The General Knight Rider thread.

[tharpdevenport]

"Team Knight Rider"

A bunch of average vehicles (except one that stuck out like a dated sore thumb), boring cliched characters, wise cracking cars, cheap garbage that tried to save itself at the end by showing the back of Michael Knight, indicating he had faked his death. Didn't even use the theme music (though it had it's own good theme, just not iconic).

 

[Skipper]

I remember what one of the writers of Star Blazers 2199 (one of the best remakes/reboots ever) said: "We don't want to recreate Yamato, we want to recreate how viewers felt when watching Yamato."

The original KR's appeal was basically "What a cool car! What cool stunts!"

Are viewers now, unfortunately, more... sophisticated? You can't enchant them with just a cool car anymore. You can't recreate those emotions anymore.

They should do something truly exceptional (like Kobra Kai).

 

[Owain Taggart]

Networks have nothing to do with syndication -- they're two mutually exclusive avenues of distribution. Studios make shows, and either they sell them to a network to air nationwide, or they bypass networks and syndicate them to individual local stations.

Ahh, my bad. My memories are a little fuzzy on that, given that a lot of what came to Canada was either via Syndication rather than through the actual networks themselves, and also through simultaneous substitution, a process that would replace the foreign signal with a local one, so that even if you were to tune to say, ABC, you would get the programming via the local broadcast instead. A side effect of that is that sometimes, due to the way rights were obtained in Canada, they won't air the same thing the U.S Network does, so you could tune in and find something different. In certain cases, we would also get black screens. That's the messy nature of the Canadian broadcasting industry.

I quite liked Bandit, but I didn't realize it was a straight up reboot. I don't know if the more modern setting quite worked with me.

 

[Christopher]

I remember what one of the writers of Star Blazers 2199 (one of the best remakes/reboots ever) said: "We don't want to recreate Yamato, we want to recreate how viewers felt when watching Yamato."

Season 1 was one of the best remakes ever, I agree, but I found the later seasons underwhelming in comparison. But yeah, it did feel like the ideal version of Star Blazers/Yamato I imagined in my head.

The original KR's appeal was basically "What a cool car! What cool stunts!"

Are viewers now, unfortunately, more... sophisticated? You can't enchant them with just a cool car anymore. You can't recreate those emotions anymore.

They should do something truly exceptional (like Kobra Kai).

Depends on the viewers, maybe. KR was a 9PM show, at least to start with, but I'd say it was meant for "family" viewing, probably aimed largely at teen viewers or younger. It wasn't meant for sophisticated audiences even by the standards of its day. I mean, even as a teenager myself, I thought it was pretty dumb most of the time.

Besides, aren't things like The Fast and the Furious basically just lowbrow stuff about cool cars and big stunts? How is that any different from KR?

In any case, focusing on the car or the stunts is missing the point. Getting the audience engaged is about getting them invested in the characters and their relationships. The key is the relationship between KITT and the driver (whether Michael Knight or a new character). You want to make them a team with a strong bond between them. If the audience feels their caring for each other, then the audience will care about them.

 

[UssGlenn]

Had hope for the 2008 reboot, but they did what most were doing ) and still do) is make it a "Team" series. like 5-6 people. when the original KR was mainly Michael and Kitt, that and to much CGI.

We'l see what happens.

The original was a small team as well. Michael, Kitt, Devon, and Bonnie the mechanic. The difference is that Kitt and Michael were an their own during the missions with limited check ins but now communication is so easy it unreasonable to not have constant communication with HQ.

The new Macgyver had the same problem, even making it worse by giving Mac a personal bodyguard.

 

[Christopher]

The new Macgyver had the same problem, even making it worse by giving Mac a personal bodyguard.

Giving MacGyver a team defeated the whole purpose, that he was a guy on his own who had to improvise solutions from available resources. I also hated it that his sidekick was a sniper and the team used lethal force, something the original MacGyver would not have tolerated, since he despised guns. It was just a generic task-force show with the MacGyver name tacked on.

