Knight Rider Season 2 Marathon

[Judd]

Today I recieved the season 2 DVD set of Knight Rider. I haven't seen these episodes since they first aired. I will post a brief review of each episode as I watch them. My opinions will probably differ than yours. Feel free to disagree with me. Also last night I won the season 3 DVD set on Ebay for $5.50. So after I finish season 2 I will review season 3.

Knight Rider is a fun show. It isn't Hill Street Blues or St. Elsewhere and doesn't try to be. I enjoy and appreciate it for what it is, a family/kid friendly action series from the early 80's.

Goliath:

This is one of the more memorable episodes and for good reason. It's great. I remember sitting on the living room floor in front of the TV with my KITT Kit I ordered from NBC when this first aired. I don't know why the KITT Kit is on the season 4 set and not this one.

In this we see some investigating on the part of Micheal as he tries to find out what happned to the woman's brother. The use of the Las Vegas location was effective. The opening investigation tied in with the Goliath plot.

The characters are interesting. Elizabeth Knight and Garthe are not cliche villians. I am embarassed to admit at the time I didn't know Garthe was played by David. He did a good job portraying Garthe.

I thought the concept of Goliath was cool. Goliath is well designed and looks very formitable. The semi is a great nemesis for KITT. The lead up to the colision is very tense. I really got into the story as it unfolded.

The crash. Wow. I especially enjoy the scene afterward. You really care for KITT as a character as he's laying on his side busted up. It's a car, a prop. The whole scene works. KITT isn't working properly and is confused. The dash lights are flickering and the acting is really good.

It was a clever idea to use Goliath to steal those missles from the complex. The exterior of the building where Devin goes to see the general is the same as Rudy Well's labratory in Bionic Woman. I'm not sure how they saw all of those images on the TV of them breaking into and stealing the missles.

KITT uses his laser to defeat Goliath and the world is saved. It was a great episode and I really enjoyed watching it again.

I remember April and liked her. I like Bonnie too but I didn't think April was inferior to Bonnie.

[Judd]

Brother's Keeper:

Modern day critics tend to scoff at TV from decades past. The conventions of story telling were different. The pacing was slower, there was more exposition and the scenes were longer. Often the acting and story telling style was melodramatic. I don't mind the style of older television. It isn't bad because is was different.

I did like this episode. The stunt work was impressive especially when KITT broke them out of jail. The leap over the prision wall was well done. As with many KR episodes we get a straight forward storyline with a plot twist.

We have a man in prision who doesn't want to leave but the foundation want him parolled so they can locate a bomb. Micheal meets and helps a young model who's the daugher of the man in prision. Some of the scenes were melodramatic and wouldn't fly today but I enjoyed the story. It's wasn't full of cliche'd characters and situations. Some of the inferior KR episodes have a tendancy to go there.

Basically each new episode is a short story and in that time the producers have to give the audience an original plot and introduce us to the guest characters. I liked this story and loved the humor betwwen KITT and Mike when KITT discussed the classic gangsters and how he felt like one of them as they were on the run from the cops.

This episode had good stunt work, a logical storyline and some interesting guest characters. All in all it was an enjoyable episode.

[Judd]

So is Knight Rider just escapist entertainment or are there some themes in the series? We do have the theme of the foundation helping people who are in need and can't get assistance from the authorities. Their basic cause is helping others. It's a simple theme but it is the main reoccuring one found throughtout the series. I memtion this because I hope the new series does pick up on this theme and isn't just escapist entertainment with lots of car chases.

Merchants of Death:

I enjoyed this episode. I liked the humor with the bikers. "I promise to become a model citizen." Micheal gets hurt in this showing he isn't perfect and is human. We also saw another side of Devon. The action scenes were fun. KITT used his functions in a logical. They were just tacked on in order to look cool. I noticed the joystick on the helicopter was the same as the ones used in the vipers on Battestar Galactica.

It was a good episode. It had action, some humor and the drama wasn't forced.

[Judd]

Blind Spot:

I thought this was a very good episode. It had a good story. I really got caught up in it. Just who was the man contacted FLAG and why? It was well plotted in how the various elements tied together. Jenny was a well developed character and her blindness wasn't just a gimick used to make us feel sorry for her. KITT had some great lines in this. But hey Mike how about holding open the door for the woman with the stroller?

