Un-official GTPlanet BBC Topgear UK ThreadTV

[niky]

The only person on the show who actually does know cars inside and out is May.

Hammond and Clarkson are total clowns. You host an automotive program for this long and you're bound to learn something, yes... but they're not nuts and bolts type guys. Clarkson has a terrible "feel" for handling (though I do chuckle when he rants about ride comfort and interior quality... or the lack thereof) and Hammond likes cars, but isn't really an authoritative voice on them.

 

[Famine]

Why do you say that Hammond doesn't like cars?

Probably because he doesn't.

He shows absolutely no genuine passion for cars whatsoever - in fact the only car he's spoken about with any kind of actual pleasure in the entire run of TG is the Land Rover Defender. And since he lives on a farm in Herefordshire, that makes a modicum of sense.

Everything else is either what's popular (he's apparently a 911 fan - bet he wasn't until he got the Top Gear money and then went and bought the first fast car he could think of) or a deliberate 'character' offset of what the other two like.

And he knows a bit about the technical side of cars , he showed it in the show already.

In the script, yes. But then he was also in the script not knowing about the technical side of cars when 'they' built the Caterham at Knockhill...

Incidentally, Clarkson has, like the others, repaired the seemingly unrepairable in his challenge cars - check out the Porsche repairs in the ill-fated South America challenge. Of course he didn't, but the script says he did...

 

[JoaoSilva]

Still i disagree about him not liking cars , he obviously does , he loves Paganis , 911's , even when they went to Africa and he used a Cortina , he later bought it for himself. It's obvious that he does. What makes you think that May or Jezza like cars more than him? @Famine

 

[Beeblebrox237]

I definitely feel that May is the one who loves cars most. If they were to modify or disband Top Gear as we know it, James would be the only one I'd miss. I get tired of Clarkson and Hammond after a while, but I always enjoy hearing from May.

 

[ToyGTone]

What?????? Jeremy?? NOOOOOOO!!! WHY? but Top Gear is one of few TV shows i watch these days and removing him from Top Gear will ruin the whole "comedy" car talk show and become something like Top Gear USA which's i really REALLY HATE.

I can't think of any replacement for any of the three presenter, not even the old Top gear presenters would work unless they changed whole top gear back to the old one which's was much more seriously and really about Cars, non of the comedy or non car news talk.

And now i don't have a show to watch, all my favorite is ether gone or going to be aired after months and months.

 

[Famine]

Still i disagree about him not liking cars , he obviously does , he loves Paganis , 911's

And what makes you think that? The script? Sure, he bought a 911, but as I just said:

Everything else is either what's popular (he's apparently a 911 fan - bet he wasn't until he got the Top Gear money and then went and bought the first fast car he could think of) or a deliberate 'character' offset of what the other two like.

Watch any episode where he professes to like something again and you'll see the mask of the indifferent. He literally couldn't care less - it could be a Pagani Zonda, a motorbike, a breezeblock, a dead elk or a trifle made of ham, he'll just stand there and read out whatever's on the script in a measured pace that says you should be grateful he's explaining this awkward concept to you, then stop at the end and half grin down the camera for the VT.

The only time he's ever been anything different is with the Defender. And, oddly, the tractors they used for the biodiesel episode. There was an odd glint in his cold, dead eyes in that show.

even when they went to Africa and he used a Cortina , he later bought it for himself.

Yes, the many tens of thousands of pounds of his own money he'd have spent on an Opel Kadett that the script called for him to 'love' that he later used as an immobile prop on Blast Lab proves he's really interested in cars...

It's obvious that he does. What makes you think that May or Jezza like cars more than him? @Famine

They were both motoring journalists before Top Gear for a start - Clarkson at Performance Car and May at Autocar...

 

[FoRiZon]

The only person on the show who actually does know cars inside and out is May.

Hammond and Clarkson are total clowns. You host an automotive program for this long and you're bound to learn something, yes... but they're not nuts and bolts type guys. Clarkson has a terrible "feel" for handling (though I do chuckle when he rants about ride comfort and interior quality... or the lack thereof) and Hammond likes cars, but isn't really an authoritative voice on them.

Actually they have a sufficent knowledge on cars.

They just didnt spit it out very thoroughly because "viewers are morons".

I mean, check out what Top Gear..... Magazine people did. This and other looks like a potential to the main Top Gear but it isnt.


UPDATE: Holy balls. Search for "Top Gear" on Youtube now!

