< Top Gear

Top Gear/YMMV


James: Ooh, and you have to be between 5 foot 2 and 6 foot 7, so that's you two out. Excellent.
Jeremy: That's "heightist" frankly.
Richard: Yeah, that's "heightist."
James: I can't think of a better recommendation actually.
Jeremy: What?
Richard: Us not being able to do it?
James: Exactly, I'll be going, I'll see you [indicating audience] there.

    • After his publicised unmasking, the second Stig has fallen into this.
  • Angst? What Angst?: The presenters allegedly have a pact (mentioned in the context of Hammond's accident but apparently still in force) that, should any of them die, the remaining hosts would appear at the beginning of the next episode, make a mournful comment, pause for a moment of silence, and then say, "Anyway," and cheerily continue with the show.
  • Cargo Ship: The show is pretty much the embodiment of this trope.
    • Clarkson has had an abusive relationship with his Ford GT, fell in love with the Bugatti Veyron and claimed he wanted to elope with a Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera. He has also licked various cars on camera.
    • Hammond has fallen in love with Oliver the Opel Kadett and a Pagani Zonda. Taken to extremes: he now co-hosts another show, Blast Lab, with Oliver.
    • Both Clarkson and Hammond wanted to have some 'alone time' with a picture of an Alfa Brera.
    • Prior to meeting Oliver, Hammond had called the Pagani Zonda Roadster "the One," which prompted Clarkson to apologize to the women on the set.
    • In Series 14 James May found himself enamoured of a Dacia Sandero while in Romania -- an affair which was tragically cut short when it was destroyed by a lorry.
  • Come for the X, Stay for the Y:
    • Come for the cars, stay because the show is hilarious.
    • Come for the Stig, stay for Clarkson.
    • Come for the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car, stay for Clarkson.
    • Come for the tropes, stay for [insert favourite presenter's name here].
    • Come for the hijinks, stay for the cars.
    • Come for the "get your friend to shut the hell up", stay for the "because he's right".
  • Dude, Not Funny: "Yes! We've made it through Vietnam, south to north! We've proven to the Americans it could be done!"
    • The jokes they made about the Mexican supercar they tested earned this reaction, which is why that segment never aired in the US.
    • Even worse off, their dissing (and subsequent on-screen wrecking) of the Malaysian made Perodua Kancil car was probably the true reason the BBC Entertainment channel (which airs Top Gear in Asia) is no longer available from Pay TV providers in the country. In other words, Clarkson's action cost Malaysian Doctor Who fans their access to the show! [1].
    • Some has speculated that the real reason India wishes to implement Internet Censorship was because of some stunts that the crew of the show pulled off while reviewing an Indian-made car, and Indian authorities want to do everything in their power to block said episode from getting in as revenge.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: The Stig.
  • Estrogen Brigade: Top Gear has a remarkably solid female fanbase for a show oriented around manly pursuits. The trap is probably baited with hamster, but Clarkson, May, and even The Stig have their devotees.

    This is made fun of on the show frequently: all three have been featured in this context in magazines and suchforth, but only Hammond tends to appear on lists of "hottest male celebrities" (once in a gay magazine, technically making him testosterone bait as well). That said, all three main presenters have won the dubious title of Heat magazine's "Number One Weird Crush" in consecutive years, and there was a campaign for The Stig to win it in 2009 -- though sadly he only managed third place.
  • Fan Nickname: The presenters' In Series Nicknames (Jezza, Hamster, and Captain Slow) have been taken up by the fanbase. The presenters collectively are sometimes called the Top Gear Three, or TG3 for short.
    • Also "White Stig," distinguished from the former "Black Stig" by the white color of his racing suit.
    • Nico Nico Douga users tend to tag videos featuring May with "J｀・ω・)".
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: Absolutely anything that Richard Hammond says in episodes of Top Gear relating to "flying through the Pearly Gates backwards in a fireball" (or similar) that was recorded before his miraculously non-fatal high-speed crash.

Hammond: I love that vision of just blasting through the gates, backwards, in a flaming Swedish supercar! "Yes! I'm here! Where are the women?"

