Why I believe a Knight RIder movie/series won't work anymore

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The shadowy flight
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Why I believe a Knight RIder movie/series won't work anymore

Post by The shadowy flight » Thu Jun 09, 2016 9:07 am

Hey guys,
before your going to lynch me or something else, let me hear you out.

I wouldn't have made this statement, if I really haven't thought about it long and hard. It's just a sad realisation, I had when I was again in a "Knight Rider" binge watch mood. While I would really really really see such as a big silver screen movie, I do believe it won't do good to Knight Rider. Why?

Knight Rider was a child of it's time, the 80's. I recently watched the documentary "CNN: The Eighties - Raised on Television" as one member here pointed out, that Knight Rider was in the promo (actually, there was no honorary mention, which was disappointing :( ). In the 80's, TV wasn't second class anymore, people are engaged in the stories told on the small screen week by week. Knight Rider was new and fresh and so avant garde in terms of technological "fantasy", I quoted the word fantasy by design, since it has ecome reality and I think one of the major reasons, why Knight Rider won't work today.

Knight Rider and KITT especially as we know, was the first car to feature digital readouts. Knight Rider was the first series to feature full synthesizer theme in a series, which was only accompanying a more traditional instrumental theme. KITT showed something magical, the computer era was born and the technological advancement and technological believe, that everything was possible was real. But in retrospective, more than 30 years after, you'll see that nearly everything we have now in your cars, have been pioneered by KITT, the car of the future (then indeed!).

Now, autonomous cars are coming which are inspired by Knight Rider. KITT had follwing technological features that are now common place.

Radar sensors for naviagtion, camera pattern recognition for track keeping, cruise control, automated parking, GPS Satellite Navigation, Satellite Communication, modem communication to remote computer and databases, anti collision control (I guess that's the ACC on the voice box), single/double display for maps, systems self diagnositics, position tracking of other cars, fingerprint scanner on the car door handle, digital compass, short route calculation, video calls, speakerphone for call ins, and many more. Even the Comlink was the first smartwatch to be ever featured.

KITT became real in the sense of technological feature, which was unthinkable 30 years ago. Now, 30 years later, no one would be impressed with those capabilities. Yes, there are things like Turbo Boost , Micro Jam, remote Lock pick or laser restraints, which are clearly fantasy. My point is, there's not much to show, which could make your jaw drop. Knight Rider has become a what I consider a "frozen time remanent", something that was technological avant garde, but won't translate to today's technological advancement. Even if the story would be retold as it would happen today as Glen intended, I don't believe anything would work to intrigue the audience today to tune into Knight Rider. It would a fan pandering and nostalgia cash in like the Ghostbusters reboot.

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Han
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Re: Why I believe a Knight RIder movie/series won't work any

Post by Han » Thu Jun 09, 2016 11:37 am

Really, nothing new to show? most features you mentioned have much to improve, KITT never had "unfinished" features, just because a part of them are somehow created in our world doesn't mean there can't be more, there's so much that could be done that we cannot even imagine, the only thing to me that would not work would be making a useless single movie reboot to make people laugh with some comedian actor

Don't lie, i am sure you would like to see maybe a continuation movie about the series, what are they doing now(forget kr2000, that's a series pilot that nobody should have seen right? even though i kinda like it) and what changed, a new heroic plot(not all pointed to ACTION hopefully), think of it starting with a retro style, maybe reshoots of good old episodes, and then moving to the present, seeing new stuff, new faces and a new style, look at The Force Awakens, such a different style in every aspect, but you can see the old spirit in it, another good example would be the Bond movies, things can be done right, after so many mistakes, it could be Knight Rider's turn(even though it might not happen, admit it could be great)
That's my idea

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Re: Why I believe a Knight RIder movie/series won't work any

Post by GWADA.TYS » Thu Jun 09, 2016 3:40 pm

I agree with you The shadowy flight. You can capture people as the same way now that KR have done 30 years ago...

