Lets check up on the NBC blogs, as got a couple of updates. First over at the Knight Writers blog - Knight and the City writer Matt Pyken talks about the post reboot decision to write about "smaller" stories:
If I told you I set out to write a "typical" KR episode, a lot of you would immediately think this guy isn't much interested in innovation. But fans of the original KR might see it a bit differently. As a group -- the writers, the studio, the network -- all agreed that the original KR formula - one man and one car taking on a bad guy, saving a pretty girl, and making things right was a pretty sweet template for a series. When the "re-boot" was contemplated, I immediately decided, with deliberate intent, to tell small stories. By small I mean that Mike and KITT don't need to save the world every week. By small I mean the stories don't always have to come to the SSC through some quasi-governmental source. By small I mean we see some kick-ass action, unravel a mystery, have a few laughs along the way, and by the end of the episode Mike and KITT make a couple of lives a little better, and straighten out their own karma a little in the process. Conceptually, it's a lot like the original series, so you would think that after defeating KARR, the deaths of Dr. Graiman and Alex Torres, and Carrie's near-miss and retirement, this new template would be a no-brainer.
At Billy's Blog - Billy talks about the hardship he is experiencing while trying to remodel a KITTCave that no one can know about:
That's my favorite line from any Batman movie. We know Bruce Wayne gets his toys from a family fortune. And for a while that was enough for me. As a kid, I assumed that if you had the cash, the rest was just a technicality. Boom. You can be a superhero. But then I got started thinking... Bill Gates has more money than Bruce Wayne. Could his riches really allow him to build a massive Superhero lair under his mansion without ANYONE knowing?
Be sure to check out the rest of it at NBCs website.
"Think Small"If I told you I set out to write a "typical" KR episode, a lot of you would immediately think this guy isn't much interested in innovation. But fans of the original KR might see it a bit differently. As a group -- the writers, the studio, the network -- all agreed that the original KR formula - one man and one car taking on a bad guy, saving a pretty girl, and making things right was a pretty sweet template for a series. When the "re-boot" was contemplated, I immediately decided, with deliberate intent, to tell small stories. By small I mean that Mike and KITT don't need to save the world every week. By small I mean the stories don't always have to come to the SSC through some quasi-governmental source. By small I mean we see some kick-ass action, unravel a mystery, have a few laughs along the way, and by the end of the episode Mike and KITT make a couple of lives a little better, and straighten out their own karma a little in the process. Conceptually, it's a lot like the original series, so you would think that after defeating KARR, the deaths of Dr. Graiman and Alex Torres, and Carrie's near-miss and retirement, this new template would be a no-brainer.
Not so.
This story met a ton of internal resistance, but to GST's credit, it made it to air as the penultimate episode of Season 1. It also has its own version of the original KR's comic relief -- in the form of a pair of would-be car thieves who attempt to steal KITT with decidedly mixed results. And of course, Billy and Zoe mix it up a little bit back at the much more mellow KITT Cave.
If there is a second season, these are the kinds of stories I'd like to tell.
Thanks to a cast whose professionalism was only surpassed by their kindness and friendship, and thanks to a tireless crew who made a movie every week - and did it with pride.
Matt Pyken
"Where does he get all those wonderful toys"That's my favorite line from any Batman movie. We know Bruce Wayne gets his toys from a family fortune. And for a while that was enough for me. As a kid, I assumed that if you had the cash, the rest was just a technicality. Boom. You can be a superhero. But then I got started thinking... Bill Gates has more money than Bruce Wayne. Could his riches really allow him to build a massive Superhero lair under his mansion without ANYONE knowing?
Even if he built it in a naturally formed cave (i.e. no need to hire people to dig), he still had to hire a contractor to build the mansion itself. And whoever built the mansion still would need to take into account the elevator shaft/stairway/sliding poles that lead down to the cave. There's no way Batman, Alfred, and the one other person who knows his true identity could've done the manual labor and construction themselves. I know this for a fact.
We recently started redoing things at the "KittCave." (What is the KittCave, you ask? If you don't already know, well, then that's probably for the better.) I wanted to install a sliding pole, like firefighters (and sometimes Batman) use. But Sarah told me that NO ONE can help me. I can buy the raw materials, but no one could step foot inside our building. No one outside of her, me, Mike, and Zoe could really know what we were doing.
So I did it myself. And it wasn't easy. It was darn near impossible.
The pole is taller than two basketball hoops. It doesn't fit in any elevator. It doesn't round corners. It doesn't go through doors or round corners well. And since we're deep underground, the complex has no windows to slide it through.
I wound up finally getting it into the building and down several flights of stairs, and I only broke three lamps, two vases, four computer screens, and damaged one mainframe in the process (and, yes, I almost decapitated a co-worker, but the less said about that the better).
Now I just needed to figure out to lock it into place. Do I use screws or Bolts? Do I weld it? Zoe offered to help, saying she had some insight into these things, but when I found out it was because she once dated a fireman, I told her "no thanks."
Anyways, I'm still working on the superhero/fireman's sliding pole, trying to figure out the best way to actually install it. If any of you have installed one yourself, do share how you did it. Because right now I could really use some help!
