I'd assumed we were talking about screen time, rather than in-story or between-story time.
I am rewatching Knight Rider
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
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I'd assumed we were talking about screen time, rather than in-story or between-story time.
I am a hardware guy and tend to focus on what things do and how they are operated.
One of the most amazingly bad control designs in the history of television existing on this show:
THe Turbo-Boost button, the one Michael would sometimes hit in a panic or to avoid certain doom, is right next to the 'Eject Left Seat' button- the one button on the dash you would never never want to hit by accident. I can just imagine a dramatic moment where KITT has to suddenly jump over a flaming obstacle and suddenly Michael Knight finds himself sailing through the air instead...
One of the most amazingly bad control designs in the history of television existing on this show:
THe Turbo-Boost button, the one Michael would sometimes hit in a panic or to avoid certain doom, is right next to the 'Eject Left Seat' button- the one button on the dash you would never never want to hit by accident. I can just imagine a dramatic moment where KITT has to suddenly jump over a flaming obstacle and suddenly Michael Knight finds himself sailing through the air instead...
"Michael, are you sure you wish to proceed? Say 'yes' or 'no'..."
"Michael- my circuits cannot understand those words you just said"- "Michael?- Michael, where are you?"
Telemicrowaveskenesis?The craziest KITT ability I remember is when they were chasing a guy and Michael says "Okay, KITT, lock his steering wheel", and KITT somehow did that. Okay, HOW??? Microwaves? Telekenesis??
One feature they added to KITT during his traditional season premiere rebuild was the ability to 'micro lock brakes and steering. The diagram on the dash showed little sound waves from front of the car shooting forward. They never said what micro-locking did but most of the time it was like a warp core ejection device- just about every time it was suggested in a pursuit KITT mentioned it would cause the car to wreck with casualties.
Knight Rider always made me laugh, even as a young kid before I got into Trek. I noticed that Bonnie/April would always update KITT with a new function that had to be used before the end of that episode. KITT would always get destroyed before the end of the season, in more and more elaborate ways which they'd get out of somehow (I still remember trying to figure out how the hell they'd fix him after he'd been in the acid bath). Also, there was always a button in the same position on the dashboard that changed every single episode depending on the plot.
However, my memories of the last season are sketchy. I remember 'super pursuit mode' which was unintentionally hilarious, and I remember a hip young African-American kid who had a Knight Bike (but can't remember if it had any special powers).
I could never understand why 'turbo boost' always resulted in him jumping over obstacles. Even as a kid, I knew that a turbo boost would just make you faster. Why did it allow KITT to jump?
Personally I quite liked the reboot in 2008. Especially in the second half of the series once they'd got rid of the political side of the show and made it more like the original "one man and his car" premise. I was sad to see it axed as I thought there was a lot of potential there. Definitely more so than Team Knight Rider had.
However, my memories of the last season are sketchy. I remember 'super pursuit mode' which was unintentionally hilarious, and I remember a hip young African-American kid who had a Knight Bike (but can't remember if it had any special powers).
I could never understand why 'turbo boost' always resulted in him jumping over obstacles. Even as a kid, I knew that a turbo boost would just make you faster. Why did it allow KITT to jump?
Personally I quite liked the reboot in 2008. Especially in the second half of the series once they'd got rid of the political side of the show and made it more like the original "one man and his car" premise. I was sad to see it axed as I thought there was a lot of potential there. Definitely more so than Team Knight Rider had.
Oh, God, "Voo Doo Knight." That was a "Turnabout Intruder" sort of finale: an hour of LOLWHUT full of sound and (not much) fury, signifying nothing. It's been ages since I subjected myself to it, but it was really weak tea: Patricia McPherson wasn't even in the episode, so Devon gets to do all the technobabbly stuff. The budget must have been almost gone at that point, because there's virtually no car stunts to speak of, not even with the models that they increasingly used starting in Season 2 so as to reduce the number of Trans Ams they were wrecking each week. And then there's Henry Gibson, slumming it.
Reginald Cornelius III, a.k.a. RC3, who was the semi's driver during the last season and occasionally backed up Michael. He had this crappy motorcycle he kept working on. There was nothing high-tech about it, and I remember they made a running gag out of him trying to get it to work and Devon rolling his eyes a lot.
RC was played by Peter Parros, best known for his roles in various soap operas, though he was also one of the Klingons on the ship where Riker is the Federation exchange officer.
Presumably the turbo boost rockets could be angled depending on what Michael was trying to make KITT do, or else there were different rockets — some rear-facing to add a short burst of speed, some angled up to make the car jump short distances.
