Knight Rider: The Complete Collection DVD Review

[pavanbadal]

Hi all,

Thought you'd like to see my take on the set coming out this Tuesday:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/blog/2008/ ... plete.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[weeezl]

Any news on a region 2 release of this box set?

[Sue]

I'm not sure.. but you guys over there had a complete box set way before we did... not quite the same though.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Knight-Rider-Co ... B000J10L9U

[citizen_x]

My copy was sent by Amazon on the 16th, Can't wait !!!

[Andela]

Is this set containing the fixed DVD's from season 3, or is it the DVD's with the missing soundeffects?

[tp_kit20]

Is this set containing the fixed DVD's from season 3, or is it the DVD's with the missing soundeffects?

Hi guys,

I received my complete collection today and apparently it includes the fixed DVDs. I only remember that my original Season 3 was missing the micro jam-sound effect near the end of "Knights of the Fast Lane" as well as in "Knightlines". These are thankfully both now present. Also, if I've understood correctly, the original teaser for Junk Yard Dog didn't have music (don't remember that one - although I was glad they were included, I always skipped the teasers)? This one does. Also, the phone is ringing in "The Ice Bandits" etc.

As has already been mentioned, the discs are nice (black and silver - in other words, black printing with the original silver color of the disc) and the packaging is nice and sturdy. In my opinion it would've been nice if they could've gotten William Daniels to record some message when you push the button rather than just play the first few seconds of the theme tune, but it's still very nice.

Interestingly, the cover art for the season 3 discs seems to have been taken from the corrected set and lists French subtitles in the back but those aren't found on the discs. Only English and Spanish are available, whether you go through the menu or cycle through them manually. So if you need French subtitles, this is still not perfect...

Hope this helps.

[Alex]

I have complete DVD's "Knight Rider" 1,2,3 and 4, and they don't have Making of, gallery,featurette, trailer...because I only have the episodes and I liked a lot of seeing!

But now this new DVD "Knight Rider - The Complete Collection" is very good!

Alex.

[kitt1987]

I've been considering this set but only if they've corrected the audio problem prevelent in seasons 3 and 4....that and put the corrected intro on the season 3 premiere movie and included the stereo soundtrack for season 4.

Can anyone confirm this? I've yet to find much info online about this.

[tp_kit20]

I've been considering this set but only if they've corrected the audio problem prevelent in seasons 3 and 4....that and put the corrected intro on the season 3 premiere movie and included the stereo soundtrack for season 4.

Can anyone confirm this? I've yet to find much info online about this.

If you let me know some specific scenes that I can check on seasons 3 and 4 (and explain what's the difference between the "original" and "corrected" intro on season 3 premiere - was there an intro that already showed KITTs new abilities in the original set or something?), I'll happily do that for you.

[Lost Knight]

If you let me know some specific scenes that I can check on seasons 3 and 4 (and explain what's the difference between the "original" and "corrected" intro on season 3 premiere - was there an intro that already showed KITTs new abilities in the original set or something?), I'll happily do that for you.

The problem (if I remember correctly) is that the Seasons 3-4 dashboard is shown when originally it was still concealed in the intro until subsequent episodes. However, I'm not necessarily sure that's a mistake by Universal or if it was just a one-time modification by NBC used only on the original airdate. I wouldn't consider the syndicated episodes proof of anything because other networks frequently mess around with the opening title sequences for many shows.

As for the Season 4 premiere, I don't recall there being any problem with its intro. Super Pursuit Mode is not shown in the "Knight Of the Juggernaut" premiere intro, if I remember correctly. In fact, I think "Knight Of the Juggernaut's" opening sequence is exclusive to only that episode altogether as there are different clips throughout the rest of the sequence.

[tp_kit20]

The problem (if I remember correctly) is that the Seasons 3-4 dashboard is shown when originally it was still concealed in the intro until subsequent episodes. However, I'm not necessarily sure that's a mistake by Universal or if it was just a one-time modification by NBC used only on the original airdate. I wouldn't consider the syndicated episodes proof of anything because other networks frequently mess around with the opening title sequences for many shows.

