[01x01] September 29th, 2008

[01x01] September 29th, 2008


  • Total voters
    589
Does anyone remember watching 01x01 of Top Gear UK? Personally I found that one to be boring as well, but look what it's become over 11 series. Given a chance, I think it can be a worthy sister series.
 
The show will get better with time lads, as I said in my last post their accents will get easier on the ear over time and remember that some of them haven't really been on TV that much, if at all.

OK the track was crap. All those cars went around and I still could'nt sit down and draw it out. The Maybach segment was a complete waste of time. The shark thing, well I'll let that one go, it had it's moments.

Those people saying it was crap have forgotten the first series of TGUK when there were more presenters and crew than audience on the show. I cant beleive I, a kiwi, am defending an Aussie show as anything but a complete failure but, I appeal to you all to give it a chance.
 
We will just have to wait for the U.S. version and see if it is any better.


looking forward to that...

I get it that a lot of you are somewhat defending the Australian TG based upon the fact that the uk version was also not quite all that good as it is now. Well, tell you what, the uk version at its very start didn look like a ripoff and it had original sections like the coolwall, Stig and the "presenters' attitudes".

All in all it wasn that polished then, but showed promise.

The Australian TG must have followed that same path. With the photocopy start, I dont want to see how the'd make an Australian Jeremy. Have your own presenter make his point...

its just seriously uncool...
 
The Australian TG must have followed that same path. With the photocopy start, I dont want to see how the'd make an Australian Jeremy. Have your own presenter make his point...

its just seriously uncool...

Maybe they want the show to take on it's own character by diverging from the UK format?
 
Maybe they want the show to take on it's own character by diverging from the UK format?

i'd really be a fan then... if it turns out to be so...

the start just doesnt feel all that original and promising for such a hope though...
 
Trouble is the UK format works guys, why fuck with it too much. You guys are forgetting that we steal the show by downloading it. If we wern't doing this we would have to wait for our lovely TV networks in whatever country we're in to cut, place ads in, and put the shows on our tellys. If this was the case this whole forum would not exist, and the diffrences between TG-UK and TG-AUS etc would not really matter cause you'd be glad to be watching anything related to cars Im sure.
 
I liked it. It was informative and entertaining and didn't sour the Top Gear name.

Even though it is so similar (call it a copy) of the original Top Gear, i think it was done better than some of the very early British Top Gear episodes.

Here are my thoughts on the segments.

Xtrail/Forster/Rav4 segment: Funny and seemed real. The rav 4 jump was ....OMG

News: LP560-4 looks great, news is ok but the 50 cent jokes are not funny at all. I hope they stop that.

911: I am officially a fan of Cox because he sees an H box as such an important thing.

Steve was getting annoying with the 50 cent jokes but he has some opposing views which could be good for the show...example he likes the Porsche PDK vs H box transmission.

Lap times for multiple cars. Steve call the GTR's tires, "Motor Sport tires," i wonder what that means? It might just be a sporty way of saying performance tires.

Limo bit was to be funny if it were not for the 50c jokes.

Maybach bit started out all epic. But it was soo short. I mean really, the best thing on a 57s is a headphone kit? Common.

What were they thinking vs cool wall.....this might have potential for good humor.

Guest.....i usually fast forward on the Top Gear one but i gave it a chance and good on that. It was kept about cars and the Proton looks alot better than the Lacetti + it wasn't too long of a segment.

Mini Moke bit. i guess the shark bit was ok for some but i know of more ways to have fun with a moke than letting it take a swim. + i hope they drained the fluids before dropping it in the water.

I gave it a 9/10. This might seem generous but a Top Gear would prolly get a 7/10. Top Gear is much more polished like was said in the FinalGear news update and is essetially a copy. "Clarkson Corner" lol.

Anyways, i judged that from a perspective of a person that had never seen the British version before and that is why it was a 9/10. That last -1/10 is for 50c jokes.
 