I wish make a mistake in the future we never know. One Man can make the difference... :kitt:

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Re: Why I believe a Knight RIder movie/series won't work any

Post by jup » Tue Jun 14, 2016 3:50 am

I am partially on your side about this. The car of the future...was then. We are now living in said future. In fact, it might even be a tad bit dangerous to showcase a modern self piloting car as having invulnerable body shielding that could go through physical objects. (Just a little. The software is suppose to never permit it.) However, the idea of a crime fighter and a talking car as a partner can still work. It's not going to have the same impact it did back then. But, I do believe it still has room to exist. It just needs to be handled in the right way.

Now a show about a talking horse may never fly, again...

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Re: Why I believe a Knight RIder movie/series won't work any

Post by jup » Thu Jun 16, 2016 5:43 am

Just realized that in another thread, I gave a good reason why KR WOULD work, today.

Sure. The science fiction side is growing stale. We are quite literally seeing cars drive themselves for the general public and such.

But Knight Rider at it's core was about more then the science. It was about the mystery of the week. The raw action. And the stunts. Why does The Fast and The Furious series of movies have an 8 in the title? (And number 8 broke all franchise records, to boot.) Because that level of action...believable action and harsh, adrenaline pumping stunts helps drive a strong plot. And this is what the original series did a ton of. When they jumped cars, they literally jumped them. When someone stood on a hood at 60 MPH, that was real. What's considered the weakest original episode? Poo-Poo Knight...or the series ending episode. Why? It really had no actions or stunts to speak of. And the strong starting pilot? Heck. They put their brand new car into a demolition derby as a mid-way plot ploy! We may be getting numb to how advanced computers have become and the conveniences of life that were brand new in the 80s KR reality. But, believable action and a strong plot are still big budget tickets in this day and age. Let's face it. Siri inside a Google Car isn't going to be driving 110 MPH with a person standing on the hood, trying to match speeds with a renegade semi, packed with explosives to cause serious damage to downtown Wherever. But 21'st century Kitt is. Give it a strong plot and gritty, believable action and the formula can still stand to this day. But it must be given to the right hands. Action in the wrong hands can just be disastrous.

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Re: Why I believe a Knight RIder movie/series won't work any

Post by The shadowy flight » Thu Jun 16, 2016 3:48 pm

@Han: I didn't say, I don't like to see a movie adaption - I said, I don't believe, that it would have that kind of magic, take it takes to capture a new young audience like us old geezers to say "wow I gotta watch the series".

@Jup: but I don't want mindless action and explosions for it's self justification. I could watch a Michael Bay movie for that. I agree, it was story telling. Just like Star Trek, damn I'm a huge TNG fan then and now, as well up to VOY. But the story telling series have gone up a notch. The episodic telling of the 80's is dead. Now we watch series where the characters grow, their actions have consequences and the plots are overarching over seasons.

For Knight Rider and Star Trek you'll need very good screenplay writers to revive the flame for the series.

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Re: Why I believe a Knight RIder movie/series won't work any

Post by jup » Fri Jun 17, 2016 4:19 am

Exactly!

'...in the right hands.'

It's become quite the trope that Michael Bay and J.J. know action, these days. So did Jean Claude Van Dam. The stuff is watchable. It's entertaining. It's...not where I want Knight Rider to be, either. With a good, running plot, you can get a deep, episode chained process of development going. In fact, it's possible that was one of the things that killed the original series. Aside from Stevie, there just wasn't a whole lot more then "KITT got this new tech" happening. Mind you, we all hadn't exactly been exposed to the whole Anime way of developing plot lines at that point, either. (Just the soap opera version.) Seriously. You could go from the season one pilot to almost any season three episode and probably not feel like you missed out on any important happenings.

Besides, action for the sake of action can be found in plenty of places. It's not just the use, but the proper use of it.

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