[19x01] January 27th, 2013

[19x01] January 27th, 2013

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It wasn't worth the wait. The jokes are all the same, the reviews are horrible. The cinematography in the Pagani segment gave me a headache. Jeremmy's segment was complete crap... it wasn't even remotely funny. I hope they redeem the series with something fresh.
 
7/10. The Pagani and Bently bits were impressive, but I am getting very tired about how scripted the episodes are feelinh. I feel like Hammond's reaction to the new whyhureieriaia was not genuine, but it was nice to see go around the track. The show is entertaining, but it too has lost its innocence, just like Jezza said of Ferrari and Lamborghini. The P45 bit was rubbish, but I did laugh when he fired it up in the middle of the library. Overall, it was a waste of time.
 
What motivation would they have for making up a 1:13.8 time? If they were making up a time and wanted it to be the fastest on the board, they'd just put it a couple tenths under the Atom or something to maintain suspense. There's no reason for them to exaggerate lap times.
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While I wouldn't put it past them to, err, "tweak" laptimes for "dramatic effect" (say, to have a new record every season), there's some pretty good evidence that they don't screw with the laptimes.

- Bugatti Veyron didn't get the fastest time when it was finally tested - granted, the fact that the fastest production car in the world wouldn't set the best time could be considered "dramatic" in itself.
- Some cars that they clearly hated set lap records (Gumpert Apollo, Caterham).

Besides: Why shouldn't the Pagani break the record? It's the newer car, it has some truly amazing gizmos like those smart downforce flaps. I'm pretty sure those things were instrumental in achieving that astonishing lap. Plus it's lighter and clearly up on power compared to the McLaren and the TG-track with its long, full-throttle-stretches does reward powerful cars. And Pagani is hardly an upstart-company. They do know their stuff and have built insanely fast and well handling cars in the past.


S.
 
Overall, I enjoyed it - but then, it's always been hard for me to be objective with the first episode of a series. I'm so happy to have TG back I can forgive quite a bit.

The Pagani Huayra review wasn't bad, but it made me remember why I hate turbocharged cars so much. The Zonda sounded like a supercar; the Huayra, not so much. Those turbos muffled the car so much it was incredible. It sounded like an S class.

The Bentley segment was good as well - although I was shouting at the TV at times, "James, look at the rally notes! Not out the windshield!" Kris was way more patient with James than I would have been.

Damian Lewis in the SIARPC was good - and his lap was very exciting.

The P45 segment - here is where the show really starts to fall apart. It was a segment that needed some serious editing. And I think that had it been Richard or James' segment, it would have been done. But as Jeremy is an executive producer, nobody dared to speak up. Considering we already saw the same sort of thing in Top Gear Australia, US, and UK, it really didn't need to be as long as it was. I think the shopping mall and library bits could have been completely removed from the segment and it wouldn't have suffered at all.

Overall, 7/10. And that's because it's the series premiere.

I am looking forward to the Shelby GT500 review - for obvious reasons.
 
Enjoyed it. 8/10.
 
7/10 from me.

  • They open the season with a review of the Pagani Huay....whatever, during which Hammond nearly has an orgasm, and follow up on that with doing a rally special stage in a Bentley. Holy crap. 9/10 up until that, easy.
  • SIARPC - bit of a boring interview, but at least he had owned a TVR. :) But the lap in snowy conditions more than made up for it, so still 9/10.
  • Then the warmed-up soup of old gags from Jeremy in a much too long feature about the "P45" ruined the last quarter of the show. Dropped two points.
 
For me the studio bits all felt nervous to me, like they were nervously trying to pick up where they left what is frankly a long time ago. Pressure to perform? They all three are talented enough to make it work more or less anyway, but as a result the studio bits felt very unconnected to me, including the news. Normally one of my favorite parts, it felt short and it were basically 4 entirely different subjects without any kind of natural connection.

Also, Richard did indeed look a lot older, as did James.

The Pagani review was very good. Actually, I think it is the best piece Richard has done in a long while. He didn't get silly, but still communicated his enthousiasm quite well, while giving enough detail about this astonishing car. Not sure about the turbo's on a V12 though, I'm sure AMG can make a N/A V12, giving the general public a bit more of an experience when one is passing by. Nonetheless, astonishing time. I read about the time being fast beforehand, but I was still surprised.

The Bentley bit was ok, although I don't like the Continental. It surprised me that Bentley let them do this, considering they didn't let Top Gear drive one in Albania. Maybe their press officer didn't dare to say no twice. Pretty good film, pretty good performance.

The P45 bit was just too long. At times it was very funny I have to admit, especially the part about child labor, but overall it was really dragged out.

I know the SIARPC only from his role in Band of Brothers. Don't know if I can watch that in the same way now, couldn't bond with him in this interview in any way.
 
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moorw003 said:
Loving reading this thread. Lots and lots of negativity, but the average rating for this episode is 7.56... which is good!

