I am rewatching Knight Rider

[Gingerbread Demon]

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.

Oh thank you for reminding me NOT....... I watched that whole series and the first season of Seaquest was passable but that 3rd season was full of filler episodes.

I just found a nice connection to Knight Rider. In the movie "Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone" he drives the same car that was used in Knight Of The Juggernaut.

That was the season 4 opener for Knight Rider and it was kind of a stinker. The vehicle had a battering ram on the front used to do robberies and also to destroy KITT. It did that with some funky spray that was put on the battering ram to disable his special molecular bonded shell. Ugh that I even remember all that........

I couldn't decide if I liked Bonnie or April ..... I liked both.

Also the 2008 series was actually not that bad and it should have been given a chance. I really liked it towards the end and that bank robbery episode was a great episode.

 

[Skipper]

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.

Perhaps I'm misremembering, but the S.P.M didn't use rockets?
These little red circles.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Perhaps I'm misremembering, but the S.P.M didn't use rockets?
These little red circles.

No they were more like little red tail lights. Those huge bits of white looked like foam. Hell they probably were foam.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, I didn't care for Super Pursuit Mode. It was just a bunch of overly busy frippery that made KITT look a lot worse. I've never been much of a car guy, but I thought KITT was a really good-looking car, all sleek and black and streamlined. Super Pursuit Mode ruined that.

 

[Skipper]

No they were more like little red tail lights. Those huge bits of white looked like foam. Hell they probably were foam.

According to Wikipedia (yes, I know...)

Super pursuit - KITT's Super-Pursuit mode was added at the start of the fourth season. It was the result of a redesign of the car to integrate new concepts consisting of improved rocket boosters for enhanced acceleration, retractable spoilers for aerodynamic stability, and movable air inlets for increased cooling. Super-Pursuit Mode provided a 40% boost in speed beyond the car's original top speed of 300 MPH. First used in Episode 70, "Knight of the Juggernaut, Part II".

So, in-universe, it used rockets....

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

^ Ah....... OK wiki to the rescue..... So in universe those were rockets. Hmmm still makes no sense, rockets would make the car a little hard for a human to control.

There was also a gimmick with a parachute that comes out of the car when it jumped off cliffs, but that was a one episode thing.

Wikipedia is a great place to find stuff. I'm not so turned off by it.

 

[Christopher]

^ Ah....... OK wiki to the rescue..... So in universe those were rockets. Hmmm still makes no sense, rockets would make the car a little hard for a human to control.

And turbo boost wouldn't let a car jump over things. It was a live-action cartoon. We're not talking Hill Street Blues here.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I just found a nice connection to Knight Rider. In the movie "Spacehunter: Adventures In The Forbidden Zone" he drives the same car that was used in Knight Of The Juggernaut.

I've never seen Spacehunter, but yeah, that's definitely the same vehicle. The huge metal grille does a very nice job of covering the very Jeep-like front end of the original truck.

That was the season 4 opener for Knight Rider and it was kind of a stinker. The vehicle had a battering ram on the front used to do robberies and also to destroy KITT. It did that with some funky spray that was put on the battering ram to disable his special molecular bonded shell. Ugh that I even remember all that........

Actually, the destabilizing agent was sprayed on KITT by a street cleaning truck right before their confrontation with the Juggernaut. Without the MBS KITT was just a normal car.

And yes, I know it's a "live-action cartoon," but you'd think there'd have to be some special materials used in KITT's frame and body... they can't just expect their magic spray to hold the car together through all the stuff they do to it. Following the plot of the episode, Bonnie develops Super Pursuit Mode because they don't have more MBS to spray on KITT after they've repaired him. And if the MBS is what holds KITT together during these stunts, how is he able to turbo boost over a gas tanker truck and a building when luring the Juggernaut to its doom at the climax of the episode, without breaking into a million pieces either while "in flight" or upon their usual bone-jarring landing?

Fuck it, I love this show anyway.

 

[Skipper]

And yes, I know it's a "live-action cartoon," but you'd think there'd have to be some special materials used in KITT's frame and body... they can't just expect their magic spray to hold the car together through all the stuff they do to it.

Actually I believe that in a couple of episodes they explicitly said that an explosion powerful enough would have destroyed the interior of the car leaving the exterior intact.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Actually I believe that in a couple of episodes they explicitly said that an explosion powerful enough would have destroyed the interior of the car leaving the exterior intact.

EEK!!!!! OH & S

 

[Skipper]

EEK!!!!! OH & S

Fortunately KITT used the Passive Laser Restraint System ™®!

Harmless laser beams that helped protect Michael and any passengers from the shock of sudden impacts and hard stopping, especially after Super-Pursuit Mode.

 

[shivkala]

Super Pursuit Mode, I could excuse, as a kid who loved Transformers. But, for me, the emergency braking system was horrid.

[/URL]

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Super Pursuit Mode, I could excuse, as a kid who loved Transformers. But, for me, the emergency braking system was horrid.

[/URL]

Oh for sure. Those air brakes wouldn't have worked that well ..There's other magical things that happen. For instance what happens to the cars trunk when it transforms, does it just vanish to accommodate those rockets?

It's like the show Viper where the car changes from a red RT10 Viper to a coupe and suddenly there's a compartment for a drone that wasn't there before, so did that just "poof" into existence hehe. I know suspension of disbelief and all..

 

[shivkala]

Oh, Viper, I did enjoy it. But even if you could buy the idea that the car could "morph" shapes, you are right, it wouldn't have the ability to have a drone!

 

[cardinal biggles]

I can buy Super Pursuit Mode. I can buy convertible mode. I can't buy them together in the same car.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Well it's no worse then shows like Streethawk.....

 

[Skipper]

Well it's no worse then shows like Streethawk.....

I liked Street Hawk...

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[Christopher]

Wasn't Street Hawk the one that was a blatant knockoff of Knight Rider, but with a motorcycle?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Wasn't Street Hawk the one that was a blatant knockoff of Knight Rider, but with a motorcycle?

Well they were both very similar shows...... I don't think either ripped the other off. I'd say I enjoyed that one about the same as Knight Rider, though the 2008 series is my favourite incarnation of the show.

 

[Christopher]

Well they were both very similar shows...... I don't think either ripped the other off.

I said "knockoff," not "ripoff." The latter is an accusation of theft; the former merely denotes imitation. And trust me, every post-1982 TV series about a crimefighting hero with a super-advanced vehicle was an attempt to copy Knight Rider's success, because that is how Hollywood has always worked. One success invariably spawns a spate of imitators.