I enjoyed it, especially after the midseason soft re-reboot. But I was never completely sold on it... Justin Bruening never really did it for me, Val Kilmer's delivery was a little too HAL-9000-ish and could have used a bit more attitude, and they never totally clicked the way Hasselhoff and William Daniels did.*
*Which is that much more amazing because Daniels recorded his dialogue during post-production; Hasselhoff was interacting with the script girl.
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So if it ever sounds like Michael is flirting with KITT, its just Hasselhoff and the script girl... .
I agree, that the last few episodes of Season 1, after the whole KARR Transformer debacle, were fantastic Knight Rider TOS stories. The show had finally found itself and was about to become amazing. Then they cancelled it.
Going away from the pilot nanotech and replacing it with morphing truck-car-SUV-transformer crap ruined it for me.
Introducing Hasselhoff in the Pilot and then never mentioning him again was also annoying.
Having a KARR with the same backstory/failings as the original, but who was blatantly the counerpart to the modern KITT (3 thousand) and didn't share the original KARR's history, but yet was still voiced by Cullen, was also annoying to me.
The show couldn't decide if it wanted to be a reboot or a sequel, when literally the entire fanbase wanted a sequel, and the Pilot movie's success was *because* of those connections and throwbacks, IMO.
Getting rid of the support team was the best move they made. I disliked the killing of the older scientist guy near the end of the series, since it seemed like with the retool, he should have been taking the Devon role.
I agree, that the last few episodes of Season 1, after the whole KARR Transformer debacle, were fantastic Knight Rider TOS stories. The show had finally found itself and was about to become amazing. Then they cancelled it.
Going away from the pilot nanotech and replacing it with morphing truck-car-SUV-transformer crap ruined it for me.
Introducing Hasselhoff in the Pilot and then never mentioning him again was also annoying.
Having a KARR with the same backstory/failings as the original, but who was blatantly the counerpart to the modern KITT (3 thousand) and didn't share the original KARR's history, but yet was still voiced by Cullen, was also annoying to me.
The show couldn't decide if it wanted to be a reboot or a sequel, when literally the entire fanbase wanted a sequel, and the Pilot movie's success was *because* of those connections and throwbacks, IMO.
Getting rid of the support team was the best move they made. I disliked the killing of the older scientist guy near the end of the series, since it seemed like with the retool, he should have been taking the Devon role.
It's a universal law of action movies and TV shows that going really fast lets a car jump over things as if it were launched off a ramp. Although it only works if the driver is a good guy or just really cool. Bad guys attempting the same maneuver rarely succeed.
Well, a lot of crooks don't have the best driving skills.
I remember one poor sod from the nightly news who ran from the police in a small, 70's model import. He tried to ram a steel arm gate to break it.
It rode up over the hood and all but shaved off the top of the cab. Not open casket.
The finale should have been an organization of everyone Michael ever faced working for his evil twin--who drove Karr out of Goliath--as a mirror to Mike's own outfit.
I remember one poor sod from the nightly news who ran from the police in a small, 70's model import. He tried to ram a steel arm gate to break it.
It rode up over the hood and all but shaved off the top of the cab. Not open casket.
The finale should have been an organization of everyone Michael ever faced working for his evil twin--who drove Karr out of Goliath--as a mirror to Mike's own outfit.
Except in Hazzard County, where it was the police that had the inferior driving skills. But then, the sheriff there was a crook (though the deputies were honest, and one of them even got his own short-lived spinoff, where I believe he was a much more capable driver).
Super Pursuit Mode. Cool to watch, but unbelievable as hell. K.I.T.T. isn't magical, he still has to obey the law of physics. There's a limit to how well his tires can grip the pavement, especially pvement of varying conditions, SPModing over friggin' watery roads, and of course gravity.
If the show had gone on another season, no doubt K.I.T.T. would have gotten pop-out wings and a propellor that came out of the hood. Super Aerial Mode.
But for however cheesy that was, in season three of "SeaQuest" (re-named from DSV to 2032), the SeQuest got it's version of Super Pursuit Mode. Yes, apparently the ability to go about 200 MPH under water wasn't enough. It would shoot out some kind of high-powered jet of air and launch it forward like a missile. I shit you not.
If the show had gone on another season, no doubt K.I.T.T. would have gotten pop-out wings and a propellor that came out of the hood. Super Aerial Mode.
But for however cheesy that was, in season three of "SeaQuest" (re-named from DSV to 2032), the SeQuest got it's version of Super Pursuit Mode. Yes, apparently the ability to go about 200 MPH under water wasn't enough. It would shoot out some kind of high-powered jet of air and launch it forward like a missile. I shit you not.
It makes as much sense as a Sonic Screwdriver being able to unlock doors, fix things, etc.