I guess we can all knit pick but it's harmless fun, brought a chuckle to these ears and that's all I ask on a Sunday evening.
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I look at Top Gear like I would my child, to use an (Admittedly crappy) analogy. I love my child, but if he/she did something wrong, I'd tell them. It doesn't mean I love them any less.
 
Has the track been resurfaced? Might account for the Huayra's amazing time. I don't doubt it's fast, but that much faster than anything before it?

I quite liked the episode. I can't wait for the specials.
 
The Spie said:
I don't think he should have said "rigged". But you've got to admit that credulity has been severely stretched. As I brought up, the apt comparison is the McLaren Fax Machine. It's only 40 or so bhp down on the Pagani. The kerb weight differential is only 49kg in favor of the Pagani. RWD cars don't have a significant advantage on the TG Test Track in terms of gaining time in corners vis-a-vis 4WD ones. Now remember that the Fax Machine was optimized on the TG Test Track, so essentially it has a home field advantage. Assume that it's the same Stig behind the wheel, since we have no evidence to the contrary. And the Pagani beat it by nearly three seconds? That's way too much. As I said, I'd believe about a second or so, but nearly three?
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EVO magazine had both those cars in their Car of the Year 2012 test and they did a video of those two cars following each other. Apart from at the straights, the 12C hung onto it. 3 seconds my ass.

[video=youtube;MGWrH-f5zaE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGWrH-f5zaE[/video]

Check ~08:50.
 
ahpadt said:
EVO magazine had both those cars in their Car of the Year 2012 test and they did a video of those two cars following each other. Apart from at the straights, the 12C hung onto it. 3 seconds my ass.



Check ~08:50.
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You do realize that Tiff is a professional race driver and the other bloke isn't? And he's still able to stay ahead...that IS impressing.

Edit: Also, I just can't see ANY Reason why they should fake laptimes...


Last Edit: Tiff Himself did beat his own laptime with the McLaren in Blyton Park with the Pagani. Not that badly, but it's a shorter track, and it should be less favourable of cars with more high-speed potential.
 
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Shelley said:
The music wasn't outstanding like Top Gear of old though.
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Guess there haven't been many new movie soundtracks they could mooch off of. Last nights ep was filled with music from Tron: Legacy from 2 years ago.
 
Everything OK except Jeremy's segment. He jumped the shark in this one...
 
I liked everything, even the Jeremy bit, until he got to the Apprentice/Dragon's Den shit. That was utterly pointless, especially when everyone know it's acting, and everyone's pretending he's for real, and Jeremy is acting like he means it, etc. Overall, 8 from me.
 
Cobol74 said:
I liked first 3/4 of the show but not the P45, all a bit obvious.
Sascha77
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Agreed! Loved the Pagani and Bently segments. If a show were nothing but that, I could watch it for hours on end. The Pagani bit was a proper car review and I like how Hamster highlighted details like the shift linkage and carbon titanium... it supported his summary that Pagani is a throw back to a time when super-car companies were all about making bonkers, un-restrained, pin-up performance cars. He brought the "car show" part to the car show. I also liked Jame's Bently rally.. that was the fun and entertainment. The P45 bit started out funny but quickly faded.. it wasn't funny enough to warrant the amount of time spent. Overall, I'm so glad Top Gear is back.
 
8/10

I really liked the Pagani and Bentley parts as well. I got a few chuckles out of the P45 part, so I didn't think it was that bad. The news was boring and I skipped the SIARPC as I always do, so I can't rate that.

Overall my favorite part was the Bentely segment. May's segments are almost always the best part of the show for me. It must be really hard to just read the notes without looking up to see if you're about to fly into a tree at 100mph.
 
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7/10

Pagani was alright, as others say a little boring.
The Bentley rally was awesome! nicely shot, real entertaining bit of kit. I wonder how the got that one through the people at Bentley? Press car's last run before destruction?
The P45 was way too long but was the only thing that seemed to get my girlfriend's (not a car chick) interest in the episode.

Not a great episode but no where near their worst.
 
I haven't seen this episode yet, but regarding what has been posted in this thread, it looks like they decided to carry on with the show as it has been for a while now. I suppose they keep producing it until the generall success dies down and then probably turn to other projects or start a completely new show with a fresh approach.

And who can blame them? The show might not be what diehard fans wish for, but those are in a minority compared to the general public which seems to like Top Gear just the way it is. So instead of making a huge effort in trying to replace a winning formula with something that might fail, why not keep milking the concept until viewer figures start dropping?
 
- the Pagani was a missed opportunity, they just went through it on autopilot rather than make something special out of it. Not bad as such but the car deserved more

- SIARPC didn't do it for me because I don't find the guy interesting, but that's a personal opinion so I'll leave that out of the scoring

- Bentley: awesome, amazing and completely not what you'd expect. To me the highlight of the show, well done.

- Peel P45: stupid, dumb, moronic, boring and soul crushingly predictable. Clowning around is fine if they really try (and then fail) but if it's set up to fail from the start and "be funny" then it's terrible. Not good

7/10, not good enough for having been gone for so long.
 
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