The Grand Tour (Clarkson, Hammond, May)

We have a premiere date on Amazon: Friday, November 18.

Vroom. Vroom.

Oh, nice. Thanks for the heads-up.

Welp, the first episode has aired and is available on Amazon. I'm thrilled the hosts are back, but was mildly disappointed. Their interplay was forced at several points, and felt scripted to a degree that Top Gear seldom did. On the other hand, it's been nearly two years and they're working with a new production crew & format—it'd be surprising if the three of them did just click back into their old rapport right out of the gate. I'm willing to keep watching and see how things progress over the first season.

And even though this should go without saying: if they do demolish Clarkson's house, then all is absolutely forgiven.

edited 19th Nov '16 2:47:49 PM by Jhimmibhob

Personally I loved it. It was Top Gear again. Well, the bit with the sort of Stig replacement was kinda meh, but unfortunately the cunts at BBC won the Stig in the divorce.

Also was I the only one, seeing the intro with them and a bunch of other cars racing across the desert, thought.... IMMORTAN CLARKSON!

edited 20th Nov '16 5:25:04 PM by MarkVonLewis

I thought it was kind of meh, but I'll give it a couple of episodes.

Agreed. Still, most of the things that were "meh" about it can be readily put down to the hosts' rustiness, the unfamiliarity of new directors & crew, and the pressures of a long-awaited, much-hyped premiere. All these factors seem extremely likely to recede as the season goes along, so I'm hopeful.

Meh? So, that mad dog Porsche hybrid, that axe murderer Maclaren hybrid, and that the Ferrari the Ferrari it's not a hybrid, honestly guv'nor, showing up in the one episode, something that that shitty Chris Evans parody of Top Gear never managed if you will recall, on the same track at the same time and driven by their respective fanboys in such a fashion that I was actually rather scared for them makes a meh show now?

Wow. Tough crowd.

In all honesty (no offense to NASCAR fans), I would have been glad if Ben Collins (a.k.a.: "Sacked Stig") came aboard as the designated racing driver for the "Eboladrome" instead of Mike Skinner. (Though I dunno if the Beeb would throw a wrench in that plan.)

Other than that, I'm glad to see Jeremy, Richard and James back together having fun with cool cars and fearlessly crossing the line twice in The Grand Tour.^P.S. I know Amazon Prime is not available in my neck of the woods, so I have to find "other" sources to watch from, if you get my drift... ;-)

As I suspected it'd be, the second episode was a marked improvement, and a most-of-the-way return to form. My one quibble is that, although Top Gear often had bits that were obviously scripted, they were seldom as overtly scripted as stuff like the "Jordanian rescue training" misadventure. It's somehow more fun when you're left wondering whether, just maybe, the hosts really did get into as much real-life trouble as it seemed.

That Jordanian adventure was pretty much a whole-plot-reference to Tom Cruise's best movie, "Edge of Tomorrow", as Jezza alluded to in passing. It made it even funnier for me because I knew what they were up to. Props to James in that scene when he's shooting the "Queen" in the head, and then ends up shooting Richard to reset - the expression on Richard's tiny little face as James levelled his carbine at him was hilarious.

Watched the third episode, and I liked it. Richard was being more annoying than usual, but given some of the crap James and Jeremy put him through I don't really blame him. It was far more car-focused than last week, and they had this big Grand Tour through the Italian countryside in two ideal cars and one what the fuck were you thinking Richard? car, from whence much of the humour came.

Well, there is one way May would have gotten Hammond to back off with the Dodge Hellcat annoyance...

Play Genesis songs. (Unless the Beeb would threaten to sue them over that, too...which would totally suck.)

Still had a laugh at May's reactions, even though I sympathize with his ever-increasing annoyance with Hammond and his car, as that's basically the same way I react to obnoxious ACG fans^{Note, somewhat off-topic} Chinese otaku, basically. (Annoying buggers...).

Also, at Hammond picking another gas guzzler of an American car. (Last time he did something similar on Top Gear was during the Patagonia Special.)

And that Grand Tour of Italy was pure Scenery Porn (besides the sound of Hammond making noise with his Dodge ).

I can honestly say I haven't been disappointed with any of the episodes so far this series. They're probably never going to top the opening of the first one, set as it was around the Burning Man festival, with all those hundreds of various gas guzzlers converging like they were trying to do a sequel to Fury Road and had only forgotten to bring along Tom Hardy and/or Charlize Theron in character, but at least they did that one.

