Reilly2040's Blog

The latest Knight Rider trailer is teasing the thing fandom most felt was lacking from the 2hour pilot.  Yup.  Turbo Boost.

A key part of the fun in the original series was KITT jumping over stuff.  However Gary Scott Thompson’s suggested that the new turbo boost might not be so straight forward.   Granted, its pricey to do, but I can’t help but feel that simpler could be better in this instance.  Just have the Mustang (be it a model, CGI or old junker stunt car) jump over something.

I also note that it doesn’t sound like Val Kilmer in the ads, and the voice seems more treated.   I hope its a sign that Kilmer’s voice will have a more electronic sound to it in the series, just to give it that slight feel of something synthesized, rather than sounding like someone reading out some lines.

Also, I could be wrong, but I think the theme is sounding tweaked as well.

Well, the hype for the upcoming series has started, with two new teasers.   They use existing footage from the pilot, but have a cheekier voice over.  Perhaps playing along with the “car commercial” complaints that were lowered at the pilot?

I’ve got high hopes for this series.  I do have my doubts as to how a show like Knight Rider will do with today’s audiences over the course of a season.  The pilot benefitted immensely from the nostalgia factor.   However, I was a big fan of Gary Scott Thompson’s Las Vegas (when are we getting the last season over here???), so I know he’s got a good eye for balancing comedy with drama.  Something Knight Rider will need.

Here’s the new teasers:

Well, the Guardian is carrying the story that Knight Rider pulled in nearly 13 million viewers, and looks likely to be picked up for a series:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/feb/19/tvratings.tvnews

Good news indeed. As I said, the pilot had its rough spots, but if the creative team look at all the positive and negative reviews objectively, there’s no reason to suspect it won’t do well. Certainly, they have to keep in mind what kept kids tuning in during the 80s, so lots of KITT and stunts will be the order of the day.

I suspect it won’t be long before we see a bidding war between Sky and Virgin for this one…

Well, last night was the much anticipated (by me anyway) premier of the new Knight Rider movie/backdoor pilot.

In a nutshell, I liked it.

Like most pilots though, there were a good few rough edges. The first hour or so, the creators stuck with what everyone was tuning in for. KITT was very much centre stage, and there was an awful lot of beauty shots of the car. Which is good. This is Knight Rider, and ultimately we’re all there for the cool car.

The movie ultimately relied a lot on car chase sequences, with few big stunts or gizmos from KITT thrown in (no turbo boost here). However I felt the movie still did a good job of showcasing the Knight 3000′s abilities, with its camoflage, and constant hacking of security systems to aid Mike and Sarah, even when KITT wasn’t physically with them.

Kilmer’s voice clicked well as KITT, although at times I did find the odd line a bit flat, and, given the trailer footage, did find myself wondering what seeing Will Arnett’s take for the full pilot would’ve been like.

But, as I said, it had some rough edges. While the writer’s (wisely) cited last year’s Transformers as an influence, with its relationship between Sam and Bumblebee, this missed the mark in the pilot. Mike is left as a background figure a bit too long, and doesn’t really get much chance to build a relationship with KITT. Instead, Sarah is given far more focus for the first half hour or so, which was understandable for the setup, but still, it was to the detriment of Mike’s character.

The big issue for me though, was that after having centre stage for the first hour, KITT then vanishes for the final 20 minutes after his system is hacked, only cropping up again at the very end. Sadly, the plot had had an awful lot of KITT, Sarah and Mike driving through the mountains for the first hour, and so the supercar had to be shoved out of the way to make room for some rapid characterisation in the final 20 minutes.

This was also done to add a sense of danger, and make the car vunerable, but I can’t help but feel this could’ve still been accomplished while still having KITT as a prescence in the final scenes. It was established that his system had been hacked, so it would’ve been an easy explanation that this had affected his self-regeneration properties.

However, on balance I still enjoyed it. Pilots invariably have rough edges, and there’s definitely scope for this to have some legs if it makes it to a full series. The scene with Michael Knight at the end promises a return for the character, and the final scene sets us up with a more classic Knight Rider feel: the support crew (this time on a plane instead of a semi), and Mike and KITT, driving out solo. Mike’s best friend being present screams “dodgy comedy sidekick” though, and is something they should be wary of should this get picked up for a full season. Likewise, they need to bring the humour out a bit more. Some funny lines and scenes were there, but they could do with being more prominent.

I leave you with the new opening credits with the new theme. A nice touch, as most pilots don’t bother making up a proper set of opening credits.

Well, with the premier of the new Knight Rider imminent, the publicity has really stepped up. We seem to be getting something new pretty much every day

This time its a full one minute trailer. Love the intro with Sarah getting a call from a caller that turns out to be KITT

There’s a cool clip online here. Its a 7ish minute piece with Jay Leno being introduced to the various different versions of the Knight3000, and getting to take the assault version out for a test drive.

Its especially worth catching, as it gives us our first taste of Val Kilmer’s vocals, as well as a pretty good listen at the new theme (which sounds like a really good updating of the original).

And just a thought. Can we let Clarkson have a go of it once the UK airing is coming up? I’d love for the new KITT to turn up on Top Gear

Unsurprisingly, with the run up to next Sunday, I suspect I’m going to end up posting links to quite a few Knight Rider trailers

Surprisingly for the slogan “KITT is Back”, he doesn’t actually feature much in this one. Still, another good look at his talking light. Its more of a soundwave, like in KR2000. Pity, I’d have liked to have seen an update of the classic 3 bars.

We’re slowly getting to hear more of the theme as well. Seems like quite a nice updating of the original. Especially since a lot of remakes would’ve just made something new, and invariably not as good.

Well, don’t think anyone could’ve seen this one coming. Due to a conflict with his General Motors work, Wil Arnett has been forced to pull out of his role as the Knight Industries 3000.

Enter Val Kilmer as the new voice of KITT.

I can actually see his voice suiting. It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out. Its certainly a big-name coup, and not a bad bit of publicity given we’re only about a week away from airing.

There’s also the new poster (shown above), and a great new trailer (sounds like its still Arnett’s voice though – wonder how long it’ll be before they air a respun version with Kilmer’s vocals):

I should really think about adding a Knight Rider category at this rate…

Anyway, the latest teaser from the states. February 17th can’t come soon enough

A couple more Knight Rider promos have aired in the States. And we’ve now got a confirmed (US) air date of February 17th.

30 Second Teaser:

2 Minute Preview:

Must admit, I’m really looking forward to this. Stories that the production crew are keen to get David Hasslehoff and the Knight 2000 to make guest appearances should the show go to a full series are very heartening.

Saying all this, the recent disappointment of the new Flash Gordon series is still hanging in the air. And Bionic Woman’s been floundering after a strong start in the ratings (although I’ve been enjoying it). I hope this series lives up to the hype.