"Cheap stunts": running jokes, stuntman, V8 gadgets, falling over - yes or no?

"Cheap stunts": running jokes, stuntman, V8 gadgets, falling over - yes or no?


  • Total voters
    272
Stunts are fine from time to time, falling over can happen as often as it wants to as long as it is a natural result of cocking about rather than the demand of a script and running jokes, again, can work as long as they're not too overplayed. The 'wearing that for a bet' thing was fine because they knocked it on the head when it started to get a bit old - and did it perfectly, using classic misdirection (i.e. May's shoes). The 'I went on the internet' thing last series was an example of something that I think was overplayed, but somehow the Dacia Sandero thing never stopped being funny in series 11 for me (don't think they needed to revisit it for series 12).

I really think it's more down to how scripted the show is than anything else. A simple one-liner can be worked in quite easily, but something like the V8 household appliances by necessity takes scripting, prop-building and rehearsal, and it's harder to throw away if it doesn't go as well as hoped.

Having said all that, I think the slightly odd feel to series 12 was more down to a tight filming schedule that was made tighter by the pressure that things like TG Live added. There was perhaps not the freedom to be as relaxed and maybe this was why so much scripted stuff crept in.

So yes, I'm in favour of stunts, and running gags, and falling over - but as Mineworksfine said, if done well. What I'm not in favour of is the TG3's natural comedy being lost in pages of script.
 
I don't think that Hammond's "falling over" was scripted. Jeremy wants the crowd to laugh so he just simply pushes Hammond of the stage and then that's taken care of. Top Gear is really becoming a true comedy show...before was it just a car show with some really funny jokes on the side. (Which was great! cause' it came naturally and at least it didn't seem scripted).

It's gone kinda crazy...but sure, it's a good laugh.
 
Running jokes, occasional stunts, falling over (when accidental) - all good and encouraged, if used in moderation.

For no reason I can understand I really don't like the V8 bits though. Darned if I know why.
 
There should have been a fifth option ie Good if done well.

I agree with this. For example, all of the running gags during the news segment this year didn't feel right. If they had just done the "I was on the Internet and..." bit once or twice, for example; it would've been fine. But every single week? Same with the Sandero and the "Are you wearing that for a bet?" thing.

On the other hand, I would consider the morse code from the Stig to be a good running joke because it was (I guess) supposed to be him "talking."

If I could say anything to the show as a newer fan, I would say to just not try so hard. If you want to throw some joke out just to see if it sticks, go for it. But just don't over do it.
 
Sorry, have we both watched the same episode you call 12x06?
I seem to only remember two brilliant reviews (except for hammond's prepostrrous graph board, but at least I see that they are trying to keep up with the tradition of charts of sorts), a pretty good star on a sweaty sofa and a great segment about commie cars, it was fun and not overscripted. No falling over. A brilliant episode, needs nothing more.

I agree. It was an excellent episode. The only thing it lacked really was the health of the 3 hosts! :p


Having said all that, I think the slightly odd feel to series 12 was more down to a tight filming schedule that was made tighter by the pressure that things like TG Live added. There was perhaps not the freedom to be as relaxed and maybe this was why so much scripted stuff crept in.

Wyvern, I think you hit upon something here. I don't think it was just series 12, but series 11 as well.
 
If I could say anything to the show as a newer fan, I would say to just not try so hard.

Exactly.

Its like Hammond says when he does the cool wall, about some of the cars with more flash than substance: its trying to hard, and thats what I feel to when I watch some of their obviously scripted "accidents" and when they are obviously TRYING to be "ambitious but rubbish" like during their cheap alfa challenge.

Thats what I dont like about the TG stuntman. They basically said: "heres a stuntman, hes rubbish at it, and he's going to fail at everything he attempts."

I dont see whats funny about that.
 
Stunts? They've had them for a while and they never bothered me until they "created" the Top Gear Stuntman and started trying to give him a persona akin to the Stig. When it was just a suitably qualified person introduced as themself to do a particular stunt it worked much better but now it just feels rather forced and silly.

The stunt segments with Top Gear Stuntman feel rather forced; I preferred it when the stunts had a theme to them and were done just for the hell of it.

See my favorite stunt, the wedding jump, for an example:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fJayp0TStc[/YOUTUBE]

Or the Rolls in the swimming pool:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzmCPv73HCU[/YOUTUBE]

However, I'm in the minority that views each episode as a godsend and the pinnacle of absolute perfection. :D That being said, I think Top Gear Stuntman has lots of potential (after all, who doesn't dream of being a professional stuntman when jumping their Hot Wheels cars off each other? I know I did) and deserves his own backstory and feature segment.

Wilman and company, I hope you're listening! :shakefist:
 
I won't give a vote in the poll. As we learned in "Natural Born Killers" (and techno): Repetition works, James, repetition works. And so do some repeated jokes.

But not all the times. I really liked the Sandero-Piece. I really didn't like destroying another marina - though I laughed for minutes. I didn't like this series' US-part because it was so heavily scripted. But I liked the running joke "to be not entertaining"

I really had liked two running jokes (well, the second one wasn't running yet) combined: Placing a Dacia Sandero next to a Morris Marina and destroying the Dacia.

I like (so far) the running joke of doing a strange kind of race in a distant country ( loved africa, the polar expedition, japan and the first one in the states)

Don't like the joke about Germans making no good love. Laughing about it...

The TopGear Stuntman is crap. Pointless. Just a fill-in.
 
Last edited:
I really dislike the 'stuntman' from TopGear. Like with the last episode, I liked the episode. But than they had the jump and it just seems.. eh. It is hard to believe that even with air time of a caravan crashing into other vehicles, I found it rather boring. I think they could have just shown like 10 minutes of topgear dog and I would have enjoyed it more.
 