As for the Season 4 premiere, I don't recall there being any problem with its intro. Super Pursuit Mode is not shown in the "Knight Of the Juggernaut" premiere intro, if I remember correctly. In fact, I think "Knight Of the Juggernaut's" opening sequence is exclusive to only that episode altogether as there are different clips throughout the rest of the sequence.

We always get the full versions of shows here in Finland (not the shorter, syndicated ones) and I actually have "Knight of the Drones" on VHS (remember those...?), recorded when it was first aired back in the 80s. That one had the standard season 3 intro and that's also what the DVD has. When the show was re-run not too long ago, it again had the standard intro. In fact, I have never seen a "Knight of the Drones" intro that would feature the season 1-2 dash. My guess is that it was only used on the original airdate and only in the United States. A shame, really.

However, "Knight of the Juggernaut" does have the different intro than the rest of the season - the one that doesn't show Super Pursuit Mode but does list Peter Parros as a cast member. And that one was also included when the show was shown here on TV.

As for the sound... As mentioned, Season 3 would appear to be the fixed set featuring sound effects that were missing from the original DVD release. Season 4 is still presented in 2.0 mono, however, not in stereo.

When the show was re-run on TV, season 4 was presented in stereo and I actually prefer the DVDs mono sound. The stereo sound was somehow too artificial and just didn't sound good in my ear. Besides, there weren't that many situations that used the stereo effect. Mainly the music. It seemed to get a wider range (especially the higher end, the low-end was always non-existent) but also sounded more "harsh". The mono sound is softer and more pleasing to my tastes. Be that as it may, as a collector, I always appreciate the original sound mix the most, so since season 4 was apparently recorded in stereo, I'd certainly wish they'd present it that way (I also would've preferred the original sound to be included in "Miami Vice" season sets as an option).

Oh well, truth be told, I'm just glad that all the seasons got released and even had a few extras. Heck, I'd even buy "Knight Rider 2010" and "Team Knight Rider" immediately, though I didn't like either of them. Especially "Team Knight Rider" - there's just something really wrong in taking a show where the basic concept was "one man can make a difference" and update it to have a large team doing the same job. But I digress...

[KITTfan]

We always get the full versions of shows here in Finland (not the shorter, syndicated ones) and I actually have "Knight of the Drones" on VHS (remember those...?), recorded when it was first aired back in the 80s. That one had the standard season 3 intro and that's also what the DVD has.

Do you happen to have any airdate for the 1980's Knight of the Drones because when I searched Finnish magazines for 80's Knight Rider airdates in the early 2000's, I didn't find Knight of the Drones? To my knowledge the said episode was first aired now in the 2000's and so was the 4th season opener. Goliath episodes were first aired in the 90's when they re-ran the 1st 2 seasons. Ok, all this is from the basic terrestial channels (cable-tv from the 2000's) so maybe you had some extra channel's back in the 80's or a cable tv? It's possible also it slipped through my eyes, it was quite a big job to find the airdates from that small print
From the terrestial channels (MTV2) in the 80's I found the following transition from the 2nd season to 3rd season:

• 31 MTV2 13.3.85 Wednesday 19:30-20:30 A Good Knight's Work
  32 MTV2 27.3.85 Wednesday 19:30-20:30 Lost Knight

Yes there's 2 weeks gap between these episodes but if I remember correct, there was either Street Hawk or Whiz Kids running in the same tv-spot on every 2 weeks with Knight Rider running on every other 2 weeks.

Oh and I have one strange Lost Knight episode on VHS recorded from 2000's rerun (recorded in Wednesday December 22nd 2004 from Subtv) which have at least one scene missing just like the "syndicated episodes" in the USA, it even has a teaser in it which Knight Rider normally never had here. In the last rerun the same episode had all scenes intact and no teaser, I recorded that version also (Thursday June 30th 2005 from Subtv). Lost Knight is also good episode to compare the missing soundeffects from DVD, for instance the scene where Doug ejects his bag from KITT.