 

[MarcKyle1964]

They tried to change the formula towards the end but, "too little, too late.".

And it's impossible to do those kinds of stunts on a television budget anymore. Even the Fast and Furious movie franchise uses CGI. I remember a behind-the-scenes look at KR2008 when they had to make the vehicle take a tiny leap. They were terrified. And they had to repair all the damage right afterward.

You can see the "jump" a 00:04 second.

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This is probably the biggest not-cgi stunt they did in KR2008.

NBC Universal has blocked viewing in the USA because of copyrights.

 

[BillJ]

Are viewers now, unfortunately, more... sophisticated? You can't enchant them with just a cool car anymore. You can't recreate those emotions anymore.

I think there’s still room for that kind of entertainment if done well.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The original was a small team as well. Michael, Kitt, Devon, and Bonnie the mechanic. The difference is that Kitt and Michael were an their own during the missions with limited check ins but now communication is so easy it unreasonable to not have constant communication with HQ.

This is why the 2008 Knight Rider Re-Boot wasn't nearly as bad.

They had their team, but most of them were back at their Bunker while Michael & Kitt were mostly out in the field.

Even with modern Cellular Communications, it wasn't much of an issue.

 

[JD]

So, folks, what would you do to make KR interesting for the new generations?

I think the biggest challenge would be finding a way to make KITT futuristic and impressive to a modern audience. I'd keep the action to KITT and his driver, but I'd give a bigger role to his support team. I'd also have them deal with bigger more complex threats than just random bad guys of the week. And I would prefer to see it as a revival that involved David Hasselhoff William Daniels, and Patricia McPherson in some form. Maybe Michael is now the head of FLAG, the original KITT is their headquarters computer, and Bonnie is their head tech person.

 

[Saul]

So, folks, what would you do to make KR interesting for the new generations?

Not sure how you would do it. We are in an era where driverless cars are starting to become a thing and simulated A.I. is an everyday usage for people. I think the appeal should be on the characters. K.I.T.T. and Michael Knight. One man can make a difference. The car is still cool. The original show still holds a lot of nostalgia. I would do something connected to it. Even a 'Logan' type of film where Michael and KITT are still doing their thing.

 

[Skipper]

Not sure how you would do it. We are in an era where driverless cars are starting to become a thing and simulated A.I. is an everyday usage for people. I think the appeal should be on the characters. K.I.T.T. and Michael Knight. One man can make a difference. The car is still cool. The original show still holds a lot of nostalgia. I would do something connected to it. Even a 'Logan' type of film where Michael and KITT are still doing their thing.

I was thinking, maybe the fascination with "supercars" is over? Everyone buys an SUV these days. And a powerful internal combustion engine is considered bad taste.

This is why the 2008 Knight Rider Re-Boot wasn't nearly as bad.

No it wasn't. But I remember I thought it was incredibly generic. Lots of characters, none of them really interesting. Even poor KITT was pretty underwhelming.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

No it wasn't. But I remember I thought it was incredibly generic. Lots of characters, none of them really interesting. Even poor KITT was pretty underwhelming.

I wish they didn't Re-Boot the show after S1 and tried to copy the original Knight Rider formula.

The CIA intrigue angle could've led to something unique.

 

[JoeZhang]

The original Knight Rider lacks a certain eroticism so I would give it a sexual punch-up.

 

[Skipper]

The original Knight Rider lacks a certain eroticism so I would give it a sexual punch-up.

People making out on KITT's hood?

 

[Christopher]

I was thinking, maybe the fascination with "supercars" is over? Everyone buys an SUV these days.

It's not like everyone bought expensive sportscars back then. The whole reason "supercars" appealed was that most people could only dream of them. People today may buy SUVs, but that doesn't mean they don't wish for something else.

And a powerful internal combustion engine is considered bad taste.

I think it's a given that a modern KITT would be an electric vehicle, probably on some futuristic power source that could last for months or years without recharge, which would certainly appeal to the wish-fulfillment of modern drivers. (Heck, the 1966 Batmobile had atomic batteries.)