Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV 

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I had to wait a few days to catch it on iplayer, overall I enjoyed it. I thought the studio segments were quite poor but the features were pretty good overall. I laughed when the Taxi drove off which was something I don't think happened last season, so it's got potential.
 
The Alfa film was beautiful to watch and the drifting thing was entertaining. It seems like they're trying to incorporate the guest section with the news section. I like the braking points on the track. That'll help the celebrities. The spider film was just as beautiful. Also, Leblanc said that Harris got chocolate on the rev needle, but it's an electronic screen? I can't believe they had an English argument like the Grand Tour. But at least it was shorter and less cringey.
 
I enjoyed episode 2 - great visuals, good sound editing, car news a witty guest, a Stig lap - it didn't feel too long this week. Doing the trip / car test with just Harris and Le Blanc seemed to work better than last week when Rory was also present.

I haven't watched the second extra gear yet, but back when Rory was doing that show it was great - in fact much better than the main show with Chris Evans. Episode 1 of Extra Gear however was dire - pure purgatory - felt like it went on forever and it was a relief when it finally ended - perhaps time to kill that show off?
 
Definitely better than first season for me without annoying Evans around. Better than most of Grand Tour even. I know it's still scripted, but it just appears less so and with much less forced jokes/failures. It's definitely not as good as old TG with the old trio, but then again nothing ever will be, I think.

Not digging the new studio though. Just looks too sterile and showy. The old studio is much more homey (also they removed the unkillable Hilux - I hope they still have it stored somewhere). Not liking the extended celebrity part either. With people who are not into cars it's just going to be painful to watch. Not warming up to the new Extra Gear host either. He's not bad, but just feels too generic to me. Aside from that Matt/Rory/Chris really seems to be much more comfortable and natural in their interactions this season.

Anyway, it's more than watchable now. Instead of 1 car show we now have 2 so I'm not gonna complain too much. I just hope there's not much overlap between the cars TG & GT reviewed because it will get repetitive quick.
 
I don't like Matt Le Blanc and the other presenters just don't seem right for the show... it's like sacking Lee, Lifeson and Peart and still calling the band 'Rush' - it's not going to work.
 
LeGeNd-1
Not digging the new studio though. Just looks too sterile and showy. The old studio is much more homey (also they removed the unkillable Hilux - I hope they still have it stored somewhere). Not liking the extended celebrity part either. With people who are not into cars it's just going to be painful to watch. Not warming up to the new Extra Gear host either. He's not bad, but just feels too generic to me. Aside from that Matt/Rory/Chris really seems to be much more comfortable and natural in their interactions this season.
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As for the Hilux, I would imagine they'd consider putting it in their Top Gear museum, if....that still exists?
 
So far, I massively prefer the new TG to last years, and also prefer it to TGT.

The studio pieces are a bit clunky, but I think that will improve as they spend more time together and the script writers improve. The outside stuff is very good - the quality of the filming, the editing, the locations are all top notch... some of the landscape shots in the Supercar section were just stunning.

Not sure I like the persona they are pushing Harris towards - particularly the fake behavior when he's doing the SITRPC training. It's just not his personality, and it shows.
 
I think over time the show will improve but even now it's much better than it was last year and generally matches or betters The Grand Tour imo. They just need to work on reducing the cringey scripted moments in the studio, I think Matt should be the only one doing the celebrity interviews.

I'm not sure if Rory has found his place on the show yet but perhaps a weekly segment on the latest car technology would be a good idea, looking at the hybrid tech in F1 or what Google are up to for example.
 
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....Enjoyed the episode a lot, but man, Extra Gear needs to die already. There's a concerted effort to make the main show as seemingly unscripted as possible, but then the EG goes and breaks that for the sake of extra content that's not necessarily more entertaining or informative.

Plus, the new presenter is.... underwhelming, to be honest. He's not memorable, nothing distinguishable about him - he's just so bland, his accent notwithstanding. Hell, I can't even remember his name, for christ sake!!

Oh, and where did Reid disappear to in the latter half of the show? :odd: Not even a mention of where he went to. Strange.
 
Thought the second episode was a good one again. Really can't say that THAT matches up to this so far. There's something about the production value in Top Gear that just trumps it every time.

Alfa segment was particularly fun to watch.
 
wicken
Really enjoyed the second episode. I also like how in some parts during the episode, they're using NFS The Run soundtrack.
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Yes I picked that up too!

Probably just a coincidence but they also use some of the Drift Canyon music from Trackmania Turbo too at the very beginning of the same challenge. That is just a licensed song however but when correlated with the NFS soundtrack it's interesting. :)
 
A very enjoyable episode for me, the chemisty between Harris and MLB is brewing nicely. MLB is also a pretty witty guy, which adds to it.

Need to adjust the current SIRFC arc and replace with something shorter though.
 
Yeah I'm not a fan of the celebrity staying so long in the show.

Other than that I liked that episode again, the Alfa segment was pretty cool (even if the drifting part at the end was a bit too long). I'll give some credit to Harris and bbc because they kept the sequence and not delete it since he didnt do it on first try. But it felt a bit long.

Supercar trip was nice even if for me the Porsche is not something special, lots of people have one in my town and it's kinda like a daily drive. And I'm getting tired of seeing one each time a pro-driver have to pick a car.
 
Really liked it. Personally, this was a great episode (downhill in neutral!), although I'm worried they won't be able to top it. I thought it was that good of an episode. And the Alfa review was great. I'm so glad this show looks to be on the right track and happy they're making it their own, yet not so confused like the first season. The first went out of its way to not be like Old Gear.
 
