Knight Rider Season Three Marathon

[Judd]

I haven't watched the original Knight Rider since it first aired. I watched the first two seasons on DVD and today I started season three. I'll post brief reviews of each episode as I view them. My opinions will probably differ from other fans.

Knight of the Drones:

I didn't think it was bad. It wasn't as good as Knight of the Phoenix or Goliath though. There were a number of things I did like about it.

Bonnie's introduction was really good. David was funny when he did the voice in the lab. Bonnie was given things to do in this. I really liked KITT's destruction. It wasn't as good as Goliath but it worked. The new dashboard is different. The lights are bigger and more camera friendly. The computer graphics are much better.

The plot wasn't bad. I felt it was kind of padded. The Barbarian brothers were kind of silly. Do we really need scenes of them exercising? The scenes of the men digging the tunnel draged a bit. The torture scene with Micheal in the lab was pointless. KITT being destroyed with the remote cars and the plan to steal the satellite weren't bad. The fights scene were well staged especially the one in the kitchen. I liked the joke when KITT spoke Chinese. It was more violent than other episodes. Some people were killed in this.

I liked but didn't love the episode. Bonnie was good and so were the scenes with KITT. The plot dragged in places but it wasn't bad. The drones were silly looking.

[Judd]

Ice Bandits:

I remember seeing this when it was first on. It was a pretty good episode. The jewely robbery was interesting. KITT had some good lines especially with the donkey name Kit. The story had a good pacing to it. The stunt work was impressive especially the fall off of the bridge.

Some of the car driving scenic scenes were a bit dull. I thought it was a decent episode it wasn't anything real exciting but it wasn't bad.

[Romulus9]

Ice Bandits is an important episode in the series.

Why?

Because Janet Julian is one of the hottest women to appear in ANY episode. So cute. Wow.

[Judd]

Knights of the Fast Lane:

All around this was an enjoyable episode. It had some good drama. I liked the idea of Micheal getting back with his mentor from his former life. Touches like that make us care more about he guest characters.

The action scenes were good. The cars used in the race were wild looking. The car chases were believeable.

There was a lot of fun in it especially KITT playing football and turbo boosting through the uprights.

KITT being shut down and Micheal and Bonnie looking for him was a neat sub plot. How about Bonnie's funky lap top?

This was a good episode. It had action, humor and drama. When those elements are blended together it makes for a good Knight Rider episode.

[Judd]

Halloween Knight:

That was the weirest episode I've seen of Knight Rider. It was crazier than a box of frogs. I thought it was great. I did remember the devil face in the bathroom mirror. That whole episode was bonkers.

It was very different from Bonnie being sick while in her new apartment to the costume party. The tone was funny scary. Great use of the Psycho house. It wasn't sure who the killer was. It was well written.

I really loved seeing KITT smashing through the drive-in during Creature From the Black Lagoon. That was classic. Universal made the best monster films.

It certainly was wacky and strange but I thought it worked really well. It had suspense but there was much fun in it too.

[Judd]

KITT Vs. KARR:

Wow just wow. KARR is certainly one of the more memorable characters in Knight Rider and many of us feel that KARR should be a part of the new series. I thought this episode was one of the best one parters in the series. I even liked it better than Trust Doesn't Rust. It had a very fast pacing. It was well directed. We got to see KITT and KARR from different angles. Sometimes, and I know the show was on a tight schedule, but soemtimes I often feel like the show was kind of point and shoot in it's direction. This was shot differently.

The effects were great. The model work blended in well with the live action. KARR taking out the bridge was very well done. KARR smashing into the semi was great.

The script was tightly written and was more elaborate than many other episodes. The first two seasons of Knight Rider had the formula of Micheal helping out a young woman in trouble. This season the stories seem to be getting away from that. I felt this was well written.

The guest actors were very good. They weren't well known names but they did a good job in selling the story.

I thought this was a great episode and it was fun watching it again.

[Judd]

The Rotten Apples:

It wasn't bad. The guest actors were pretty good. Hey it's Mimi Kinkade an 80's scream queen. The story wasn't too bad either. Mike's trying to help a woman run her ranch for street kids in trouble. I thought they could have done more with that theme. KITT was funny. The bar fight was fun.

Some of it was silly. The mechanical bull scene was pretty silly. The teen slang was terrible. The crash between the two four by fours wasn't good. They just crashed into each other and blew up? Huh?

It wasn't a bad episode and had a number of good moments but parts of it were bit silly.

[Judd]

Knight in Disgrace:

It wasn't a bad episode. I liked the idea of Michael being suspended from the FLAG. The only problem is it was pretty obvious it was a plan set up by Devon. I also felt Lesalle was a bit too trusting of Michael. I did enjoy it. The replacement candidate was funny. I liked seeing KITT shoo off the gator. The sub plot with the woman and her daughter was well done. The break in scenes were good. It did build up to a good climax.

