Customer Reviews

Top Gear: The Complete Season 12

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, the mad men of Top Gear are back again- engaging in the insanity that the world of car lovers (and British comedy lovers) have joined in for years. This set contains the full Season 12 of the show (fall/winter 2008)... or does it?

Although the cuts generally aren't as bad as they were in Season 10's DVD release, they are there. As with the Season 11 set, Top Gear Stuntman is totally absent. Fortunately, other cuts are apparently quite minor- with every episode retaining both its News and Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment.

The box advertises numerous extras... but don't be fooled. Half of the extras are confined to the Director's Cut of the Botswana Special (re-released here after its prior Season 10 set printing). The other extras are scattered- I didn't find the extended Boris Johnson interview or uncut Cool Wall on disc 2 until the second viewing, for instance. Take out Botswana (which was Season 10, not 12), and the extras are rather meager... although, it must be admitted, ANY extras are more extras than the BBC has put on the other Top Gear American releases.

The best bit of this set, of course, is the massive Episode 8- the Vietnam special. Unfortunately, one of the minor annoyances of the set as a whole cripples a major portion of the humor in that episode- specifically, the alteration of music from broadcast version to DVD version. The BBC have, apparently, decided to cheap out on getting clearances for the music used in the show, with the result that a LOT of the music you heard on the televised version has been replaced by public-domain and/or BBC Archive music tracks.

This results (I apologize for any spoilers, but if you're looking at this you've almost certainly seen the show anyway) is that the Bruce Springsteen bike (a Stars and Stripes bedecked motorcycle used as a punishment threat, should our heroes break down during the Vietnam trip) no longer has "Born in the USA" blaring from its iPod. It's been dubbed over with the Star Spangled Banner. This required one series of jokes to be cut entirely (so the ep, though a little longer than broadcast on BBC America, is NOT uncut) and other jokes, including the one immediately in response to the first playing of the music, to make absolutely no sense whatever.

This minor maiming of the Vietnam special wipes out any extra bonus points that the Director's Cut of the Botswana Special might have won the set. The same problems that bedeviled the Season 10 release- not uncut, annoying auto-play trailers, and no skip points within each individual film- also infest this release. There are also incidents of misspelled or mistranscribed words in the subtitles- and even at least one misspelling in the scene-selection menus. (The name is TESLA, not TELSA. And no, it's not a town in Oklahoma, that's TULSA.)

Don't get me wrong. You WILL love this. If, like me, your only dose of Top Gear usually comes from the extremely edited BBC America broadcasts, you'll discover all sorts of little extra bits you've never seen before in this set. You'll want to laugh again and again at the crazies driving anything from Vespas to muscle cars to the near-worshipped Bugatti Veyron. You'll see the definitive test of what kind of buses should be used in London... a race on an oval that's just one step above demolition derby. You'll see a Ford Fiesta chased by a sports car through a shopping mall.

And through it all, you'll see three car nuts bickering at each other, mocking the failures of the auto industry, and sharing a deep love of cars and the use thereof.

But it's not a perfect release, and so I can't give it a perfect score. Sorry, BBC- try again, and next time don't pinch the penny so hard.

(Note: Edited when I found some more extras on a second viewing of the set. Makes it a little better, but still not five stars.

Top Gear (the BBC version) is one of the best programs I've seen in ages, even my wife enjoys it! We watched episode 1 with my dad who is a retired truck driver, and watched as the guys learn to drive "big rigs". We were all on the floor laughing! All the episodes are very entertaining, including one where the guys come to the US and drive 3 new "muscle cars" to the Bonneville Salt Flats. This series is worth every penny.

Fun and a lot of laughs. I always recommend any of the series those who like anything British! I've yet to come across an episode that I haven't liked.

Its Top gear, Dosent matter if its 10 or 15 its always going to be funny and somewhat educational. Get with the program

This series is hugely funny. A mixture of snark and childlike glee come out as the crew reviews drool-worthy vehicles and partakes ridiculous challenges. As a Yankee I don't know most of the Stars that they stick in their Reasonably Priced Car, but I still enjoy the segment. Similarly, I have no idea what half the Britjokes they make actually mean, but I consider it cultural research. I'm a supporter of this show and can't see myself ever enjoying the Americanized version.

Buy this: if you like to laugh, enjoy cars, like watching people try to do things with little or old cars that they were never intended to do.

Don't buy this: if you have a fear of tall men with wool-like hair or racing helmets.

When i got this i was just hoping to get the Vietnam special. But there is also the Botswana special also. What a great surprise. For me those are two of the best specials they have filmed. Now we just need to wait for the bolivian road of death special also.

Defintely buy this if you like "the Boy's"

Bill

I love this show..... Im working on getting every season.... The perfect car show.... And the perfect dvd.... this dvd is worth watching over and over again thats for sure.... A def buy.....

I thought this season seemed a bit short & that they referred to at least one thing that was never shown, so obviously they cut out a bit. Other than that I love the show. Probably would have given it a 3 if the Vietnam Special wasn't in there, that was fabulous! The extras are fairly useless as the Botswana special is in a previous season. The guys, as usual, are fairly hilarious, even if a bit obvious sometimes. The lorry (semi truck) competitions were just hysterical. I laughed my a#$ off. I always love the stars in the reasonably priced cars & interviews with them. I always wonder how the American celebrities cope with the car laps because personal experience tells me shifting with your left hand & steering with your right does not come natural to us. I'd think their laps would be slower just because of that. Great show! I've already pre-ordered the next season.

Great entertainment as to be expected from Top Gear! The DVD did have some picture quality issues especially when paused for more than a couple of minutes, there were lines of colors scattered across the screen (in 16:9).

Hugely entertaining program for anyone who likes cars. Lots of gimmicks and tons of information about all sorts of cars, especially high performance and exotics. My only question is "Why can't American TV do something like this?"