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I finally made myself watch it. I did something with it that I don't normally do with TGUK - after the first segment, I came out of full screen mode, moved it to my other monitor, and watched it (kinda) while playing Faiway Solitaire.

That isn't great, if you catch my meaning.

I was kinda bored with it, if I must say. Cox's voice doesnt bother me as much as the other posters at the beginning of the thread, but the Hammond-guy needs to CALM DOWN. It bothered me how much he was looking all over the place while talking. While attempting to say his line, or make a joke, he would alternate between looking at Cox, the other guy, the audience, the camera, and back to Cox in like, 5 seconds. I'm sure its just me, but it bothered me.

I also don't get the point of the shark-tank-car. Is this because I am American? Please help.

All things considered, I will watch next time to see if it improves.

Sincerely,

gtrietsc
 
urgh .. didn't like it. I might watch it if I knew it had a very good car review in it if the presenters didn't annoy me that much.
 
Wasn't that bad I think. Maybach Section very ql start but a rubish review. Rest of the show was ok near on Top Gear style (well I missed the smoth british englisch). Didn't liked the shark thing because was not related to a car (i don't count a cage on wheels as a car) but i think it could also have been aired in the UK version if there were any sharks.

The Camers were really bad and i hope they improve that. How can you say the interior of a car(Lamborghini) is ql and don't show it!!! Well the track was even worse don't have to mention that...
 
Took me a while to download, but when I finally got to see it, I didn't think it was half bad. OK, there were issues - I'd have liked a little more content to the reviews, perhaps, as we don't know the presenters well enough yet for them to carry the show on strength of personality alone, and Charlie and Steve need to hit their stride. It did feel a bit like they were trying to catch up a bit and the programme was a little over-stuffed with articles. Not sure whether the track is bad or just that it wasn't well filmed, but it would have helped if they had introduced it properly - I've got no idea how long it is or what shape it is.

The thing is, none of that is insurmountable. The presenters will find their comfort zone and hopefully the film crew will find better ways of filming the track. The pacing will also come with a bit of effort. They had so much to live up to, and it was never going to be perfect. There were bound to be nerves and hiccups because it was the first episode of something new; I know TG isn't new in itself, but TGAU is - even if it all looks kind of familiar. If I was fronting an all-new version of something as popular as TG, I'd have been nervous as all hell!

It has potential though. There was some nice cinematography on both the Porsche and crossover films, a few moments when the natural humour of the guys seemed to come through rather than the scripted, flat version, and I liked "What Were They Thinking" (although the Maybach piece completely threw me until I realised it was an introduction rather than a review). I don't dislike any of the presenters and I liked Warren a lot. I'm hoping there will indeed be a (semi)regular "how to kill Warren" slot, because it would be something a bit different. It was better than I feared and probably as good as I dared hope. I enjoyed it, and that's what I look for when I watch telly. 7/10 for a reasonably solid start from me. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.
 
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It would really suck if the US version's first episode is even worse.

I can sense a bit of defense in your remark but in all honest as of right now I'm actually hoping the US Version flops as well at this rate. The topic of this thread is to comment on their own merits despite being another shows format...

Now.. I'm not so sure they have any merits when they're basically blatantly copying another.. just my opinion. The original Top Gear works because of the chemistry; you can't just throw that chemistry and conceptualism's onto another group of presenters and expect it to succeed.

I think they should of came up with their own ideas .. and in that matter their own show. I guess you could call me a loyalist. Never the less i'll give the US Version a fair chance I guess, but I would hope the presenter would give it a flair of their own style instead of trying to imitate the British version with a kick of Australian in their teeth. Or in this case United States in their teeth.. if we even have an accented culture you could throw up. (I guess western)

Oh and the most important part of the show; the car reviewing. Yeah that was all rubbish. The maybach section, the porsche, everything felt like a botched replica of the original presenters inside jokes.
 
