TV: Knight Rider

Since people seem interested in Speed Racer, I think we should talk about the real 'car' movie.

Bruce Davison, Wayne Kasserman and Greg Ellis round out the cast of NBC's two-hour movie/backdoor pilot Knight Rider, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Knight Rider, from Universal and Dutch Oven, is a sequel to the 1980s series and centers on Mike Tracer (Justin Bruening), Michael Knight's (David Hasselhoff) son who never knew his dad.

Tracer is recruited by his childhood best friend, Sarah Graiman (Deanna Russo), and her eccentric physicist father, Charles (Davison), to join the Knight Foundation, a group committed to counteracting and preventing the damage done by private, covert military contractors. (Sarah and Charles' last name was originally Kamen, it has since been changed to Graiman.)

To assist their missions, Charles creates the second-generation KITT, an artificially intelligent car.

A shady millionaire approaches Charles to commission a KITT car, and when Charles refuses, he hires a military contractor to murder him and steal the car.

Ellis will play Welther, one of the bad guys. The role is considered guest-starring, with a potential to continue if Knight Rider goes to series.

Kasserman plays Dylan, Mike's loyal roommate, friend and race car mechanic who joins the Knight Rider team.

Official Poster:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...iderPoster.jpg

Some Pics of KITT:
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...derMustang.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...R_01/Kitt3.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...R_01/Kitt2.jpg
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...R_01/Kitt1.jpg

Thats right people its a freaking 550 HP Ford Shelby GT500KR Mustang

Im really psyched for this movie, but the Shelby? That isnt KITT at all. Although the Shelby edition is a sick car that is insanely hard to find.

Would you rather the old Trans AM. I think its good that they left that alone, it was good in the 80's but the Shelby is definitely the KITT of today.

If Mr. Feeny doesn't do the voice of that Goddamn car I don't know what I'll do.

He was the only thing that ever interested me in that show.

Will Arnett (Arrested Development) will play the voice of KITT.

Uhm yeah, the first pic of KITT was convincing, but the others? I have nothing to do with a mustang and, although are powerfull cars, has not an image I have of a present time KITT. I think back then, KITT looked pretty futuristic. So again, I think KITT should look futuristic for us, IMHO. But it's cool to finally see a movie of the once great series coming out. Wrong KITT though, really.

Well, that would just be the car in its "normal" state we've seen nothing of its super pursuit or other modes. I hear that the other modes and the interior of the car are supposed to be amazing but I haven't been able to find any pics. They are apparently trying to keep things under wraps at least for now. Personally I don't think that the Original KITT was all that futuristic.

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...iginalKitt.jpg

This should be a bit more to your liking.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...R_01/Kitt4.jpg

KITT sounds too weak to be the name for the Shelby version.

They should make KITT the new Skylne GT-R. More sleek and futuristic looking than the Stang.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...t_11x17_01.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...t_11x17_02.jpg

This is true, but Ford probly has a contrat for the movie. Just like in Transformers where all the Autobots were a Chevi, or some company they own.

Actually NBC, which owns the rights to Knight Rider and Universal Studios, which is producing the movie are both subsidiaries of NBC Universal which in turn is a subsidiary of GE which has a good relationship with Ford and GM or some such nonsense. The skyline is Nissan, which is a Japanese company. Ah big business gotta love it.

Hopefully the corporate relationships don't affect the choice of which car to use in the movie. Look at Fast and Furious, they used several different brands of cars. Transformers was really hokey using cars from one company. Heroes also overdid it with the Nissan sponsorship. I hope they pick the best car to represent KITT, and choose a badass voice actor to play him. I'm tired of C3PO and the original KITT type voices for machines.

They already said that Will Arnett from Arrested Development will play KITT. Fast and the Furious was about street racing so yeah they of course would use several different varieties of cars, also car companies weren't that heavily invested in movies back then. Talking about the original one of course, the sequels had heavy branding. Everyone is throwing their weight around these days. I think the biggest factor in the brand of car was that the original KITT was a Trans Am. Pontiac is a division of GM thus we have Ford. Its all about who has the rights to the show and of course however has the money really has all the power no matter what anyone else says.

the koenigsegg ccx gets my vote.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Animeniax

KITT sounds too weak to be the name for the Shelby version.

They should make KITT the new Skylne GT-R. More sleek and futuristic looking than the Stang.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...t_11x17_01.jpg

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u...t_11x17_02.jpg

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Wow that would be perfect for the new KITT. Unfortunately corporate douchebaggery wins out. The Shelby is one of my favorite cars but it doesn't fit as KITT.

saw it, loved it, hope the reception is good, this needs a full series ;o

Not so much loved it, the acting was blah, the plot was boring and unoriginal but KITT was awesome and I do hope it gets a series.

Could you tell who did the voice for KITT? It wasn't Will Arnett.