The action scenes were good especially seeing KITT stuck in the car compactor. The few jumps were well staged.

All in all this contained all of the elements which make up a good episode of Knight Rider, action, humor, drama and interesting guest characters.

[Judd]

Return to Croiz:

I do remember this epsiode. I'm kind of in the middle on it. I do like Anne Lockheart. She was great on Battlestar Galactica. It's kind of odd to see her show up in this season when she played a different character in season one. She was good in this though.

The episode didn't have as much action as some of the others. There was a bit of running around in circles. KITT did have some good lines.

As for KITT hydroplaning on water. Part of me think it's really silly. It really doesn't make a lick of sense how this would work. Part of me thinks it's all good fun.

Anne was good in it as well as the regulars. The story was okay but nothing special. The water sking gimick it's silly but kind of fun. Overall it was an okay episode. There have been better and worse episodes.

[Judd]

KITT the Cat:

I remember this episode. I thought it was very good. It was fun to see Geena Davis in it as Grace. It had a good caper/mystery story. We arent quite sure who the cat burglar is. It is Grace the daughter of the original, the butler or maybe the original burglar is still alive. The audience is set up with a number of possibilities. The obesssive cop is also a factor. There's also seems to be a motivation for these thefts.

The plot did tie in together in the end. The number of threads and clues all fit. This story was a bit more complex than other episodes but it wasn't convoluded.

KITT's building to building jump was good. Yes they used models but it still looked pretty good and was a unique stunt.

I really enjoyed seeing this episode again.

[Judd]

Custom KITT:

This was really fun It was a light hearted episode and not meant to be taken seriously but it worked. The scene with the two thieves (Robert Pastorelli) were very amusing. I liked KITT's response when April and Micheal were going to customize him. Oh those cars in the car show. They were wild and fun to see. Devon was funny in it too.

It was fun but not silly or stupid. For a comedy episode it was really good.

[Judd]

Soul Survivor:

I remember this episode very well. It was very good. It was a clever idea to seperate KITT from the Knight 2000 car. One thing it did was make KITT a more well rounded character which makes the audience care about him. As I watch this season, KITT does have more of a personality than he did in season 1.

Audrian's a great villian. She nothing but nasty. She uses men to get what she wants. She's quite good at it too. She seduced the poor. I wonder if a storyline like that would be tried today? It has a creppyness to it which would probably be more disturbing to today's audience than it was back then.

I'm not quite sure how that kid controlled KITT with an Atari joystick but I could accept it. Kitt reaction to being placed inside the TV box was funny and so was the scene when Micheal bought and drove that junker.

It was one of the better episodes and a very memorbale one for me. I enjoyed watching it again.

[Romulus9]

Blind Spot:

I thought this was a very good episode. It had a good story. I really got caught up in it. Just who was the man contacted FLAG and why? It was well plotted in how the various elements tied together. Jenny was a well developed character and her blindness wasn't just a gimick used to make us feel sorry for her. KITT had some great lines in this. But hey Mike how about holding open the door for the woman with the stroller?

The action scenes were good especially seeing KITT stuck in the car compactor. The few jumps were well staged.

All in all this contained all of the elements which make up a good episode of Knight Rider, action, humor, drama and interesting guest characters.

FYI, the character Elyssa Davalos played was named Julie, not Jenny.

[Judd]

Ring of Fire:

I found this to be a very solid episode. The setting is one the the elements which made it unique. They presented a cultural and enviromental conflict. The storyline of the Cajun woman being chased by her psychopathic husband was better than average. One felt sympathy for the characters.

I believe it's best when the heroes find themselves in a jam and have to use their wits to get out of the situation. KITT is stuck in the swamp. The natural elements are causing havok with his computer systems. His scanner isn't functioning properly. Micheal has been attack by dos. The two are lost and are unsure where to go and what to do.

It's interesting to see KITT damaged not by some super weapon but by natural elements. It's boring if our hereos can escape by pushing a button every episode. It makes the characters more dynamic when they are put in real danger and have to think their way out of it.

I was amused with the jokes involving the dogs who were attracted to KITT.

Overall I thought this was a good episode. Our heroes were put in real danger in an unfamiliar enviroment, I had sympathy for the guest character and the humor worked.

[Judd]

Knightmares:

This was another good episode. So far this season has a good run of solid episodes. David did a good acting job playing Mike's confusion about who he was. KITT was fun in this as he tried to explain what he was. We got to see April driving KITT.

