Knight Rider

Television, Movies Games and Books Other Science Fiction
#1

So the new series has begun an i was wondering what everyone thought.

I had fun with it. I think its probably as cheesy and silly as the original. I don’t think they are taking themselves to seriously. The new show had lots of fun little moments like when the missile was chasing KITT and Michael said to release the flares and KITT was like no but then did it anyway and was afterward like “The missile is not a heat seeking missile”

I like the geeky tech guy i got some good laughs out of him and his Asian/hispanic??? counterpart chick.

Some of the effects were cheesy and pretty bad but that didn’t distract me to much.

What ya’ll think

#2

Yes, I agree. It fells even more cheesy to me than the original IMO. The visual effects are bad and something felt very off with the editing. I don’t think the story was a good follow up to the pilot and the only thin that is remotely interesting plot wise is who Mike was. The only thing that really interest me is what the car can do. Is it possible that they have already “Jumped the Shark” in the first episode with the whole Transformers thing? Are we to believe that she can write code to allow Kitt to change into anything? I also fell like I am having a Enterprise flashback with the whole, find an excuse to get their cloths of type of writing style. I do really like the interaction of the Asian girl and the nerd. They should jump into Kitt and take off to start a sitcom for themselves.:smiley:

#3

<blink>

You are kidding right? Geeky tech guy? Don’t you mean:

BILLY

Yes…Billy…Roslin’s Billy. Frak, they didn’t even change his name in Knight Rider…he is still Billy!

I practically fell over. Poor Billy, he represents the fundamental problem of the show, they can’t decide whether to take themselves seriously or not. If you are going to go camp, go all the way (remake of Charlie’s Angels) or go totally serious and dark…being wishy washy and floating somewhere inbetween is distracting. I will another episode or two…but I am not sure this one is going to make the cut.

#4

Ok - I enjoyed this. Let’s face it - there’s not much interesting stuff on Wednesday evenings, beings that it’s church night in lots of places. Campy - heck yeah. But I’ll still watch it. Just for Billy…:slight_smile:

#5

Holy Frak…your right…I thought he looked familiar it was so nagging on me but i forgot to look it up 'cause after i was debating David Blaine. But you are sooo sooo right. I am so stupid.

But i’m with ya. Ill watch another few episodes and then make a decision. But i am happy that next Wendesday we get Pushing Daisies back. I love that show so much.

#6

What’s funny about all this is that I think this version is remarkably true to the original. It’s not just like the original. But I imagine if you took the same group of people that made the original – or modern people with the same mindset – and put them in a room today with the arsenal of effects, budget, etc. that the current show has, you’d get, well, exactly this.

It’s cheesy as hell. The transformation concept stretches reality well beyond the breaking point. And yes, the plot at the beginning was little more than a completely unvailed reason to show us Sarah in her undies.

But OTOH, the transformation concept isn’t any more reality-defying than a 350+ MPH '82 Trans Am – or the original KITT’s “molecular bonded shell” or its oh-s***-gonna-have-to-retcon-this-somehow-after-the-pilot “pyroclastic lamination.” And hell, just like in the original series the whole plot doesn’t really matter. It’s just an excuse to get Michael out in KITT so they can talk about his past, his relationships, and so on.

I’m tempted to say “if you liked the original, you’ll like this.” But that’s a bit misleading. If you get a big kick out of watching the original now, you’ll probably enjoy the new one. Or maybe even less clearly: if you’re the kind of person who’d enjoy the original if magically transformed into an '80-fied version of yourself, you’ll probably enjoy the new one.

Or maybe I should just say that I thought it was alright, but nothing special. That’s how I feel about the first one. It holds a much more important place in my memory than in my consideration.

Hell, I’ll watch it for free. Probably. Maybe.

PS: It’s probably just crotchety old me, but “jumped the shark” has, IMHO, jumped the shark. It doesn’t offend me or anything, but I personally try to avoid using the phrase, kinda like I try to avoid “on your plate,” “back burner,” and such Lumbergisms. Damn, now I’m hungry.

#7

Nuked the fridge is the new jumped the shark.

#8

Dooooouuuuuughhhh!!! I fell so stupid. It was bugging me the whole episode and every time they called him Billy I was going nuts. I knew he was very familiar and now I fell like I should be “air locked”. :smiley:

#9

How can Knight Rider be good without Hasselhoff?

#10

An excellent question. Two answers:

  1. Many Americans under 25 don’t know who Hasselhoff is.
  2. BSG worked fine sans Dirk. (Though the A-Team pilot didn’t. Check Hulu to see what I mean.)

