Knight Rider 2008 Series SPOILERS

A bit of Knight Rider news has begun to trickle out. Mods, I'm putting this here since I think some of KITT's demonstrated abilities clearly make him scifi at this point.

First is a one minute "sizzler" released by NBC: http://www.nbc.com/Knight_Rider/video/#mea=278575

And this was just released, some video showing behind the scenes filming at the "KITT Cave" (the FLAG facility where KITT's maintenance is performed): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PJYtCxkSl8

Some general thoughts:

• It seems Mike Traceur may actually take on his father's name. I'm thinking this may be more as a cover to protect his "real" identity, but I'm curious if somehow they're doing a twist on a "man who does not exist" idea.
• You can see Gary Scott Thompson's "Fast and the Furious" influence, and I mean that in a GOOD way. The guy definitely has a better feel for filming car sequences than those who produced February's movie. Also, the upgraded "Attack KITT" definitely has a street tuner car look that I would expect from a "Fast and the Furious" pedigree. It also seems to take a tiny bit of influence from the classic KITT's "Super Pursuit" mode with vents out the sides and a super high raised spoiler.
• KITT's new transformation capability is really nice, but of course this is coming from a die-hard Transformers fan so take that as you will. I did notice when he was in his pickup truck mode you can still see the red scanner embedded in the front of the vehicle which is a nice bit of consistancy (in the TV movie, the scanner disappeared when he morphed).
• KITT's new "voice box" is a fascinating design, but to me it feels out of place. I actually preferred the "iPhone" type screen of the movie. It's hard to tell if that interface is still there or not. I do like the windshield interface however.
• I love the look of the "KITT Cave". It's cool to see after a period of dormancy, the Foundation is back in full force. Having an entire crew work on KITT makes sense (and was rarely seen in the original series). I love the rotating "work table" as well.

I'm seriously looking forward to this show. It looks like it will be good, cheesy fun.

 

I think this is the first link you meant to post.

 

But less so than in the original. One thing that struck me about the movie was that KITT's abilities were more conservatively depicted than in the original, even though real-world technology has come so much closer to old KITT's abilities in a lot of ways. New KITT seemed to be a less advanced AI than Old KITT, certainly a more traditionally stiff and emotionless AI. And New KITT didn't do a single "turbo boost" jump.

 

Should be fun. Doubt it will last, though.

 

He transforms from an F150 pickup truck to a Ford Mustang in the preview. I consider that fairly scifi. If I'm incorrect, then please move the thread mods.

 

Spoiler: Turbo Boost

They mention turbo boost will be a feature of KITT in the new promos on NBC

 

This looks to be much more promising than the TV movie. Here's hoping!

 

Transforming into a pickup Well, that show just went to shit.

 

It is a given that Knight Rider is a fantasy/SF show. My point had nothing to do with debating where the thread belonged. I was simply making the observation that, ironically, even as real-world automotive technology has brought many of the original KITT's abilities closer to reality, the movie didn't advance New KITT's abilities proportionately but actually took a more conservative approach. Perhaps that was precisely because computerized cars with advanced sensors and satellite uplinks and voice interfaces and so forth are no longer the stuff of fantasy, and therefore they felt audiences might be less tolerant with speculations that were too extravagant. But the cost was that the movie (and I'm speaking only of the movie, since obviously I haven't seen the weekly incarnation yet) came off as less imaginative than the original. (Well, at least in terms of the technology. I'd hardly call the original show imaginative in terms of characterization or storytelling.)

Do I gather that the weekly series has some different people behind it than the movie did? If they have expanded on KITT's metamorphic abilities and restored the cheesy turbo boost, then maybe that means they are embracing the fantasy more again. I wonder if KITT will also have more personality in the series.

I just hope it doesn't go as far as some of the absurd technological fancies seen in Team Knight Rider. The worst part was that car that could morph into twin motorcycles, or was it two motorcycles that could morph into a car? Either way, the single-vehicle mode clearly had much more mass than the two-bikes mode, in gross violation of the laws of physics.

Then again, a pickup truck would theoretically be more massive than a sportscar, although I suppose the pickup disguise could simply have hollow or low-density components.

 

No problem. There was some debate about that back when the movie aired so I wanted to be clear that I didn't intend to violate any board rules on thread placement.

Truth be told, I think a part of that was budget, timing and lack of revisions on the story. The movie was rushed into production, and frankly I'm amazed it came out anywhere near as good as it did.

The "big name" they brought in is Gary Scott Thompson, who was responsible for "The Fast and the Furious" as well as a whole new writing staff (though Andron(sp?) who wrote the movie is onboard).

KITT's transform is less a morph than an all out "Transformers" style transformation including panels shifting and parts flipping out and locking into place. That ups the "fantastic" quotient significantly from the movie (thankfully).

Yeah, Plato and KAT were really hard to buy as a combined vehicle. I have no problem with the concept of a KR bike, but the vehicle they combined into made no sense, or was never adequately explained anyhow.

I'm curious if they'll explain it or leave it up to our imaginations. Either way I'm fine with it. So long as KITT doesn't go changing into an Abrams tank I'll be fine with it.

 

So glad to hear they're going for more of a transformer effect this time. They kept saying they would do that for the movie, but apparently all they had a budget for was the ridiculous and tired morphing effect.

And I hope they DO emphasize the fantasy aspect of the show. The original series only got good once they started bringing in more action-oriented, comic book storylines.

 

Just went to shit? Just now?

 

I'll repost what I posted in the Tv thread

The first four episodes titles/descriptions with "Knight" again in the title somewhere

http://www.kittsite.com/knightriderspoilers.htm

 

Wow, that looks Flash Gordon bad, and not in the 80's movie bad way, the new TV show bad way. *shudders*

 

I was turned off when I found out that KITT was a Mustang. For one thing, I fucking hate Ford; and for another, the Mustang is a women's car. How fucking manly is aguy driving around fighting crime in his sister's pony car? Get something with a little more muscle! How about a Charger, or a Corvette? Hell, they could've gotten a new Camaro like they used in Transformers, fix it up, paint it black, paint a huge "screamin' chicken" on the hood and call it a Trans Am. That would be infinitly cooler than that cliched piece of chick car shit they're passing off as KITT.

 

^^Ironic that you should put it in such childishly sexist terms. Because frankly, in the movie, Deanna Russo's character was far more credible and engaging as a series lead, and had a far better rapport with KITT, than the boring male lead. Personally I'd be more interested in this series if they dropped him and made her the lead.

 

I agree.

 

I didn't even see the telefilm because the fuckin' Ford turned me off completely. Moreover, my friend that did see it said it sucked balls. And please don't talk to me about sexism, feminists are the most sexist people on the planet. The Ford Mustang being a chick car with a shit engine doesn't have anything to do with sexism.

 

Clearly KITT was hitting on her the whole time...

 

So weird seeing these kinds of posts on the TrekBBS, used to seeing them elsewhere, but not here.