Well hot diggety gosh darn damn. As comebacks go, that was John Travolta riding Jenson Button over to Mickey Rourke’s house, wasn’t it? Well, something like that.
Watch part one of our exclusive behind the scenes video
A few series ago there used to be a theory in the Top Gear office that people would forget when the new series was on and nobody would tune in, so the first program would be a gentle start, followed by a more explosive show two. Not any more, which is why tonight’s series opener hit the ground running as fast as its little legs would carry it.
The train race might not have been the openly daft oh-no-it’s-all-on-fire moment that many expect from Top Gear but everyone on the show was quietly pleased with the way it turned out. And, as ever with these things, yes the race was completely real and run totally in real time. Some of the pretty shots of the car and bike that make the whole film look nicer were picked up the next day, so as not to spoil Richard or James’s chances.
Of course, epic aerial shots of a fantastic old steam train are all well and good but they were rather overshadowed by the extraordinary moment when The Stig took his helmet off. Whatever it looked like on telly, that was nothing to the insanely electrified atmosphere in the studio as the audience went quide liderally NUTS to see what the man in white was keeping under his normally unremovable lid.
Did you miss the unveiling? Watch it again here!
Just two questions remain. Firstly, was Michael Schumacher really The Stig? And secondly, where did Jeremy get that shirt from, and could he promise never to go back there?
So, what did you think of the show? And don’t forget to check back tomorrow for part two of our backstage video.
whar happned to the lotus evora track test.
but congrats on a great first episode.
great shots of the train
Great first episode but I’d like to know why things must be continually cut. This episode was missing the Lotus Evora review and of course, the news segment. I understand they need advertising but does SBS get paid per ad?
thanks damain. someone understands me.
nice one mate
see they guy above me under stands.
less ads more news
I really wish SBS would leave top gear in it’s full unedited format because we really enjoy seeing the whole show. I think they should either stop putting ads in top gear or extend the time slot by ten minutes so we can enjoy the entire show
Where was the news?
Where was the lotus test?
Glad I’ve already watch the whole series on the net and did not wait for sbs’s cutdown version.
I AGREE WITH ALL OF YOU! dam them
great show though
Yeah, I don’t bother with the SBS broadcast because I’d rather see the full version too.
SBS if you’re reading this – you’re going to lose viewers to the internet if you keep cutting back our favourite show!! >:-(
I don’t get why they cut top gear. What’s wrong with having lots of viewers for an extra ten minutes or so? If they extend the time slot they’d get more ads in too.
Seriously how many other shows on SBS is remotely comparable to top gear? None.
As for the first episode, that was awesome!! The one episode felt like the series highlights! Don’t know how but it seems they managed to make top gear even better!
I agree with everyone else. I mean what’s the point of checking the website to see what’s coming up if you’re not going to show it. Good God people you cut TGUK to pieces leaving viewers of your most popular show feeling let down and disappointed. What’s your problem SBS? Don’t you like the fact that your network is starting to get viewers interested in more than foreign language news and soft porn?
In case you guys at SBS aren’t aware I am one of the many thousands of people that, up until you got the rights to Top Gear, didn’t even have SBS programmed in to my TV. But thanks to Top Gear there are now a couple of other shows that I watch on your network. BUT if you keep screwing around with TGUK then people are either going to change channel, or begin to think that you are trying to sabotage TGUK to make your own feeble attempt look better.
So which is it? Viewers love watching an ENTIRE episode of TGUK, not just the pieces you left in to satisfy the making of dollars through advertising. Maybe the only way we here in Oz can watch full episodes is if the advertising sponsors make it a condition that they’ll only sponsor the show if SBS show the entire episode.
Whatever you do SBS do it quickly. I raced home early tonight because one of things I really wanted to see was Evora test that this site advertised and what a surprise……… no Evora. No news. I’m even a little bit surprised that you left in the piece on the car/train/bike race.
Get your act together SBS because you are starting to come across like the commercial networks that you once despised. You need to decide what is more important. Advertising dollars to produce crap like Top Gear Australia, or fulfilling the duty of care that you once held so dearly to supply quality programming to your viewers.