:slight_smile:

#11

I was thinking the same thing. How is it possible, in Physics, for Kitt to go this fast. Even if his engine is designed for it he isn’t aerodynamically shaped for it. I don’t see how he would keep traction and avoid the lift that should be placed on the car. Not to mention the idea of driving through a city at that speed. Does he just blast his way through, because there is no way he could take a corner at even 100 MPH?

I totally agree and felt bad using it, but it is a easy way to describe a more complicated idea. It gives me a felling that the person using it is a want to be movie or TV critic and is trying to get extra attention by name dropping. I think it was over abused by the media, especially podcasts, and now it is just annoying.

Isn’t this a reference to Indy 4. Maybe we could use “Frak the Tigh” to make it more BSG. Not that anything they do is even close but why would 6 sleep with Tigh with all the Arm porm going around the ship?

#12

As far as I know, no nanotech is required for Transformers to transform, at least in the movie. I understand that the powers-that-be went to great lengths to assure that the mechanical transitions made sense – i.e. that the parts had somewhere to go. Hell, I have a Bumblebee toy on the podcast rig desk that folds up right.

TrucKITT is bigger than MustangKITT.

#13

I must have some nanobots re-wiring my brain (or merging the Knight Rider and Transformer threads) because I don’t remember anyone mentioning nanotech and it’s not in my post. I hope I am not loosing my mind but that may be what it takes to buy the shows explanation of how Kitt changes into a truck. Maybe the show is directed to the 16-24 stoner demographic? :smiley:

#14

It was mentioned in the pilot movie they did last fall…they probably should have rementioned it in the show but i guess they didn’t. It also how KITT can rebuild himself and repair damage.

#15

i actually really enjoyed the new Knight Rider. I was a kid in the 80s, and I didn’t feel like I had to be in kid mode to enjoy this. They did mention KITT can heal itself in the pilot, and they also featured it changing its appearance. Granted every time it changed it was still a Mustang just a different color, but I can take a leap of faith on this.

The same goes for speed and all that, I mean the premise is this car is amazing, and it has to be more amazing than the old the KITT. Cars aren’t exactly more advanced than they were in the 80s. They are probably more fuel efficient, and can have TV or GPS, but the car itself really hasn’t changed that much. The fact is the old KITT would still be pretty incredible even today thus making it hard to beat it, unless we are just looking for a “pimp the ride” kind of upgrade, otherwise, I can see why they had to go down this direction.

As for the serious or cheese thing, it actually seemed less cheesy to me than the Heroes season 3 premier, and I thought that was pretty great already. I think it has a pretty good balance right now. Anymore serious I probably just don’t care, and cheesier I probably just tune out.

I see people comparing it with Enterprise, in terms of the getting people to strip part, maybe. But at least they didn’t have to rub cream over each other. I think Enterprise failed because the first couple of seasons, there wasn’t a sense of urgency, yeah they had the temporal war thing, but mostly it’s still a ship meeting new races at a new planet every week kind of a show.

That would have been ok, if they focused on the development of friendships or relationships on board the Enterprise. Like what they did in TOS or TNG, where the planets and races were created to push for character development. But no, Enterprise wrote most new planets and races to be a cheesy gag, or Archer single-handedly saves the day.

But in the new Knight Rider, we had a lot of character development in the first episode. They created a sense of urgency, which is Michael’s missing past and the people coming back for him. The mystery of what happened to Michael is great. It is a cliche, but they did a good job on it.

#16

I agree, I enjoyed it. But not as in serious sci-fi kind of a way. I think if we learned anything from pilot and ep1, we learned that they have no intention of trying to be a serious sci fi.

But I enjoyed it in a kind of “90210 with car chases and guns” kind of a way. Cheesy, juvenile, fun, eyecandy. And I’m okay with that… still better than another craptastic reality show.

#17

well, second episode of season 1. And this was even better than the first one. Yeah, they got the female lead to strip down to Bikinis again… and actually got a whole bunch of hooters girls in a scene, but at least it is written into the script and it didn’t feel forced.

The most appealing thing about e2 is KITT. In the pilot and first episode, KITT seemed like a big show off. When ever KITT speaks, it’s to flaunt his abilities at you. In this episode KITT was a lot more endearing and a genuine relationship is forming between KITT and machael, which really is what the show should be about anyway.

I am sort of expecting a couple of fillers soon. I’ll see what happens.

#18

I agree…the second episode was more balanced. The “goofy techs” were pulled back, KITT developed more character and Mike was endearing. I am fearful of the next episode tho…they may be heading to the deep end of the camp pool

#19

I am not sure if they pulled back on the “goofy tech”. Kitt has so much tech that Michael doesn’t know what his full capabilities are and he even has tech he isn’t aware of. Car amnesia? :smiley:

#20

I apologize if I wasn’t clear…I was referring to the two support people (Billy and the woman with pigtails)