Top Gear

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How there isn't a thread about this, the most magnificent display of juvenile tomfoolery by middle-aged British men, I don't know. So here you have it. A place to talk about the best 'car show' there is.

IMAGE(http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad227/mrtomaytohead/private/Top-Gear-Logo1.jpg)

Unfortunately, this article from Andy Wilman is what spurred me to start this thread. Some company is threatening to publish the current Stig's identity.

I have no desire to know who the Stig is, and like the article says, not knowing is a great part of his character.

Also, they're still working on a Top Gear USA, it seems, but many don't like what they've seen.

So who else loves Top Gear, and the secret identity of The Stig remaining secret?

Top Gear rocks! And I don't want to know who the Stig is.

My wife may not play games but as of last week I had her convinced that Top Gear was the funniest show on TV. Halelujah. Now if only AT&T would get the BBC in HD on U-verse I'd be forever content.

I don't want Top Gear USA. I want those 3 guys and The Stig.

The Stig??

Top Gear is the most awesome car-porn/travelogue/comedy ever!

And, yes, I don't want to know the identity of The Stig.

Maybe all these websites reporting the ruling shouldn't use the Stig's name in the headline.

Love this show, although any time I catch it on satellite it's a 6 year old rerun.

DanyBoy wrote:

And, yes, I don't want to know the identity of The Stig.

Saw the story today about who he is. Even if I told you, you wouldn't know.

It's actually quite a story. The other guys make money out of book deals, but the Stig can't because of the big secret. Can't blame a guy for wanting to make a buck. This was the second Stig too, first one did the same thing.

Love this show. I wish I could get more episodes on Netflix, but I can understand why they don't put the whole thing on.
It makes me angry that Harper Collins is trying to let out the identity of the Stig. The mystique of the Stig is one of the greatest things about the show. Am I curious about who the Stig is? Of course. But that's the point. If someone comes up and tells me, then the curiosity and the magic is gone.
And I really don't think a USA Top Gear would be nearly as good as the British version.

mudbunny wrote:

The Stig??

Do yourself a favor and go watch some Top Gear on netflix instant. You won't be sorry.

Rat Boy wrote:

Maybe all these websites reporting the ruling shouldn't use the Stig's name in the headline.

Yeah, I thought it weird they were talking about an Autobiography of someone who agreed to not share his secret identity, and that article paints the Stig as if he isn't the one writing it. Last time I checked, an Autobiography is a bigraphy penned by the subject.

Rob_Anybody wrote:

And I really don't think a USA Top Gear would be nearly as good as the British version.

I can't imagine it would have a chance to be initially, either. But then again, have you ever watched the 1st 2 seasons of the current Top Gear. They've come a long way in not just presentation, but also their chemistry. James May didn't come on until 2nd season and didn't find his place until the 3rd/4th season.

I think a Top Gear USA won't be good because they're going to get 3 bromance hosts who don't know squat about cars (May, Hammond and Clarkson are all long-time automotive journalists) and the show is just going to be ads on top of product placement. I used to watch a bunch of the car shows they aired back when Spike was called TNN. They started out as good shows for car nuts and then just became 30 minute infomercials with about 5 minutes of actual content. Given the way US networks operate right now, I can't see Top Gear USA being much better than that.

I used to watch a bunch of the car shows they aired back when Spike was called TNN. They started out as good shows for car nuts and then just became 30 minute infomercials with about 5 minutes of actual content.

Same here. And I can see a US Top Gear going down a similar sort of path. Either that or turning to into a car centric clone of Jackass.

There used to be an American Top Gear, with Adam Corolla, but NBC canned it due to Knight Rider's poor ratings. LEave it to NBC to compare a "documentary" format car review show to a fictional, low-budget sci-fi 80s re-hash and think they're in the same boat.

Apparently the History Channel is picking it up, with Adam Ferarra in stead of Corolla. Should be interesting, at least. From the trailer I saw, they drove 3 Lamborghinis in a straight line. Uh, maybe it won't be very interesting...

Concerning the Stig-- there shouldn't have been such a big uproar over it anyway. It was even in his contract, from what I understood, that the moment he reveals his true identity he is no longer the Stig (ie, his contract is terminated). As long as the show kills him off in a similar fashion to the end of the Black Stig, I'll be fine with it.

Unfortunately I already looked, then realized I did not want to know. Does this mean there will be a new Stig?

I love Top Gear. I know each episode I watch I'm going to laugh out load and probably several times. Also I don't want to know who the Stig is.

Wait I thought i saw an episode of Top Gear where the Stig took his helmet off in an interview on the show, and they asked him questions like you only know two things about ducks and their both wrong. His response well yeah i do know two things about ducks but their right "they hate water, and one leg is longer than the other" or something like that. Wouldn't that be a "reveal" or because we weren't told his name it doesn't matter.