It was Val Kilmer, they had to replace Arnett because of some contractual conflicts. Apparently he had a preexisting contract to do VO for GMC Trucks so he couldn't do Voice Over work for Ford.

Are you going to credit imdb.com for that trivia or take all the credit for yourself?

Dude if you were actually going to look for it then why did your lazy bum ass ask the damn question in the first place? and its Knight Rider Online btw.

No, since I'm overseas I have no chance of watching the movie to see details about the show, so I looked it up on imdb and happened to see that tidbit that you plagiarized.

Plagiarized, its the goddamn internet. You asked a question I gave you an answer, its not like I was trying to take any credit for the information because that would be absurb not unlike yourself. At first I just "wrote" that it was Kilmer I only edited it later to add that info because I thought you would be interested to know the circumstances especially considering how we had already talked about how big business had affected the movie. I just won't answer any of your goddamn questions any more okay.

That's a cop-out. Just because it's the internet doesn't make everything ok. Have some integrity man.

I didn't know from the start that this was a made-for-TV movie. I thought it was going to be a major release. I wonder why they didn't think they could sell a big Hollywood production based on Knight Rider? They're remaking everything else from the 80s into big screen movies, why not this one too?

To directly contradict what I said earlier I'll answer your question. At first I too thought it was going to be a major release but turns out that this two hour ford commercial is actually just a trumped up pilot for a series they are planning to air sometime in the near future. I suppose instead of doing a 2 part one hour long pilot which seems to be the norm these days they decided to just run it as a two hour long tv movie instead. I think that at some point they were actually planing to have this released in theaters hence the posters and the one time short lived heavy advertising push but I guess somewhere along the line some genius realized that this would probably make less money than that Paris Hilton movie (you know which one I'm talking about) and making people pay to watch that crap would have just angered their fanbase.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Animeniax

That's a cop-out. Just because it's the internet doesn't make everything ok. Have some integrity man.

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I feel like breaking your legs and watching you writhe in pain.:D

Will it still be a Shelby 'stang in the TV series, or will they use another car? I still think KITT should be more futuristic and refined, which the stang just doesn't match.

So Val Kilmer is reduced to doing voiceovers for a TV series. I wonder if that's better or worse than some big screen Hollywood actors doing sitcoms and network TV, most of which shows bombed and were cancelled.

No, Val Kilmer is not reduced to doing voiceovers... this is an easy job for him. He has a ton of other things in the works.

Well that's good for him but let's try to stay on topic shall we.

I wonder how the made-for-TV movie did as far as ratings? I guess we'll know if and when they announce a new series. I've read reviews where they actually like the Shelby KITT. Boggles the mind.

They picked it up for series:

Quote:

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Proving that old can be new again, NBC has given the remake of Knight Rider a series order, says Variety. The show was given a test-drive as a two-hour made-for-television movie back in February, and high ratings made everyone at the network drool and thumbs-up more K.I.T.T. and company.

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http://www.tv.com/story/11076.html

The caption for the Shelby 'stang on tv.com is priceless:

In the show, K.I.T.T. will battle gas prices.

Looks like Val Kilmer will have steady work doing voice-overs for a tv series now. Will Arnett is probably kicking himself for missing this opportunity.

awesome news, i was hoping they would pick it up.

Even though I like them picking it up, I really don't see it being successful... I think it's going to tank mainly because the main character is a complete jackass.

Well the movie was kind of a pilot episode so they could rework the character for the series to be cooler and more likable. They should probably add some hot chicks to make the show appeal more to sci-fi fans.

Here's the first episode of the series:
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1841995

Well, I think this was much better than I expected. Sarah looks hotter, and bonus points for an appearance by the hottie Paula Garcés (Tina from The Shield). There's less cheese than the backdoor pilot movie, and the tone is much better. I think this is worth giving a chance so far. I didn't like the main actor, but he certainly seems better in the series.

3/5
Converting from pick up to normal car and have them in seats: sucked
Missile: why couldn't KITT do back flip just before impact or for god sake give KITT some weapons (gatling guns) to shoot stuff.
Under bridge: why couldn't KITT ram the car infront when that woman pointed gun at Mike or better yet be equipped with tranquilizer guns/grappling hooks

Old KITT was far better at assisting his partner and he wasn't THAT talkative. The only thing that new KITT is better then old one is surveillance and that's about it.

Yeah those things were lame. And if I was going to be very honest, I don't like this version of Knight Rider much, but I thought that this episode improved a bit from the movie, and seeing as many here liked it, well they might enjoy the series even more. But the opposite is just as likely. So I guess it'll all come down to perspective, if you liked the movie, I feel you might like this even more (at least the things mentioned above). If you didn't like the movie, you will probably find this just as horrible.

Hopefully they'll improve on those things you mention as the series gets more stabilized (if it survives). Well, this might be just worth checking out for curiosity's sake; I have a feeling it'll get cancelled. The ratings were bad, and they will go down with all the negative reviews I've seen around.