"Top Gear Stuntman - What's that all about then?"

[Laba]

New stuff about the stuntman from http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/pr...stuntman.shtml

This series saw the arrival of Top Gear Stunt Man - a man with no fear, no fixed address and crucially, no next of kin that might sue us.

Richard Porter goes behind the scenes to bring you some insight into the man behind the neck-brace. Here's what he had to say…





Top Gear Stuntman - What's that all about then?


Top Gear script editor Richard Porter helps fill in some blanks surrounding the origins of our resident danger monkey.

Following the pre-series explosion of excitement surrounding a 'new character' joining the Top Gear and the subsequent drizzle of disappointment when it turned out to be some sort of stuntman, literally two people have demanded to know more about this barely heroic cadaver-in-waiting.

Who is he, where did he come from, and why? These are just some of the questions that people are probably asking about the newest addition to the TG team.

The truth is that Top Gear Stuntman's past is murky at best. We know he lives in a caravan and, when challenged on this, the subsequent explanation seemed to involve the words 'messy divorce'. Closer inspection of his fully MOTed Ford Sierra estate and the sum total of his worldly belongings piled inside reveals a regimental beret which a source close to him attributed to 'a period of active service in the early 1980s'. We seem to remember 'Paras', 'Falklands' and 'shrapnel to the head' were all mentioned. This filled us with the belief that he's a no-nonsense sort of bloke, something that wasn't diminished when we noticed that one of the referees on his job application was an Essex-based alcohol dependency clinic.

This, however, is pretty irrelevant. All we really wanted from him was an impeccable pedigree in the movie world. Ronin, The Bourne Identity, Casino Royale - these are just some of the films he's recently watched on DVD, and in many cases he's even met some of the people listed in the credits. On this basis - and the fact that he once drove a police car into a flower stall on an episode of Dempsey & Makepeace - we knew he had an eye for a dramatic stunt. Also, he was surprisingly cheap.

Having already set the dismally unsuccessful bar pretty high - or is it low? - with his not-very-good reverse jump and spiral roll, you may be wondering what Top Gear Stuntman is going to do next. You may also be hoping the answer is, 'Go away'.

What do you think of Top Gear Stuntman? Should he be dusted-off and brought back for a few more eye-watering feats of daredevilism, or should he be loaded into a cannon and fired at the nearest job-centre? You can email your thoughts, opinions and disproportionately angry rants to topgear@bbc.co.uk.

[trist0608]

I didn't really mind the stuntman, and I quite liked the failed attempt to recreate the James Bond jump. The problem is that the stunts are really spectacular when they fail but are close like the Bond stunt. The other bit in reverse was just horrible though. I have usually liked the stunts, especially the double-decker over (onto) the motorcycles. I think the best use, based on this short season, is to have on stunt for every three episodes so they can be a bit bigger (grander scale) and not get stale. Besides, the intro by May with all his calculations and other blather was hilarious. The only thing that would have been better was if the stuntman pulled a Stig and walked away while May was explaining the jump, then drove the car through May's blackboard on the way to performing the stunt and actually having the stunt work. Mind you, that would only be funny the first time.

[Laba]

Also something about the stuntman is that at http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/ep...episode2.shtml it used to say (they edited that last paragraph out, but I have the original text)

James May got his slide rule out in an effort to recreate one of film's most beloved car stunts: the spiral jump from The Man with the Golden Gun. In the film, an AMC Hornet is seen jumping off a ramp, making one complete revolution in mid-air, and then landing on its wheels on another ramp. What looks relatively simple on-screen actually involves some incredibly complex equations, and the genuine possibility of a horribly messy death for the driver. Enter Top Gear Stunt Man.

Unfortunately, James misplaced a couple of decimal points, so the first attempt ended in a huge and painful-looking crash. Thankfully we had a spare car. So while James tinkered with the sums, Top Gear Stunt Man was strapped in for another go. This time it all went swimmingly.

I didn't atleast notice any second stunt, that was succesful???? Maybe it didn't make the cut....

[alfaholic]

Like any new character I think "stunt man" needs time to bed in. He provides a nice contrast to the cool, calm collected (and almost other-worldly) Stig by attempting the stupid stuff that has limited chance of success. Some kind of stunt/race feature with him up against the Stig could be very interesting though..

[mazdaddy]

Maybe everyone got in a bit of tizzy was because we saw him as stealing time from our other favourite segments. If you put that in another show, maybe it would work, I think the James Bond recreation was pretty damn close to working out, which I sort of liked, but wanted them to move it on.

