Top Gear Series 23 ep. 1 (2016)

"LamboLarz13" (lambolarz13) 06/02/2016 at 18:58 • Filed to: Oppositelock, Jalopnik, Top Gear, Cars

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Probably a bit late, but here are my thoughts on the first episode of Top Gear Season 23:

Despite being a fan of cars for almost my entire life, somehow the greatest car TV show had gone under my radar for a long time. Blame this on the fact that the country where I live didn’t get the show until the year 2008, at least officially. But even before that, I had only seen but a couple of segments on the internet, for this I think I approached New Top Gear with a far more open mind than other people who probably started to watch from early on. That said I will have to agree with the internet this once, as for the most part I think this episode was a failure as well.

Changing the presenters provided the show with a very important opportunity and that is it could take risks and grow apart from a format that, quite honestly, was starting to feel tired. I’m not the first to say it, but by the end of its last run Clarkson, May, and Hammond were starting to play a little too much into their TV personalities to the point some of its segments felt forced, and losing some of the cleverness from past seasons. The show could still pull itself together thanks to the charisma of the guys and the stellar production but, according to the show’s Wikipedia article, even producer Andy Wilman would admit back in 2009 that the then current incarnation of Top Gear was nearer the end that they probably needed to try new things. Back to the present day, this is to me the biggest flaw of this first episode, it didn’t take risks.

Presenter Chris Evans was eager to remind us of the controversy surrounding the old format, especially Jeremy Clarkson, but he also seemed to be trying to imitate Jezza’s style during the studio portion of the episode. Truth is, Evans is nowhere near as likeable as Clarkson or either of the other two guys as a matter of fact and not having a style of his own probably didn’t help selling himself to the audience. As for co-presenter Matt LeBlanc, he was completely left in the background throughout this portions.

For the pre-recorded films, we got 2 reviews plus a longer film consisting of the traditional race and a series of challenges. The first car review feature the Dodge Viper ACR, which was test driven by Evans, who seemed to be more interested in reading the car’s spec sheet out loud than actually reviewing it. After that a second car was introduced to the segment, the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 being driven by another one of the new presenters, race car driver Sabine Schmidt. The second part of the segment turned into a sort of race/dogfight between the two presenters and their respective co-pilot who operated a sort of laser gun mounted on top of both cars. The winner would be the first to lock and shoot the other. Schmidt’s dialogue throughout the segment consisted in shouting nonsense and Top Gun references, being her single comment on the car of how bad the Vette’s suspension was and comparing it to the one in a Ferrari. After this segment Schmidt had no further part in the episode.

Next up, we had the first part of the long film which featured a race between Evans and LeBlanc, who were driving to Blackpool in a couple of Reliant Robins, a three wheeled vehicle that was featured in a well known segment of the old Top Gear. This didn’t feel particularly inspired to me, since what made the old segment so fun to watch (mocking how awful and unsafe this car is because of its unusual configuration) didn’t really come into play this time. This part ends as both presenters arrive to Blackpool where a huge arc that said “Welcome to LeBlackpool” was waiting to receive them, “hilarious”.

For the next studio segment we had a twist to the typical “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car” which now featured a Rallycross car and somer dirt sections on the track, thus the segment is now called “Star in a Rallycross Car”. The guests for the day being British chef/TV host Gordon Ramsay and movie star Jessie Eisenberg. Despite the slight change, I still found this the weakest and most boring segment of the episode, just as in the old format.

After that, it was now LeBlanc’s turn to test drive a car, this being the Ariel Nomad which he drives across a desert. Unlike Evans though, this one actually felt closer to a car review than the Viper segment, with LeBlanc driving the hell out of the Nomad and looking as he was really having fun, which is the whole point of a car like that. The second part of the episode wasn’t as successful, as the car is used in a Challenge where the presenter must evade being photographed by paparazzi using different vehicles to chase him down. This part felt pretty similar to the segment of the dogfight between the Corvette and Viper plus I don’t think it’s necessary to remind us that Matt LeBlanc is a celebrity.

For the last segment, we got to the second part of the challenge between the two presenters as they are set in a few more challenges to decide who the winner between the two is. This time each one uses a vehicle representing their country of origin: A Jeep for LeBlanc and a Land Rover for Evans. The challenges themselves were derivative consisting of a top speed test, a “drag” race, and an off road race where they hauled their cars from the first challenge. After some nonsense debate, LeBlanc was declared the winner.

And finally, the moment I was waiting for, Extra Gear with famous automotive Journalist Chris Harris. I must admit I was a bit disappointed when I found out that Harris was going to be relegated to a sort of behind the scenes segment after the show, but was still really looking forward to watching it since I’m a big fan of his car reviews. Unfortunately, the segment of the show was omitted from the late re-broadcast of the show I watched and I’m not even sure if it even aired in my country during the first time it aired. Needless to say, I was pretty baffled over this.

To me, the biggest problem with this episode is that it struggled to find an identity of its own. It tried to tell us that this was a different Top Gear while still staying too close to the original. The presenters never felt nearly as charming as the other guys. I’m willing to give the second episode a shot, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on it being good. Perhaps the safer bet would be to just wait for Clarkson and company’s new show to premiere. I wouldn’t count on them doing something different from what we’re used to, but at least it’s a proven formula and the guy’s chemistry is undeniable, which will probably satisfy fans of the show much more.