KITT should have been TRANS AM

[Victor Kros]

Unfortunately for GM Mustang was outselling the Camaro and Firebird almost 2 to 1.That was the combined sales of the Camaro/Firebird vs the Mustang.This was 1 of the main reasons they quit making these cars after 2002.getting back on topic of Knight Rider and the mustang,I think if some of you would quit worrying about KITT not being a car that isnt even made anymore I think you would enjoy our favorite franchise a lot better.Lets face it,we may not like it but the Trans Am is dead and it doesnt look like it is ever coming back.

- In my opinion it's not the brand of car that matters or who makes it, it's how it looks inside and out which is clearly not like the KITT car we'd expect nor does it have any real resemblance to it's predecessor (other then being black and having a "new" scanner look tossed on). Blame the arrogance of Harold Belker for this over-all deficiency, he deserves all the credit.

=VK=

[Michael Pajaro]

Blame the arrogance of Harold Belker for this over-all deficiency, he deserves all the credit.

There's a difference between offering an opinion and flat-out insulting someone. Let's dial it back a bit please. Thank you.

[Victor Kros]

Blame the arrogance of Harold Belker for this over-all deficiency, he deserves all the credit.

There's a difference between offering an opinion and flat-out insulting someone. Let's dial it back a bit please. Thank you.

- With all due respect Harold Belker insulted every Knight Rider fan when he stated he didn't have any desire or respect to watch the original series. It's not only a slap in the face to the fans, but Michael Scheffe as well and that's all I will say on this matter, Mike.

=VK=

[DorianX]

- With all due respect Harold Belker insulted every Knight Rider fan when he stated he didn't have any desire or respect to watch the original series. It's not only a slap in the face to the fans, but Michael Scheffe as well and that's all I will say on this matter, Mike.

Pretty much every time a show gets revived, one of the important people associated with the production says something like this, and every time, the fans get all insulted.

It's not personal. Really. It's not about disrespecting the original series. Really. It's about wanting to make sure that his own work shows originality and he doesn't fall into the trap of just copying the original slavishly. For a person in a position like his, it'd be far worse to be seen as unoriginal than to be seen as having no respect for the past.

[Victor Kros]

Pretty much every time a show gets revived, one of the important people associated with the production says something like this, and every time, the fans get all insulted.

It's not personal. Really. It's not about disrespecting the original series. Really. It's about wanting to make sure that his own work shows originality and he doesn't fall into the trap of just copying the original slavishly. For a person in a position like his, it'd be far worse to be seen as unoriginal than to be seen as having no respect for the past.

- Sorry I do not agree with you because this is a continuation, not a remake. Therefore respecting and referencing the past designs should be a given. Even the sci-fi Battlestar Galactica had respect for the original design principles. You can honor what came before (not dismiss it) and still come up with something more original. It does not have to be a drastic departure from what originally worked in the first place.

I believe this is one of those subjects we'll need to agree to disagree on.

=VK=

[Garthe Knight]

I am not blaming someone very quickly, but I don't get why they hired Harold Belker.
Look at the things he did, in my opinion nearly every approach of him was a desaster.

Batmin & Robin Batmobile -> the ugliest and most unrealistic batmobile so far

The same for Robin's motorcycle and all the other ice-vehicles. uaaah, ugly.

Armageddon Shuttles -> hooray, some extra wings on it, and it looks futuristic. (yeah, so what to expect for attack KITT?)

Spider-Man -> not the best approach at the Green Goblin, wouldn't you agree?

XXX2 -> look at those cars, and you can image how his KITT would look like. And yeah, it does look like that.

So, with all that references, the new attack KITT was just another failed try to make a cool, futuristic but sleek and elegant car by Harold Belker. This guy has no taste, that is my opinion.

It's not the Mustang, this could work. But not with all those extra wings and body kit.

[KRisBack]

So, with all that references, the new attack KITT was just another failed try to make a cool, futuristic but sleek and elegant car by Harold Belker. This guy has no taste, that is my opinion.

It's not the Mustang, this could work. But not with all those extra wings and body kit.

Tell me about it. They didn't make any real changes to the Mustang. How lazy is that? If the premise is that KITT should blend in with the cars on the street I think the whole morphing into a regular Mustang could cover that. This was his lisence to go wild but no, let's take a GT-500KR and do as little as possible to it and call it KITT.

Don't get me wrong I like the new KITT but it's really annoying that very little effort was put into this. IMO they spent all their time recreating the shelby mustang as it wasn't available and they felt accomplished in doing that much.

[DorianX]

- Sorry I do not agree with you because this is a continuation, not a remake. Therefore respecting and referencing the past designs should be a given. Even the sci-fi Battlestar Galactica had respect for the original design principles. You can honor what came before (not dismiss it) and still come up with something more original. It does not have to be a drastic departure from what originally worked in the first place.