[Viper007Bond]

Honestly I like him. It's cool to see a short, crazy stunt.

[SL65]

I agree with the person who said he needs time to bed in. Its too early to be saying whether he is good to stay on the show, or whether he best be removed.

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

Honestly I like him. It's cool to see a short, crazy stunt.

Yeh me too. They use to do that in the earlier series' of Top Gear, and it was pretty cool. If they focus more on the stunts, and less on the character - it will be good, IMO.

[nouseferaname90]

No offense or anything, but id rather see the stuntman segment fixed with something else (such as the cool wall in some episodes)

[SL65]

Originally Posted by nouseferaname90

No offense or anything, but id rather see the stuntman segment fixed with something else (such as the cool wall in some episodes)

I don't follow....do you mean they do it back-to-back with the cool wall or something??

[NooDle]

I like the idea of random stunts on TG. I just don't need to know who the stuntman is. Just show James doing silly calculations, show the car having a massive massive accident, cut to James saying something like "Oh Cock" and back to the studio

[fbc]

Originally Posted by Viper007Bond

Honestly I like him. It's cool to see a short, crazy stunt.

I'm all for the stunts - but I don't think having a dedicated character for them really works.

[SL65]

If it doesn't work out, they can always chuck him in a Jag and drive him off the edge of a runway of a ship, like they did with the first Stig


And I get the distinct impression that if Top Gear Stuntman were to get fired (or fired off a runway), he simply wouldn't care. He just looks like that type of guy

[ja404]

I am a fan of the Top Gear Stuntman.

[TopGearNorthAmerica]

Honestly, I think he will work -- if used properly.

For example, if they decide to do another "car-football" type event, you could expect TGS and the Stig to supplement May/Hammond as co-captains.

He could also be used as the chief disposal officer for getting rid of the "cheap challenge" cars that haven't actually collapsed into rustpiles in the course of the challenges, in methods most spectacular (such as driving through a flaming puddle or some such).

[Suedschleife]

I did like Luc Besson's Taxi or Autocross events, but in general car stunts are just not my thing.

I guess I connect car stunts with pompous "Daredevil" drivers, never leaving out a chance to explain (or have explained) how dangerous the stunt is they are about to attempt and just how much skill it takes to even have a chance of surviving. Building all that suspense to finally perform a 1 second event with more safety gear than your average BSL 4 lab. Replacing the suspense with humor might win me over, but apart from the lengthy JM explanation on the math involved, the segment just wasn't fun for me.

[jo-jo-action]

I hope he will become cool and more fun. at the moment it's just boring....

[swordznsorcery]

Top Gear Stuntman is great. I hope he sticks around for future seasons.

[trist0608]

Originally Posted by NooDle

I like the idea of random stunts on TG. I just don't need to know who the stuntman is. Just show James doing silly calculations, show the car having a massive massive accident, cut to James saying something like "Oh Cock" and back to the studio

I quite agree with NooDle on this. Introducing TGS with a padded belly to make him appear fat and useless was a waste, I don't care who he is. Let James explain the stunt; let TGS and the viewers get frustrated waiting for James to shut up; let TGS perform the stunt and see what happens. Ideally the stunts should be close to working out right, though a spectacular failure is okay if it's not a waste like driving in reverse and looking feeble as the car never did anything. Hell, I loved it when the bus flattened the motorcycles but that was visually entertaining while the reverse flop wasn't.

Oh, and don't forget to include Captain Slow muttering "oh cock" as the stunt ends.

[LurkerPatrol]

Though they had removed him in the past couple episodes due to time, I think they should keep him. It's a break from the norm, something usual from past top gear but sort of unusual for new top gear. I just hope they don't overuse him and run the concept into the ground.

[ViperVX]

The way TG can make the stuntman segments relevant and interesting to the viewers is, basicly, what they did with the whole show to become the most popular show in Britian - make stunts EPIC. A big crash (fail), a big success, a record of some sort, well "dressed", i'd like to watch it.

Watching a stunt, which basicly consists of a man driving a 1992 civic (whatever it was) backwards or trying to copy one of the greatest hollywood stunts on some junkyard, featuring a 1980 whatever, James May and a blackboard of wrong calculations really felt like a setup for a comedy "ups, we failed again" moment, rather than something interesting.

To sum up, either make the stunts look dangerous, which they obviously are, by removing all the "forced" comedy or make them EPIC.