The construction jump was well executed. The mystery kind of took a back seat to the memory loss plot. This story was more serious and dramatic than some of the others. It was a good episode overall.

[Judd]

Silent Knight:

Well I guess they can't all be good. I didn't care for this episode. It was too routine. The characters were cliche's. Parts of it were really boring. It had no energy or zip. Do we really need to see several scenes of KITT driving down the road?

The teenager was little more than a smart alek kid with an attitude. The character was one dimensional. The plot had little suspense in it. It also didn't help that the entire episode was ruined by the preview. The villians were also cliche and more dumb than threatening.

The only fun part was when the shack was destroyed with Micheal in it.

I just didn't care for this one. I thought it was strickly by the numbers.

[Judd]

A Knight In Shining Armor:

I enjoyed this episode far more than the last one. It was fun. I liked seeing Daphne Ashbrook, she played Grace in the Doctor Who TVM. I thought she was good in this. The scene when Micheal "kidnapped" her was funny. The preppies chasing KITT was funny too. I laughed when KITT refered to her as a brat.

The story was good too. The treasure mystery was well thought out. The model of the crystal cave was a good design although it did have a miniature look. KITT mashing into the cave was effective.

I liked this episode. The guest cast was good in it. The production values were solid and so was the script.

[Judd]

Diamonds Aren't a Girl's Best Friend:

It wasn't exactly Dianonds Are Forever.

I thought this would be a fun episode. It started out okay then it became pretty dull. There was humor in it like when Micheal used his Garthe voice to answer the phone or when KITT spoke Spanish. It wasn't a total wash. Overall I found it to be strickly a routine run around. Usually Knighr Rider is better than this. It came across as something written overnight.

I just didn't think it was that good of an episode.

[Judd]

White Line Warriors:

I liked this episode much better than the last one. I wouldn't classify it as a classic but it was fun. I did like the story of the street racers. They had some pretty wild cars. The woman's connection to Deon made her more relatable.

The humor worked like the car auto alarm salesman trying to break into KITT and KITT's distain of rock and roll music.

The mystery wasn't bad. It worked. A number of suspects were presented and the revelation of who the real thief was didn't come out of the blue.

I thought this was a decent episode and much better than the last one.

[Judd]

Race For Life:

I thought this was a great episode and one of the best in the series. It was well written, acted and directed. KITT battleing the weather was interesting. I liked the scene where KITT pretended to be a police squad. The standoff between the gang and Micheal was tense.

One can care about Becky because she was April's niece. If we care about the main characters and one of the guest characters is connected to them it makes us care about them also.

It was one of the better episodes.

[Judd]

Speed Demons:

I found this to be a good episode. It wasn't great but there was much to like about it. First, my father Frank raced motorcycles professionally in the late 60's, early 70's. My mother raced once, she didn't do well but her picture was in the paper. My parents met at a motorcycle race. I'm familiar with the motorcycle racing culture. Thus I enjoyed seeing a Knight Rider episode on the subject.

The story was good. The bike racing scenes were well done. I really liked seeing the guys bring in their bikes on trailers. That's how it was done before the big money got into the sport. All of that I thought was fun. The scene with KITT racing along with the bikes were fun.

There were flaws. The guest actors weren't that great. Some of the performances felt forced. The comedy often fell flat. I laughed when the woman reporter got splashed but much of the humor didn't work. Some of the model work was obvious. The jump over the pond was from a previous episode. The jump over the truck was pointless.

I liked the episode but it could have been better. It wasn't a poor episode but I've seen better ones.

[Judd]

Goliath Returns:

For the purpose of this review I will spell the character as Garthe.

I remember this episode fondly. It was one of those event episodes. I haven't seen this is years but remember much about it. It's quite a memorable piece of television.

I think David was great as Garthe. He created a very memorable character. Not only do we have Garthe back but also Andrian. They make quite a couple. He's a madman who hates women. She loves to manipulate men to do her bidding.

There was a lot going on in this story. Garthe breaks out of prision. A scientist is kidnapped. The foundation is trashed and Devon and April are kidnapped and held prisioner.

The action scenes were good like when KITT was forced off the cliff. I remember the parachute. That was a good effect.

Rebecca was great in this. It was refreshing to see her given more to do than to briefly work on KITT or dress up for a party. It's too bad she wasn't given more to do in the series.