I'm assuming there'll be a new Stig, since that's part of the whole mystique-- no one is supposed to know, and the last time the Stig revealed himself, they killed him off in the TV show and introduced a new one.

Cayne wrote:

Wait I thought i saw an episode of Top Gear where the Stig took his helmet off in an interview on the show, and they asked him questions like you only know two things about ducks and their both wrong. His response well yeah i do know two things about ducks but their right "they hate water, and one leg is longer than the other" or something like that. Wouldn't that be a "reveal" or because we weren't told his name it doesn't matter.

Michael Schumacher revealed himself as the Stig, but that was only because they did a review of his personal Ferarri FXX car, and no one drives that but Schumacher himself. It was a joke to counter the speculation of a possible reveal of the Stig in 2009.

Yeah, they exposed the white Stig in an episode.

Spoiler:

Michael Shumacher

[Edit] Which apparently was just a stunt according to Wikipedia.

While it's natural to port a show like Top Gear to the US, they're doing it wrong. Doesn't anyone realize that the key to a successful reality show that you've imported from the UK these days to have a token Brit? American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, those shows with the angry chef and that dancing show with the girl with the bent nose? America loves Brits.

I can't see the lawyers and insurance companies letting them get away with the kind of insane stunts they get up to on the UK version.

The amount of safety precautions on even a very mild Mythbusters experiment is ramped up to ludicrous levels here. They're not going to let the stars of a U.S. show engage in, say, motorhome derbies or homemade amphibious vehicle competitions (at least, not without having so many safeties in place that it would be pretty dull). Even the parkour race or the South American episode would probably be out of the question.

MannishBoy wrote:
Spoiler:

It isn't a question anymore who White Stig was. Ben Collins. It's been a fight about his autobiography that's been going on for a few weeks now.

Put your post in spolier tags, please. I wished to remain clueless about it, and many others expressed the same above.

Spoiler:

It isn't a question anymore who White Stig was. Ben Collins. It's been a fight about his autobiography that's been going on for a few weeks now.

(That's from a year ago)

mrtomaytohead wrote:

Put your post in spolier tags, please. I wished to remain clueless about it, and many others expressed the same above.

Fine I suppose. It's been all over so many news sites (not even car related), I figured it couldn't have been that easily avoided.

In your post, you said it was a publisher that wanted to out him, which isn't exactly true. He outed himself on a couple of different occasions.

Here's a piece on how the US show is shaping up.

So is white stig a joke? as M*#@#$* S*@#$@# or was he a real Stig while black Stig was apparently dead?

and my pref is to just watch it on BBC America rather than have an American version of the show. Like Ninja Warrior on G4tv and the short lived American version that was so safety oriented even the water was blue.

Personally, I don't want a US version of Top Gear. Clarkson's wit is one of the main reasons I tune into it (and his inability to purchase a functioning car on any of the challenges).

Cayne wrote:

So is white stig a joke? as M*#@#$* S*@#$@# or was he a real Stig while black Stig was apparently dead?

and my pref is to just watch it on BBC America rather than have an American version of the show. Like Ninja Warrior on G4tv and the short lived American version that was so safety oriented even the water was blue.

He was the Stig for a single episode because they reviewed his Ferrari FXX.

I love Top gear. I have seen every episode. It's my comfort TV.

ah gotcha, oh question for everyone, my GF loves this show and has seen every episode they air on the BBC America channel, but that's not nearly enough for her, where can one go to stream/purchase the more recent seasons, presumably the older seasons would feature cars that are no longer so hot to trot as the saying goes.

Cayne wrote:

ah gotcha, oh question for everyone, my GF loves this show and has seen every episode they air on the BBC America channel, but that's not nearly enough for her, where can one go to stream/purchase the more recent seasons, presumably the older seasons would feature cars that are no longer so hot to trot as the saying goes.

To my knowledge, there's no place to get more recent seasons legally.*

[size=5]*but there are other methods[/size]

MannishBoy wrote:
Cayne wrote:

ah gotcha, oh question for everyone, my GF loves this show and has seen every episode they air on the BBC America channel, but that's not nearly enough for her, where can one go to stream/purchase the more recent seasons, presumably the older seasons would feature cars that are no longer so hot to trot as the saying goes.

To my knowledge, there's no place to get more recent seasons legally.*

[size=5]*but there are other methods[/size]

Indeed, if you go read the front page article My Own Private Bolivia, you may find some shocking information that will not help you in any way, but alludes to the same thing.

missed it...
*found it* page 2
*lost it again* link was for twitter... confused again.

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