BBC Top Gear 2017 Thread
Discussion
Poorest episode of the new series. Why oh why do they feel the need to invent a "story" for the AM vs MB piece? Just film them flying up some mountains - that cars speak for themselves - you don't need a dreadfully wooden script and pretendy acting. I FF through the last 5 mins as it was getting on my nerves.
The Golf piece was ok but was anyone convinced all those other cars were trying even 50%, in one aerial shot as they went past a car it was clearly doing about 30mph.
The SIARPC was very dull and the F-eye-at piece with MLB was ok. Unfortunately he has no pedigree as a journalist so his pieces come across more as meandering observations rather than a decent critical appraisal of the car.
The Golf piece was ok but was anyone convinced all those other cars were trying even 50%, in one aerial shot as they went past a car it was clearly doing about 30mph.
The SIARPC was very dull and the F-eye-at piece with MLB was ok. Unfortunately he has no pedigree as a journalist so his pieces come across more as meandering observations rather than a decent critical appraisal of the car.
Muck spreader segment - pointless rubbish.
Chris Harris 'teaching' segment - dire. Abysmal instructional technique.
Debbie Aldridge segment - too long.
But the rest was very good - Harris made an excellent Dr. Evil! Matt's panning of the underwhelming Fiat 124 / MX5 was brutally honest and well stated. I liked the cameo appearance of that earth digger in the DB11 segment as a nod to the 'The Italian Job' - very droll.
So it's getting better, but not yet up to Clarkson standards.
Chris Harris 'teaching' segment - dire. Abysmal instructional technique.
Debbie Aldridge segment - too long.
But the rest was very good - Harris made an excellent Dr. Evil! Matt's panning of the underwhelming Fiat 124 / MX5 was brutally honest and well stated. I liked the cameo appearance of that earth digger in the DB11 segment as a nod to the 'The Italian Job' - very droll.
So it's getting better, but not yet up to Clarkson standards.
Edited by nickwilcock on Sunday 19th March 23:34
To put that ridiculous Golf segment into context, they should have had Chris Harris going round Nuerburgring in that Ford 3-cylinder that he drove a few years back. Or are we to believe that a Golf really can accelerate and pass a GT3 with a v-delta of 40+mph?
The DB11 segment was rather spiffy and all the better for it being tongue in cheek. The more serious TG/TGT scripts get, the worse they are. Harry Metcalfe has an excellent YouTube video on the DB11, I highly recommend it. Other than the SIARPC bit, I don't think I cringed once. Okay maybe I sighed at the muck spreader bit. The Extra Gear bit was pretty good too. Okay, so the presenter is a bit clunky, but nowhere near the previous series' level of awfulness.
The DB11 segment was rather spiffy and all the better for it being tongue in cheek. The more serious TG/TGT scripts get, the worse they are. Harry Metcalfe has an excellent YouTube video on the DB11, I highly recommend it. Other than the SIARPC bit, I don't think I cringed once. Okay maybe I sighed at the muck spreader bit. The Extra Gear bit was pretty good too. Okay, so the presenter is a bit clunky, but nowhere near the previous series' level of awfulness.
Trabi601 said:
That's not what's being argued here.
The BBC seem to be using the same people to write the scripts as they did with Clarkson etc., but it just doesn't work with the new team.
They need to get away from the old scripting and find something new for this lot, or it looks like a cheap foreign licensed version of TG.
Doesn't help that Le Blanc has one character which hasn't changed in over 20 years and that Harris and Rory are just car anoraks who've lucked into a telly job.
Clarkson, Hammond, May and Richard Porter wrote the scripts for old Top Gear as far as I can tell from Richard Porter's book, so I doubt it's the same script writers still working on it.The BBC seem to be using the same people to write the scripts as they did with Clarkson etc., but it just doesn't work with the new team.
They need to get away from the old scripting and find something new for this lot, or it looks like a cheap foreign licensed version of TG.
Doesn't help that Le Blanc has one character which hasn't changed in over 20 years and that Harris and Rory are just car anoraks who've lucked into a telly job.
I enjoyed it again, as did my 13 year old who isn't really a petrol head.
egor110 said:
MitchT said:
Enjoyed tonight's show. The Aston/Merc intro was bordering on silly but made me smile. Had to actually pause for a minute to try to remember what car the Aston was being compared with, which kind of answers the debate they were having about which was best! I think I'd feel short changed if I paid £130k for a Merc whereas £150k for an Aston feels fine. The Golf was totally pointless. Not practical enough to be a daily driver but not special enough to be a weekend only car. £34k split between a second hand sensible Golf for daily driving and an Elise for weekends (both second hand, of course) would make far more sense. Does Chris really get that angry with his students?
or do the same with the focus rs a hot super hatch with rear seats.
Look at the company it's in.
As for the FAT hatch focus wtf @8:06.
Edited by PapaJohns on Monday 20th March 00:07
Edited by PapaJohns on Monday 20th March 00:10
La Liga said:
One person the TGT didn't poach was the person who picks the music. Always a great selection.