The finale was exciting for 80's TV. Some of the model work was obvious but it effective. The shot of Goliath going over the cliff was good.

This was an episode I remembered watching when it was first on. It was well done and I enjoyed watching it again.

[Romulus9]

A Knight In Shining Armor:

I enjoyed this episode far more than the last one. It was fun. I liked seeing Daphne Ashbrook, she played Grace in the Doctor Who TVM. I thought she was good in this. The scene when Micheal "kidnapped" her was funny. The preppies chasing KITT was funny too. I laughed when KITT refered to her as a brat.

The story was good too. The treasure mystery was well thought out. The model of the crystal cave was a good design although it did have a miniature look. KITT mashing into the cave was effective.

I liked this episode. The guest cast was good in it. The production values were solid and so was the script.

A side note about this episode. Take a closer look at the smaller bit parts and you'll notice a VERY familiar face:

Tom Wilson, current stand-up comedian (and a good one!), better known as Biff from Back to the Future. It was his first real acting job.

[Judd]

A Good Knight's Work:

I thought this was very good. It was a sequel of sorts to Knight of the Phoenix. David's nervous reaction to having a gun pointed at his face and the flashback to him being shot was great acting on his part. The storyline was more complex than other episodes even ones I enjoy. Usually the plots in Knight Rider are very straight forward but this was a bit more complex.

I liked the light hearted scenes with the car salesman.

The characters were better written and protrayed than in other episodes. Zackery was a good villian. Gina was more than the damsel of the week and she wasn't a generic villian.

The effects were really good especially the jump into the apartment.

This was quite good. The story was more complex than usual. The heroes were in real danger. The effects were well done. This was a very enjoyable episode.

[Judd]

Mouth of the Snake:

As Krusty the Clown once said, "What the hell was that?" What it was was a really bad backdoor pilot. I can excuse a bad episode now and then. It's hard to write a narrative fictional story. It was just painful to watch. If it had been an episode long it wouldn't have been as bad. As a two hour special it was terrible. It was agony booth bad. Where are Mike and the bots? It's one of the worst pieces of television I've seen. I've seen bad TV but usually they at least try to be interesting. Even the music was horrible and annoying. I almost didn't watch the whole thing.

The David and Joanna characters were totally boring. I was rooting for the villian. It was heavily and I mean heavily padded. The villian can cut a cake with a kantana. BIG........deal. And what exactly was the point of it? I didn't see any point to the story at all.

I'll never watch that junk again.

[Judd]

Let it be Me:

Yeah humm. It was better than the last episode. It was fun to see Stevie again. The jump over the yellow car was impressive. The final scene was good. The rest of the episode though....blah.

There wasn't much action in it. There were a number of musical interludes and they were just blah. I'm not bashing David's singing it's just the music in this I felt was weak.

I didn't quite get why they were using binary coded messages in the videos for drug pick ups. Why go to all that trouble? I didn't get why Micheal told Stevie he wasn't going to let her out of his sight then drop her off at the concert hall while he went into the semi. Why can't Stevie go in the semi too?

Parts of this were pretty boring. The music wasn't that good and there were some plot holes. It did have its moments though.

[Judd]

Big Iron:

I enjoyed watching this more than the last two episodes. I remembered it. I thought the script was better than other episodes. The storyline was more mature. The guest actors gave good performances. The pacing was good and wasn't boring.

My favorite part was the scene when Micheal and KITT were buried. I thought it was effective. They got out of it a bit too quickly but it was well done. The way it was shot and lit and David's performance made the scene work.

Overall this was a good, solid episode.

So that's season two. I enjoyed seeing these episodes again. Many of them I've forgotten but the more memorable episodes wre fun to see. Knight Rider was a good series. It did many things right. We may find fault with the TV physics or melodrama of TV at that time but much of it holds up pretty well.

Season two was a good season.

[Romulus9]

Mouth of the Snake > Let It Be Me

Just my opinion.

So much of LIBM is just awful. The acting across the board was bad, it was like Hoff reverted to soap opera mode for one episode. Plus the plot.... oh, the plot.

I know I'm in the minority but I really liked Mouth of the Snake. That, however, has nothing to do with how much I don't like Let it be Me. It's one of the bottom two or three episodes of the show for me. White Bird and The Scent of Roses are wonderful, though.