Amph One Man Can Make a Difference: Knight Rider

[image=http://www.denimfilms.com/boardpics/kittd_2.gif]

Series Pick-Up Confirmed

Sweet.

 

http://www.aintitcool.com/talkback_display/37636?q=node/37636

Embedded footage of the entire comic-con panel, plus a 1-minute preview of footage.

I like some of the changes they've made, but it almost seems a bit *too* flashy. I do dig the comments towards the end of the panel regarding the show mythology and how KARR, or something akin to KARR, will be part of the first season!

 

The season premiere is this Wed in the states, with an encore on saturday.

 

Overall, an ok first episode that sets up some interesting mysteries that could have good payoffs later in the run.

KITT's Attack Mode is cool- it's reminiscent of Super-Pursuit Mode (though SPM still looks cooler). Kilmer is no Daniels, but he's starting to show some chemistry with the other characters and gets a couple good lines in.

I also like that they brought back Turbo Boost, though I wasn't very impressed with it's presence here- I didn't mind the Fast & the Furious traveling engine closeup bit, nor the realistic presentation (with the jets under the entire car), but it was executed kinda awkward- couldn't really tell where it was jumping to in regards to it's environment, and the way it's cut makes it very difficult to picture how a stationary TB would look (as it's something difficult to picture in your end to begin with).

Also, not sure I understand what I'm looking at in the new KITT voice screen- is the big red dot with the water ripples his eye? (thus why it's centered at episode's start when no one's in the car, but off to the left "looking" at Mike when Mike's driving?) while the audio lines are in the background?

The Truck transformation is way too impossible, though. I can understand the need for an offroad mode, but even when a single car doing everything the original KITT could do is impossible (SPM and Convertible modes), each individual mode was plausible and thus you could still buy it as a viewer. Attack Mode? Sure. Nano-camo? Ok. Making KITT twice as big as a Truck? No way. The mechanical transformations in general look pretty cool, though.


Beyond that, I like that it's keeping the caper-of-the-week aspect to things, but with an updated logic about them.We're also getting a sense of a more international scope via the cargo plane (extra points for the logic of the "KITT cave" being in some hangar at/by an airfield because of that).

...and, was it me, or was Billy from BSG playing the Billy on this show?

 

The lack of damage doesn't bother me- it's supposed to be a mostly indestructible car, regardless if you go with the molecular bonding shell of the original or the nano repair of the TV movie. Speed doesn't bother me either- SPM hit those kinds of speeds easily. The truck thing bothers m though.

 

The second episode was surprisingly fun and a big improvement over the first episode. It's plot was blatantly ripping off Fast & the Furious, but it's fun and would fit right at home wih the original series. KITT starts developing his personality and repotoire with Mike, showing more deliberate humor. And, much to my shock, the view of the transformation from car to truck somehow almost made it look halfway plausible. It's not 100% believable, but I'm almost sold on it. Turboboost still looks kinda crappy though.

Also, very nice nod to the opening titles of the original series, though a huge missed opportunity not to set it at sunset or dawn.

 

4 more scripts ordered which looks promising for the show to get picked up for a full season, despite the abd reviews and dissapointing ratings. Hopefully it'll turn around and pull it off so we can get that Hoff cameo we're waiting for

 

This week's episode was fun- bit more escapism in nature. The mine damage sequence was surprising and the "scream like a girl" bit was pretty amusing- "KITT, what the hell?!".

 

Enjoyed this week's Halloween-episode (and KITT's "costume" once and for all proves that scanner lights belong BEHIND THE GRILL!). It's also our first glimpse at the Neo "C-Mode".) I'm both intrigued and confused by this new incarnation of KARR- it's an interesting take on KARR's physical appearance, for sure (it's also more of a literal "Roving Robot"), and if this was a straight reboot of the original series and not a sequel series, that'd be all well and good, but I don't understand how this KARR fits in with the existing mythology and the original KARR. After what the first KARR did, I can't see them making a new KARR, let alone one with weaponry.

That being said, we've only seen a glimpse of his design but nothing of the personality, and the key appeal to KARR's character was his personality(ies).

Obviously this new take on KARR eliminates the naive & insecure personality KARR had in "Trust Doesn't Rust" (since he doesn't share the same appearance as KITT, there's less of a sibling jealousness at play), but his self-preservation-over-the-preservation-of-life aspect seems to have been (no pun intended) preserved (though be more overt).

If KARR was involved with this new plot, then it suggests we might see more of the "KITT vs KARR" personality of KARR where he was manipulative & vindictive. Though his new form might suggest he'd be less reliant on humans for maintainence and thus would have less incentive to directly manipulate people to help him. That the "KVK" KARR seemed to get a slightly perverse pleasure out of "helping" people is something that doesn't seem ruled out just yet, though his new form would heavily suggest he's more interested in killing than helping.

