KIFT in CHIPS 99???

[imranbecks]

I just saw the movie Chips 99 earlier today and noticed that the concept car KIFT as seen in the KR 2000 movie was in it!!!! It had everything including the scanner. Only thing was that the scanner did not light up....

Hmmm....Chips 99 is a movie about the California Highway Patrol which stars Erik Estrada and is based on the 70s tv series, and in the movie, there is this group of so called "bad guys" who steals cars which includes the concept car "KIFT"...

Did the producers put KIFT in the movie as some sort of a cameo?

[Michael Pajaro]

I don't think of it as a cameo, but rather simply a case of them recycling an existing prop. Yes, it's sad to think of KITT/KIFT as just a prop, but that's what he was. KIFT isn't as recognizable to the general public as KITT was, so they were able to reuse it. The car apparantly also was made appearances in a Power Rangers episode (with a paint job.)

Some stills of the car from Chips:
http://teamknightrider.com/kr2000/chips/chips.html

[KARR Engineer]

The Z-2000 had a red roof, not like the Knight 4000's black one. Yeah, Power (St)rangers as a police car.

[CB2001]

It's not unknown for such a thing to occur. The Mole vehicles from "Damnation Alley" can also be seen as a military transport vehicle in "A.P.E.X."

[MrPayner]

This is just my opinion, but no matter what angle you look at of that KIFT car, it just looks too wrong to be a Knight Industries vehicle. What do other people think?

AP

[Knight Industries 3000]

^ I don't know about the 4000 not looking like a Knight Industries car, but I do think it's ugly.

[Knight224]

KIFT, like beer and Willie Nelson, is an acquired taste.

[neps]

I do think the car looks better in all red in Chips then in the duo tone of Knight Rider 2000.

[kido]

I do think the car looks better in all red in Chips then in the duo tone of Knight Rider 2000.

Or the Basic Black color

[neps]

Well thats goes with out saying I just thought if they had to go red, all red is better than half.

[OKC KNIGHT]

The last time the k.i.f.t car was used.Was when it apeared on the sci-fi channels scare tatics.They were playing a joke on a "test driver" when the car goes nuts and looses control.pretty funny.

[ozikool]

KIFT is a Pontiac Banshee

[Stylez]

KIFT is a Pontiac Banshee

Correction, KIFT is a Dodge Stealth. It's made to look similar to the Banshee because Pontiac wouldn't let them use it.

[ozikool]

KIFT is a Pontiac Banshee

Correction, KIFT is a Dodge Stealth. It's made to look similar to the Banshee because Pontiac wouldn't let them use it.

I see a big difference
The Dodge Stealth dos not look like banshee

[Stylez]

KIFT is a Pontiac Banshee

Correction, KIFT is a Dodge Stealth. It's made to look similar to the Banshee because Pontiac wouldn't let them use it.

I see a big difference
The Dodge Stealth dos not look like banshee

Well then allow me to take you to school my friend.... http://www.kr2k.com/bts1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This should clear up why it doesn't look right to you. Have a look over the rest of the site, it's quite the goldmine and we have Scott Kirkessner to thank for that.

[ozikool]

I see now,Thanks

[Sue]

ozikool I just have to know.. where ever are you finding all these 2004 threads? Is there a rift in the space time continum or are you posting after a spammer had bumped the thread. Curiosity has gotten the best of me.

[Lost Knight]

I would guess he just used the search option to see if there was a pre-existing thread about it...

[Knight007]

So, KITT happens to be a car from all the 3 American Car Makers!!!!! First it was from GM, then Dodge, and now its a Ford???? I never knew this before. All time, I thought KIFT wasa nother GM car

[Sky_Blue_Civic]

I would guess he just used the search option to see if there was a pre-existing thread about it...

...Or he skipped to the last few pages of threads.

[Victor Kros]

K.I.F.T. is a 1991 Dodge Stealth. As depicted on Scott's site and pages 180-181 of The Knight Rider Companion.



=VK=

[Lost Knight]

OK, to take this off-topic for just a moment...

