KR2008: Pro and Con

[KamenRider]

Pros:

I liked Mike. I'm not sure giving him the Matthew Bourne type backstory was strictly necessary because I think just having been involved in the war and being the son of the original Michael Knight would be enough to work with. I enjoyed him both when being a smartass but also I could believe his determination when it came time for heroics.

Val Kilmer's KI3T. I actually not only enjoyed Kilmer's voicework but I liked the way the personality was handled. Basically as something that distinguishes him from the original but kind of in the same spirit. He's not as aristocratic as the original KITT but he's very confident in his abilities while at the same time being genuinely curious about humans and evolving in emotional development as he goes. There's a touch of a childlike quality to this KI3T that I enjoyed and thought was an interesting way to distinguish him from the original.

I liked that for the most part with few exceptions the show was trying to be something escapist while at the same time having action and drama. There really are not enough shows on tv that even try this now.


Cons:

Well more than enough has been said about the SSC crew in KR fan circles so I won't even go there. Suffice it to say having a whole gaggle of characters behind Mike was a mistake from day one. But at least Torres role makes some bit of sense and he had good tension with the obviously more idealistic Graiman. I never liked Rivai from the moment she appeared on screen in pilot. I do think Sarah and maybe even Billy are ones I'd bother to save for any possible second season if it were up to me. Zoe is cut and hot but her character doesn't really give anything to the show other than that.

The Shelby GT 500 Cobra. Even as someone who loves the Trans-Am look for KI3T I was willing to roll with the Mustang especially under the circumstances (that being Pontiac is dead for the forseeable future) but as I stated in another thread the fact they used a Mustang is not as much of a problem as the model they chose to use. Wherever you're getting your KITT from it should ideally be a very sleek looking machine and for all the power the Cobra boasts it just really isn't. A standard GT or hell even a base coupe would have been a better car to go with and bring the needed KITT flourishes to.

morphing/transforming. I think my first turn off to this idea is that it's a Viper trick and on some level I feel like Knight Rider should be above ripping off it's various copycats or some other 80's franchise. I'd be more than ok with Attack Mode if it was mainly an upgrade of Super Pursuit mode where things pop out of the car from natural spots and it's an emergency mode that makes the car go even more super-fast than it already is.

To be fair though, this is an idea I learned to live with as the show went on but it is easily the most nonsensical of KI3T powers and even under the fantasy context of the show (which i readily accept) stretches credibility to a breaking point.

The voice orb. My main problem with this is that there are just too many damn effects going on inside that thing at the same time. You have the funky blue lights in the background, you have the ripple effect, you have the red pupil, you have the red equalizer graphic *and* on top of all of that you have somewhere in all of that mess you have the 3 bars from the original series. For a second season, I would scale this down to the blue background and the classic 3 bars.

The opening theme. I will never understand why anybody working on the show thought it would be a good idea to have this thing start out as a rockin version of the iconic theme and then veer off into something else entirely.

[Michael Pajaro]

I agree with the pros.

I mostly agree with the cons, although for different reasons:

I didn't have a problem with having a large cast, it's just that they didn't know what to do with the characters. Chuck is a great example of a show with a large cast that doesn't get in the way of the main focus of the show.

Shelby Cobra: was fine for me. But I admit I'm not really a "car guy" so I wouldn't know all the differences.

Transformations: I didn't think I'd like the transforming, but I was OK with KITT turning into Attack Mode and the pickup. But I DIDN'T like how he could turn into anything. We all draw the "believability" line in different places: Turning into a pickup on a regular basis is somehow "believable" to me; turning into an SUV on command is not.

Voice Orb: Yeah, it was too busy.

Opening Theme: I have to say, I liked it.

[tamatt27]

Agreed with most of it. I think the GT500KR was a great choice. Just because the Trans Am was sleek doesn't mean that all KITT's must be. It's intimidating and I think Knight Rider needed that 'feel' for the current series. I think the transformations for functionality was fine (i.e. Attack Mode, weapons, etc.) When KITT would transform into other vehicles was a problem for me.
All in all, I think the pilot was much more in line with proper KR mythology.