Hopefully this plotline goes somewhere, and hopefully they'll establish what the relationship is between Classic KARR and Neo KARR. TPTB have said the show would have "KARR, or something akin to KARR", but also that they are aware of the mythology so hopefully it's not something they'll ignore.

Also, points for having Billy's costume be Captain Jack Harkness- that's just not a reference I'd expect to see on network TV.


EDIT- Ah, it seems that Neo-KARR was, at some point, a Mustang:

[image=http://krfan1.smugmug.com/photos/411149597_zRX7Y-O.jpg]

Robot mode pics:

[image=http://leetoffice.com/Documents/karr2-1-robot.jpg] [image=http://leetoffice.com/Documents/karr2-2-vehicle-side2t.jpg] [image=http://leetoffice.com/Documents/karr2-2-vehicle-side3t.jpg]
[image=http://leetoffice.com/Documents/karr2-2-vehicle-sidet.jpg] [image=http://leetoffice.com/Documents/karr2-6-robot.jpg]

I wonder if they are different incarnations of him or is his robot mode his attack mode? Are they making him a Transformer?

EDIT 2-

Me of the Past might not have been that far off!

 

Remember how I was saying earlier that one of the things I missed in the new show was how it was more government-mission-based than "a young loner on a crusade..."?


Knight Rider goes back to it's roots

KITT is getting a tune-up.

NBC's freshman drama "Knight Rider" is undergoing a major retooling, bringing it closer to the original 1980s series. Among the changes, the options of three regulars on the show -- Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Yancey Arias and Bruce Davison -- were not picked up beyond the initial 13-episode order.

"It's a reboot," "Knight" executive producer/showrunner Gary Scott Thompson said. "We're moving away from the terrorist-of-the-week formula and closer to the original, making it a show about a man and his car going out and helping more regular people, everymen."

Such a change would make "Knight" a better fit into NBC's newly rebranded crime drama Wednesday lineup alongside "Life" and "Law & Order."

The revamped "Knight" will kick off with the two-part Episodes 10-11. NBC is planning a major push, including possibly airing Episode 10 on Sunday after an NFL football game in January, with the conclusion airing the following Wednesday.

Such a move would bring "Knight" back to Sunday night, where the two-hour movie/backdoor pilot drew big ratings in February.

The series it spawned has been struggling in the Wednesday 8 p.m. slot, dropping last week to a season-low 5.1 million viewers and a 1.6 rating/4 share in adults 18-49.

The retooling had been put in motion long before the full-season order for "Knight" three weeks ago. The UMS/Dutch Oven series is now filming Episode 15.

There are no immediate plans to add new regulars to the show, which will focus on the five remaining characters: Mike (Justin Bruening), Sarah (Deanna Russo), Billy (Paul Campbell), Zoe (Smith Cho) and KITT. The producers also are looking to do stunt guest castings.

Thompson, who called Poitier, Arias and Davison "three of the most professional actors I've ever worked with," stressed that the decision to let the cast members go was a difficult one tied to the show's change in direction and had nothing to do with the actors.



As happy as I am to see them moving in this direction- having a radical retooling mid-season (after a retooling between the TV movie and series) doesn't bode well for the show while at the same time could be just radical enoguh to save it at the same time.

I'm actually surprised they're dumping Bruce Davidson, though- I would have thought they'd have kept him on as the Devon-type character.

Since it seems they'll be dumping stuff like the "KITT cave", does that mean KARR is gonna show up ina couple episodes and just wreck the joint and the departing cast?

 

The Hiff may return next season

The producers of Sony's 2009 release Anaconda 4 (or whatever it was called) which stars David Hasselhoff said they're going to make more of them, but it won't star David.

He said that David will probably be too busy to do a 5th film in the series (he did 3 & 4 back to back) because he's returning to TV.

The plan for the next season of KNIGHT RIDER, says he, is for David Hasselhoff to be a regular on the show. He'd be teamed with his on-screen son Mike Tracer (Justin Bruening) to solve weekly adventures in the hopes that that boosts ratings.

 

Yeah, I was surprised too- though I was relieved that they weren't just going to kill off the departing cast members by having them stick around for no reason- that would have been ridiculous.

The previews for the next episode show we'll be seeing the new KARR in bot mode.

 

Sorry!

 

False advertising!

This two parter was quite good, I thought- even if the ending rips off part of Speed's premise. Also looks like it's one cast member down, another to go. And KARR will be in 2 weeks.