Having the millions of cult fans in mind when they decided to remake the famously popular show made into legend by David "Baywatch" Hasselhoff, creator Glen A Larson and show developer David Andron opted to update the Knight Rider formula, by bringing it into the 21st century, and modernizing several of the known gadgets included in everyone's favorite car, KITT.
Knight Rider Season One DVD Overview
The year is 2008: twenty-plus years have passed since a young loner named Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) went off on a weekly crusade to defend the defenseless, relying on the services of a computerized super car named KITT, the Knight Industries Two Thousand. Together they stopped all manner of extortionists, bank robbers, industrial spies, vindictive lovers, and evil twin brothers equipped with an unstoppable Goliath truck.
Now, the Foundation for Law and Government is no more, and some highly placed criminal elements are after the secrets of the car's creator, Charles Graiman (Bruce Davison). Should they get their hands on him, they could have a fleet of super cars, ready to commit crimes with impunity.
And so, to avoid capture, Graiman sends out his latest invention, the Knight Industries Three Thousand, out into the world to first locate his daughter Sarah (Deanna Russo), as she could be a target of coercion, forcing him to cooperate. Once the highly intuitive car finds Sarah, they set off to recruit a young ex-Army Ranger named Mike Traceur (Justin Bruening), who happens to also be Sarah's former lover. Mike has a colorful past in the military, having very little knowledge of who his father was, and having not spoken to his mother in years.
Together they set out to find out who is trying to steal KITT's secrets, while using the car to stop whoever is seeking them harm, all the while rekindling a soupcon of their former relationship.
New Retooled Elements of KITT in Knight Rider Season One
Fans of the original series which ran for five seasons from 1982 to 1986, will recognize several of the old KITT's features, while enjoying some new ones. For starters, the car does indeed have a sentient artificial intelligence capable of interacting with humans, as was the first KITT. A new change is in the car's voice, with Hollywood actor Val Kilmer replacing the classic voice of William Daniels.
The car still boasts its usual bag of tricks, such as Turbo Boost, Attack Mode and hosting an indestructible shell preventing its frame from harm. A neat turn of events in this new series? The car heals itself, but only as long as KITT is active. Should its computer systems shut down, the car is just as likely to get dinged by a careless driver as the next car.
A new feature of the car is its ability to morph into different models. Though this can feel like a very forced attempt at cashing in on the popularity of the big-screen adaptations of the Transformers franchise, it's still fun to see how creative the episode writers can get with the car's limitations, through the series' 17 episodes (as well as the TV pilot, included in the four-disc set.)
The Cast of Knight Rider Season One
Hold on to your seat, it comes as no secret for anyone with an ounce of intuition, to find out in the TV pilot, that Mike Traceur's long-missing father is none other than Michael Knight, who drove a KITT of his own. Hasselhoff makes a cameo appearance in the Pilot, but a planned return later in the series was scrapped when the show wasn't renewed for a second season.
Justin Bruening brings his own game to the table, offering a hero who not only has a great sense of humor, but also a host of tactical skills (martial arts, hand to hand combat, he was in the Army's Special Forces after all), without having to always rely on charm and a smile, the way the Hoff did back in the day.
Deanna Russo, who may look familiar to those who saw her in a memorable AXE body spray episode (she's the timid girlfriend who flirtatiously attacks her prospective father-in-law, bow chika bow wow indeed) plays Sarah, who blessedly plays a very intelligent independent woman who takes after her father, on the smarts side.
Both actors are supported in their secret command center by two computer geniuses, Billy and Zoe (Galactica's Paul Campbell and actress Smith Cho). Those two keep having a muted sexual tension throughout the series, but they mostly offer comic relief, with their clever banter. Two other actors, Yancey Arias and Sydney Tamara Poitier, support the team as well, but they are quickly dismissed later in the season, having little else to do but bark mission orders.
Overall Analysis of Knight Rider Season One
This DVD box set is definitely one for the fans. Though it may not have been renewed, the show did boast much more interesting villains on the international level, and Val Kilmer's contribution to the show doesn't go unnoticed. Ironically, he took over the role of the voice of KITT after former SNL comedian Will Arnett (who appears frequently in 30 Rock) had to drop out, due to a conflict of interest, since he voiced the ads for General Motors, and the new KITT is a Ford Shelby Mustang.
One nod to the loyal fans was the reintroduction of KARR during the episode "Knight to King's Pawn". For those who are scratching their heads, KARR was an evil prototype version of KITT in the classic series. Here KARR is reinvented as a killer military robot, also voiced by Transformers' Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime).
The four-disc set boasts several interviews, as well as a gag reel and a comparative look at the old and new KITT models. Car enthusiasts may make more sense of the techno jargon.
If anything, enjoying this adequate remake may lead you to go out and check out the original series, also readily available on DVD.
7 out of 10, for carefully avoiding Pointless Remake Syndrome, and offering more realistic villains than its predecessor.
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