Top Gear UK Manifest - English Version
Fandom Manifest: Top Gear UK RPS
Source
WARNING: THIS CONTAINS REAL PEOPLE SLASH! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! DO NOT LIKE DO NOT READ! DON'T YELL AT ME FOR IT!
Also this is image and GIF heavy! Though I don't think anyone is actually on dial-up anymore it may be a problem on mobiles/cell-phones. You have been warned!
Seriously? There is a Top Gear UK Fandom?
Did you
Source
really think
Source
Fandom would
Source
let this
Source
pass?
Source
But I thought this show was about cars?
Weeeell, a long, long time ago, it was (probably. No one really knows. Maybe the Stig does.)
And sometimes it is today, too.
But while it's boring to listen to (mostly. Unless Jeremy insults somebody or James explains something and he has one of those read-me-the-phonebook-and-I'll-melt-voices), the camera work is gorgeous and they really make cars look pretty. After watching all of the 21 seasons (oops. Make that 20, as we'll ignore S1 shall we?) I have now been educated on what a pretty looking car is and I can appreciate a good looking car going fast around corners in a cloud of smoke *shakes fist at them*
Seriously.
In the beginning there were cars and there were proper reviews with facts and figures and it was boring. Then they started to cock about and the public loved it. So they started to cock about even more and the public loved it even better!
Today Top Gear is channel BBC 2''s most successful program „estimated to have around 350 million views per week in 170 different countries.“ (Wiki)
It has spawned spin-offs in USA, South Korea, Australia and several other countries, including a huge franchise and a live show.
Top Gear started as a (more or less) serious car show that ran from 1978 to 2001. Here's a young Jeremy Clarkson. Look at that hair!
A year after Jeremy Clarkson left the show it was scraped. In 2002 Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman brought Top Gear back in the new format that we know today. Well, almost. Let's make that from S2 on. (Sorry, Jason). Because in Season 2 Jason Dawe was replaced by James May. And that's when the show really took off. The banter between the presenters, the british humour, the stunts, the cocking about, all served to make it a show for the whole family. They won a BAFTA in 2005 and several more awards, including an Emmy. Of course it wasn't all smooth sailing from then on. The rumours about Top Gear being canceled are never ending. Each series there is an uproar about some political incorrect thing they have said or done. I don't even want to know how often the BBC had to apologise or go into a lawsuit. And yet season 22 is being filmed. The show in a nutshell:
Link (Proxy for Germany needed. (For Chrome check out proxflow)
Yes, that is exactly it! The exact mixture of cocking about and carporn!
And don't forget the scenery!/travel!porn:
Source
And don't think you can escape coming to appreciate the car!porn.
Source
The best is of course the cocking about.
Link
If you do not fall in love with two 50 year olds and one 40 something having that much fun playing 16 year olds, I don't know either.
So, who are these guys?
Jeremy „Jezza“ Clarkson
Journalist, writes columns for the Times, appears on British TV a lot.
Tall, loud, opinionated and politically incorrect. The newspapers love him because not a month goes by without them having a field day about some politically incorrect thing he might or might not have said and/or done.
( A word of warning here: The show - and especially Clarkson - IS often political incorrect and makes jokes about all kinds of people, germans (also Hitler), americans, environment-conscious people, political parties, bearing the biggest brunt. In my humble opinion they aren't made in nastiness, homophobia or racism but a mixture of schoolboy humour, pub humour and Clarkson's attitude of make-a-crude-remark-and-sit-back-and-enjoy-watching-the-media-fall-over-themselves-calling-him-all-kinds-of-things. Here's a list of examples.)
You will either love or hate him. There is no in between.
On-show-persona: On the show Jeremy is clearly "The Boss". He loves to make people laugh, including his co-presenters and goes to considerable lengths to achieve that. Loves to use hammers, though allergic to manual labour. Plays up on being useless and stupid. Best driver of the three.
Catchphrases: „POOOWAAARRR!“ "How hard can it be?" and „...in the world!“
Richard „Hamster“ Hammond
Yes, you can see where this is going. Next to Jeremy anyone looks nice but Richard is of course the darling of the female fans. Not that James or Jeremy have fewer female fans ;-)
I haven't been able to find out how the nickname came about but Richard has embraced it.
Source
He even named his official website thus: thehamsterscage.co.uk
When he is not on Top Gear he writes books and has solo projects like Brainiac, Total Wipeout, Blast Lab and several other quirky shows of this kind.