Honestly wondering if TG UK would benefit from TG US's format. Entirely getting rid of the studio segment and do nothing but reviews/challenges/comparos. Although that would mean getting rid of the TG leaderboards, so...maybe not.
 
The interview wouldn't be missed if it was scrapped entirely. Failing that, get rid or the Chris Harris tutoring them bit at the very least, it wasn't funny in episode 1, it won't be at the end of the series either.

Other than that, still better than last season.
 
Liked it tonight but wasn't as good as last week, all three films were good but nothing special but the interview and the 'involving the guest in the banter' bit wasn't great.

Also, LeBlanc to Harris-'Hillary Clinton called, she wants her jacket back'! :lol::lol:
 
The Police radio chatter... "It's Joey from Friends and some bald bloke in a jacket" :lol:

The chemistry between Matt and Harris is really coming on nicely. Something about their polar opposite characters and one being a laid back American and the other being a stuffy Brit which just works.

Matt's odd obsession for farm equipment is becoming a thing although it seems really scripted.

All in all it's getting better and better. They should loose Extra Gear though imo. The presenter is odd and by revealing how scripted the show is they are destroying some of magic, however thinly veiled it is. I can't imagine the old three would have ever wanted a show like that to air.
 
Robin.
All in all it's getting better and better. They should loose Extra Gear though imo. The presenter is odd and by revealing how scripted the show is they are destroying some of magic, however thinly veiled it is. I can't imagine the old three would have ever wanted a show like that to air.
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"Here we see the cuts in the banner so that when the train pulled away it would read 'Eat English muff'"

Just ruins it all that extra.

I've not watched any of this season yet due to life commitments but I'll make a day when I plow through them.
 
I really enjoyed that Nurburgring film with Sabine Schmitz and Rory Reid, it was so damn funny.
Can they make her a regular on the show? :D
 
...Another solid episode. I'm beginning to think that TGT might need to take some pointers from the current TG guys in making a consistently good series of motoring-related shows.

I can't think of anything that was too ungainly or cringeworthy from the series yet. Which can't be said about TGT at all.
Not sure if the current run of form BBC has found with the "new-new" TG will continue til the end of the season, but I'm hoping it does.

I haven't even bothered with the Extra Gear, to be honest. Can't be arsed to give a toss. Too busy catching up on the rest of Iron Fist episodes, actually... :D
 
Caught this episode last night and it's definitely improving, most likely because the presenters, production team and viewers are starting get the on screen dynamics better. I know I am.

I thought the Tamsin Greig interview and drive was actually pretty good, but then again she was in Black Books so I'd forgive her anything.

The part that wound me up a bit was the Golf on the Nurburgring piece. Yeah, let's see if we can overtake £1 million worth of cars in a Golf GTi. Yeah, now let's see how many Golf GTi's Sabine could overtake in a GT3 RS, shall we? Probably close to £1 million worth*. Whooping and wailing as they "blasted" past a clearly cruising set of cars. Grrrrr.

*OK, that's about 29 cars in 13 miles, but you see my point.
 
axletramp
Caught this episode last night and it's definitely improving, most likely because the presenters, production team and viewers are starting get the on screen dynamics better. I know I am.

I thought the Tamsin Greig interview and drive was actually pretty good, but then again she was in Black Books so I'd forgive her anything.

The part that wound me up a bit was the Golf on the Nurburgring piece. Yeah, let's see if we can overtake £1 million worth of cars in a Golf GTi. Yeah, now let's see how many Golf GTi's Sabine could overtake in a GT3 RS, shall we? Probably close to £1 million worth*. Whooping and wailing as they "blasted" past a clearly cruising set of cars. Grrrrr.

*OK, that's about 29 cars in 13 miles, but you see my point.
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I dont get your point on the Golf segment to be honest. Off course she could overtake a million of GTI in a gt3 rs, but that's a road legal racing car so there's nothing impressive about it. So I definitely not understand what you're saying.
If you were bothered by the fact that a professional drivers in a under powered car showed more skilled that daily life drivers running supercar then ok but personally I found it fun and again it shows that the car isnt everything. You need skill to go along if you want to be fast.

As for the whole episode I thought it was pretty cool, the aston martin bit was maybe a bit too long, they didnt need the police chase I thought.

Studio part is awful I really hate it now.

On another note am I the only one wanting to ear Tonight ! after the generic lol.
 
RX-7_FD3S
I dont get your point on the Golf segment to be honest. Off course she could overtake a million of GTI in a gt3 rs, but that's a road legal racing car so there's nothing impressive about it. So I definitely not understand what you're saying.
If you were bothered by the fact that a professional drivers in a under powered car showed more skilled that daily life drivers running supercar then ok but personally I found it fun and again it shows that the car isnt everything. You need skill to go along if you want to be fast.
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The segment showed us nothing other than how a TV show is everything. Did we see those other drivers in the Golf for comparison? Did we see Sabine in the other cars for comparison? Did we see how a comparative set of drivers in the Focus RS, Civic Type R or RenaultSport Megane 275, in fact any of the Golf's direct class rivals? No. Just, as you pointed out, a very fast professional driver going flat out and overtaking a series of cars that are clearly not going flat out and driven by non-professional drivers (for all we know).

I'm not doubting how good the Golf GTi is, just doubting the credibility of their "test" and the staged self congratulatory nonsense that went with it. As I said, apart from that minor grumble the rest of the show was really good.
 
A very enjoyable episode and the interviewing is improving. The only 2 cringy things are Chris's teaching and the massive OP farming gear that Matt shows. Otherwise, the car reviewing is good and the production value is very high. They are heading in the right direction for sure.
 

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