Ranking the 2-hour movies

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Michael Pajaro
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Ranking the 2-hour movies

Post by Michael Pajaro » Wed Dec 26, 2007 2:44 pm

There have been eight 2-hour "Knight Rider events" of varying quality. Here is how I would rank them:

1. Knight of the Phoenix
2. Knight of the Juggernaut
3. Goliath Returns
4. Goliath
5. Knight of the Drones
6. Mouth of the Snake
7. Knight Rider 2000
8. Knight Rider 2010

I am a BIG fan of Juggernaut. I really liked the Jennifer Knight character and I wish they had kept her on as a recurring "villain". I thought it was very well written and the internal politics of FLAG added an extra layer to the show. But Phoenix is just so much fun and such a sentimental favorite I have to give it the top spot.

Although the Goliath-crash scene is probably one of the greatest moments of all 4 seasons, as an overall episode I think Goliath is pretty weak. Have you watched it recently? It is slow-moving and may not hold up as well as you remember. I know I pretty much stand alone with that opinion, but as an EPISODE I think Goliath is over-rated. At least Goliath Returns has turbo-boosts in it.

Drones is just kind of "there" for me. Nothing bad, nothing makes it exceptional.

I went back and forth with 6-7. Mouth of the Snake starts out strong and gets weaker as we realize it's just a pilot for a new series. Knight Rider 2000 starts out weak but gets stronger once we finally got to see the new car, but it's too little too late.

Knight Rider 2010 is just there for the sake of completion.

Anyone else want to share their list?
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Re: Ranking the 2-hour movies

Post by Joe Huth » Wed Dec 26, 2007 2:50 pm

Sure, I'm game...

1. Goliath Returns
2. Knight of the Juggernaut
3. Pilot
4. Goliath
5. Knight of the Drones
6. Mouth of the Snake
7. Knight Rider 2000
8. Knight Rider 2010

"Goliath Returns" is my absolute favorite episode of the series. It has everything - Devon and April in trouble, Michael battling Garthe, KITT battling Goliath, Adrienne Margeaux, turbo boosts...and in my opinion, one of the best musical scores of the series. Thanks, Mike, now I have to go watch it again...

I agree with you on "Goliath" - there's quite a few slow parts to it but I suppose they needed to do that to tell the story.

"Mouth of the Snake" had a pretty great musical score too and some good action scenes....to those who say this is the worst episode of the series, please watch "Knight of the Rising Sun" or "Voo Doo Knight".

2000 had a few good moments, and 2010....well, I don't need to say anymore about 2010...

Joe

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Re: Ranking the 2-hour movies

Post by ColeGrad01 » Wed Dec 26, 2007 3:20 pm

1. Knight of the Juggernaut
2. Knight of the Drones
3. Goliath Returns
4. Mouth of the Snake
5. Knight of the Phoenix
6. Goliath
7. Knight Rider 2000
-Never saw Knight Rider 2010

I feel like Knight of the Juggernaut is probably the best episode of the series next to Scent of Roses. It is the start of when the show is at its best. Michael Knight is in his best looking feature and K.I.T.T. looks fancier than he did in the other seasons. The best action erupts and the ending battle with the villains seems more elaborate than the previous three openers.

Knight of the Drones is when the show is starting to take off and not look too much like a cheesy 80's TV series (although most of the regular episodes that third season still do). I think it is pretty well done for all the episodes that follow it.

Goliath Returns and Mouth of the Snake would be the best episodes in the second season. They both are real elaborate and actually give good action.

Knight of the Phoenix is only as good as it is because it is the pilot to the series. It does seem real cheesy compared to the following three seasons, but the story is cool when you haven't seen it too many times. You basically are just getting to see the coming of Michael Knight and the creation of K.I.T.T. After that, it is just the two of them doing their first adventure together to resolve the problem that started in the episode.

