Well you've seen "Trekkies" and "Waries" [term for Star Wars fans?] make their own fan films. I always thought I was above and beyond that by making a comedic Knight Rider fan film but in all honesty, this is the mother of all Knerdiness...because I invested so much in making fun of Knight Rider's social commentary at the time. In the 80's, we found indirect pokes at racism and sexism. These shows didn't mean to be racist or sexist, it's just that everyone in the 80's were just learning about other cultures, religions, etc. So their ignorance was unintentionally portrayed through the writers, directors and dialogue that the actors spoke. My intention here was not to blatantly attack the actors who portrayed certain characters or the writers who wrote the scripts, but just the ignorance of the decade. As a kid, I never was offended by the episode called "Knight of the Drones" where most of it takes place in Chinatown and they poke fun at my fellow Asians. Even Michael Knight (not David Hasselhoff) at one point grabs a small Chinese person, calls him and "egg roll". I was on the floor rolling when I heard that again recently, because that type of behavir would not fly in 2008. Remember the pop group New Edition? They were the N Sync of the 1980s, so how come when they cameoed on the episode called Knight Song, instead of appearing as themselves, they appeared as the cleaning crew? Was it because they were 4 black kids? Who knows. And as far as religion goes, when Michael Knight visits a Thai Buddhist temple in the "K.N.E.R.D." episode, why is there a Japanese martial artist sitting in front? Uh, Thais and Japanese are 2 different cultures/races and speak 2 different languages. Then all of a sudden, he turns Chinese. And since when did Thai monks do Martial Arts? I was a Buddhist monk a few years ago and I don't remember doing that. If you look very closely, you'll see a real Thai Buddhist monk in the background [wearing an orange robe]...baffled. Again, milk came out of my nose as I saw this. Now please make no mistake, this is not on attack on one of my favorite shows of all time, but it was a living part of my childhood that makes me who I am today. A little prejudiced? A little sexist? Maybe. But it also influenced me to become a filmmaker. So by day I teach computers in an elementary school (because Kitt was a computer and loved kids, what else would I do?) But my weekends and summers are spent making films. My latest endeavors is what I want to share with you. Both Stu Philips and Don Peake [composers of the Knight Rider soundtrack] have seen my films and told me they have enjoyed it. However, my purpose for creating this film is to make a social commentary on society and how far we've come. So the un-politically correctness you find in this film is intentionally tweaked to the max. I rewrote these characters that Glen Larson created and Daniel Haller introduced in Knight of the Phoenix and amplified the un-P.C.ness a hundred fold. So here is my "reworking" of Knight Rider that I'm incidentally submitting as my Thesis in a Masters program at my college. And if it offends you...good! Because this film totally offends me and I laughed my @$$ off. I never knew how hard it was to produce, write, direct and edit your own film so please forgive the crudity of some of the technical aspects. Now I know how M. Night Shamalayn feels. I'm also M. Knight
. It was so difficult to get actors when you don't pay them but fortunately I was able to get union actors. Tony and Shlomoh you may recognize from the Chapelle Show, my lead actor has been in numerous commercials but is a dead ringer for Johnny Knoxville. That's why I threw a little Dukes of Hazzard in there. Lenny is a technical director for Bravo (which is owned by NBC) so thanks to him and everyone for helping on this project.Anyway, I hope you like my rehashing of Knight of the Phoenix and my social commentaries along the way. Would love to get your constructive feedback. Thank you. Mickey
P.S. The humor is PG13 so please share responsibly.
Here is Segment 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNU-b29IcJs
Here is Segment 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggb71ruTV88
And Segment 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mx7BiOQEaPo
Finally, here is the music video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ9Y5dS-Hcg