 

[JoaoSilva]

@Famine you don't need to be a car journalist to like cars , i like cars and i'm not a motoring journalist. And they were motoring journalists before , yes , and Hammond is a motoring journalist now , everybody starts somewhere.

Also you keep talking abou the scripts , that applies to the three , not just him. Jezza also has to follow the script , May too.

"cold , dead eyes" - seems like you have some sort of hatred towards him if you ask me , everything you are saying about him applies to the other two aswell , so maybe no one there likes cars and are "following the script."

 

[MatskiMonk]

I think there's an interplay between the characters that works well. They set-up counterpoints between each other that work quite well, cynicism vs. enthusiasm, buffoonery vs. a degree of competence, ability vs. lack of ability, that kind of thing. It's what elevates the show above stuff like Fifth Gear in terms of it's entertainment factor.

A combo like May, Wilson and Needell might well be able to have much more fascinating and knowledgable conversation between themselves, but I think a large portion of the audience would just find that... dull. I know people that aren't into cars that watch TG. Nobody I know who is into cars watches Fifth Gear, which has at least a couple of good presenters, isn't silly or heavily scripted, and seems to be more about cars.

There's an argument either way as to which is better, but I think it's reasonable to say that the more it becomes a journalistic motoring show, and the less it becomes Sunday night family entertainment, the less viewers it will get. I don't think I've ever laughed out loud over anything Quentin Wilson has said, or Tiff.. maybe VBH once (oh mummy!), and I don't think I'd ever laugh at May unless he was playing off Hammonds childish side, or Clarksons incompetent side. Maybe a car show shouldn't make you laugh...

 

[FoRiZon]

https://news.google.com/news/story?...a=X&ei=k08AVbKpNoaD8gW8sYKgCw&ved=0CCYQqgIwAA

News intensifies. 350.000 Clarkson supporters and counting.

 

[dhandeh]

Although we only had 4 channels then.

I thought Scotland still only has 4 channels?

 

[eran0004]

UPDATE: Holy balls. Search for "Top Gear" on Youtube now!

What did you find?

 

[FoRiZon]

What did you find?

Yesterday: Usual Top Gear buffons.
Today: mostly "Jeremy Clarkson Suspended!".

 

[Famine]

@Famine you don't need to be a car journalist to like cars , i like cars and i'm not a motoring journalist. And they were motoring journalists before , yes , and Hammond is a motoring journalist now , everybody starts somewhere.

I fear you've missed the point entirely there.

Clarkson and May have a background in cars. It's cars as far as the eye can see (except May did a degree in music). Not journalism... cars.

Hammond has a background in broadcasting. All he's ever done is read from a script. There are no cars in there until Motor Week on Men & Motors. He has no need to be, of course, since he lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere with his wife and four kids (very happily, I trust), but it means he just cannot carry the pretense of liking cars.

Also you keep talking abou the scripts , that applies to the three , not just him. Jezza also has to follow the script , May too.

And you've dramatically missed the point there too.

May and Clarkson - caricatures though they are - have personalities. Hammond doesn't have any personality but what the script calls for. Watch Top Gear, watch Total Wipeout, watch Blast Lab, watch Braniac, watch Petrolheads, even watch Motor Week - there's nothing there, no personality at all.

ALL Hammond knows is the script - and he just doesn't carry it off either. Remember when they made him as racist and edgy as Clarkson? "God, imagine waking up in the morning and remembering you're Mexican!" - it was cringeworthy but he did it because that's what it said on the script, and he delivered it in the same metre to make it sound just as genuine as anything else he says on the show. He's like Ron Burgundy - he will literally say anything written on the autocue.


You say in one breath that Clarkson knows nothing about the mechanics of cars, but in the next you say that Hammond does because you've seen it on the show. Guess what - Clarkson's done it on the show too. Of course neither of them actually did it , but it was on the show because it was in the script.

"cold , dead eyes" - seems like you have some sort of hatred towards him if you ask me

No, I just have an extremely strong dislike of him standing there, gawping at the camera week in week out and acting like it's anything but a paycheque.

He's not interested - you can see it all over his face and his voice. There's nothing there, no passion, no love, no knowledge. It could be a blank space for all he cares. And what's worse is you can see when it IS something he's interested in, like the Defender or the tractors. When that happens, he's like the other two are all the time, because they like cars.

everything you are saying about him applies to the other two aswell , so maybe no one there likes cars and are "following the script."

Everything except the mannerisms, personalities, background and complete lack of feigned interest.