[tp_kit20]

Do you happen to have any airdate for the 1980's Knight of the Drones because when I searched Finnish magazines for 80's Knight Rider airdates in the early 2000's, I didn't find Knight of the Drones? To my knowledge the said episode was first aired now in the 2000's and so was the 4th season opener.

Sorry, I don't know the original airdate. I got my first VCR back when "Silent Knight" aired, which is the first episode I have on tape from the original broadcasts. Unfortunately I wasn't that organized back then so the original episodes are all over the place in VHS-tapes that are - naturally - not marked in any way... I do remember that Goliath Returns was, indeed, not shown when the show was first broadcast. Not sure about the original Goliath 2-parter.

Also, the season 4 opener, "Knight of the Juggernaut", was definitely not shown. If I remember correctly, the first episode from the fourth season to be shown here was "Burial Ground". "KITTnap" and "Sky Knight" were shown, but at a later date.

One thing could explain this... CIC Video made the pilot movie, "Mouth of the Snake" and "Knight of the Juggernaut" available to rental markets (much like they did with some Miami Vice 2-parters) so it's possible my version of "Knight of the Drones" is a copy from that. CIC also released "Knight Rider 2000" but for some reason only a handful of video stores got it (also, the subtitles on that one were horrible. KITT spelled with one T, Devon as Devin etc...).

Also, remember how a few season 2 and season 3 episodes were shown in two parts, with "Kymmenen uutiset" ("News at Ten" for those lucky enough to not live in Finland...) shown in the middle? Perhaps Knight of the Drones was one of those? The "standard" time for the episodes was indeed 19.30 and it was surprising that they sometimes showed them as late as 21.30-22.50.

The "Lost Knight" incident was interesting. I also have the 2004-version with the missing scenes on tape (unfortunately not the "full episode" from the 2005 re-run since I thought they just use the same tapes). They also showed a cut version of the Miami Vice episode "Prodigal Son", at least when they first re-ran that show (it's now on MTV's pay-tv package - I wonder if they still show the same version). I also have a version of season 2's "Knight in a Shining Armor" which apparently has all the other scenes but for some reason misses the scene where Michael gives the girl the "souvenir" from the cave and instead cuts straight to the scene when Michael gives her the medallion. I don't remember if that's from the 2004 or 2005 re-runs, however. Weird things...

By the way, the sound effects of Doug pressing KITTs buttons and his bag being ejected from the seat are intact in the complete collection so it's definitely the corrected set - but without those French subtitles.

Off-topic / personal note: Were you in Espoo when Hasselhoff visited Finland? I was one of those who stood in line for around 3-4 hours in around -25 celcius waiting to shake his hand - but it was worth it. It's my honest opinion that Hasselhoff was at least 50% of the show's success. He really took the time and made the effort to please fans. On the opposite side of the spectrum we had Ken Wahl from "Wiseguy", who missed all his appointments and instead went to the Finland-Sweden ship, got amazingly drunk and harassed just about everybody on board. I wonder why Hessu Reijonen never invited him back here......

[KITTfan]

Unfortunately I wasn't there to see Hasselhoff, it was in 1987 wasn't it? I didn't and still don't live anywhere near Espoo & at the time I was just 12 years old so had no chance to see him. Even worse, I missed the chances to see the touring KITT car in the following summer as well :/ Lucky you saw him Any pics you wanna share?
I agree Hasselhoff was the right choice for Michael Knight If for example Don Johnson was chosen as Michael Knight, the show would've been very different, more serious at least.

Thanks for the info about rental market tapes, didn't know about them. I think when Miami Vice started in Finland they couldn't air the Pilot episode (Brother's Keeper) because the rights were owned by some video rental chain, maybe that was the reason with unaired 2hr Knight Rider episodes too?

By the way, the sound effects of Doug pressing KITTs buttons and his bag being ejected from the seat are intact in the complete collection so it's definitely the corrected set - but without those French subtitles.