It wasn't bad at all it was just a bit predictable.

[Judd]

Dead of Knight:

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. It wasn't a terrible episode. Something was off about it. I guess the plot was too contrived. Events happen just because the writer makes them happen. there weren't any big surprizes in it. I have no idea why KITT was telling bad jokes. That was just odd.

The plot was linear and it wasn't outlandish or anything but it just wasn't organic. It seemed artificial. The reuse of the footage from the pilot didn't help. I wasn't quite sure why villian would have an antidote to the poison on him.

While this epsidoe wasn't really awful it was too contrived for me.

[Judd]

Lost Knight:

I liked this episode more than the last one. It started out great with the explosion and the chase concluding with KITT being electrocuted. I liked the idea of KITT losing his memory. I wished there was more to it though. How much of who we are consists of our memories? I guess that was too deep of a theme for Knight Rider. It was a good story though.

Wow Jason Bateman looks really young in this. It was fun seeing him drive KITT.

There were parts which were padded. Michael talks to Doug and then goes back to devon then he has to go find Doug again and then go back to Devin. In the middle part of the episode he was running around in circles. I thought David gave a good performance in this especially in the electrocution scene.

I did enjoy the episode. It had a good story and action. The turbo boost over the car was good. It was a bit padded in the middle but that didn't ruin the episode for me.

[Judd]

Knight of the Chameleon:

I didn't think this was a bad episode. There wasn't naything especially memorable about it either. The acting was pretty good for the series. The story was well thought out mostly. It seemed kind of dated even for the 80's.

There was a Bionic Woman episode about a man who stole a prototype jet pack from a military base. The make up disguises were similiar to ones used on Mission Impossible. We've seen jet pack like this one in the series Ark II and a 60's Bond film, I think Thunderball.

It borrowed a lot from other movies and TV series. It wasn't poorly done though. There as some good acting going on and KITT winning the auto accessories was funny. Although KITT didn't do much in this.

It was a watchable episode. It just had a number of elements in it from other stories. It wasn't original enough.

[Judd]

Custom Made Killer:

Much to my surprize there was an actor in this episode who I interviewed online last year. Honestly he was a great guy and was fun to interview. I had no idea he ever appeared on Knight Rider.

The episode itself I thought was really boring. The story about the fashion industry didn't engage me. There wasn't a whole lot of action in it. It was very talky. The scene when Michael is almost run down wasn't bad but there wasn't much else going on. It really didn't seen like a Knight Rider episode. They tried something different but I didn't think it worked. Again Michael threatens to kill someone to get them to confess. That wouldn't hold up in court.

The scene with the photographer was fun. Guerin Barry played the photographer. he is best known for his voice work. He played Dr. Theopolis in Buck Rogers and the voice of the Alex7000 computer in Bionic Woman. He also has done voices for a number of talking/singing toys. I interviewed him for a Bionic Woman fansite named after his character last year. I think it is still up and I can provide a link if anyone is interested.

I didn't care for the episode but it was fun to see Guerin in it as the photographer.

[Judd]

Knight by a Nose:

I thought this was much better than the last episode. It wasn't especially flashy but it did have a good pacing. There was enough action so it wasn't boring. Max was a good character. KITT getting the gambeling bug worked. I'm sure horse fans would enjoy it more than others. It wasn't bad at all. I thinked it worked for what it was trying to do.

[Judd]

Junk Yard Dog:

This is my favorite episode I've seen since starting my marathon. I thought this was a brilliant episode. Many Knight Rider episodes, even ones I like, mostly are escapist entertainment. The show has featured good characters, stories and action scenes. Usually though the stories have little substance to them except the theme that one man can make a difference. Junk Yard Dog was about something. It was about pollution and it wasn't heavy handed.

KITT being destroyed and then being nervous was great. They showed that physically. We see KITT driving a bit sloppy and the ski mode was off too. William Daniels gave a nervous performance. They also touched upon taking someone for granted until something happens to them.

The script was great. I also liked the look of the off white KITT. It had a fast pace. The actors all did a good job in selling it. For a change the story dealt with a real theme. It's my avorite episode so far.

My only minor complaint is the model work was obvious. Those shots could have been done better.

[Judd]

Buy Out:

Blah just blah. Michael and KITT try to help out a group of employes who are trying to buy out a company. That's pretty dull. We're told who the villian is right off the bat. I have no idea why KITT kept trying to figure out what his value was. There wasn't a whole lot of action in it. The climax wasn't bad. The jump over the tank when the turrent tore off was good. The other chase scenes seemed very mechanical.

This episode just didn't appeal to me.

[Judd]

Knightlines:

Overall I thought this was pretty average. It wasn't especially exciting or interesting. It was better than the last episode. I did like the idea of a company planting bugs in a high tech security firm to spy on them and those bugs could be detonated. David was funny when he went undercover at the building site. The episode was kind of pokey. There were a number of scenes which dragged. There wasn't much KITT action until the end.

