KR2008: Pro and Con
Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:02 pm
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.
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.