Goliath itself isn't a bad episode, but it probably is the worst two-hour length feature. Things are starting to look fancier than they were in the first season, but the story isn't as good as the pilot. You are just finding out that Michael has an evil twin named Garthe who created a huge semi he calls Goliath which is powerful enough to take out K.I.T.T.- leading to his first major defeat. That basically is all this second season opener really does.

Knight Rider 2000 is only an aftermath story. I never could really get it to go along with the actual series. It basically just seems like a TV-produced movie reuniting David Hasselhoff and Edward Mulhare in their roles from the old show. As well as just bringing back William Daniels to donate his voice to the K.I.T.T. character. I can only see this being the same unvierse as the fourth season since the character from that one is the only one who looks anything like the Michael Knight in this story. He looks nothing like what he does in the first three seasons. And I can't imagine the character from the 80's adventures doing this adventure in a futuristic world made during the early 90's. I never saw the point of this story other than it being a failed attempt of a pilot trying to launch a new series that didn't happen. It basically just lets us know what happened after the series left us in a cliffhanger by giving out that Michael eventually retired and K.I.T.T. was finally dismantled.

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Re: Ranking the 2-hour movies

Post by sarfraz » Wed Dec 26, 2007 4:11 pm

1. Knight of the Phoenix - No contest, Still the best of the lot
2. Knight of the Juggernaut - Great story, elaborated on FLAG, final showdown had everything (SPM, turbo-boost, stopping a plane!).
3. Goliath - I'd admit the ep is alittle slow but real damage of KITT (skidding out the desert) and the onboard shots of the final action scene were brilliant.
4. Knight of the Drones - Good solid ep. Thought the final action scene (on the harbour) was abit lacking. Very well filmed ep.
5. Goliath Return - Its probably a better story than Goliath but too much use of models ruined the action for me.
6. Knight Rider 2000 - Started way too slowly but had a good underlying story.
7. Mouth of the Snake - I'd lost the will to watch this....boring!
8. Knight Rider 2010 - :x (that means I'm mad!)

In a nutshell, I prefer a decent amount of action in my KR eps. The stories generally are very solid between each ep for me but you can see that I prefer eps that develop our current crop of characters than say Mouth of the snake where we get a new random dude!

Sarfraz
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Re: Ranking the 2-hour movies

Post by cloudkitt » Wed Dec 26, 2007 6:47 pm

1. Knight of the Juggernaut - When I was little I LOVED the episode and I still do even though SPM is less cool to me now than it was then.
2. Knight of the Phoenix - Mostly because it's the first, I think the show hit its stride a little later. It is strange how much darker this episode is compared to the rest of the show.
3. Knight of the Drones - I thought this episode was fun. The Ski Mode to make the missiles cross was cool, and 20 years ahead of when Bond did it in Die Another Day.
4. Goliath Returns - Always fun when evil folks team up. Also, this episode has the single best performance of April, when she tells Garth off.
5. Goliath - Certainly a good episode, but it moves a little slow. It also loses points for extortionate use of the model car, in places where they clearly didn't need too.
6. Mouth of the Snake - Barely a Knight Rider episode. I'd exclude this along with # 8 if I could.
7. Knight Rider 2000 - Slow moving, barely any stunts, empty deaths (both Devon's and the Knight 2000's), and a lame story. The only thing good about it is KITT's bitterness. It's not only hilarious but appropriate, as if HE'S angry that the movie's so bad.
8. Knight Rider 2010 - I'd avoid putting this on the list altogether. It has absolutely nothing to do with Knight Rider. The car is no more a part of it than was Nash Bridge's Barracuda. In fact I'd place that higher because at least the 'cuda was cool. They used the name solely to sell the sorry excuse for a film. :P
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K.I.T.T.: "I'm in your parking space, Michael, where else would I be?"

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Re: Ranking the 2-hour movies

Post by JJSoCrazy » Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:24 pm

Knight of the Pheonix- Classic hands down the best!
Knight of the Juggernaut- Big turn around in the series with new features for KITT
Knight of the Drones
Goliath Returns
Goliath
Knight Rider 2000
Knight Rider 2010

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