If Knight Rider had continued into the 90's

[KNIGHT RAIDER]

Whenever I watch the Knight Rider episodes, I keep thinking about how the series should have surpassed the fourth season, for there were alot of shows that have aired for over a decade that didn't compare to Knight Rider. I also ask myself, if the series had continued into the 90's, would it have forced GM & Pontiac to expedite the redesigned fourth generation Firebird Trans Ams before it's scheduled debut in 93. If so, would it have resulted in the transistion process of converting KITT's hard drive systems into a fourth generation prototype body.

[Army_F_Body]

I doubt it would have had any effect on GMs production schedule. GM already had a good idea how they wanted the 4th gens to be while KR was still on the air.

My grandfather had a car book from 84 which had a picture of a 4th gen Camaro protype sitting next to a current production Camaro. It looked fairly close to the actuall Camaro that was released almost 10 years later.

I think KR should have been given a few more years, but shouldn't have continued into the 90s. When I watch I love the 90s and remember all the shows from back then, I don't think KR would have really fit in. Shows like KR were few and far between back in those days. In fact Quantum Leap is one of the few that come to mind.

[edwardknight2005]

agreed Army

[Arjun]

Luckily, it did not run into the 90's- else it would have suffered the drop in quality that "Hogan Family" and "MacGyver" did- the episodes got slow, dreary nd as sentimental as the dreaded daily soap opera.

[Lost Knight]

Well, if Knight Rider would have continued into the '90s, I have no doubt that K.I.T.T. would have at least been incorporated into a brand new car. Let's face it: as much as we all love that classic 3rd generation Trans Am design, it's fairly obvious (at least to me) that the producers would have written a drastic storyline in order to incorporate KITT into a brand new vehicle had the show lasted longer. Come on...there's only so many times you could destroy our beloved Trans Am and rebuild KITT ever so slightly into an upgraded machine. Sooner or later a drastic change would have had to have taken place. If anything, proof of this idea took place in the 4th season with the idea of Super Pursuit Mode. Furthermore, Knight Rider 2000 took the idea to a higher level and incorporated KITT into an entirely different car (a very different high-tech looking car at the time). In my opinion, KR2K continued what would have been KR in its fifth (or later) season(s).

When you think about it, SPM was really the safest and smartest way to go about a change in KITT. Love it or hate it; we were able to enjoy our beloved KITT in his natural 3rd generation Trans Am body, yet we were also treated to a taste of the future, or, the next step if you will. SPM obviously looked drastically different than anything we'd ever seen before; it could even compare to the radical designs of some exotic sports cars that exist nowadays or even back then. However, SPM was more like a transition to keep everybody happy (even though it obviously didn't according to fans' responses [at least on this board]). If KITT were ever to transition into a new vehicle, I couldn't think of a better way to make it happen than a slow, gradual transition from the car we all know & love to a brand new car. You could only realistically use an obsolete 3rd generation Trans Am for so long, especially if you're trying to preach the idea of a high-tech supercar able to do almost anything.

[chrisebourg]

Luckily, it did not run into the 90's- else it would have suffered the drop in quality that "Hogan Family" and "MacGyver" did- the episodes got slow, dreary nd as sentimental as the dreaded daily soap opera.

Indeed, after thinking things through, God only knows what they would have done to KITT!!! When I was young, I use to like the SPM mode, for example - but now, 10 years later; I just preferred the original KITT and car. Letting the show go on would have killed the series

I wonder thought if David would have been up to do a cuple of additional series?

[Lyn]

Uh, it would be too much like "Baywatch", sans the swimsuits and lifeguards? Just asking.....
I would've liked for the show to have at least one or two more seasons in the 1980s had the money for producing the show not run out, that is.

[CB2001]

Well, in 1992, Pontiac were releasing Formulas that look a lot like the 1980s Trans-Ams, except for small details.

[FuzzieDice]

With the way KITT's personality was developing, who knows he might eventually have not been a car but a full-blown android that could also control the car. You never know.

I think in TKR he was a humanoid projection called "Shadow", wasn't he? Maybe that would have been or was to be a continuation of Knight Rider and the next incarnation of KITT?

[CB2001]

FuzzieDice- Yes. The Shadow on TKR was KITT. We get to see his CPU core, which says "KITT" on it.

[Knight Rider Archive]

I think if Knight Rider had continued into the 1990s, the show would eventually have evolved into something more akin to Viper or even Team Knight Rider.

