Post by Kasey Kagawa

There are moments in our lives that seem to be frozen in time, when a single piece of news is so life-changing that we never forget where we were and what we were doing when we heard it. Richard Hammond’s crash may not rank up there with the news of the Challenger disaster, the attack on Pearl Harbor, or when you found out that you’re going to have a child, but on the sliding scale of Big Events, the news that Richard Hammond, one of the hosts of one of the greatest TV shows ever made, Top Gear, had crashed a jet-powered dragster at 298 MPH and was in critical condition and comatose after the crash, ranks pretty high up there. As news continued to come out, it just seemed to get worse and worse. Cries of protest from the newspapers, demanding that something be done about Top Gear, to put a stop to their horrible example that’s killing hundreds of teenagers all over the world and has finally caught up to one of the hosts. For a time, it seemed like we might lose one of our most beloved TV personalities and our favorite show all at once. Then the tide began to turn. News that letters and donations were pouring in from fans all over the world came in, then that the BBC would not force Top Gear to change at all, let alone cancel it, and finally that Mr. Hammond was not only out of his coma, but showing remarkable improvement despite his astonishing injuries. It’s only been good news from there, and finally, after a incredibly short recovery period, Richard Hammond appeared on Jonathan Ross’ talk show Friday night, and talked about his injuries and what has happened after that fateful day. Not only that, he’s already driving and is filming segments for Top Gear again. If you’re of a religious type, a prayer of thanks might be in order, and even if you’re not, a toast certainly is (except for Hammond, who can’t drink for two years, the poor bastard), for our one and only Hamster. Cheers, mate.

Second part of the video after the jump.