Top Gear is dead, long live The Grand Tour! After a conflict with one of the producers in 2015, the BBC decides to terminate his Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson. In the last decade Top Gear reached a cult status in the UK with a large audience. Right after the announcement the audience protest against the termination in form of a petition. But the BBC don’t change the decision. So it was clear that season 22 was the last one with Jeremy Clarkson. Because of Clarksons termination Richard Hammand and James May also quit thier contracts with the BBC.
After that, the BBC announced to continue Top Gear with a completely new team. The new season starts in 2016 and received much criticism. I can’t say what’s so special about Clarkson (The Gorilla), Richard Hammond (The Dwarf) and James Mey (Captian Slow), but the interaction and jokes are gorgeous. It’s that kind of British humor that wasn’t political correct in every way. All three are completely different characters. Over the years they build thier own characteristics. Carkson has the opinion, that he can do all with speed. That’s totally in contrast to James, with his special name Captian Slow. However Hammand thinks he will not be old. For the spectator these elements are very fimilar. For me Top Gear was at its best with the special episodes. These long road trips have really made fun! But thats not all, there was still our tame racing driver with more than 100 descriptions – The Stig and the Star guest with one lap at the Top Gear track in a cheap car. All these elements makes Top Gear outstanding as a car show. But how it goes on with The Grand Tour…?
After his termination Clarkson decides to create his own new car show together with his mates Hammand and May. Finally they find a new home on Amazon Video. The streaming service engage them and made a contract about three seasons. The new show called: The Grand Tour. The show started in November last year. Something has changed and something not. Let us start with the changes: Now, the team has a mobile studio in form of a tent. Every week they stream from a new country. The star in a cheap car doesn’t longer exist, because The Grand Tour was not allowed to copy elements from BBC’s Top Gear. That’s also the case with “The News” now “Conversation Street” and “The Stig” now “The American”. And here starts the small critic about The Grand Tour. In some ways they want to copy Top Gear without actually creating something new. And yes, normally the copy isn’t as good as the original. That’s the case with “The American”. The cool thing with “The Stig” was his emotion, or the non-emition because you can’t see through his helmet. This leads to some fun scenes! What doesn’t changes was the interaction between Clarkson, Hammand and May and that’s a good thing, even if they sometimes forget to make a car show.
The Grand Tour isn’t the good old Top Gear, but I believe they will be better with every episode. The start was a little bit rough because the audience have to accept all the changes. But after the first episodes the great moments are back. The idea to change the country every week was great because every country has it’s own mentality and also about cars. I’m looking forward to season two and the new special episodes. The success gives Amazon right, so the BBC will be annoyed…
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