He also does sweet things like give a dying girl a ride in a pink Lamborghini. In 2006 Hammond had a life threatening accident while driving a jet-car for a segment of Top Gear. Season 9 was filmed and published several months late due to this. In Episode 1 of Series 9 they showed the footage of the accident and Hammond asked for it to never be mentioned again. Since then he seems to has relaxed that attitude because Clarkson does make jokes about it every once in a while.
(Hammond with the helmet that saved his life)
Hammond also fell in love while filming the Botswana special. With an adorable little Opel Kadett he named Oliver.
Source![]()
And he had him shipped from Botswana to the UK.
Occasionally Hammond lets us know that Oliver is still there.
Source: Richard Hammond's Twitter. Pic by him.
It is the one OTP ALL agree on.
On-show-persona: On the show, Hammond is the eager-to-please little brother, the excited kid who does the over-the-top stunt stuff. He also plays off of Clarkson excellently. Their arguments over the Cool Wall are legendary.
Catchphrase: "I am a driving god!"
James „Captain Slow“ May
Source
Joined the show in the second season. Before that he presented the old format in the year before it was cancelled. Before that he wrote for Auto Car Magazine and got fired for being cheeky.
Most loveliest hair on television.
Source
Has a pilot's license. And even named his plane after his catchphrase.
Manages to make ...uh..interestingly patterned shirts and jumpers look cool. The most iconic one is this one:
First appearance in S8 (Spring 2006) and I don't want to imagine the weeping and gnashing of teeth that's going to occur if it ever falls apart.
When he is not presenting Top Gear he makes beer commercials, builds Lego houses, goes wine tasting (naked!) and educates British men on how to do men-stuff.
On-screen-persona: On the show May plays up to his pedantic, do-things-in-his-own-time, luxury-over-speed side and so brings a wonderful counterbalance to the trio, that works so surprisingly well. He can get as excited as a little kid as the other two though and even drives fast when the occasion merits it.
Catchphrase:“ Oh, cock!“
The Stig
The tame racing driver. No one knows who he is. Some say he's an alien.
Currently in its third incarnation. Has Cousin's all over the world.
Source
His job is to drive any car as fast as possible around the track and teach the celebrities how to drive the reasonably priced car.
Has horrible taste in music. He is used as the mascot of the show. The identity is indeed a secret. Though the first two Stigs are known. There was a bit of a scandal over the second one as he revealed his identity against his contract.
Andy „Mr. Top Gear“ Wilman
Executive Producer. Has been mates with Jeremy Clarkson since their Public School Days and shares his sense of humour.
They never really grew up since then.
Is not actually ON the show but of course often seen in behind the scenes stuff. Has lucky pants. Was actually a presenter on the old format of Top Gear. Together with Jeremy Clarkson he resurrected Top Gear in its current format.
So, uhm, what about the slash?
Please. They slash themselves:
Source
Source Watch out for 1:15 - 1:45. I wonder which one is the "he" who won't be able to shout ;-)
Source Youtube
Source
Youtube
Source
So where do I watch it?
The official Top Gear YouTube Channel
BBC2 (UK only)
BBCA
Dave
Netflix
Watchever (Germany)
Lovefilm/Amazon Instant Video etc.
DVDs/BluRays on Amazon/others.
Recommendations:
S2E1: James's first appearance and it's marvelous.
S10E1: First ep I REALLY watched and by the end I was in love. Naked!James driving!
Botswana special: Still my favourite special to date. Here you get to meet Oliver!
Middle East special: Second favourite. Just the fact that they're trying to be the three wise men makes my heart happy. (Warnings:Watch out for not-so-happy-presenters in the first third (or so), James being injured and uh, blasphemy?)
Burma special: Just for contrast: The newest special and tied in third place for favourite with the Vietnam and US specials. Not so much carporn but breathtaking scenery! and travel!porn.
Okay, you've convinced me. Where do I find the (slash) fandom?
General fans
http://topgearfanclub.com/
http://www.finalgear.com/
Fandom
Locked forums, please contact me for links.
Slashy fandom
http://topgearslash.livejournal.com (locked community)
AO3 If anyone knows of anymore, please let me know!
Look at my tumblr and go from there.
As this is RPS please contact me for slashy Vid and Fic recs.
What I like about it? You mean beside all of the above?
No matter how down, sad or ill I am, these bestest idiots in the world never fail to cheer me up.
Source
When James laughs like a honking geese that is his genuine full out laugh. Isn't it adorable?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you dirtyzucchini for looking this over.
Thank you domiselle, sebviously and aralnoza for graciously allowing me to use your gifs and screenshots!