Watch James talking about the Panda, or Jeremy talking about the... anything not Vauxhall. Now watch Richard talking about the MX-5 last week... Absolutely no sincerity whatsoever.

I don't think I'd ever laugh at May unless he was playing off Hammonds childish side, or Clarksons incompetent side.

Never watched Man Lab or Toy Stories?

 

[dhandeh]

@Famine I put forward Jon Bentley as a new Top Gear presenter. Also trifle made of ham, is that the pudding after a Parmo?

 

[Famine]

@Famine I put forward Jon Bentley as a new Top Gear presenter.

I hate you.

Didn't he used to be a producer on old TG? I wish Clarkson had :censored:ing punched him in the face.


Perhaps he did.

 

[FoRiZon]

Now hits 400.000 Singatures!
https://www.change.org/p/bbc-reinstate-jeremy-clarkson

 

[JoaoSilva]

@Famine but you're saying that Hammond doesn't like cars and the others do simply because he doesn't have a background in the motoring industry and they have , wich i don't think it matters really ... but my gripe is that you're stating it as a fact. And that isn't a fact , he doesn't need to prove to anyone that he likes cars , only he can say if he likes cars or not. Just because you clearly don't like him doesn't mean that you should talk about him differently from the other two , the only difference about them is as you stated :

Clarkson and May have a background in cars.

What makes you think that Jezza and May like cars? They can be following the scripts as far as we know . Obviously they do like cars but still.

Hammond has a background in broadcasting. All he's ever done is read from a script. There are no cars in there until Motor Week on Men & Motors. He has no need to be, of course, since he lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere with his wife and four kids (very happily, I trust), but it means he just cannot carry the pretense of liking cars.

The background doesn't matter , you are not obliged to like cars or not since the day you are born and stick with that opinion , maybe he picked up the taste for cars when he started doing the show.

 

[Liquid]

400,000 signatures and I'll bet it's the first petition most of these people have ever cared about.

 

[Famine]

@Famine but you're saying that Hammond doesn't like cars and the others do simply because he doesn't have a background in the motoring industry and they have

No, I'm not. Read it again.

The fact (and it is one) that he has zero background in motoring before Motor Week is evidence that he doesn't care about cars, not the cause.

I'm saying he doesn't like cars because he stands there every week talking about cars without a hint of joyful emotion of any kind. He does the same when he talks about bridges, the Space Shuttle or chemicals. I suspect he'd do the same if he was talking about Denmark or yoga. He just doesn't care. Every now and then it's something he is interested in - the Land Rover Defender - and you can see the change.


I keep telling you to watch all the other programs he's done so you can see for yourself just how insincere his act is. They're almost all easily found on Youtube.

 

[JoaoSilva]

The fact (and it is one) that he has zero background in motoring before Motor Week is evidence that he doesn't care about cars, not the cause.

Maybe he didn't , but maybe he does now since he started the show , maybe he acquired the taste along the way.

I'm saying he doesn't like cars because he stands there every week talking about cars without a hint of joyful emotion of any kind.

Never felt that way myself. James May often says he doesn't like supercars , and then , when he's driving one he's all excited and everything , what do you say about that? Seems faked .

I keep telling you to watch all the other programs he's done so you can see for yourself just how insincere his act is. They're almost all easily found on Youtube.

I do actually , i already said i watched Brainiac , i watch WipeOut UK from time to time on TV and i watch his documentaries aswell , even yesterday i watched a documentary he made about Japanese Bullet Trains and i personally quite enjoyed it.

 

[Bo]

As much as I actually like the trio of presenters, the bring back Clarkson nonsense is genuinely irritating. If you assault someone in the workplace, a suspension is the absolute bare minimum of what I'd expect. It's a miracle he wasn't sacked on the spot, saved only by who and what he actually is.

 

[JoaoSilva]

As much as I actually like the trio of presenters, the bring back Clarkson nonsense is genuinely irritating. If you assault someone in the workplace, a suspension is the absolute bare minimum of what I'd expect. It's a miracle he wasn't sacked on the spot, saved only by who and what he actually is.

May said it wasn't all that serious himself , it was a little discussion over dinner and Jeremy got irritated and the rest is history.

And frankly the show isn't the same without him .

 

[Ingram]

@Famine I put forward Jon Bentley as a new Top Gear presenter. Also trifle made of ham, is that the pudding after a Parmo?

