The Alpha Circuit??

[AtariKnight]

What exactly does this obviously very important component do and why must it be repaired immediately?

We're told that it can be damaged by Towing unusual loads (Ie. A car?), But why isn't it affected when KITT tows with the rear winch cable?





Questions, Questions

[wannabegeorge]

Well, it's not important IMHO. It was just referenced for dramatic purposes. I'm sure the creators didn't have a function in mind and the show isn't intended to be taken that literally ... again, IMHO.

[FuzzieDice]

Or pushes tractor trailers out of the way and other vehicles?

What an Alpha Circuit is, is known as "technobabble" - a term I learned as a Star Trek Fan (not a trekkie, but just a fan ) It is technical terms that really mean nothing but are said to make things sound important.

Though if you want to guess, remember that KITT's radio also didn't work either. So I thought it was some sort of accessory circuit. Sorta like if you blow a fuse in your car and your cigarette lighter, dome light, and radio suddenly stop working until the fuse is replaced.

But it's really crazy if a "circuit" blows from towing another vehicle because that is a *physical* thing and thus since KITT is supposed to be indestructable, that wouldn't cause him to blow any circuits.

Unless he had to think too hard to tow something.

[pdennis93]

ok heres a question.... probably a continuity error, but if KITT's alpha circut was damaged, and he lost the radio, how was KARR able to play "jump" on his radio when his alpha circuit was damaged, nevermind the obvious "how did karr get a cassette with a song from 1984 on it when he had been buried underground since 1982"?

[FuzzieDice]

That wasn't KARR's Alpha CIRCUIT. But his Alpha *capacitors*. There might have been a difference there. Who knows.

And as for KARR's *circuits*, it was in Trust Doesn't Rust that his *lambda* circuits were malfunctioning.

I don't recall KARR ever having problems with his alpha *circuits* though who knows, I might have missed for fogotten something in any of his dialogs.

[pdennis93]

taken from KITT VS KARR, michael talking to bonnie in the semi when she says she needs kitt for 24 hrs...

"i had kitt trace the the salt water damage to KARR's alpha circuits, if he gets those parts and he repairs them, its only gonna be a matter of hours before his other systems are up to full strength, so while we are experimenting with modified lasers here, he will be making himself fully operational, we CAN NOT let that happen."

from what i remember from my basica electronics class, you have capacitors in a circuit, so it could have been his capacitors failing causing his alpha circuit to be damaged, and when capacitors are not functioning the circuit doesnt get the power it needs, hence why after his alpha capacitors were fixed, he had to wait to "charge up" as seen in the confrontation between him and kitt at mr D's marina

[HungarianKnight]

I don't know where, but I remember hearing or reading that the Alpha Circuit is the I/O interface between the car and the AI. With minor damages, Kitt (or Karr) can lose some minor functions like playing tapes (so it's up to Michael's full strength to press the PLAY button), but if the circuit is damaged badly, Kitt can not control any function of the car as if in Manual Override.

[pdennis93]

that would explain why twice before karr was fixed he said to john "manual override, press turbo boost"

i always wondered why karr didnt do it himself...

[FuzzieDice]

pdennis- I stand corrected. You're right. See how much attention I pay to details?

HungarianKnight - I think you have a good idea here. I wonder if it's anywhere in the KITT Kit diagrams, even? Or what it does?

Too bad we don't have a real, full-fledged Technical Manual for KITT.

[Akaihiryuu]

A tech manual would be neat...however, most of the components were just technobabble that didn't make any sense. I don't think they were really going for a sci-fi angle and continuity like they attempted to do with Star Trek (at least there the technobabble had consistent names and functions). But yeah, a tech manual that at least attempts to explain how KITT was able to do the things he does would be nifty. I don't think there is an explanation for the whole indestructable thing though. The whole molecular bonded shell idea is, sadly, ridiculous and has no basis in reality whatsoever, and yet it was necessary to the plot. KITT would need inertial dampeners and extremely powerful force fields out of sci-fi to be able to do the things he did. We're talking stuff on the level of Ancient or Asgard tech from SG-1.

[Matthew]

The whole molecular bonded shell idea is, sadly, ridiculous and has no basis in reality whatsoever, and yet it was necessary to the plot.

I disagree with your analysis of the molecular bonded shell. Whilst I would never claim to have a scientific background, the notion of tightening the molecular bonds to strengthen a substance seems very plausible to me. Whilst the virtual indestructibility tag might have been a stretch of this notion, in comparison to everyday cars, a car with heavily strengthened molecular bonds would surely seem virtually indestructible in comparison, especially if all external components such as the vehicle frame were strengthened as well as the shell.

Matt

[HungarianKnight]

I remember a fan site called Survey on Foundation Technology. The site states that the MBS was based upon a specific carbon polymer called fullerite. What we know about fullerite:

Fullerites, or Polymerized Single Walled NanoTubules (P-SWNT) are very hard like diamond, but because the nanotubules intertwine they don't have the corresponding crystal lattice that makes it possible to cut diamonds neatly. This means impact is spread out throughout the material making it less brittle. Nanotubules are still very expensive to produce and so uses for a material lighter and stronger than steel will have to wait until nanotubule production becomes more economical.
Quoted from Wikipedia.

This means that Kitt's armour costed more money than the American National Debt, yet was tough and almost indestructable.

[Akaihiryuu]

Hm...carbon nanotubes are a nifty idea, but making spray-on armor for a car out of it isn't feasable with our current level of technology. Besides, a spray-on armor like that would be limited by the strength of whatever material it was covering. I really like KR, and when I was a kid it seemed believable, but now that I'm 33, a lot of the "technical" stuff just seems ridiculous, compared to shows that took a more sci-fi angle and tried to be believable by extrapolating from existing physics (like Star Trek, Stargate, etc). I think KR would've benefitted by taking more of a sci-fi angle to the technical stuff. It wouldn't have to be extreme, it would've just required some consultation of real scientists, and they would have to come up with consistent names and explanations for parts and how things work. I hope that if the KR movie ever comes out that they do this. But really, KR was intended to be more of a James Bond type show than realistic sci-fi. In a way, it's the American version of James Bond.

[Wizster]

Hm...carbon nanotubes are a nifty idea, but making spray-on armor for a car out of it isn't feasable with our current level of technology.

But KITT was meant to be "the car of the future" and relied on many things that was out of our reach technologically speaking

[FuzzieDice]

I've heard of a coating called "POR-15". What is that exactly and is that anything similar to protection against dings and dents? I do remember that there was some coating that resisted and sometimes even self-mended scratches that people put on their cars. It was way back I think and I don't know but what it didn't work they way it was claimed so it's not around anymore - or something like that?

I have read some reports of scientists coming up with special metal alloys that were touted as "indestructable" but that was within the past couple years. Stuff like that wasn't really thought of in the 80s I don't think.

But I agree that since KITT was to be the Car of the Future, some technology had to be way ahead of it's time. His AI systems is another example. Even today, there's still no "true Artificial Intelligence" in existance that we know of. We've come a long way with chatbots and AI "assistants" but they still can't hold a candle to what KITT was and became in the show.

So it's feasable that from a story standpoint the MBS is right up there with the idea of a sentient AI system. He's definitely way ahead of his time in those areas, even by today's standards.

That's Science *fiction* for ya.