomotive and the impressive stature of the steel train give the sense of infinite power...and the filters used in filming+ the landscapes...
Now, that's a train! not the gay-homosexual TGVs. If a TGV were to see a coal-steam train, it would jump off the tracks and head for the woods(and not because it's French!).World peace!
Schumacher was exactly as I thought: charismatic, flawless and diplomatic. I watched the interview three times already.
I can't wait to see the LP670 episode; they used its sound in the teaser...and what a sound it is!

male toilet
Jee-zas!

James shouting at cars in front
Jeremy coughing and throwing out the
egg sandwich

Jeremy dropping the coal on the
ground
Hammond-oh,the pain!

steam engines have moods
-it was it's time of the month for about 10 minutes

-less than 10!!
-seventeen?!
-what a cock head, honestly

Stig hitting the camera

PS:I think the person in the train, with the black face, isn't Jeremy but his african-american brother... DeShawn Evander Clarkson...I could be wrong, though...

[insane]

I officially have a new favourite car - highlight of the episode.

I also found the race to be great - recent ones have been lacking, but this is right on form. Looking forward to next week already!

9/10