That's got less to do with the person choosing the music and more to do with rights issues. The BBC will get a preferential rate for licensing music for the first broadcast + catch-up period of an episode for historical reasons, which is why a fair chunk of the music has to be changed for generic muzak on the repeat editions on Dave - note the absence of the A-Team theme tune on the specials for example.jbudgie said:
Excellent show, head and shoulders above 'Grand Tour' and I say this as someone who really looked forward to GT until it tuned out to be mostly rubbish.
Exactly my thoughts. Subscribed to Amazon for TGT and was hugely disappointed. Though not perfect, TG is entertaining, beautifully filmed and a decent hour's worth of telly. The moaners will moan, but it's one of the few decent car programmes at the moment. The presenters are middling to good, they're genuine petrol heads and are gradually settling in. I like Sabine too. Hopefully Eddie Jordan won't appear too much. Or at all. Otherwise, a damn good effort by the Beeb. I don't get people on here at all. The Golf is about as practical as an R26 R and people raved on about that plastic fat arsed thing like it was the second coming. VW do something similar and the haters focus on the negatives instantly. Over and and over again people moan their tits off about fast Golfs being boring and bland and not fun to drive and then the Clubsport S appears that puts an end to all the dross they spout and thay go all Chris Goffey and say it has no back seats making it useless to put shopping in .The mind boggles.
Section 8 said:
I don't get people on here at all. The Golf is about as practical as an R26 R and people raved on about that plastic fat arsed thing like it was the second coming. VW do something similar and the haters focus on the negatives instantly. Over and and over again people moan their tits off about fast Golfs being boring and bland and not fun to drive and then the Clubsport S appears that puts an end to all the dross they spout and thay go all Chris Goffey and say it has no back seats making it useless to put shopping in .The mind boggles.
The R26R went for it fully though shedding 125kg from the base car - no rear seats, cage, plastic windows etc.The Golf is basically just 30kg down due to the lack of rear seat. May as well have kept it. It still weighs 130kg more than the R26R.
bobbo89 said:
schmalex said:
This show is now dull and so cringeworthy
You're either being honest or playing to the PH stereotype but either way you are wrong!I only watched it from half way though, but it was just so... vanilla.
The Golf segment was utterly stupid. Clearly, it's a quick little car but the feigned excitement as they "overtook" the other cars was just cringeworthy. The fact was, the other cars were going so slowly, I would have been able to "overtake" them in my old L200 double cab. It was cringe-inducing. The ONLY relevant bit about that interview was where they said it was £30whatever K, had no back seats to lose a paltry 30kg but had missed the ethos of a hot hatch in the process.
The star on the track segment just showed Harris up to be an extremely poor teacher (again), simply wasn't funny and took far too long.
The muck spreader bit was simply pointless and just filler material
The Fiat / MX5 segment was good. The old 124 spider looked sublime. I'm sure someone could iron out the flat spots in the Abarth's performance and make it a lovely car to drive. To my eyes, it looks so much better than the MX5.
The new show is trying to ape the original but, in doing so, has lost all of its originality and entertainment value. It's simply just a bit crap (albeit less crap than the last series). In my opinion.
rehab71 said:
KTF said:
No engine in that Volvo.
That's what I thoughtThe "celeb" wasn't turfed out nearly quick enough. Agony. Still, I'd rather have it on than not and I don't get the Harris tuition being singled out for criticism - they're in the business of entertainment not DVSA approved videos.
I agree with the VW feature was a bit stupid as you could see a number of the people just pulled out of the way as Sabine went bat s
t crazy around the circuit, also the Golf out ran some of those cars down the straight (who knew a Z06 was so slow) did it?
The star in a car segment is far too long but it won't get any shorter that way the BBC doesn't have to spend money on actual content, it's not the presenters fault they're working within the constraints.
Personally I enjoyed the GT more but by recording TG I skip all the fillers.
t crazy around the circuit, also the Golf out ran some of those cars down the straight (who knew a Z06 was so slow) did it?The star in a car segment is far too long but it won't get any shorter that way the BBC doesn't have to spend money on actual content, it's not the presenters fault they're working within the constraints.
Personally I enjoyed the GT more but by recording TG I skip all the fillers.
schmalex said:
bobbo89 said:
schmalex said:
This show is now dull and so cringeworthy
You're either being honest or playing to the PH stereotype but either way you are wrong!I only watched it from half way though, but it was just so... vanilla.
The Golf segment was utterly stupid. Clearly, it's a quick little car but the feigned excitement as they "overtook" the other cars was just cringeworthy. The fact was, the other cars were going so slowly, I would have been able to "overtake" them in my old L200 double cab. It was cringe-inducing. The ONLY relevant bit about that interview was where they said it was £30whatever K, had no back seats to lose a paltry 30kg but had missed the ethos of a hot hatch in the process.
The star on the track segment just showed Harris up to be an extremely poor teacher (again), simply wasn't funny and took far too long.
The muck spreader bit was simply pointless and just filler material
The Fiat / MX5 segment was good. The old 124 spider looked sublime. I'm sure someone could iron out the flat spots in the Abarth's performance and make it a lovely car to drive. To my eyes, it looks so much better than the MX5.
The new show is trying to ape the original but, in doing so, has lost all of its originality and entertainment value. It's simply just a bit crap (albeit less crap than the last series). In my opinion.
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