[Super Flash]

Hello There Everyone,

I am surprised that you failed to mention the way NBC handled the show and dictated the direction of it. You forget about the preemptions for the president and the holidays and scheduling it against to two shows that are tough to beat Lost and American Idol. As I have stated even NBC best show to date would have trouble beating those shows. Besides, NBC failed to promote the show like they did with Leno, Heroes, and Chuck. We can sit here and debate what you all think caused the show demise but, as I stated before NBC caused the show's demise. They could have moved the show to another night and stuck with the reboot of the show alot longer then they did. Stating that Knight Rider would be renewed for 22 episodes then back tracked to 17 and cancellation after that. How is that supporting the show? I watch USA Network which is under the NBC Corporate Umbrella and saw them promote other NBC shows while Knight Rider was on the air and was none for Knight Rider. Yeah, NBC was behind the show then.

As for the cast, the car, orb, characters, and other things I had really no problem with. I just wish they could have more time to tie the original show with the new version and had the original Michael Knight one to set the stage for his relationship with his son Michael Knight Jr. whether good or bad and go from there.

That is what I wanted to say.
Thanks and take care,
Michael P Nepa

[Pierre]

I don't know how to create a new topic but KI3T seem outdated compared to this police car

[krrdr2010]

The Pros of KR2008-Deanna Russo, The Knight Industries Three Thousand(Using a Ford Shelby GT500KR Mustang- Great Idea), and the Chemistry between Deanna, the KI3T, and Justin Breuning. The Cons-They should've had David Hasselhoff in it more, and NBC sticking their beaks in where is didn't belong.

[KamenRider]

I am surprised that you failed to mention the way NBC handled the show and dictated the direction of it.

I have not forgotten it but you're correct that I failed to mention it. I think what Deanna Russo said about the revolving door of executives at NBC and a feeling that there was a lack of leadership sheds a lot of light on why the show turned out like it did.

The situation with Knight Rider reminds of things Russel T. Davies said about when he was trying to get a new Doctor Who going at the BBC. He was basically told that you just could not do family dramas anymore. IMO the deal with KR is akin to that in some respects. KR has an element of crime drama but it damn sure ain't a dark gory thing like CSI. KR doesn't fit very neatly into the box of anything NBC currently makes. It's a down the middle show that various people could come to in an age where things are either extremely kiddy or extremely adult. So like, you can't just have Sarah in a bikini. You have to have excuses for Zoe to stick her ass in the camera and have sexual innuendo every five minutes. In other words, I often wonder if the lack of promotion came from less from not wanting to promote it and more from NBC just not knowing how to deal with the show in general.

Beancounters have a way of taking something that should be a no-brainer and complicating the crap out of it through excessive over-thinking and over-compensating.

[kitt34]

I'm a con at this new knight rider, I Thought this was a disaster just like the last three KR's after the original, there's nothing good about it at all, I Mean I Love val kilmer & Bruce Davidson, two great actors who appeared in wonderful films in the past, one won an oscar nomination for his role in Longtime Companion, but they are completely wasted in this thing, the other actors are terrible in this thing, there is no plot at all, the original had a plot and had suspense, this one doesn't, just corny.

[Dino Pollard]

I thought Bruening was great. He seemed more complex than Hasselhoff and I loved the interactions between him and Kilmer's KITT. Campbell and Cho were easily my favorite of the supporting cast -- I always got a kick out of their give and take. Bruce Davison was also good and I was sad to see him leave. Deanna Russo I could have done without, I didn't feel like she really brought anything to the show.

In regards to the new KITT, I'm not a car guy, so the change to a Mustang didn't bother me in the least. While I agree a sleeker car would've been nice, that's just a minor thing for me. The transformations were over the top, the turbo boost SFX was completely unnecessary, and I thought the 3D object generator was too nonsensical. Too much effort was put into these production values that really weren't necessary for the stories they were telling. I imagine a lot of that was due to the involvement of GST. Since he's one of the people behind the godawful Fast and the Furious film, I'm really not surprised at this part and I'm actually amazed the show was as good as it was despite his involvement.

Overall, the show had its cheesy moments but above everything else, it was fun. And that's all that really mattered to me. And let's face it, it's not like the original was filled with spectacular writing or acting, either and it's not like it was in any short supply of cheesiness.