On the other hand, I would consider the morse code from the Stig to be a good running joke because it was (I guess) supposed to be him "talking."
Or, more likely, the continuation of Stig's awful musical taste, which drifted through easy listening, prog rock, and tunes from adverts, on to bits and pieces of language courses, horrid Mills & Boon audio-novels, then onto the Morse code. What the logical continuation will be is anyone's guess; they haven't gone for "whale songs" yet - though that's a bit too hippyish for the discerning Topgearophile.

Thats what I dont like about the TG stuntman. They basically said: "heres a stuntman, hes rubbish at it, and he's going to fail at everything he attempts."
Has anyone seen the Guinness Book Of Records 2009? The record for the jump in reverse didn't exist before Top Gear Stuntman attempted it...
 
That's definitely what I think too. Some may not understand this, but if I had to choose between, say, S1 and S9, it'd be S1 every time.

Without James May? I'm the complete opposite - I'd chose a season with the three boys over a season with only two every time.

I love the jokes, the falling down, the cocking about. There's probably an equal amount of people who do, to the ones who prefer 'proper' automotive television. I think they do balance it out evenly, though, for the most part.
 
Without James May? I'm the complete opposite - I'd chose a season with the three boys over a season with only two every time.

I love the jokes, the falling down, the cocking about. There's probably an equal amount of people who do, to the ones who prefer 'proper' automotive television. I think they do balance it out evenly, though, for the most part.

Don't get me wrong, I like James. I even think that his sensible and boring at places reviews are great, because they have a feeling about them that James just really sees things that way. "Hello!". Sure, some lines are written for him, I dont mind, uless they start to seem preposterously out of character for capt. slow. So I reckon his segments do a bloody great job of balancing the show in its current format.

Talking about series 1, it were just two extreme cases that I've chosen to illustrate my preferences. Series one had many brilliant bits, make no mistake.
 
Don't like the stuntman at all, running jokes... they get slightly boring & monotonous (though it depends on which jokes though, the stig ones never fail to make me laugh), falling over is childish fun that makes me laugh (although it grates on other people's nerves a bit, but i personally do like a bit of childish fun), but V8 gadgets... i'm all for V8 gadgets. More V8 gadgets, i say.
 
Sssssshh!!

Don't tell Mrs Hersworksfinetoo, but I've just finished building her a V8 Bikini Waxer for Christmas.....

As there are minors who view this forum you'll forgive me for not posting pictures or video of the trial run.
 
Sssssshh!!

Don't tell Mrs Hersworksfinetoo, but I've just finished building her a V8 Bikini Waxer for Christmas.....

As there are minors who view this forum you'll forgive me for not posting pictures or video of the trial run.

Um...yeah, let us know how that works out.

(begins Googling for sign language teachers, hearing aid specialists in that area)
 
Um...yeah, let us know how that works out.

(begins Googling for sign language teachers, hearing aid specialists and reconstructive plastic surgeons in that area)


FTFY ;)
 
What you want instead of all the V8 machinery, stuntmen and jokes is a classic car review by James. Old school style. <3

Just like this one:

https://pic.armedcats.net/a/ah/ahpadt/2008/12/16/vlcsnap-92644.png

Problem solved.
 
Last edited:
Or, more likely, the continuation of Stig's awful musical taste, which drifted through easy listening, prog rock, and tunes from adverts, on to bits and pieces of language courses, horrid Mills & Boon audio-novels, then onto the Morse code.

You forgot the Stig's baroque classics phase. hehe

What you want instead of all the V8 machinery, stuntmen and jokes is a classic car review by James. Old school style. <3

Just like this one:

https://pic.armedcats.net/a/ah/ahpadt/2008/12/16/vlcsnap-92644.png

Problem solved.

Oh. I miss those too. My favourite is the Maserati Bora film.
 
Last edited:
The stunt segments with Top Gear Stuntman feel rather forced; I preferred it when the stunts had a theme to them and were done just for the hell of it.

Totally agree. Probably it's for publicity or to create another "legend" like Stig.. Which just won't work.

Don't tell Mrs Hersworksfinetoo, but I've just finished building her a V8 Bikini Waxer for Christmas.....
You have seen "Burn after reading", haven't you :D

What you want instead of all the V8 machinery, stuntmen and jokes is a classic car review by James. Old school style. <3
Sure. Also, while we're on the subject, the better reviews like the one you mentioned, weren't overloaded with stupid sound effects and vulgar oversaturated high contrast visuals. It's ok to try, but it shouldn't have taken this much time to figure out that it's all rubbish and revert to the brilliant classic style ;)
 
Top Gear was perfect evolution untill season 7. Season 8 was very good also actually, but season 9 was heavily influenced by Hammond's crash. Totally ruined it and the way they started to look at how Top Gear should 'feel'/be. Now it seems that they try to "hide" their real car knowledge/love for cars, and instead do some funny jokes for 45 minutes of the show. I know Jeremy are into cars, because you can easily see that by the other stuff he does at the side of TG.


isn't that around the same time that they won the Emmy for "Best non-scripted entertainment show". Because i feel that once they won that the seasons after they've just let it go to their heads and thought "ok, if they thought that it wasn't scripted (although it loosely was) then we can push it abit more" and now its just gone over to silly and plainly scripted. I miss the car reviews, i miss having a proper news section where they talk about cars instead of jokes about current events. i hate that now you can see them turning over the pages and pages of the script during the news, doesnt feel natural anymore.

I know that they are trying to appeal to a wider audience now but they should remember where it all started from, if it wasnt for the people who watched it back when it was more to do with cars they probably wouldn't be where they are now.
 
Last edited:
Top