Every Knight Industries vehicle doesn't necessarily have to have an acronym, nor the acronym needing to stand for the vehicle's name itself. K.A.R.R. is a perfect example of this. He's the Knight Automated Roving Robot built into a prototype Knight 2000, yet he was not named K.I.T.T. Therefore I don't refer to the Knight 4000 as "K.I.F.T."

[Victor Kros]

OK, to take this off-topic for just a moment...

Every Knight Industries vehicle doesn't necessarily have to have an acronym, nor the acronym needing to stand for the vehicle's name itself. K.A.R.R. is a perfect example of this. He's the Knight Automated Roving Robot built into a prototype Knight 2000, yet he was not named K.I.T.T. Therefore I don't refer to the Knight 4000 as "K.I.F.T."

- Yet the rest of the world does just like they call the new K.I.T.T., the Knight Industries Three Thousand and not something else. The reason K.A.R.R. was not called the Knight Industries Two Thousand is because it was a prototype - KARR wasn't even a Knight Industries One Thousand.

Good luck pronouncing or marketing the name K.I.O.T right?

Keep in mind the car itself is called the Knight 2000 (which you pointed out) it's the A.I. that gets the "industries" designation which I would assume is given when a A.I. is tested enough to go into the field. If you call the car itself, Knight 4000 I can see your distinction but KIFT is still the AI inside of it.

This poses an interesting question though, when K.I.T.T. is placed inside the Knight 4000, that would mean although the car is the Knight 4000, K.I.T.T. is still called KITT but I would think not because of his model number but because his designation has evolved into an identity that sets him apart from the car he's placed in.

KITT is a character name, rather than a program identification.

Even K.R.O. was given an acronym with a number designation, Knight Reformulation One.

=VK=

[Lost Knight]

Knight 4000 works fine for me. It's also noteworthy to mention that the so-called "K.I.F.T." lacked a personality and was built purposely that way because of Maddock's lost faith in humans. All the more reason to refer to it in a colder term like Knight 4000.

[Lost Knight]

This poses an interesting question though, when K.I.T.T. is placed inside the Knight 4000, that would mean although the car is the Knight 4000, K.I.T.T. is still called KITT but I would think not because of his model number but because his designation has evolved into an identity that sets him apart from the car he's placed in.

KITT is a character name, rather than a program identification.

I assume Michael still called him K.I.T.T. for two reasons. One being that K.I.T.T. is his own separate entity from the Knight 2000 which we can agree is a fact. The other (at least according to KR2K's continuity) is that K.I.T.T. is made up of Series 2000 circuitry, which could mean he was named after his circuitry that also happened to fit in nicely with the Knight 2000's name itself, thus creating the confusion that every A.I. must be named after its vehicle.

It's difficult to say since all we can go by is opinions (not even Glen Larson himself can provide an answer since he had nothing to do with the movie), but I'll have to maintain that the Knight 4000's A.I. was never actually given a name. I think Maddock or Devon for that matter would have called him K.I.F.T. at one point. And the same goes for the A.I. itself referring to Maddock as "sir." Remember, we're not talking about Wilton Knight here, whose team tapped into the essence of true A.I. We're talking about Maddock who ran Knight Industries/the Knight Foundation much differently and with his own style. He didn't want a "human" car, just a vehicle that could talk like its predecessor.

Even K.R.O. was given an acronym with a number designation, Knight Reformulation One.

=VK=

In K.R.O.'s case, yes, that's true. Only problem is, what about every other vehicle in Team Knight Rider? They all had names, not acronyms or even actual separate vehicle names apart from their A.I.s, correct? (I'm aware the producers did that to avoid confusion with too many acronyms, but I'm talking from a storyline perspective.)

Perhaps TKR doesn't matter since most people (or everybody?) don't even consider it canon, much like Knight Rider 2000. Even the backdoor pilot and new series aren't even connected to either of these. Do any of them even count at all? Well, like the movie or not, but KR2K made the most effort of all these comeback attempts to extrapolate the continuity from the original series.