I believe this is one of those subjects we'll need to agree to disagree on.

=VK=

I want to point out that I don't think he did the right thing, just that I don't think he was disrespectful about it. If anything, I think he acted out of a misguided sense of respect, that it would be more respectful to avoid any appearance that he was "raiding" the past for ideas.

Respectful, but totally misguided.

[PHOENIXZERO]

Have you seen/read the comments of Belker? There's nothing "misguided" about it.

[Kram061-1]

It's time to stop. I loved the original show, especially the Trans Am. If Pontiac still made a Trans Am then you'd have an argument here, but they don't. They only real, true sports car on the market today, made in the USA, is the Mustang. Deal with it. The Charger was butchered by Dodge into a family car, and the Camaro, as well as the Challenger, won't be out for a while yet.

[Lost Knight]

I will say that I believe Harold Belker deserves all the negative flak he is getting because his comments did come off as disrespectful to the original series and the fans. Granted, people could make complaints against Michael Scheffe and say that all he did was design a new nose for K.I.T.T.'s exterior, but the main difference is that Scheffe mastered the "less is more" approach beautifully. Belker took the most obvious route by designing the exterior with the "coolness" factor in mind as opposed to practicality. If he took the time to even watch a single episode of the original series, he may have understood that K.I.T.T. isn't the same as every other movie vehicle because his appearance was never intended to be too over-the-top. To me, it appears as if a rookie would do the exact same thing. It's a shame he didn't use the same approach the rest of the production crew did, which was to respect the original source material enough to find just the right amount of its elements to incorporate into the new production. They could have easily chose to completely do their own thing, but they were smart enough to retain elements of the original.

With what is in my opinion not a particularly impressive track record of car designs (but at least a good enough record of opportunities for working on high profile films), it seems foolish to me for Belker to at least not be more careful with his selection of words. Just as Ford boasts about the fact that the Mustang used for the production is 550 HP (which I've been saying for months makes no difference for a fictitious vehicle), Belker's record is just as irrelevant because it reflects the franchises of films he's worked on, not the quality of them. I admire Belker's honesty; I just don't think it was wise for him to make his statements the way he did. The main difference between classic K.I.T.T. and the Knight 3000 is that one has the most detail on the exterior while the other has the most detail on the interior. Not understanding why classic K.I.T.T. was designed this way on top of the fact of trying to make his own work stand alone (if what Dorian X said is true) makes all the difference. At least to me it does.

[GarthKnight08]

Am i the only person on this planet that likes the both new versions of KITT? I could have done without attack mode & made the normal mode look a little better with the attack mode front end & lose the stripes & add black wheels as well as tail light blackouts & thats as far as i would have gone but the finished product we got isnt really all that bad at all. I like the normal & attack mode we got equally & im sure as time goes on if the show gets picked up the car will grow on you & i would bet that you will fall in love with it just like the old KITT. I should do a version of normal mode that im talking about with photoshop im sure you guys would like it.

[Solid Snake]

I agree that Belker should have been a little bit more careful when he said what he did, but the car itself was really nice looking, with a decent wink to the old idea of being a KITT car. However... I would have really been interested in seeing what Chip "gone in 60 seconds" Foose would and could have done with making a Mustang KITT. He is a big Mustang fan (if not freak, as am I) and if you just look at what he did to the Gone in 60 seconds Eleanor, which was a classic 67 GT500, he kicked that baby into overdrive and boosted interest in classic Mustangs way back to the upper part of the scale. Maybe, just maybe, his KITT would have been even better!

[Kram061-1]

you know what? The Original pilot, the car, while pretty cool already, was not where Glen Larson wanted it to be yet...the nose was only a strip of red tape in most scenes, and they hadn't had the time to make the voicebox what it became. Now, that said, all that stuff was explained by saying KITT was put into service before he was finished and these were all upgrades. The new series has potential, if handled right... To me, it's not that the type of car don't matter, as much as we'll get used to the new car. The only thing that got under my skin is the cars functions, i.e. STUNTS...not enough, that's where the original Trans Am jumped out and grabbed the attention of the audience, and that is exactly what was missing. I doubt the Mustang v. Trans Am conversations would be as involved if the new KITT Jumped, drove on 2-wheels, maybe the good ole' ejection seat. The first KITT was a James Bond on wheels, and that, to me, is what this new car lacked. However, this new pilot seemed to be laying the groundwork for a future series......like a bridge to the new show?? if that makes any sense... Now maybe that they're on their first official mission, maybe some of that will come about if it's a series....it shouldn't be too hard to do with today's CGI......as for the shapeshifting, and self healing, I think that is here to stay, and so is the Mustang. You'll get used to it, if it goes to series.

[killem2]

Be real. If they forced a deal to pontiac we'd end up with a G6. You know we would.

[tamatt27]

Be real. If they forced a deal to pontiac we'd end up with a G6. You know we would.

No you would end up with this: