wmansir

The 13th series kicked off last night so I thought I would start a thread.

The lineup:

I'm not sure if the last thread was spoilerized until a US broadcast or not, but I'm not going to say anything spoilery anyway.

What I will say is that it's great to have this show back. I've been watching the AU version and while it sometimes rises to the level of amusing it's mostly just crap. From the hosts, to the segment content, to the editing, it's just a poor imitation and I didn't fully realize it until I got a taste of a new TG episode. This premiere was top form, except for the News, which I think they should scrap unless something truly interesting happens. Even if it's not timely it would have been nice to hear their take on the US auto shake up.

One spoiler

mugwump

Thanks for the heads up, I didn't realize season 13 had started.

harrydoyle

Nice! Had no idea there was new material out there, sweet.

Tsar Chasm

BDB

Enjoyed this ep, the Steam Train was very impressive..

Superman07

Good episode, but certainly not the best. I had some chuckles, but I wasn't crying like I have in the past. However, based on the preview for the remaining episodes I have a feeling I will.

The race was fun, but again not the best we've had. My guess they didn't expect .

I too agree that the car of the week on the test track was sick. That thing didn't even roll when it went around a corner! I felt the interview was shorter than others in the past, and that's a shame since I would have been interested to listen for another good 10 minutes.

BDB

So what is interesting to me is that the Star in a reasonably priced Car segment is shot on Wednesday, or was this week, Stephen tweeted about it. with a pic while it was happening.

wmansir

I'm say we just unspoiler this thread. I don't think the BBCA rebroadcasts get much discussion anyway.

I was largely disappointed with this week's episode.

The "17 year old's perfect car" challenge was overly scripted (hence not funny), pointless and largely uninteresting. I can accept a bit being one or two of those, but not all three.

The Lambo review was just boring. I literally dozed off during it, and I wasn't all that tired. It's basically last years model with a minor engine tweak and a boosted stereo. No amount of gorgeous desert scenery or Hammond gushing is going to change that.

I didn't know Fry was going to be the SIRPC, but even as a big Fry fan I found the interview disappointing. The iPhone bit was funny, but I was hoping to hear more about his American trip, as I just watched the series several weeks ago. Instead he told an anecdote that was either from the series or one of the extra bits. It was amazing to see how much weight he had lost though.

Adboy151

Fry fan here as well; I was shocked/amazed by his new slim self.

I did like this week's slightly better than last week's (the stream train portion of the race was interesting, the rest not so much) despite the scripted-ness of the car-for-a-17-year-old challenge.

BDB

I've been following him on twitter, so was aware of his weight loss, pretty incredible.

6 stone -84lbs.

spejic

In episode 2 when Hammond says that 17-year old girls are cheaper to insure than 17-year old boys, look at what is going on in the background.

Note: I am not responsible for injuries sustained while you are laughing.

BDB

Saw that..

Superman07

I noticed the Stig was at the photo copier when I was watching.

Did anybody catch the teeth whitener on Hamster's desk?

The car segment certainly wasn't the best challenge to date, but I certainly laughed out loud much more this week than I did for last week.

I feel like they are cutting back on the SIRPC segment, but I'm not sure what is taking the extra time since both episodes so far have felt a little slow.

I'm also surprised that the Veyron caught up; probably shouldn't be though.

wmansir

They also had a bunch of odd framed pictures on their desks. Hamster had a picture of a cow. May had what looked to be a old B&W picture of the queen maybe. Jeremy had two, one that looked like it could have been his wife(?), but the one they got a good shot of looked like a professional head shot of a young man I didn't recognize.

Case01

Call me crazy but I feel the cinematography and lens filters aren't what they use to be. But I love Top Gear anyway despite the pointless acting.

Superman07

Do they have the same directors for each episode? There was a car review a series or two ago that prominently featured some sort of bird cut in with the shots of the car going around the track. Then on this Lambo segment I thought they were headed there again with the falcon in the sands.

Superman07

Anybody watch the episode from this past week? I really enjoyed the Panamera v Mail segment. While short, I thought that was one of the better segments they've had in a very long time. I thought Jeremy v Army was a rehash of what they did a few series back with a Range/Land Rover.

wmansir

I didn't care for the last episode at all. It wasn't bad, but just seemed uninspired.

The hot hatch shootout was OK. The Focus RS has been reviewed to death and the Renault was a street legal, but not everyday usable, track car, so there were no surprises. But they are nice cars, it was shot well and Jeremy and Hammond were on form, so it was OK.

The Porsche vs mail race was disappointing. The Panamera seems like the standard Porsche with some extra doors shimmied in, and the review didn't seem to expand on that much. I was mostly disappointed they didn't put it around the track. And the race was literally against a piece of paper, so it wasn't all that compelling.

Bolt was a great "get" as a guest, but the interview was just eh. Not bad for an athlete, but that's not saying much.

The Army bit was a heavily scripted segment they've done 2 or 3 times before and telling us a bold faced lie about "live ammunition" doesn't change anything. The Army vehicles were cool, and frankly I would rather them just park the Evo and give us a little tour of them instead of Jeremy pretending to sneak around/get shot at. Then again, I'm the type of person who Tivos "Great Planes".

BDB

Army bit was bad, just an advertisement for them basically.

bdshort

It would have been cool to see them actually test the army vehicles instead! I thought the mail/porsche race was interesting only in that I get to see more shots of the British countryside and it's getting me more and more motivated to actually make a trip there next summer sometime.

Last weeks segment with Ken Block was awesome, even though I've seen other videos of him on YouTube.

Achtung

Have to admit it feels like the show hasn't been at its best this season. But I did enjoy the bit with the Panamera vs the Royal Mail, even if it is a really ugly car. The part with the Army and the Evo was, as someone said, a rehash of something they did previously.

There have been good bits this season, just nothing so funny that it left my eyes watering.

Case01

Last episode almost had me asleep and silly jalopnik reported Jay Leno may have been the SIARPC, lousy car blog. Honestly the only thing that has stood out for me this season has been Clarkson's Benz review and only because I really liked the cinematography, camera movements and the generally look. Audio was swell to for that review just loved it. Hope next episode is better.

Superman07

I do find it odd this series hasn't had some really classic moments, especially since the preview in episode 1 looked fantastic. I suppose we still have May driving with a model/actress, Hamster with a short person, racing in the snow and a challenge somehow involving trucks from the airport?

DGibFen

I think the best bit was in episode three, where they drove around in the cheap cars shouting political slogans at Parliament.

Superman07

See, I prefered the second half of that segment - especially carting the dogs around the track.