Episode 4:

"Ecologically-sustainable cars." Hilarious on TV, totally impractical in real life. Although I can't help but wonder why none of the three went for a car made out of rattan and bamboo... Right, Rule of Funny. (Hammond kinda came close, though.)

That being said, any word on whether there will be an episode set in Japan? Also, I wish there's a video of the Nissan GT-R's lap on the Eboladrome... I know the lap time is already posted, but I'd rather see how the car actually performed and how The American reacted to it. (Probably a diss or two, since it's not an American V8-engined car, but still...)

edited 9th Dec '16 3:23:47 AM by IncognitoNinja

This week's episode was set in Finland, had two power laps round the Ebola ring - one with the Ford Focus RS, and the other with the new right-hand-drive version of the Ford Mustang - with the Mustang trailing the Focus by around a second or so. This was after Hammond tried to have a nice solo bonding session with the Mustang, only to be constantly interrupted on his quiet drive in the country by the Orangutan constantly showing up in the Focus just to piss him off. Highly entertaining. May didn't show up for that one.

It also had May doing a really good precis on the Ford GT, with one of the nuggets being the cost of the program set up to run them in the Vingt Quatre Heures Du Mans that Henry Ford II started because he had a shitty on with Enzo Ferrari - over three hundred million dollars in today's money.

Well, it only took six episodes for something stupid to happen.

Must not have watched last week's episode when they butchered a couple of cows and a few goats to try and balance out the weight of the cars that they were trying to measure. I mean, if what the Hamster said there was the first stupid thing you've noticed this season I sort of wonder how you calibrate your scale.

Speaking as a gay man, who's confident in that status, I am not disturbed by what Hammond said about ice cream, though I do disagree with him on the actual topic. Ice cream is for straights, gays, bis, pansexuals, asexuals and other forms of sexual preference or status.

What the Independent, the Grauniad, and any other rag of that ilk who have made a big thing about this frankly piffling incident from what's best described as an overgrown kid with a history of severe head trauma are is jealous of the show's success, and pissed off beyond measure that they've not been able to drive Clarkson, Hammond and May off of the screen altogether.

In layman's terms, those idiot press people can go forth and multiply.

I admit to being ice cream-curious. Hamster Boy can say what he pleases.

I think the main reason it garnered attention is because it's an utterly bizarre statement that is based in a non-existent stereotype. Even Clarkson seemed baffled by the statement, and that's Clarkson.

True dat. His reaction face when Hammond said it was one of the funniest things I've seen this year.

Although I do echo the sentiment that the show feels overly scripted at times, I have to say that the latest special was a vast improvement. I enjoyed it quite a lot and thought it was on par with the road trip specials of yore.

I liked the special too. Camera work throughout was spectacular. I felt for them all driving in those beach buggies, in terrain that they were most definitely not designed to cope with.

Especially James, what with him having the least amount of suspension in his buggy, to cushion his battered frame.

I'm a little younger than May, but felt miserably achy just watching his ordeal. Agreed, though, that this special ranks with the great TG equivalents. In return for all the discomfort, inconveniences, and frights, the hosts got some truly magnificent sights & experiences. On balance, I'm slightly (but only slightly) envious.

Trip to Nashville for the Power Trio this week, though there wasn't much stuff set round there. Clarkson's hijacking of all the film crew so he could do a test drive of the new sports saloon from his heroes, Alfa Romeo, in WALES while the other two idiots had taken the Jaguar XF and (I think) the BMW M thingy to do a film in SCOTLAND was a highlight. The Trio also went to the Bahamas to have a go at making new coral reefs, with rather mixed results. Funny results, but mixed.

Only one page of posts? You dissapoint me, Tv Tropes. ;)

The new season starts December 8th.

I hope they will let go of the "not-Top Gear" formula, because that was getting old and holding them back, honestly. Watching three aging presenters desperately try to relive their Top Gear glory days by doing the same old stuff that had been dragging on TG for years to begin with was rather sad to watch, and they DO deserve more than that.

The ironic references to Top Gear and lawsuits and whatnot were ok the first episode, but now its beyond passe, so I hope they have moved on.

Also, poor Hammond had a car crash. I'm curious how they'll handle that.