Top Gear-Back in the Fast Lane: The Best of Series 1 and 2 (2002)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Audio Notes-Car Fact Files Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	95:20
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jeremy Clarkson Richard Hammond
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

'Trees wither as they hear this car approach'

    Top Gear is the best show ever about cars, no ifs, ands or buts. It can be enjoyed by anyone, whether they are a rev-head or not. It is an English show from the BBC and features (at least on this disc) two hosts, Jeremy Clarkson & Richard Hammond along with their fearless test driver, The Stig (who fans will note used to dress in all black). This disc is a collection of highlights from the first two seasons of the show after it reappeared in 2002. James May turns up in one segment but did not become a full time host until after these series were finished. This disc runs for 90+ minutes and is separated into a number of sections which replicate the sections of a normal show.

    The sections include

• Power Cars - Pagani Zonda, Jaguar, Lamborgini, Aston Martin, etc.
• Star Guests - Patrick Stewart, Jamie Oliver making salad while being driven around the track by The Stig and Jeremy talking dirty to a supermodel.
• Reasonably Priced Car - Celebrity time trials including evidence for why the last corner on their test track is called Gambon.
• Road Tests - Richard going nuts in a Bowler 4WD, Rolls Royce, Ferrari with Damon Hill, the Bentley which elicits the above quote from Jeremy and Murray Walker sacred out of his head in a Maclaren F1.
• Stunts - A great selection of silly stunts including a bus jumping motorbikes, grannies doing doughnuts and a race between different clergymen.
• The Stig - Highlights and outtakes.

    This feels very much like an extended episode and is certainly lots of fun for fans of the show especially those who may have started watching it lately. They are currently showing the 9th season in the UK and the 8th here on TV. It is not quite as much fun as the Winter Olympics disc, however, this one has more for the car nut as it focuses more on car tests and less on silly stunts. Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced, which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. Shadow detail was very good. There were some short sections which were a little grainy, seemingly where stock footage was involved.

    The colour was very good although I did notice a little cross colourisation especially on the car grille around 39:00 and a couple of spots of chroma noise.

    The only noticeable artefacts were aliasing and jagged edges. These were never really obvious but were regular.

    There are no subtitles.

    This is a single layer disc so there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is surprisingly good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s. Despite the encoding this soundtrack was surprisingly immersive with lots of wonderful engine and tyre noises. During studio scenes the surrounds carried obvious crowd noise.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync. There was one short sequence where Richard Hammond's dialogue was a little quiet at 53:00.

    The subwoofer was used to add grunt to the engine noises. This was a function of my amp's bass management.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu was a one page affair allowing for access to the show and extras. It was still.

Fact Files

    Text and Photos of most of the cars featured in the show. Includes vital performance stats for each car.

Photo Gallery

    30 or so action shots.

    This DVD is available in the same format in Region 2 and is not available in Region 1.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is surprisingly good.

    Two average quality extras are included.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall