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Lights On?

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2002 3:26 pm
by Knight2000
A few queries:

1. In some episodes, especially the early ones, the lights around KITT's voice modulator are different. The ones I'm referring to are the four lights on either side of the voice modulator representing Air, Oil, P1, P2, S1, S2 etc.

Normally, the top four are red and the bottom four are yellow. This is the way its is most of the time. However in some episodes, the two at the top left are red and the top right are yellow, and vice-versa with the bottom four lights. Why did they do this? Experimentation? It can't really be a blooper because it comes up more times than a blooper should.

2. When the Knight 2000 is initiated:

a) How long does it take for the car to be ready? When they show the light-up sequence, it seems to take quite a while.

b) When the engine is turned off, do all the lights turn off? Do they turn off in some kind of sequence?

3. Initially, the dash seemed to be completely lit up with red and yellow LEDs. Why were there only a few number of green LEDs? They were definitely available at the time but they seemed to be underused in the dash.

4. In the first two seasons, KITT had push-buttons (presumably PTM rather than PTB switches). They had three LEDs. Why use three? Was there some kind of order in which the LEDs were lit? Were the colours indicative of something?

5. A different topic but to save space, I'll stick it here.

In the pilot, when Devon 'activates' KITT, or at least the safety system, he reaches down to a console. Just in front of that console are buttons in an array, labelled "Coding Table" (from memory, may be incorrect [both MY memory and the wording]). What was the function of the Coding Table?

I know they may be meaningless queries to you, but I lost an hour's worth of sleep last night over them, and I haven't watched KR in about 2 months. Thanx! [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Lights On?

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2002 4:04 pm
by K.I.T.T
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Knight2000:
<STRONG>

b) When the engine is turned off, do all the lights turn off? Do they turn off in some kind of sequence?

</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I may be able to help with this part of you ???

the episode Goods Knights Work, Michael is forced to shut down K.I.T.T and we see K.I.T.T de-activate all the buttons and hear the sounds as they are turned off....as for when Michael stops the car and jumps out...im sure it wasnt looked at before in an episode...i may be wrong...i would think the lights would just go off as the key was taken out.

K.I.T.T

Lights On?

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2002 5:07 pm
by Katt
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by K.I.T.T:
<STRONG>
the episode Goods Knights Work, Michael is forced to shut down K.I.T.T and we see K.I.T.T de-activate all the buttons and hear the sounds as they are turned off....as for when Michael stops the car and jumps out...im sure it wasnt looked at before in an episode...i may be wrong...i would think the lights would just go off as the key was taken out.

K.I.T.T</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ok, but look at the first part of Knight of the Phoenix when Michael and Devon are in KITT in the garage, the lights on top of the dash above the voice modulator, and the ones on either side of it, came on in sequence, and the engine was running, I think.

Lights On?

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2002 7:14 pm
by Rockatteer
Well those lights are obviously indicaters so they have one colour to show all is ok and another to show that there is a problem.

I think most the lights do turn off.
I recall seeing some scenes where the dash seems to have no life until Kitt is called upon to help Micheal and then it all comes to life as Kitt activates and races off.

BTW Kitt doesn't have a key. Just a button. theres actually a shot of it in the episode where Micheal is suspended from the Foundation and goes back to steal Kitt.

Lights On?

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2002 7:15 pm
by Rockatteer
Does anyone know what the P1, P2, S1, S2 means?

Lights On?

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2002 8:05 pm
by Katt
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rockatteer:
<STRONG>Does anyone know what the P1, P2, S1, S2 means?</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

part 1, part 2, system 1, system 2?

[img]images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

Lights On?

Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2002 8:57 pm
by knightimmortal
*cracks knuckles* Let me see if I can give this a whirl.

Real Explanation: There were more than a few recurring bloopers, I think even the dashes were made different in the different cars, and on occasion we would catch a different dash rather than the show dash.

Now...otherwise....

-They most likely had problems with some of the lights, and when they replaced them, it threw it out of sequence and out of color order.

-I believe from total shut down, it takes probably no more than a few minutes for the car to be ready, but there are few times he comes in from shut down. Otherwise, he is in standby mode. KITT shuts down a few systems to conserve power, and then when needed, gets those systems back up in seconds. Sort of like a sleep mode for our present day computers. It takes a long time, mostly it seems for dramatic effect, but who knows, even some of our computers when they come in from sleep mode take a long time to get fully on track. He does most likely put these lights on standby in sequence, and takes them off standby in sequence. One that is hard to determine on the show, but is probably in accordance to the necessity of the shut down (or standby) function.

- Green LED's don't show up as well for cinematic purposes as red and yellow one do. And green probably was too subtle a color for Michael to comprehend.

- The three lights were most likely for intensity or availability notification. (If that function had full power or not)

- The area you mention (coding table) (not sure if that is it, my memory can't get that deep right now) is most likely the area where they do code certain things into the car, where they add a quick function, or activate functions that do not have pre-made keys or key sequences.

And in reguards to another question: I think we answered P1, P2 as Power 1, Power 2, and S1, S2 as System 1 & 2. Most likely just indicators that the system is not malfunctioning or something. It was never explained, so just like Star Trek, they are mystery lights.

knightimmortal

Lights On?