    • Hammond described the 10,000hp afterburner on the Vampire as "possibly the biggest accident you've ever seen in your life." Before he drove it.
    • Similarly, there is a clip of Jeremy Clarkson saying that "no series would be complete without an earnest attempt to kill Richard Hammond".
    • The crossover Hammond did with the cast of Ashes to Ashes for Children In Need hits this once the finale of Ashes to Ashes aired and it's revealed that it takes place at a limbo for dead and dying police officers. Granted, Richard isn't a police officer but still...
    • Jeremy joking that if the Black Stig continued driving so recklessly he would be killed.
    • One episode involved Jeremy Clarkson "dueling" a Westland WAH-64 (a British Army version of the American Apache attack helicopter) in a Lotus Exige. As per his usual "Americans are brainless obese barbarians" attitude, Jeremy threw in a smug Take That, claiming that he was perfectly safe because the pilots "being British, not American, don’t shoot their allies." The next year, a British Apache wounded nine soldiers of 2 PARA in a friendly fire incident.
  • Fan Dumb: Lots of people have taken their opinions as fact and have trashed people who drive cars merely because they drive cars the people on Top Gear make fun of.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: May's trip to a certain Icelandic volcano.
    • The comments Richard Hammond made before his accident if anything went wrong, that it'd be one of the biggest crashes ever. He even admitted if he wasn't "a shortarse" and had been James' (originally meant to drive it but couldn't make that day) or Jeremy's size, when the car flipped and his helmet plowed the ground, he'd probably would have been decapitated. Some of the comments even made Hammond visibly wince when they showed the footage in the studio.
    • In the fourth episode, Jeremy and Richard Burns note that Colin Mc Rae tends to hurt himself. Granted he died in a helicopter crash, but he was the one piloting it.
  • Hate Dumb / Misplaced Nationalism: The American and Australian versions have gotten hate mainly because "It's not the British version." A lot of hate for the American version comes from trying to be just like the British version. Yet ironically, they want it to be like the British version.
    • Noting the Acceptable Targets example, the hosts themselves tend to invoke some Misplaced Nationalism at times.
    • Fan Hater: The complaints over the various controversies and the "Stop Having Fun!" Guys crowd are bad enough, but when it stoops down to bashing people's taste in comedy, what follows usually makes the presenters' squabbling look like sensible debate.
  • Hilarity Ensues: The predictable result of just about every task which the producers give to the presenters in any given episode.

Clarkson: How hard can it be?
Hammond: Don't say that!

Or: Hammond: Oh God!

  • Late to the Punchline: In the 2009 "car for a 17-year-old" challenge, when Hammond is getting an insurance quote for a teenage driver and claims to have had no accidents in the last five years, accompanied by a quick, guilty grimace at the camera. Humorous when you consider his line of work; funnier yet if you have seen the show; utterly brilliant when you remember he was nearly killed in 2006 in the infamous Vampire crash.
  • Memetic Badass: The Stig.
  • Memetic Mutation: The Stig again. You can buy "I Am the Stig" t-shirts, and also "I Am Not The Stig" t-shirts. Hilariously, after he beat the Stig's time in the Suzuki Liana Rubens Barrichello was seen wearing one with "I Beat The Stig." The presenters also noted several other F1 drivers who'd appeared on the show had been given them, albeit with the caption "I Did Not Beat The Stig."
    • Applies to some cars (and their drivers) that the trio like/hate.
      • All modern AMGs are like hyperactive dogs who wag their tails vigorously whenever you show them a corner.
      • You can get away with anything, just as long as you have a Jaaaag. Video is linked here.
      • Good news! The Dacia Sandero...
    • Bizarrely, the viewers on Nico Nico Douga have found Jeremy & Co.'s constant use of "Rubbish!" to be an Inherently Funny Words.
  • Periphery Demographic: Although this is a show for the petrolhead, many people watch it who know fuck all about cars: they're in it for the hilarity. At least one such person was shocked to learn that Top Gear is actually a legitimate car show, not a parody.
  • Sein Language: "...in the world."
  • Squick: Several of the challenges have involved eating dubious items, like roadkill or snake.
    • When the guys had forensic tests done on their cars. Only one of them was able to rest easy- the others decided to wear gas masks and biohazard suits.
  • "Stop Having Fun!" Guys: A somewhat common complaint, particularly from fans of the show's 1978-2001 incarnation, is that modern-day Top Gear spends too much time on entertainment and not enough on being informative. The hosts quite often acknowledge lampshade this fact, but it only seems to make the detractors angrier.
    • Pretty much anyone else who doesn't like Top Gear derides it as a mid-life crisis show for vaguely xenophobic manchildren who really need to quit messing about and grow up.
  • Tear Jerker: Surprisingly more than a few times, usually when the one of the trie (or all of them) lament on the passing of some automotive great.
    • During series 7, instead of doing the news, they aired a tribute to recently deceased rally driver Richard Burns. Particularly memorable and touching since he was a good friend of Jeremy and would often go over to Jezza's house to play videogames with his son.
    • Series 15, Episode 5 -- if the tribute to Senna doesn't move you to tears, you may have no soul.
    • The finale of Series 15, episode 6, is bound to bring a tear to the eye of anyone who's a fan of old, British sports cars.
  • The Woobie: Typically averted: Rule of Funny and Stiff Upper Lip generally turn a suffering character into a Butt Monkey rather than a Woobie.
    • Played straight with Richard Hammond's gigantic, near-fatal accident in the Vampire.
Back to Top Gear
  1. ↑ And oh, Perodua cars are designed under commission by Daihatsu Japan
This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.