[13x01] June 21st, 2009

[13x01] June 21st, 2009


  • Total voters
    952
6.5.

Sorry guys this was no epic !!

The whole news sucked (made the new fifth gear studio segments look good)...alot of new cars out since they were off the air and they really didn't talk about them...just awkward scripted jokes that didn't work.

The lotus review was ok, but I would have like to get more info about the car and see it go head to head with the 911 and RS8..or something like that.

The train, car and bike race was just a redone race with different machinery.

And why didn't we get to see more of Shumi and the FXX ?? He is a legend and seemed a good sport it would have been nice to see more of the interview and his driving really.

Come on guys; A new Lotus, A Ferrari FXX, Shumi and the main topic of the episode was Jeremy plugging coal in a train? 1949 WHO CARES !!

Lets get back to the cars, and leave the scripted ego crap where it belongs...on fifth gear
 
I don't care how scripted it was, Michael Schumacher plough understeering into a camera was side splittingly hilarious :lol:

Welcome back, TG!
 
6.5.

Sorry guys this was no epic !!

The whole news sucked (made the new fifth gear studio segments look good)...alot of new cars out since they were off the air and they really didn't talk about them...just awkward scripted jokes that didn't work.

The lotus review was ok, but I would have like to get more info about the car and see it go head to head with the 911 and RS8..or something like that.

The train, car and bike race was just a redone race with different machinery.

And why didn't we get to see more of Shumi and the FXX ?? He is a legend and seemed a good sport it would have been nice to see more of the interview and his driving really.

Come on guys; A new Lotus, A Ferrari FXX, Shumi and the main topic of the episode was Jeremy plugging coal in a train? 1949 WHO CARES !!

Lets get back to the cars, and leave the scripted ego crap where it belongs...on fifth gear

look, as we have said a million time on the board, if you want car reviews then watch Fifth Gear. as far as Jezza dumping coal and the whole race thing you were complaining about, isnt that the point? arent ALL races just the same thing with different machinery? yes, and its still a blast to watch. and as far a Micheal, dude, they got MICHEAL on the show and got him to pretend he was the Stig! dont look a gift horse in the mouth!
 
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I'm pretty sure that Schumacher isn't allowed to drive any other cars than Ferrari/Fiat on TV while he is still on a Ferrari contract. That's why there was no Liana lap.
Good point.
You are right about Cream.

Technically, Deep Purple was started in early 1967 but ok ;)
Wait, what about Iron Butterfly?
 
EPIC episode,
knew it wasnt the real stig as soon as i heared him... because a couple seasons ago a TV interviewer talked to the stig and he had a British accent, not a German one.
beautiful steam train.
 
I thought that was the best opening episode TG has ever done. I really enjoyed it.
 
Quite a good episode, IMHO, but not really in the same boat as my favourite ones. The FXX was awesome, and I quite enjoyed the race (gorgeous shots of the steam train). The Lotus review was cool, although I also think it would've been nice to see it go head-to-head against a porsche. The Stig reveal was fun, but I really think they overplayed it. Similarly, the in-studio bits felt a bit too forced, especially for TG, which usually has pretty funny news and transition segments. Given that this is the first show of the season, though, I imagine that it will get better as they go along.

As I said, I think the show was good and maybe I was just tired while watching it (took longer than expected to get the d/l finished). I'm greatly looking forward to the rest of the season and hope that it gets better and better from this point.
 
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Really, anyone who comes here, criticizes Top Gear to blue murder, and so much as mentions Fifth Gear, is a fanboy.
 
I'm still wondering why they used the Liana and not the Lacetti.

well, if you dont know, everytime a "race driver" is on as a guest they use the Lianna because they have a seperate board for them and thats how they keep it going. its so every racer that comes on the show drives the same car. kinda pointless to make a new board since i think they only have had like 7 of them. and so, thats why. did that help?
 
I don't care if the news were boring or if the race was fake, Schumi and the FXX stole the show. Great season opener, 10.
 
Loved it what a bloody epic lap in the FXX.

Great episode!
 