So I thought it was okay. It felt like a filler episode. For an Knight Rider episode it was average.

[Judd]

Nineteenth Hole:

I thought this was a good episode. The cars in the race were pretty wil looking. There was much humor like KITT playing elevator music and when he blasted past the rooster ar at the end.

The pacing was pretty good. The mystery was nice. When we found out what the connection was to the mobsters and the race it made sense. There was plenty of suspense. KITT got electrocuted and he had to stop the bomb on the race course.

I enjoyed this episode and was better than the last couple of episodes.

[Judd]

Knight and Knerd:

I really liked this episode. It was fun and had some drama in it as well. Elliott was a fun character who changed as a result of his experience with Michael. Character change is party of good drama. I wouldn't want to see him every week but he was good in this.

I thought it was a well made episode. The effects were pretty good for the time. I liked the laser effect. I liked the stunt work especially the scene when KITT jumped over the man. The fight scenes were pretty well staged. The guest actors did a decent job. The story was well paced and made sense in the context of the type of show KR is.

I remembered this episode and I enjoyed seeing it again. It conatined the elements I enjoy about KR, humor, drama, technology and action.

[Judd]

Ten Wheel Trouble:

I have to give this one a mxied review. It had many good elements in it. Oh look there's James Cromwell. The Sally character had more of a personality than many of the women characters in Knight Rider. She was intelligent without being annoying. The conversation she had with KITT was fun. KITT had a number of good lines in this. The chase scene at the end was well executed for a TV program of the time. We got to see the cab of the semi.

The plot borrowed heavily from a season one episode which I don't recall the name of right now. A group of independent truckers are being muscled out by a the head of a greedy trucking firm. The plot was kind of a rehash of a previous episode. The villian, Shatner was generic.

This episode did contain some colorful characters, decent action and some good dialogue. It's just the story wasn't that strong. It wasn't bad episode though it's just it wasn't a very original episode.

[Judd]

Knight in Retreat:

This was an odd episode in many ways. It wasn't bad. The plot was logical and had some good action in it. I liked the humor with the cub inside KITT. The story wasn't stupid or anything but it was a bit odd.

First of all when I saw the preview I though Andrian was back. Ann played her in two episodes of Knight Rider. She has a very unique look and played a very memorable character so it was odd to see her in this episode playing a different character.

The whole thing seemed a bit smarmy. (Hey I just saw a new preview for KR on NBC. It was the parking lot transformation scene.) Anyway this episode had a woman who was seducing men to get information out of them. She video taped them and then blackmailed them. There was a lot of innuendo. Apart from Bonnie the women characters were mostly negative stereotypes. The episode clicked off many negative sterotypes about women.

I thought it was an okay episode. I did think the tone of it was a bit sexist and it was odd to bring back Ann and have her play a different character.

[Judd]

Knight Strike:

Yuck, blah. I thought this epsidoe was pretty boring. There wasn't much to it. there were few action scenes. The impression I got was this must had been one of those rushed episodes. The dialogue was really hokey and it was "just the facts ma'me" kind of dialogue which one would find in a first draft. I felt like it was written by an inexperienced writer. The action elements felt forced. It was like they were stunk in there just for the sake of it.

I found the whole thing to be routine and boring.

[Judd]

Circus Knights:

This was better than The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. This episode worked for me. It had a very lively setting. I'm not a big circus buff but I did enjoy this. We were able to see the animals, performers, rides and games which made the episode interesting. I also though they did a good job in making us care about the woman who ran the circus.

The stunt work was impressive. Some of the stunts looked pretty dangerous. KITT was on fire a number of times at then end. The jump through the hoop looked dangerous too.

I enjoyed this. I thought the setting was lively, the action scenes were well executed and the characters were believeable.

I will be reviewing Knight of the Rising Sun tomorrow on this thread since it's on the season three box set. I don't have season four so I won't be reviewing those episodes for now.

[Judd]

Knight of the Rising Son:

Meh just meh. At first I thought the episode was going to be like a vintage Kung Fu movie and some scenes played out like that. There was some impressive stunt work from some of the stunt men in the ninja suits. The story didn't really go anywhere. It was sort of predictable. There wasn't much KITT action in it either. I don't like the SPM. In this episode (I've only seen a few eps from season 4) it seemed just tacked on for no good reason. It wasn't used effectively.

Some of the fight scenes were good but there should have been more. I thought it kind of played on some of the racism against Japanese businesses which was around in the 80's.

Apart from a few brief fight scenes I didn't think it was very good.

I've enjoyed for the most part seeing the first three seasons of Knight Rider. I watched it when it first aired and have revisited it. There are a number of good epsiodes in the series. I wanted to review them again in order to compare and contrast what will be done in the new series.