Thank you everyone for reading and if you do choose to watch the show, let me know how it went!
Source
WARNING: THIS CONTAINS REAL PEOPLE SLASH! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! DO NOT LIKE DO NOT READ! DON'T YELL AT ME FOR IT!
Also this is image and GIF heavy! Though I don't think anyone is actually on dial-up anymore it may be a problem on mobiles/cell-phones. You have been warned!
Seriously? There is a Top Gear UK Fandom?
Did you
Source
really think
Source
Fandom would
Source
let this
Source
pass?
Source
But I thought this show was about cars?
Weeeell, a long, long time ago, it was (probably. No one really knows. Maybe the Stig does.)
And sometimes it is today, too.
But while it's boring to listen to (mostly. Unless Jeremy insults somebody or James explains something and he has one of those read-me-the-phonebook-and-I'll-melt-voices), the camera work is gorgeous and they really make cars look pretty. After watching all of the 21 seasons (oops. Make that 20, as we'll ignore S1 shall we?) I have now been educated on what a pretty looking car is and I can appreciate a good looking car going fast around corners in a cloud of smoke *shakes fist at them*
Seriously.
In the beginning there were cars and there were proper reviews with facts and figures and it was boring. Then they started to cock about and the public loved it. So they started to cock about even more and the public loved it even better!
Today Top Gear is channel BBC 2''s most successful program „estimated to have around 350 million views per week in 170 different countries.“ (Wiki)
It has spawned spin-offs in USA, South Korea, Australia and several other countries, including a huge franchise and a live show.
Top Gear started as a (more or less) serious car show that ran from 1978 to 2001. Here's a young Jeremy Clarkson. Look at that hair!
A year after Jeremy Clarkson left the show it was scraped. In 2002 Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman brought Top Gear back in the new format that we know today. Well, almost. Let's make that from S2 on. (Sorry, Jason). Because in Season 2 Jason Dawe was replaced by James May. And that's when the show really took off. The banter between the presenters, the british humour, the stunts, the cocking about, all served to make it a show for the whole family. They won a BAFTA in 2005 and several more awards, including an Emmy. Of course it wasn't all smooth sailing from then on. The rumours about Top Gear being canceled are never ending. Each series there is an uproar about some political incorrect thing they have said or done. I don't even want to know how often the BBC had to apologise or go into a lawsuit. And yet season 22 is being filmed. The show in a nutshell:
Click to view
Link (Proxy for Germany needed. (For Chrome check out proxflow)
Yes, that is exactly it! The exact mixture of cocking about and carporn!
And don't forget the scenery!/travel!porn:
Source
And don't think you can escape coming to appreciate the car!porn.
Source
The best is of course the cocking about.
Link
If you do not fall in love with two 50 year olds and one 40 something having that much fun playing 16 year olds, I don't know either.
So, who are these guys?
Jeremy „Jezza“ Clarkson
Journalist, writes columns for the Times, appears on British TV a lot.
Tall, loud, opinionated and politically incorrect. The newspapers love him because not a month goes by without them having a field day about some politically incorrect thing he might or might not have said and/or done.
( A word of warning here: The show - and especially Clarkson - IS often political incorrect and makes jokes about all kinds of people, germans (also Hitler), americans, environment-conscious people, political parties, bearing the biggest brunt. In my humble opinion they aren't made in nastiness, homophobia or racism but a mixture of schoolboy humour, pub humour and Clarkson's attitude of make-a-crude-remark-and-sit-back-and-enjoy-watching-the-media-fall-over-themselves-calling-him-all-kinds-of-things. Here's a list of examples.)
You will either love or hate him. There is no in between.
On-show-persona: On the show Jeremy is clearly "The Boss". He loves to make people laugh, including his co-presenters and goes to considerable lengths to achieve that. Loves to use hammers, though allergic to manual labour. Plays up on being useless and stupid. Best driver of the three.
Catchphrases: „POOOWAAARRR!“ "How hard can it be?" and „...in the world!“
Richard „Hamster“ Hammond
Yes, you can see where this is going. Next to Jeremy anyone looks nice but Richard is of course the darling of the female fans. Not that James or Jeremy have fewer female fans ;-)
I haven't been able to find out how the nickname came about but Richard has embraced it.
Source
He even named his official website thus: thehamsterscage.co.uk
When he is not on Top Gear he writes books and has solo projects like Brainiac, Total Wipeout, Blast Lab and several other quirky shows of this kind.