I think it was a very good episode. I wish i hadn't read a spoiler about the stig reveal.. Seeing it without knowing anything beforehand would have been awesome. Now it was just near-awesome.

The race was great, Hammond was absolutely hilarious riding that bike. His "soundtrack" and Black Shadow jokes were seriously funny!
I think Hammond has really improved these last 3-4 seasons. It's amazing to come back from an accident like his, and then just go out and be even better than he was before.

I'd like to have seen what happened when those guys at the gas station came towards Hammond when he was on the phone.. :D Stupid that you can't use a mobile phone in a gas station btw.

The Evora is a very nice car.. Very good looking, and if i really does drive as well as Clarkson, and a few others, says it does, then its shortcomings wouldn't be a problem.. 0-60 in 5.1 isn't excactly slow, and who cares if it's the engine out of a Toyota Camry? :p

Great season opener, and judging by the season preview, we're going to get some really entertaining TV in the weeks to come :D
 
Great episode overall 9/10

I didn't like the Schumacher Stig reveal thing, I thought it was a bit ridiculous and overdone.

The race though was fantastic. I loved the shots of the train from the helicopter, with the smoke pouring from the stack. Gave such an image of power.

Lotus review was good, I do wish they would have shown the lap though.
 
Really, anyone who comes here, criticizes Top Gear to blue murder, and so much as mentions Fifth Gear, is a fanboy.

Well I used to criticize the show - but only because my expectations were Mount-Everest high. And I gave a five because thats my rating for an average show in the Top Gear ranking. Compared to most other things on TV it would be a 9 with most Top Gear shows scoring a 10+ for sure. By the way: after rewatching it in proper quality (first run was on YouTube) I would go up to a 7 in the Top-Gear ranking. Beautyfull pictures indeed.

And to the guys who gave me bad rep for that Bush/Florida joke: Sorry, this was not intended to be an insult - just a joke. I'll leave out such things in future... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
I gave it a good, solid 9 (since I have to reserve 10s for the really epic specials like Polar and Africa).

The race was a good, solid challenge. James's car was beautiful and I did enjoy him as the "non-christian motorist". He sounded rather like me there for a bit.

While I think Jeremy is probably the better writer, and James is the most interesting and charismatic, Hammond is constantly the funniest off the cuff, and this episode was no exception.

While certainly the Schumacher thing was piss-taking, I'm still wondering what's going to happen Stig-wise for the rest of the season? Will real Stig just turn up for work next week like nothing ever happened? Also, I think it's important for there to be only one Stig who does all the lap times just for consistency's sake. Of course, I couldn't care less who he is when they send him to Blackpool or something non-driving related.

While I don't think the news was actively bad (loved James's quip about how he'd have shot himself years ago), I too am surprised there was no mention of GM, Koenigsegg, or the new Chrysler Cinquecento. ;) Agree that they were pressed for time, though. Maybe next week.

Looking forward to next week's crap car challenge. They are my favorites.:D
 
It was pretty average to be honest. 7/10
The only things that made me laugh was Hammond's gay sex innuendos and "Schumacher" plowing the cameraman.
The race formula really has been done to death, this time they didn't get much of a chance to make fools out of themselves.
 
All they have to do to mitigate the shumistig thing is to just do a thing of "after filming the episode last week, we put the rubbish and jeremy's shirt out and found the stig tied up in the wheelie bins, now the stig has an intense hatred for anything vaguely germanic or something" Then there can be intrigue, also good if black stig does come back, and have a shoot out or something.

Still dissapointed schumacher didn't lap in the liana. They could have just put big fiat stickers over the suzuki badges and started making jokes about how shit this particular fiat was. (If I was schumacher I'd have a 159 if you're gonna have a fiat group car). Was happy clarkson gave a somewhat balanced interview, didn't let him off the hook completely, but still respected that he's there to win, not to have a good time.

And I want DC and Brundle to lap in the car, just cos.

Steam race was good, seemed pretty short iirc, I was a little hacked off with my car so I wasn't thinking particularly clearly. Wasn't fussed on the evora interview, can't remember anything special or unique apart from the grass bit.
 
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