Will KR Ride again?

[KnightGallifreyRider]

I only just signed up to this MB within the last 24 hours and am already hooked. This being my first post I thought I would start off with the question that I am sure is most common among Knight Rider fans. Will Kitt ever ride again? Knight Rider finished in 1986 but has come back on numerous occasions [most recently on 2008] so will it do so again? I personally loved the revived Knight Rider with Justin Bruening and Deanna Russo. In just one series I think the characters really grew and developed and had we been given another run I think the show would have got even better. NBCs lose.


But what is the future? Does Kitt even have one? And if so how do you ensure its success? I don’t hold with the view that KR needs the Hoff to be a success. I have read posts elsewhere that say no Hoff no Knight Rider and that I disagree with. The 2008 series was rooted in the history of the original and even guest stared [albeit briefly] the Hoff himself. Team Knight Rider also had references to the past so it’s not as if both revivals were a complete departure. However one can’t deny that both shows failed. Why is this? Is Knight Rider such apart of the 80s [as my dad thinks] that it’s almost impossible for it to find a modern day audience/style? Or, [as I think is the case] it just needs a writer/producer that understands it. What are your thoughts? Will NBC give Kitt another chance or has KR been sent to the scrap yard for good?

[Knight Racer]

I think a talking car belongs in the 80's.We've had so many chances to revive the show with different directions and still none of them have succeeded enough to go over 17-22 episodes.We had 3 great festivals with thousands of people attending,David Hasselhoff and Glen Larson Day,all the knightcon's so there really is a following but I doubt we will ever have another series that can last 4 or more seasons like the one from the 80's.I really think the last shot was just it,our last shot but then again only time will tell.

[knightprowl]

Well there is Glen Larson"s feature film but i got no idea when or if that will ever be finished. only time will tell as Knight Racer said. I pray someday there is the film or something else, as long as its got original characters or sticks to the original story, and not like new Knight Rider series ill be ok. I liked the new series to a point for what it was, but the original will always be the best. Anyways we can only hope guys, and if something does come that its a good reboot or a film like Glen Larson has planned, but it might be some time before NBC does do anything. I myself dont see anything happening anytime soon, we can only hope though, and i hope someday there is something, if not we always have what is already. Anyways thanks and peace

[jup]

Time will tell, indeed. TV trends change. Technology changes. Ways of doing entertainment changes.

These days, things from the past tend to come back with more force then ever before. I hear Ghostbusters is coming back to hand the packs off to a new generation...and packing a ton of history baggage that the cameras didn't follow with it. Three Stooges is now hitting the movie scene after how many years of time lapse? (Apparently, not as a reboot, either.) So many other franchises to be listed here to bore us all into comas. So, if Knight Rider is ever going to ride off into the sunset is a hard one to predict.

Now, I do note the advancment of technology, here. Perhaps, as public vehicles begin to become more and more auto pilot compliant, the notions of having an action show that revolves around high tech on wheels will become rather dull and outdated, like this Buck Rodgers movie I saw on Hulu, today. Who's to say. Then again, for entertainment, who is also to say that it must be done with physical cars at high priced production values, at all? A future KR show might happen inside an entire CG reality with minimum expense and at a writer's level of creativity. Sure. There will probably be a million posts about how 'non-reality is garbage' and how real cars better be getting crunched up for the show to be good and bla, bla, bla...viewpoints have enough room to be seen from many angles. I, for one, can go with nearly any angle...just so long as 1/16'th sized models with five LED's aren't sinking into some black mush substance, looking about as un-realistic as anything.

Hey, look! Top Gun is getting ready to be released on X-Box 360. That makes about...what??? 50 video game versions (Probably closer to 30, in reality) for a mid-80s' movie with zero official sequels, now?

[Ringin7]

I would say that there is no chance KR will ever been tried again. It's had chances. Many chances. Even a movie with the Hoff and a bunch of bad cops. I really tried to enjoy the 2008 series. I watched every episode. I just couldn't get into it. Deanna Russo was pretty hot, however.

[goldbug]

I think it will come back again in some form, but it wouldn't shock me if it took another 5-10 years for it to happen. KR is a franchise that seems to emerge every decade or so for another round. The fact that the KR2008 "pilot" movie garnered so much interest and ratings shows that people dig the idea. I just think the series didn't invest properly in the "core" KR concept and tried to reinvent too much. I enjoyed it on its own merits, but I can't say I "loved" it the way I loved the 80's series or even the pilot movie.

We're also in an age where "car movies" are hot properties, and because people have a familiarity with technology unlike any time previous, they can relate to the tech more than ever. Take the technology to "next levels" and you can have a cool car that will fire imaginations not just because it's "cool" but because it's also *plausible*.

The core of KR isn't just about a "dude and his cool car who fight crime". The *relationship* between the car as a character and the driver is key. Without that, you don't have something special.

I have high hopes to see KR return in some form in the future. Part of me would be all for an animated mini-series in the spirit of the "Supernatural Anime" done last year. SFX, production costs etc. wouldn't be a factor and it would be a (relatively) low budget investment to ramp up interest for a potential live action project down the line.