I found him hilarious on The Gadget Show purely because he talked about every piece of tech as if it was a completely alien concept to him. "So tonight, I'm going to talk to you about the Tello..Phone?"

 

[Famine]

Maybe he didn't , but maybe he does now since he started the show , maybe he acquired the taste along the way.

Point missed again.

His background isn't what means he likes cars or doesn't - it's only evidence of someone who's never been interested in cars. His 'personality' when talking about them shows that he's not interested in cars.

Never felt that way myself. James May often says he doesn't like supercars , and then , when he's driving one he's all excited and everything , what do you say about that? Seems faked .

Okay, first of all that has nothing to do with it, but have you actually listened to why James May doesn't like supercars?

It's not because they're not exciting, but because they're only fun when you are way beyond what's appropriate on the road and if you reach their limits you're dead because of the fine line between being in control of them and being out of control - whereas in cars like the Panda (that he owned*), their limits are within sensible reach and if you exceed them you can get it back again easily.

I'm the same - I had more fun in the Twingo than in almost any other car I've ever driven, and I've driven a McLaren 650S... I had a car at the beginning of the year that I enjoyed but I was glad it went back because it was too daft for the road...

I do actually , i already said i watched Brainiac , i watch WipeOut UK from time to time on TV and i watch his documentaries aswell , even yesterday i watched a documentary he made about Japanese Bullet Trains and i personally quite enjoyed it.

Have you watched them in isolation or together with other things? Have you not noticed that he delivers everything in exactly the same condescending metre with bizarre last syllable stresses, then ends with a half smile stare down the camera?

Whether it's an MX-5, a muddy man falling off a rope swing in Argentina, a bullet train or some potassium dropped in a bathtub, he couldn't care less.

Both Hammond and May have done shows featuring the Milau Bridge. Watch them both and compare them - tell me which actually cares about the engineering feats.

*He's also owned a Ferrari 430 (just before the 458 came out) and then bought a 458 (just before the 488 came out). Everyone's allowed a little vice and with the E-Diff they're supposedly amongst the easiest of the high performance cars to drive. I doubt they ever see speeds north of 85mph though.

 

[JoaoSilva]

Have you watched them in isolation or together with other things? Have you not noticed that he delivers everything in exactly the same condescending metre with bizarre last syllable stresses, then ends with a half smile stare down the camera?

Whether it's an MX-5, a muddy man falling off a rope swing in Argentina, a bullet train or some potassium dropped in a bathtub, he couldn't care less.

In your opinion he doesn't , but in my opinion he does , he's always been entertaining to me , don't try proving me anything that can't be proven , only he knows if he likes cars or not , unless you know something that he doesn't.

Also on the "he couldn't care less" part , have you ever watched "Inventions that changed the world" by Jezza? Do you really think he cares about computers , guns , etc? Makes him just as guilty.

Have you watched them in isolation or together with other things?

Brainiac , i haven't watched it in years , WipeOut , from time to time , Top Gear , every week , and i usually watch some documentaries they (the trio) make.

 

[Robin]

@Famine I put forward Jon Bentley as a new Top Gear presenter. Also trifle made of ham, is that the pudding after a Parmo?

Yes to Jon Bentley, can you imagine him and James talking to one another

Tim Shaw is the best choice for a buffoon replacement, and he genuinely loves cars.

 

[Pseudopod]

Actually they have a sufficent knowledge on cars.

They just didnt spit it out very thoroughly because "viewers are morons".

I mean, check out what Top Gear..... Magazine people did. This and other looks like a potential to the main Top Gear but it isnt.


UPDATE: Holy balls. Search for "Top Gear" on Youtube now!

Why don't you just link to the exact video?

 

[TheCracker]

Non-interesting fact: Richard Hammond studied at Harrogate Collage of Arts & Technology at the same time i was. Just.

 

[Ingram]

Non-interesting fact: Richard Hammond studied at Harrogate Collage of Arts & Technology at the same time i was. Just.

I knew that he did, but I didn't know you did! My old school is literally across a field from Harrogate College

Also on the "he couldn't care less" part , have you ever watched "Inventions that changed the world" by Jezza? Do you really think he cares about computers , guns , etc? Makes him just as guilty.

In fairness, I do think Clarkson has plenty of interests outside of cars, and I'd say that guns and particularly war are very high up the list. I'd recommend his documentary about the Arctic convoys in WWII - a really interesting story which I knew little about beforehand, and he told it with genuine interest, passion, and - most crucially of all - without having to resort to playing up to camera.