Knight to King’s Pawn

Jan 26

Last week featured a big episode in new Knight Rider, as KARR was reactivated in the wake of Graiman’s death.

First thing to get out of the way, is that really the rematch was a disappointment. KARR himself was pretty much spot on. The Mustang with the yellow scanner was chilling (and underused to be honest), Cullen’s voice was a nice touch, and his personality suitably malevolent (owing more to the personality seen in KITT vs KARR, than Trust Doesn’t Rust). The main problem was that basically the fight was too short and we can thank budget cuts and the credit crunch for that.

But what we got was excellent. As I say, KARR himself was exactly as I’d hoped he’d be, and the CGI for KARR and the fight was brilliant. Its just a real shame that it got cut back. To be honest, this would’ve been a killer 2-parter, with KARR coming back online and breaking loose at the end of part 1, and chasing Mike and KITT for part 2.

However, despite the fight being a disappointment in its length, this was still a good episode. There was a lot of action and suspense, with the SSC and Knight Research being shutdown and Sarah desolate over her father’s death, its left to Mike, Billy and Zoey to break into the shutdown SSC and try to figure out where the NSA have taken KITT (as they needed his CPU to reactivate KARR). This gave us a look at the new direction for Knight Rider, with a much paired-down cast, no Government connections, and the NSA likely gunning for them.

While I worry about the show’s future in the wake of creative disagreements between NBC and the creators, budget cuts, and ratings that are debatable, I still honestly believe this is a show that would really benefit from a second season. There’s been some really solid, fun episodes, none moreso than the previous 3. And now the reboot is going through, I really think the show will be stronger for it.

And, of course, if they could resurrect KARR for a proper rematch that would be great. It’d be a shame to see that yellow scanner go to waste.

Knight Rider, Television

Comments

Pie Man 70

February 19th, 2009 at 12:18 PM

Finally got roudn tow atching the two parter before this and the KARR ep, and I agree with you. It wa snice to see Mike shine without his tricked out car, (And I loved him going to “Free” KITT to the tune of AC/DC’s Runaway train) It was also nice to see reference to the Knight Foundation and the FLAG. KARR was good, but I agree, his reveal shoudl ahve been the end of Part 1 and Part II shoudl have 1) Existed and 2) been KITT vs KARR. I’d have kept him as a car until the battle started as he tooled aroudn ranting in his deathbot mode too much. Saying that, I liked when he took Torres, it was suitably nightmarish and gruesome, and I particularly liked KITT beating KARR using old school KITT gadgets like Ski Mode, grappling hook and turbo boost.
Alan

February 19th, 2009 at 12:34 PM

Another thing interesting about the newer episodes is that Attack Mode is also getting used a lot less. I’m guessing cutting down on the transformations and using the stock Shelby more is saving them some cash. Either that or its a reaction to attack mode not being as popular as they’d thought.

One thing that’s been really spot on in the later episodes has been the Mike/KITT banter. The script writers have really gotten a handle on it now (something I’m partly attributing to having to juggle fewer characters).

The AC/DC scene is definitely one of my favourites as well. If they do manage to get a second season, I’d definitely like them to revisit KARR. He showed a lot of promise so it’d be good to do something a bit more with him.

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