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2002 7:04 am
by Army_F_Body
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote
BTW Kitt doesn't have a key. Just a button. theres actually a shot of it in the episode where Micheal is suspended from the Foundation and goes back to steal Kitt.
I remeber in Knight of the Phoeneix where KITT chides Michael for leaving KITT with the doors open and his "keys in the ignition" when he gets stolen. I always assumed the key was used to unlock the push button ignition, much like modern GM ignition keys that feature the micro chip lockout. Without the car reading that chip the car doesn't turn over. Maybe the writers thought it was redondant to have that feature for the ignition when KITT himeself could just authorize if the person pushing the button had access to him, without the need for a special ignition key.
Who knows.

[img]images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img]

Lights On?

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2002 11:02 am
by JL
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Knight2000:
<STRONG>Normally, the top four are red and the bottom four are yellow. This is the way its is most of the time. However in some episodes, the two at the top left are red and the top right are yellow, and vice-versa with the bottom four lights. Why did they do this? Experimentation? It can't really be a blooper because it comes up more times than a blooper should.</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

IIRC, the only time that ever happened with the colors getting mixed up was in the episode "Just My Bill," and they went back to normal the next week. No idea why, although that mix-up did make its way onto a Hallmark card with a diagram of KITT's dash on it...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote
<STRONG>3. Initially, the dash seemed to be completely lit up with red and yellow LEDs. Why were there only a few number of green LEDs? They were definitely available at the time but they seemed to be underused in the dash.</STRONG>
I'm not sure if it wasn't until the second season, but eventually you see more green LEDs work their way into the graph indicators. Note closeups on the dash when we first see Michael and KITT driving to Vegas in "Goliath."

Of course, after Bonnie revamped KITT's dash in "Knight of the Drones", there was a lot more green.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote
<STRONG>4. In the first two seasons, KITT had push-buttons (presumably PTM rather than PTB switches). They had three LEDs. Why use three? Was there some kind of order in which the LEDs were lit? Were the colours indicative of something?</STRONG>
I'm under the impression that they are some sort of status indicator lights, with the green light coming on when Michael presses the button. I'm not sure what the red means.

When they switched to the backlit buttons in Season 3, the thing that always bugged me was the row of buttons down the center, and then there was a pair of arrows at the top of the control pod. We never see Michael press the arrow before the button. Now if that arrow works as a function key, wouldn't it be possible for him to accidentally dump the oil slick when he meant to go into Ski Mode? (and I think that would have been a lot of fun to see... [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img])

[ November 27, 2002: Message edited by: JL ]

Lights On?

Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2002 2:29 pm
by SadArticle
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by knightimmortal:
<STRONG>

He does most likely put these lights on standby in sequence, and takes them off standby in sequence. One that is hard to determine on the show, but is probably in accordance to the necessity of the shut down (or standby) function.

knightimmortal</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I just remembered Kitt's shut-down from 'A Good Knight's Work', and how the shut-down was a slow, step-by-step process, whereas the power-up was instantaneous. Granted, Michael had his Emergency Activation Disco Stu Medallion in that scene. Maybe Kitt's reactivation should have followed a procedure, but the necessity of getting to Michael caused him to override the process (resulting in a Windows-like warning, perhaps, about not doing everything properly [img]images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img] )

Or perhaps he was dragging out his 'death' to make Michael feel guilty.

Sarah

[ November 27, 2002: Message edited by: SadArticle ]

Re: Lights On?

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2002 9:40 am
by JL
SadArticle wrote:I just remembered Kitt's shut-down from 'A Good Knight's Work', and how the shut-down was a slow, step-by-step process, whereas the power-up was instantaneous. Granted, Michael had his Emergency Activation Disco Stu Medallion in that scene. Maybe Kitt's reactivation should have followed a procedure, but the necessity of getting to Michael caused him to override the process (resulting in a Windows-like warning, perhaps, about not doing everything properly :wink: )
"Emergency Activation Disco Stu Medallion" ... LOL! :D

I went back and watched "A Good Knight's Work" this weekend... what really has me puzzled is why the tires deflating would be part of the shut-down procedure...? :?:
SadArticle wrote:Or perhaps he was dragging out his 'death' to make Michael feel guilty.
Probably more to make the scene really dramatic. Michael was probably feeling more than enough guilt over having to turn KITT over to Cameron Zachary.

Re: Lights On?

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2002 3:30 pm
by SadArticle
JL wrote:
I went back and watched "A Good Knight's Work" this weekend... what really has me puzzled is why the tires deflating would be part of the shut-down procedure...?
Really enthusiastic anti-theft device? :wink:

I don't know, but it did add to the drama. It was also consistent - in 'Slammin' Sammy's ...' from the first season, Kitt deflated his tyres as a warning to the guy who was trying to sabotage Michael's car.

But would it really be 'deflating'? I don't know where I got this from, and it's probably not canon, but I always thought that Kitt's tyres were filled with something other than air (and other than a type of gas). :?:

Sarah (Happy to be posting again)

Re: Lights On?