Do you have the UK/Euro version of the Complete collection or the US version with KITT scanner? Does it have Finnish subtitles? I have all the separate season DVD boxes and the 3rd season as a UK & Scandinavian versions, both of them have missing soundeffects. Would be great to have complete collection with soundeffects intact & Scandinavian subtitles

[tp_kit20]

Unfortunately I wasn't there to see Hasselhoff, it was in 1987 wasn't it? I didn't and still don't live anywhere near Espoo & at the time I was just 12 years old so had no chance to see him. Even worse, I missed the chances to see the touring KITT car in the following summer as well :/ Lucky you saw him Any pics you wanna share?

Well, I was 9 years old back then, but luckily my parents (especially my Dad, no surprise there) were also fans of the show. Amazingly enough, my Dad still watched and liked it in 2004 - not bad for someone born in 1941

Anyway, they knew what a special event it was, so they took me there. The place was packed. Hasselhoff did a nice show at the stage and then proceeded to shake hands with all his fans. That took hours and hours, but even when it was my turn (after around 3-4 hours), I remember that he was extremely kind to everyone, kept on smiling and was very nice about the thing (and remember, this didn't cost anything to fans). Some fans were bringing him gifts and he carefully laid those on the side and proceeded to take a picture of himself and the fan with his own camera. If digital cameras had been popular back then, I'm sure those pics would now be at Hasselhoff's website.

I unfortunately have no pics. They didn't allow cameras there. I did have a few polaroids taken when I was in KITT at a later date, but those faded in a few years, before I could scan or copy them. One of my life's big regrets.

I agree Hasselhoff was the right choice for Michael Knight If for example Don Johnson was chosen as Michael Knight, the show would've been very different, more serious at least.

Definitely. Wasn't the original concept just of a man and a car with the man being the strong and silent type and the car doing all the talking? I believe that's what we would've seen if Johnson had been cast. There was apparently also quite a bit of friction on the set of Miami Vice due to Johnson's ego. I think the problems between Johnson and Edward James Olmos might have even helped Vice, but a campy, fun show like Knight Rider definitely doesn't need any problems between co-workers - and apparently there weren't any.

Certainly Hasselhoff has had his problems in his personal life, like all of us, but I've personally never heard any co-worker or talk show host or anyone like that say a bad thing about him. Well, to be fair, Gregory J. Bonann did mention in his book about Baywatch that they had some disagreements about the direction of Baywatch Nights. Apparently Hasselhoff wanted Baywatch Nights to be more like "James Bond meets Knight Rider" and the red Honda/Acura NSX he drove in the first few episodes of the first season was his idea. However, if you watch the two seasons now, it becomes quite apparent that it was impossible to have disagreements about that show's direction, since it had none

Thanks for the info about rental market tapes, didn't know about them. I think when Miami Vice started in Finland they couldn't air the Pilot episode (Brother's Keeper) because the rights were owned by some video rental chain, maybe that was the reason with unaired 2hr Knight Rider episodes too?

Most likely. Miami Vice's pilot episode was available for rental around the same time the show started running so they probably didn't want to lose any rental income. I remember many of Knight Rider's 2hr episodes were big video/Laserdisc releases in Germany, especially Knight of the Juggernaut. Perhaps back then the rights were sold to various countries at the same time and if a big country like Germany decided to earn some few extra money by making those episodes available only for rental markets and the contract was made out that way, Finland might just have had to follow their lead?

Do you have the UK/Euro version of the Complete collection or the US version with KITT scanner? Does it have Finnish subtitles? I have all the separate season DVD boxes and the 3rd season as a UK & Scandinavian versions, both of them have missing soundeffects. Would be great to have complete collection with soundeffects intact & Scandinavian subtitles

The US version. The UK version is released by Universal Playback and as far as I know, it has no subtitles at all. Not even English ones. A few years ago Universal Playback did include English subtitles on their season sets of various shows (like "Magnum P.I." and "Las Vegas", for example), but all the later releases have no subtitles at all - this despite the fact that their US counterparts do have subtitles and they use the same masters and have the same extras.

