Percy Moo as Einstein

Percy Moo as Einstein
Dog=Einstein2

Monday 28 January 2013

Low Revs on Top Gear

Now please don't get me wrong; I am a staunch Top Gear fan and so much of a petrolhead that I had to give up smoking so that my brain wouldn't ignite, but I have to say that episode one of the new series was just a teeny bit on the tired side.

Taken from the Top Gear online magazine
They seem to have fallen into the trap of rehashing old ideas - something that I fear is what happens when TV programmes run out of steam, or in this case torques. The Pagani Huayra feature was classic TG while the rallying Bentley was excellent.
Unfortunately however, the P45 feature was flat, flat, flat. Nothing could ever come close to the original Peel P50 video. I remember  I laughed so much I feared I was going to have an asthma attack. This revisiting left me cold. Why bother? The usually wittily clever news section was pitiful as Hammond seemingly got his adolescent jollies from reading a child's book on tractors. Much "hilarity" was also wrung from the fact that now the VW Touareg's name does not exactly seem to be a wise choice.

I suppose there are only so many ways that you can pit a fast car against a man in a jetpack, helicopter, bobsleigh etc. Apparently there are only three types of joke. Let's hope that the spark of originality shown in the Bentley feature becomes a bonfire of enjoyment in the rest of the series.

1 comment:

  1. During my days in academe, I heard an anecdote about a man (I have forgotten his name) who had written a learned book on jokes. A central conclusion of the book was that there is only a certain number of jokes and that all actual jokes are merely versions of these. It is said that if you told him a joke, he would listen pensively and, at the end, remark "Yes, there is that one."

    What is true of jokes is probably true of theme-based TV and radio shows and that, however talented the writers and producers, they must eventually run out of new topics to explore. It is sad when a series reaches senescence but refuses to die. The old show business motto "Leave them wanting more" should be invoked.

    My father was a motor mechanic but I never knew him. As a student, I worked in a garage during the vacation and my enthusiasm for cars and engines made me think I had inherited my father's genes. When I could afford a car of my own, I loved driving. Now I no longer have a car and do not miss owning one. My interest in cars has faded and I regard people like Jeremy Clarkson as immature buffoons who have managed to make a career out of a childish obsession.

    I would love to know what my father would have made of him.

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