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2002 12:48 pm
by JL
SadArticle wrote: I don't know, but it did add to the drama. It was also consistent - in 'Slammin' Sammy's ...' from the first season, Kitt deflated his tyres as a warning to the guy who was trying to sabotage Michael's car.
But then in "Knights in the Fast Lane," when Michael loses KITT in the street race, KITT's tires don't deflate when Michael deactivates him. :?:
SadArticle wrote: But would it really be 'deflating'? I don't know where I got this from, and it's probably not canon, but I always thought that Kitt's tyres were filled with something other than air (and other than a type of gas). :?:
In one of the episode novelizations ("Trust Doesn't Rust," IIRC), they mention that KITT's tires are filled with some sort of high-tech foam. That obviously isn't the case, because one of KITT's tires gets blown out by a bullet in "Knight in Retreat," and I doubt a foam-filled tire would react the same way an air-filled tire would under those circumstances. (I'm not very good a physics, so if anyone knows otherwise, please correct me.)

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2002 5:16 pm
by March2875
Kitt wasn't completely deacitivated in Knight of the Fast Lanes just any system outside of pure car function (flattened tires would be outside of this) with the exception of his homing signal. If He was 100% deactivated then they would have been.

Unless it was edited footage which it could easily have been, Kitt's tires werent' blown out in Knight in Retreat. It was mentioned by Bonnie however that Tufflex coated bullets would be able to flatten his tires but again unless it was edited footage in syndication the blow out didn't actually occur.

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2002 7:13 pm
by knightimmortal
You might be thinking of Knight & Knerd, where the laser blows out KITT's tire, and that does act like an air filled tire.

Once again, the novelizations are not all that canon, and were in fact written AFTER the scripts were. They are generalizations taken through artistic license on Glen Larson's part. He may have created it, but the writers later on, took it from there, and took it in other directions.

knightimmortal

Re: Lights On?

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2002 9:53 pm
by jup
Army_F_Body wrote:<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote
BTW Kitt doesn't have a key. Just a button. theres actually a shot of it in the episode where Micheal is suspended from the Foundation and goes back to steal Kitt.
I remeber in Knight of the Phoeneix where KITT chides Michael for leaving KITT with the doors open and his "keys in the ignition" when he gets stolen. I always assumed the key was used to unlock the push button ignition, much like modern GM ignition keys that feature the micro chip lockout. Without the car reading that chip the car doesn't turn over. Maybe the writers thought it was redondant to have that feature for the ignition when KITT himeself could just authorize if the person pushing the button had access to him, without the need for a special ignition key.
Who knows.

[img]images/smiles/icon_razz.gif[/img]
It seems that Kitt's keys act like they would in almost any other vehicle...it turns the engine on and off. And by using the key, Michael can override Kitt's control over the engine's activation/deactivation. The power button, on the other hand, operates through the circuit that Kitt uses to start up/shut down the engine...when the key is not present.

I do find it funny that while Michael can take control over the engine with the key, what's to stop Kitt from keeping the brakes held as Michael tries to stomp on the gas?

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 2:31 pm
by SadArticle
What if the tyres were filled with nothing? (Spot the grammatical error)Obviously they would contain air, but not in the way that ordinary tyres need the air to keep them tyre-shaped. Sorry - developed a tyre fixation. Common-or-garden Goodyears just don't seem enough for Kitt :wink:

And when Bonnie was examining Kitt's blown-out tyre in 'Knight and Knerd', it looked sort of melted, rather than exploded.

There was a point to that last one, when I started typing

Sarah

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 2:34 pm
by knightimmortal
I think you are concentrating too hard on the internal part of the tire. There is nothing wrong with air. The magic of KITT's tires were on the exterior. The tuflex coating, the durability of the bands. Tires aren't just rubber circles that get filled with air. The design of the tire is a little more detailed than that, and it is those details that made KITT's tires special, not what filled them up.

knightimmortal

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 2:40 pm
by SadArticle
knightimmortal wrote:I think you are concentrating too hard on the internal part of the tire. There is nothing wrong with air. The magic of KITT's tires were on the exterior. The tuflex coating, the durability of the bands. Tires aren't just rubber circles that get filled with air. The design of the tire is a little more detailed than that, and it is those details that made KITT's tires special, not what filled them up.

knightimmortal
I was focusing on the innards because of the previous posts about Kitt deflating his tyres. Of course you're right about the outsides, but all of Kitt, bar his scanner and his exhaust, was 'protected', in the wonderful world that is Knight Rider. I was just thinking that maybe Kitt's tyres were another spectacular scientific invention outside - or maybe inside - of their coating.

Sarah

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 5:28 pm
by jup
It is mentioned in the novels that KITT's tyres are filled with a special type of foam instead of air.

Of course, foam filled tyres could have, at any time, been replaced with...well, anything. Note the spike equipped tire treads. ;)

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2002 8:21 pm
by knightimmortal
Yeah, it says that in one of the posts above, and below it is an explanation why that sort of doesn't apply.

knightimmortal

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2002 1:27 pm
by CK
Tehe, maybe Bonnie filled his tires with fix-a-flat before each mission :P :wink:

Cheri