All the people who are putting this show down don't realise that if TGA is really that rubbish, it really is Top gear. Remember Top Gear - Ambitious, but Rubbish.
 
I was really disappointed. The jokes were very forced and way too many. The presenters seemed so desperate to tick all the Top Gear funny-boxes off that the whole show looked like a giant fake. Plus, I haven't heard a sincere word about a car in that show. I have my doubts whether those guys really love cars.
If at least there was a serious part, where they really gave you an impression of a car based on its handling, performance, feel. But no.
Currently, Top Gear Australia is no more than a not so funny comedy show. I hope they get better, since I think even Fifth Gear is miles ahead.

And by the way: Top Gear UK 1x01 is way better. At that time it was new type of a car show with occasional jokes and even featured some real world advice. Yeah, it lacked James May... But who knows how Top Gear Australia might improve after they sack Cox? ;)
 
Just watched it. I think they did an pretty good job imitating the UK TG. But I think I need to get used to the accent and Australian slangs though. I love that they included the GTR in first round of Powerlap. It pwns the Porsche 911S PDK. :D And why didn't they include an Australian car? They should at least have a Holden Monaro or something like that. The Hummer limo is pretty funny, and surprisingly it didn't do too bad, it's only 50% slower than a GTR, that's quite good.

Now the bad. Why did they pick 3 SUVs to test? TG is supposed to be about fast cars, not soccer mom cars. That segment is way too long. I would much rather see more of the Maybach 57S.

The shark segment is supposed to be the cocking about segment like UK TG I guess, but that's definitely a fail. It ended up like lame FG imitation.

I voted 7 for this ep, but I think I'm being generous. Judging from this ep alone and compared to this season of FG, I would say FG was better. Hopefully they'll develop into their own style once they do a few more eps.
 
"Now the bad. Why did they pick 3 SUVs to test? TG is supposed to be about fast cars, not soccer mom cars. "

top gear had the city rover on it's show :p

i'm already used to that australian accent, so that didnt bother me at all. however: it is always mentioned that we shouldnt compare it to top gear UK, since this is 'independant' from it. no it isnt. it's trying to be a 1:1 copy, from the intro to the characters. one thing i like is the 'what were they thinking' board. but everything else they still have to work on. i'd say the next series of TGAUS would be much more watchable, once they got a bit of routine in the show.
 
I gave the episode a 7, because I feel it has potential, even if it wasn't fully realized during that episode. I hate how they say "We have a television exclusive" on the new Lamborghini, but didn't then track test it.

I agree with the people who seem to think the episode was rushed. The depth of the storytelling wasn't as deep as it could be. That being said, it was their first episode and there is potential.

On the test track. It's nice to know what The Stig's time was to give us a comparison in the reasonably priced car, but I still have no real clue what it looks like. In 01x01 of UK Top Gear, they gave you an overview of the track. You see the track, a lot. Corners are named (even if they don't have the same names now that they did then). They gave you a sense of perspective. I do not get that with the Aussie Top Gear.

But like I said, there's potential here. Hopefully they exploit that.
 
Have just finished watching and here are some thoughts:

- They could at least have different theme music.
- Charlie Cox seems very familiar somehow...
- The stars will sometimes be even more obscure to North Americans than the British ones already are. Haha. :p
- Any significance to that "six billion stories and counting" thing?
- When they said 'what shall we call The Stig?', I was half expecting them to say Bruce.
- How bad was it sitting in a cloud of chum?!
- I half expected Cox to say 'on that bombshell.'
- It was decent overall. Not great, but I'm sure it will get better! (I look forward to Holden vs. Ford)

I can't think of a ton of people connected to Australia that could drive the reasonably priced car, but here are some off the top of my head: Chris Atkinson, Eric Bana, Dominic Purcell, Jake Brown (just show him falling on an ad for the show and you'll get instant viewership), Nicole Kidman, Kylie Minogue. And, of course, the UK Top Gear boys. I dunno, I don't see them using any of those people, really.
 
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