He also does sweet things like give a dying girl a ride in a pink Lamborghini. In 2006 Hammond had a life threatening accident while driving a jet-car for a segment of Top Gear. Season 9 was filmed and published several months late due to this. In Episode 1 of Series 9 they showed the footage of the accident and Hammond asked for it to never be mentioned again. Since then he seems to has relaxed that attitude because Clarkson does make jokes about it every once in a while.
(Hammond with the helmet that saved his life)
Hammond also fell in love while filming the Botswana special. With an adorable little Opel Kadett he named Oliver.
Source
And he had him shipped from Botswana to the UK.
Occasionally Hammond lets us know that Oliver is still there.
Source: Richard Hammond's Twitter. Pic by him.
It is the one OTP ALL agree on.
On-show-persona: On the show, Hammond is the eager-to-please little brother, the excited kid who does the over-the-top stunt stuff. He also plays off of Clarkson excellently. Their arguments over the Cool Wall are legendary.
Catchphrase: "I am a driving god!"
James „Captain Slow“ May
Source
Joined the show in the second season. Before that he presented the old format in the year before it was cancelled. Before that he wrote for Auto Car Magazine and got fired for being cheeky.
Most loveliest hair on television.
Source
Has a pilot's license. And even named his plane after his catchphrase.
Manages to make ...uh..interestingly patterned shirts and jumpers look cool. The most iconic one is this one:
First appearance in S8 (Spring 2006) and I don't want to imagine the weeping and gnashing of teeth that's going to occur if it ever falls apart.
When he is not presenting Top Gear he makes beer commercials, builds Lego houses, goes wine tasting (naked!) and educates British men on how to do men-stuff.
On-screen-persona: On the show May plays up to his pedantic, do-things-in-his-own-time, luxury-over-speed side and so brings a wonderful counterbalance to the trio, that works so surprisingly well. He can get as excited as a little kid as the other two though and even drives fast when the occasion merits it.
Catchphrase:“ Oh, cock!“
The Stig
The tame racing driver. No one knows who he is. Some say he's an alien.
Currently in its third incarnation. Has Cousin's all over the world.
Source
His job is to drive any car as fast as possible around the track and teach the celebrities how to drive the reasonably priced car.
Has horrible taste in music. He is used as the mascot of the show. The identity is indeed a secret. Though the first two Stigs are known. There was a bit of a scandal over the second one as he revealed his identity against his contract.
Andy „Mr. Top Gear“ Wilman
Executive Producer. Has been mates with Jeremy Clarkson since their Public School Days and shares his sense of humour.
They never really grew up since then.
Is not actually ON the show but of course often seen in behind the scenes stuff. Has lucky pants. Was actually a presenter on the old format of Top Gear. Together with Jeremy Clarkson he resurrected Top Gear in its current format.
So, uhm, what about the slash?
Please. They slash themselves:
Source
Source Watch out for 1:15 - 1:45. I wonder which one is the "he" who won't be able to shout ;-)
Source Youtube
Source
Youtube
Source
So where do I watch it?
The official Top Gear YouTube Channel
BBC2 (UK only)
BBCA
Dave
Netflix
Watchever (Germany)
Lovefilm/Amazon Instant Video etc.
DVDs/BluRays on Amazon/others.
Recommendations:
S2E1: James's first appearance and it's marvelous.
S10E1: First ep I REALLY watched and by the end I was in love. Naked!James driving!
Botswana special: Still my favourite special to date. Here you get to meet Oliver!
Middle East special: Second favourite. Just the fact that they're trying to be the three wise men makes my heart happy. (Warnings:Watch out for not-so-happy-presenters in the first third (or so), James being injured and uh, blasphemy?)
Burma special: Just for contrast: The newest special and tied in third place for favourite with the Vietnam and US specials. Not so much carporn but breathtaking scenery! and travel!porn.
Okay, you've convinced me. Where do I find the (slash) fandom?
General fans
http://topgearfanclub.com/
http://www.finalgear.com/
Fandom
Locked forums, please contact me for links.
Slashy fandom
http://topgearslash.livejournal.com (locked community)
AO3 If anyone knows of anymore, please let me know!
Look at my tumblr and go from there.
As this is RPS please contact me for slashy Vid and Fic recs.
What I like about it? You mean beside all of the above?
No matter how down, sad or ill I am, these bestest idiots in the world never fail to cheer me up.
Source
When James laughs like a honking geese that is his genuine full out laugh. Isn't it adorable?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you dirtyzucchini for looking this over.
Thank you domiselle, sebviously and aralnoza for graciously allowing me to use your gifs and screenshots!
Thank you everyone for reading and if you do choose to watch the show, let me know how it went!