The bits you did leave in though were great and I can’t wait to watch episode 2……….. or whatever bits of it SBS decide to show between ad breaks.
Bit disappointed!! – stig shuey thing was no surprise,real stig was not allowed to drive the fxx-!!
30 sec info on the fxx,!!
jezzas interview was drivel!!
But the race was All class!
No news
No cool wall
sbs bosses might want to reconsider cutting so much!!
Send complaints to the SBS website not just here then they may listen and not edit Top gear so severely. Use comments@sbs.com.au
I did that too Leon. And I sent one to TGUK in case they weren’t aware of how much butchering SBS was doing to their program.
I mean there’s not much point in advertising segments in the show if they have no intention of letting us watch them. It’s like going to the news with one over left on the last day of play in a test match. Maybe SBS have been bought out by channel 9.
Download it and watch it fully. It is an awesome episode!!
The full episode was awsome, the SBS version was too massively cut, first of all the news was one of the funniest news segments they have done and the Evora was awsome, so why did they have to cut it? just for some stupid ads that no one watches any way
Great 1st episode. I think Michael Schumacher isn’t reallt the stig. Did you see the way he drove that Suzuki
great episode. but they really shouldn’t cut out so much, i was really looking forward to the news!
i’m going to send an email to sbs to.
where do you download it from?
SBS does NOT cut Top Gear.
What they air is what they get. The international version of Top Gear is already shortened.
Even pre-advertisements the episodes were cut.
The race was one of the best ever, but like everyone else, im pissed that SBS seems to think we deserve a shortened TG, perhaps its to satisfy the climate change communists who hate TG and watch SBS every other day of the week, seriously bad form.
Well Andy if SBS is getting shortened versions of TGUK then they should only promote what they are going to be televising and not advertising on tv and on the internet segments they have no intention of showing.
I wonder whether this would be classed as deceptive or misleading advertising?
Or maybe they’re shortening it without thought to the viewers because it’s in English with no sub titles? Either way SBS advertise what you’re going to show. And that goes for whoever does the website that is viewed in Oz.
Surely to God SBS make enough out of the Top Gear franchise that they could devote more time to the show itself. I mean if it wasn’t so brilliant then this crap would have stopped me from watching. Fair enough edit the Australian version, I mean it’s not like we’d miss anything good, but not the UK version.
Note to The Mole:- Well you did want to know how it was for us. It was like sex with no orgasm.
i love top gear and i love steam trains and motorcycles so when i saw tg and st and mc together i thought wow but i was not impressed with jeremys antics which appeared to me to distract the crew from their responsibility of driving a 3 million pound icon, to lose the gauge glass water was a major error caused by playacting to the camera but the concept was magic but surely he was familiar with that iconic black shadow.otherwise i enjoyed it
As usual SBS ruin it with cutting out bits including the Lotus Evora. I will wait for the dvd if they keep doing this crap
Just download Top Gear off the net. Season 13 has been available for 2 months.
SBS get rid of the Ad’s and play the show in FULL… Not fair! Why play half a show??
Bring all the seasons out on DVD too! less special DVD’s and MORE FULL LENGTH SEASONS (1 – 13)!
Apart from that, great show.
Get rid of the ads that happen every 5 seconds or so and put the whole of the episode on. I can understand that there is a need for advistisment but put it on at the end of the show for how ever long.
Apart from that
Great Show!!!!!!
I feel that there is way too much mystery behind the stig to really speculate however i feel the stunt with michael schumacker was only to stop ppl asking. the show is fantastic… keep up the good work
LAST NIGHTS EPISODE WAS DA BEST EVR DESPITE HALF OF IT WAS MISSING. I WANNA SEE DA EVORA POWER TEST
That WAS AWESOME THat was the best
Why did you have to miss out on the loutus erova power test that would have been awesome geeeeees sbs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY DOES SBS NEED TO HAVE SO MANY ADS??????? AND FINISH 5 MINS EARLY! I CHECKED ON TH EUK WEBSITE, AND WE MISSED OUT ON THE LOTUS EVORA TEST – AS WELL AS THE NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (even though this happened last season, it does get REALLY frustrating!) it is ur top rating show, let people see it in full – or otherwise i’ll just have to watch it on youtube!