Knight Rider was an action show, and always should have been an action show, but during the 4th Season they had to move away from the kind of stunts that had made the show what it was -- there was much less in the way of Turbo Boosts (even using miniatures) and Ski Modes. Less of the car crashes, and high speed chases often relied on stock footage (SPM a case in point). There were, however, still plenty of fist fights for Michael to get involved with. So, I think the show would have eventually become (at least for a little while) a bit darker. There would have to be a shift in emphasis to distract from the lack of those stunts, so I think they would have gone for stronger stories that posed a real threat to Michael, K.I.T.T. and the rest of the F.L.A.G. family. Knight Rider 2000 is a good example of the kind of stories they would probably have turned out in the late 80s/early 90s.

After the darker shows had run their course, I think KR would have adopted the tone of T.K.R. Eventually the semi would undoubtedly have mutated into that awful plane, Michael may have grown a few more unnecessary partners, and the show would have returned to the kind of light-hearted storytelling that was present in the earlier shows, and the middle of the second season.

Like 'em or hate them, Knight Rider 2000 and T.K.R. are great examples of what we could have expected from the original series had it lasted to those points in time.

- Paul
- http://www.knightriderarchive.com

[Michael Pajaro]

I think the biggest change for Knight Rider in the 90s would have been a shift to more serialized plotlines.

Adventure shows sort of "grew up" in the 90s, where character development became just as important as action series. Story arcs would span several episodes or even an entire season. We saw a little bit of that with TKR.

[KnightCrusader99]

I think the biggest change for Knight Rider in the 90s would have been a shift to more serialized plotlines.

Adventure shows sort of "grew up" in the 90s, where character development became just as important as action series. Story arcs would span several episodes or even an entire season. We saw a little bit of that with TKR.

Your exactly right. That is the reason I am so glued on SG-1/Atlantis now is because how well the episodes build upon one another. It is like a 8+ year movie. If KR was like that I am sure more people would have watched it, and thus it would have lasted many more seasons.

-Steve

[FuzzieDice]

FuzzieDice- Yes. The Shadow on TKR was KITT. We get to see his CPU core, which says "KITT" on it.

Now I'm starting to hope that TKR will come out on DVD so I can finally see it. I think I only watched the pilot and didn't like it (much like my reaction to KR2K which when I saw it on the DVD set I liked it).

[Arjun]

The fifth season should have been a team event, with tough missions as in "Inside Out", "Deadly Maneuvers", "Knight Flight to Freedom" and "Mouth of the Snake" or the first season of Airwolf.

[Knight Rider Archive]

I don't think the show should have become a team event at all, that's completely against the central theme of the show -- One Man Can Make a Difference.

It was always nice to get Devon and Bonnie and April involved in the stories, but the show should never lose sight of the fact that Michael Knight is the hero, the do-er, the character in action, the one who solves the crimes (with the help of his car). The writer's bible (available for download at the Archive) stresses that fact, and it's something the series seemed to forget in the Fourth Season, with the advent of RC3 and stories like "Knight Sting".

- Paul
- http://www.knightriderarchive.com

[Skav]

I agree with KRA. However, I did like the 4th season because the stories became more solid and stronger instead of light-hearted. The script was more sharper too, which I knew was because of the lack of stunts as was stressed.

But I believe a combination of both should have been incorporated had there been a 5th season.

That would have made KR better than ever, IMO.

[Lost Knight]

The RC3 character was added to create new storylines and help the series gain higher ratings as was the purpose of the new Super Pursuit Mode feature. The 4th season was the last chance that producers had to boost the ratings or else their show would be axed. Desperate times called for desperate measures; in this case, certain rules of the show had to be broken in order to save it.

Had these new gimmicks worked, the show would have been saved but there's no doubt that it would have started taking drastically different directions in order to stay fresh and maintain ratings. With technology rapidly evolving in automobiles during the '80s, there'd be only so many times producers could rebuild the same car and keep it a few steps ahead of all other ordinary cars. NBC would have definately put the pressure on to make sure they were getting their money's worth.

[KNIGHTBOY]

Knight Rider was MADE for the 80s. It was an action show with lots of cool stunts, it had that funky 80s soundtrack, and most importantly, it was light and fun.

In the 90s they started using cheesy computer effects for everything instead of real, practical stunts. And the music got really cheap and generic. Knight Rider would have become something like Time Trax, god forbid.