Knight Rider (2008) - My thoughts.

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CB2001
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Knight Rider (2008) - My thoughts.

Post by CB2001 » Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:33 am

I managed to pick up the entire series from a Dollar General in town for only $10. I only got to catch a couple of episodes back when it aired, but finally getting the chance to see the full series, so to speak, it was definitely quite a treat. I took a couple of days to watch the entire series, and I've got to admit, I liked it. It was a great feeling to see something Knight Rider related once again. It kept the balance of light humor and drama that made that was in the original show. I liked all the characters, except for the CIA guy that closed down the group halfway through the series and reactivated car (but though I didn't like him, he did have an occasional good moment or two, but I think he caused more problems than helped solve). Mike Traceur (aka Michael Knight "Jr.", since he took on the name) definitely fit as the kind of guy you want driving KITT (going a step further as being former military instead of a former police officer like Michael Long had once been). And Val Kilmer as the voice of KITT (or as I've seen elsewhere KI3T) was also an excellent choice. His vocal tones, to me, are more than adequate to fit the sound of a thinking machine (in fact, he sort of reminded me of the voice of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey). And for the choice of the Mustang as being the body for KITT was perfect, as I had suggested back in 2005 when the Mustang had come out (as I had used the idea for a fan made poster I posted up here a while ago for a KR movie idea).

Now, I'll admit, there are some things I kinda wish they had done, some changes that could have probably helped out. I'm sure many of you all have similar thoughts over the years, but these are just my opinions (and I apologize to those who have already said similar things):
1. Bring David Hasselhoff back as a cast regular: Now, I'll admit, it was great seeing David as Michael Knight once again in the TV movie/pilot. But I feel that by bringing him back as a series regular, it would have helped some. In fact, with the second half of the series, where FLAG is brought back to life, the older Michael Knight could have filled the role that Devon Miles had filled to him when he was younger (taking the workload off of the Sarah character). Plus, bringing him in as a series regular would have been interesting because not only would Mike have to deal with Michael as a "boss", but actually have to deal with his actual father, a man whom he barely knows anything about.
2. Get back to the "Lone Ranger with a car" premise much sooner: Don't get me wrong, I like the first half of the series. But in 2008, with 24 on the air at the time, having Mike and KITT facing a "terrorist of the week" scenario may have caused a lot of the alienation of the original fans and caused the number of viewers to drop. Did Michael and KITT in the original series help deal with Government related issues? I can't remember if they did, but I assume so. Michael and KITT also helped corporations too. But, most importantly, the most common people that Michael and KITT helped out were ordinary average people, those who couldn't get help through regular law enforcement entities (which is why I like the second half of the series much more than I do the first half). I cite Slammin' Sammy's Stunt Show Spectacular as one of many examples from the original series. If they had gotten back to the concept much quicker, it may have helped out a bit.
3. Have more TOS KITT abilities for new KITT: Now, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't have minded a Super Pursuit Mode version of KITT that actually made sense. But the morphing ability of KITT was more distracting than most. Plus, a lot of the new KITT's functions didn't seem to be as helpful. For example, in one episode involve the nanovirus, Mike watches as a bad guy gets away on an old Harley which isn't affected by the new KITT's EMP device. Watching that made me say, "If this was the old KITT, all he'd have to do is Microlock the bike's brakes and steering, much like how he did in Season 4's The Wrong Crowd, following that action with using the thermal generator to blow out the tires). In fact, there's a lot of these scenarios that turn up in the new series that a lot of the old KITT's functions could have been useful in.
4. More tie-ins to past KR series: Okay, with the exception of KR2000 and KR2010, I'm sure a lot of fans who saw Team Knight Rider must have liked it (though I do recall a lot of bashing on the vehicles because they were Fords and not Pontiacs, but not much of complaints about the show's characters and storylines. But then again, it's been years so my memory may not be as accurate as I think). I honestly wouldn't have minded them incorporating that show into the new series' timeline, maybe even bring Jenny into the fold of things (again, it would have been a great family dynamic, with Mike dealing with not just his father, but a potential sister he didn't even know existed). Also, I would have liked to hear William Daniels' KITT voice once more, maybe having the old KITT personality running a mainframe at the HQ facility, with possible banter between the old 2000 and the new 3000 series (I honestly can just imagine a scene where the old KITT and new KITT are playing chess or a video game wirelessly, and there's a lot of attempted "trash talk" between the two). I do like the fact that they brought back KARR in the new series, but they should have explained him better (Seriously, how did Knight Industries, or even the CIA, know that KARR's processor survived the final showdown in KITT vs. KARR when it looked like they just left the remains of him there? Could it be possible the KARR we saw in the new series was actually a copy of the original KARR program made for analysis (where they found out the flaw in its programming), made prior to the actual KARR body and AI being put into storage and later discovered for the episode of Trust Doesn't Rust in the original series?). Also, I think it would have been interesting to see Bonnie Barstow show up for the episode where the KR project was dismantled and have her build a new processor for KITT since the one that was installed in him put into KARR (almost like a "we're getting the band back together" kind of thing, having Michael offer Bonnie her old position, and her kindly refusing).

But, that's just me. I'm sure dozens of people have felt the same way. The thing I definitely wish is that the show had continued on for at least two more seasons. It took some time for it to find its footing, but I think in the end it did, but it was too late. Overall, I enjoyed it and kinda wish I had more of it. That's opinion and I'm stickin' to it. :)

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Re: Knight Rider (2008) - My thoughts.

Post by knightfever » Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:37 am

My main gripe with the series was how they handled the Mike Tracer to Michael Knight plot in the new series. It was really weak how they had Carrie just "shoot" Mike in a public place and then he took on the new name at the end of the first series episode. Without the change of the face, that whole plot was unnecessary. To prove that point, in the next episode, he shows up at a bar that an old buddy runs and the buddy recognizes him. That just wasn't a well executed idea. I know they did it to "satisfy" the old fans that the main character would take on the Michael Knight name, but they just didn't do it right. I'd have been okay with him just keeping his original name.

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Re: Knight Rider (2008) - My thoughts.

Post by CB2001 » Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:44 pm

knightfever wrote:My main gripe with the series was how they handled the Mike Tracer to Michael Knight plot in the new series. It was really weak how they had Carrie just "shoot" Mike in a public place and then he took on the new name at the end of the first series episode. Without the change of the face, that whole plot was unnecessary. To prove that point, in the next episode, he shows up at a bar that an old buddy runs and the buddy recognizes him. That just wasn't a well executed idea. I know they did it to "satisfy" the old fans that the main character would take on the Michael Knight name, but they just didn't do it right. I'd have been okay with him just keeping his original name.
I can see how it works. I mean, if you have people looking for Mike Traceur, if they get the report that he's dead, they're not going to know he's alive unless he goes looking for them. But, I get how it could have been handled better.

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Re: Knight Rider (2008) - My thoughts.

Post by Knight Racer » Sat Feb 22, 2014 3:26 pm

I can't recall more than once or twice he even introduced himself as Mike Knight or Michael Knight.Most of the time he was visiting old friends or going undercover with a new identity.

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Re: Knight Rider (2008) - My thoughts.

Post by AppleMacri1980 » Sat Feb 22, 2014 4:47 pm

i guess people saw from episode one it was heading down hill and Gary Scott could not save the series in time i guess NBC wanted to KILL Knight Rider i mean i read it was not Gary's fault he knew about the old show but NBC forced him to do this.

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