Great ep. I originally thought that this ep was going to be like the botswana and vietnam ep, where there was noting else but the challenge. The only other thing i was thinking they were going to do was the “unveiling” of the stig. But then I come to one of the best websites in the world and remember that there was promised (partial) news content and the lotus test. Disapointment levels rising. Bloody SBS! DONT cut your best show up! I can breathe a sigh of relief knowing I have seen the next to eps in their entirety. Ditto what anonymous said; Ive been harping this point for ages. Luckily, there seems to be a slight response, as now season 10 is available on DVD. YAY!!! On the top of the Chrismas list then.
On another note, what a great ep. Loved the race. I dont think that posh hotel enjoyed having a very dirty clarkson in their bar, and he even left a long black smudge on the wall when he fell over. Poor richard, although it was his fault that the engine died. Still rode his dream bike, and wierd knowing that it remaind the fastest bike in the world until the early 70’s. I dont think schuey is the stig, although it would explain why he had never done an F1 celeb lap. Although you could kind of tell that it was coming, because of all the FXX’s they used, they used a black one(anyone who knows anything about the FXX should know that all FXX’s were coloured red, EXCEPT shuey’s own FXX, which was painted black, and given to him as a thank you from ferrari for the driving he did for the team). All in all though, great ep, cant wait for the rest of the season.
Right, I’m off to complain…..
WOW! I didnt realise I wrote so much. Sorry!
Great start to the season guys. it was fantastic. that FXX is so sick and got to the top of the board. I don’t think Schumacher is not entirely the stig. Never mind could be worse…
Everybody is saying the same thing.
Come on SBS what are you going to do.
Does it really matter if it goes for a extra 10 minutes!
@Andy : You’re saying that ALL the versions of TG in the world aside from the original has no Lotus power test. Are you mad?
They wouldn’t do that, and besides, SBS already have a history of cutting TG episodes. It used to be the news, which I could live with (only just) but now it’s gotten to cutting power tests which are an essential part of the show. Shame on you SBS.
Aside from no power test or news, awesome start to the series. Love TG, hope that the rest of the series is even better (I’m holding out for Ken Block + the Lambo in Abu Dhabi)
P.S. Everyone submit a complaint to SBS via comments@sbs.com.au and we might be able to stop them cutting the show!
I don’t want to believe that Michael Schumacher is the Stig. I liked the mystery about it and how they say he’s “neither a man nor machine” and he lives in a cupboard.
Thank God! I thought I was the only one pissed off at SBS about cutting out tonnes of Top Gear. I completely agree with all the above comment. SBS we don’t want ads, we want TOP GEAR!!! Common everyone jump on that SBS site mentioned above and complain! We can save Top Gear by working as a team.
But it was a good episode, I’m just glad I saw it on You Tube so I could see ALL of it.
One big reason all TV companies should look to the future. I remember my mate getting VHS copies of Star Trek NG 12 months after they came out in the USA so that he could keep up to date.
I’m not waiting 2 months for the UK episodes to be broadcast, I want it now. It’s a catch-22, as I’m going to watch a download so I can see it immediately without ads. So SBS loses out on a viewer who doesn’t watch their ads and loses revenue.
I would watch it on SBS if it was the entire show and appeared at the most 2 days after it was shown in the UK.
The TV companies, just like the music industry, have to move with the time!
Don’t worry Braddo, Schuey is’nt the Stig. It was all a publicity stunt, and by the looks of things it worked.
Thats what I thought JLT 007. They have Schuey AND HIS FXX on the show. Probably couldnt get a normal FXX for the show. Also, the car was released in 2005, so if they wanted to test one, why not get one then? REASON: Ferrari, Schuey and Top Gear pulled a rather large publicity stunt that seemed to work well. Also, its one massive way of getting people off the back of top gear about who the Stig is.
Just a theory, but…
Awesome! abslutley loved it. Was a bit annoying sbs adverts have to take over the Lotus Evora but it is so good to have fresh Top Gear on. Not stingy Top Gear AU or older episodes that ive seen a million times.
from what im reading in the comments, and there are alot of em, everyone can notice that they cuts two bits out, the news and the test drive of the new lotus. And i agree with every one here, SBS.. CUT THE DAMN ADDS AND PUT ON THE FULL EPISODE, put them on after the show and dont cut bits out.