Weren't there also some other problems with the UK releases of Knight Rider that were carried to the complete set? I remember reading that the episodes were not in a correct order, the teasers were missing and stuff like that? The only thing that was positive about the UK release was that the discs were not double-sided. But even that's not a problem anymore, with the US complete collection.

I think we might eventually see a complete collection in Finland, but it'll most probably have the same packaging as the UK version and will have the missing sfx. Still, even with those faults, I would consider getting that one too. I don't need Finnish subtitles myself, but if I have kids in the future, I might want to show them what their old man thought was the best thing ever. Heck, I might even show some of my friend's kids (those freakin' reality-tv -addicted punks!) what good TV is all about!

[youbelong]

knight rider the complete original series yes i'ts fantastic

[Amir]

I had a look at a rather recently recorded VHS tape (around 2-3 years ago), and the Knight of the Drones I have is also with a regular season three intro. Having said that, I'm near certain that once upon a time I DID see that episode with an intro that was very similar except that whenever the dash or buttons were shown, they were the ones from season 1-2...

[kitt1987]

No, when Knight of the Drones was first aired, including subsequent re-runs I recall on both WWOR Channel 33 out of New Jersey and the mid-90's USA network's repeats that particular episode had a specific into much like the season 4 opener...it shared similarities with much of the season 3 standard into but again had enough scenes to really noticeably make it different. I have it on tape myself but unfortunately don't have the means to digitize it and upload it to youtube at present to prove to anyone.
If any other longtime KR fan like myself can back me up on this I'd appreciate it!

[Lost Knight]

No, when Knight of the Drones was first aired, including subsequent re-runs I recall on both WWOR Channel 33 out of New Jersey and the mid-90's USA network's repeats that particular episode had a specific into much like the season 4 opener...it shared similarities with much of the season 3 standard into but again had enough scenes to really noticeably make it different. I have it on tape myself but unfortunately don't have the means to digitize it and upload it to youtube at present to prove to anyone.
If any other longtime KR fan like myself can back me up on this I'd appreciate it!

That's really interesting, but it sounds more like WWOR or USA Network messed around and made their own opening title sequences. But as I have never seen the original airing, I'd never be able to confirm that for sure. And for some odd reason I could swear that I've seen the "Knight Of the Drones" intro utilizing the Seasons 1-2 dashboard footage (in a re-run) and figuring it must have been because they were protecting the secret of the premiere. Whether my mind is playing tricks on me or not, though, it's still a re-run and is therefore not an answer to this little mystery.

[TriComEMS2401]

My girlfriend told me by mistake she bought this collection for me for christmas. To think she's going to make me wait just is not right.
I do have a question though. I have heard when you purchase season 1 seperate that it includes Knight Rider 2000. Does this collection include that movie??

[tp_kit20]

My girlfriend told me by mistake she bought this collection for me for christmas. To think she's going to make me wait just is not right.
I do have a question though. I have heard when you purchase season 1 seperate that it includes Knight Rider 2000. Does this collection include that movie??

Yes. The contents of the discs are the same, they're just single-sided and Season 3 has the fixed sound effects. So as extras, there's a commentary on the series premiere, a few featurettes, a photo gallery, "KITT Owner's Manual" and, indeed, Knight Rider 2000 TV-movie included in season 1 discs. Nothing on season 2. Season 3 has a bonus episode ("Knight of the Rising Sun") from season 4 but since the set includes season 4, that's rather unnecessary. Season 4 has KITT blueprints.

Nothing is missing from the complete collection compared to the seperate season sets, although - unless one counts the cool box and the fixed sound effects on season 3 - nothing is added, either.

[citizen_x]

One word - Amazing !
Here's the back cover BTW:

[My_Friend_KITT]

Wow! Thanks for the pic.

[Lost Knight]

Maybe I'll ask for this for Christmas. It's cool that they found a new picture of Hasselhoff that wasn't on the previous sets, too.

[citizen_x]

Wow! Thanks for the pic.

No problem.
I liked it so much that I made it as a wallpaper:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/5061/23740140fv6.jpg
The original file size is 8 MB. If you like, I can upload it for you (and everyone elses).