But, thankfully, i got that full episode on my computer off youtube.
And it was a great start off to the series, the next seven weeks are gonna be good.
I got an email back from my complaint to sbs an it was as follows “Thank you for your comments about possible edits to Top Gear.
SBS does not edit or remove segments from this program. We transmit exactly what we receive from the BBC in the UK .
The version we receive from BBC is the International version. If anything is missing it has been removed by BBC for international distribution most likely for legal or music/vision rights or timeslot duration issues.
So we should direct comments to BBC international not SBS I guess.
Thanks for clearing that up Leon.
Anyway at the end of the day we can get the rest on the interweb
I think this is a good time to tell our tg crew what we want to see “and what we dont”!!
So then why do the BBC edit the show they send internationaly? Theres not any content in those sections of the program that could not be viewed by people not living in the UK. When you watch old episodes on the BBC Knowlege channel on Foxtel, they are complete – so why do we and the rest of the world get the cutdown version just because we don’t live in the UK?
Geez guys, give SBS a break, it’s not them that chooses to cut the episodes, it’s the BBC dictating what can be shown on non-BBC owned channels. Also, the music is different as the BBC’s blanket music licence only allows that particular music to be played on British mainland brodcasts so BBC International has to change the music.
Basically, SBS are showing what they are allowed to show, no doubt they’d love to show the whole episode uncut! If you so desperately want to see the full version, there’s other means and you’ll see it about 4-5 months before SBS shows it!
I thought the opener was one of the best episodes ever. The race… sublime images of some the worlds most beautiful vehicles photographed in the Scottish Borders,wittily presented (as ever) really did make me feel more than a little homesick (and seeded a strong need for a Jag XK 120).
Then Michael Schumacher…. nough said.
How the hell are they going to follow this up?
I hang on tenterhooks.
Uncle Lard, Brisbane Australia
Hmmmmmmm………… Looks like you could be in trouble SBS. If, as has been written, you do receive edited versions of Top Gear UK then perhaps you may want to get in touch with the BBC and inform them of the, what appears to be, general opinion of the Australian Top Gear viewing audience which is:-
If this continues then we will end up all watching it on the internet and SBS will lose viewers which, I believe, would impact on the advertising value of what is, quite possibly, the greatest television program…….. ever.
If nothing else at least fight for our right to watch the whole episode. And if you don’t then you’re just showing that it’s not that you don’t receive the whole episode, it’s that you cut it because you’re just another greedy commercial network.
And there is no way Shuey is The Stig. He looked like a little kid in Dads helmet, and he didn’t move like The Stig……… well actually it’s the fact that he did move.
The mighty white knight would in no way have been looking around at the crowd like that. The Stig’s a machine. Not human. And not Shuey.
Long Drive The Stig!
Great first show even though I’ved seen it off the ‘net a few months back wouldn’t mind watching it over again… have just finished watching Episode 7 of Season 13 and what a lovely poignant ending.
cant wait till tga comes back
Got the exact same e-mail back from SBS as you did, Leon.
Next mail is heading to the BBC…..
Im not so sure about the SBS mail. I sent a complaint anyway, just to make sure. But it sounds like just an off the cuff response to keep the hush down. The response that Leon received shows nothing about the BBC editing the eps for the SBS and others, it just shows that they will consider your thoughts so they can change the ep accordinly. They may still be the ones that change the ep!
I got the same email as Cloverleaf and Leon. But I fail to see why the BBC would cut out the car review which is WHAT THIS SHOW IS ABOUT.
I’m coming for you BBC!!
I got the same mail. All artillery towards BBC now!
Apology accepted, QWERTY.
You poor buggers, I have the full episodes. Uncut by SBS Australia. beside I’m never home at night to see Top gear.
I haven’t seen the Australian version, and from what I heard it’s rubbish, nothing beats the UK Version.
Fantastic stuff, never seen Jeremy look so buggered. The water on the train run out ha! what a laughf – a tense moment there.. thats good television.