Knight of the Phoenix, Part 1
Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections:
Knight Rider:
Season 1:
Knight of the Phoenix, Part 1
Knight of the Phoenix, Part 1
Police officer Michael Long is shot in the face after being betrayed during an undercover operation. Wilton Knight, founder of Knight Industries, has his men rebuild Long's face and, before dying, asks Long to carry on Knight's mission - to protect the innocent against criminals who operate above the law. Knight has his associate, Devon Miles, begin to train Michael in the use of his new car - the Knight Industries Two Thousand, a sophisticated vehicle with a supercomputer - in hopes that Michael will carry on Knight's wishes. Instead, Michael (who is given the new identity Michael Knight) decides to follow up on leads to try and find the peole who betrayed him. Eventually, he ends up in Silicon Valley looking for Tanya (the woman who shot him), and finds out she and her associates are working to steal designs from a microchip company. Michael befriends a widow whose husband was killed by these same people, and she tells him there will be a company-sponsored demolition derby the next day. Michael decides to enter the derby, with KITT as his vehicle.
THOUGHTS:
-An excellent way to start the series. I like the fact that they didn't immediately make Michael the hero; instead, he simply wants to get even with the people who tried to kill him. Also, although Michael and KITT start out a little rough, by part 2 they already come to an understanding with each other.
-In the beginning where Michael Long is played by a different actor than David Hasselhoff, I wonder how they got Hasselhoff's voice to match up with the dialogue?
-Great sequence when Michael is first introduced to KITT. Michael enters a dark room, then a red scanning light appears behind him, the headlights pop up and Devon drives up in the car.
-Features debuted on KITT:
+Collision Avoidance System
+Automatic Driving System (auto-cruise)
+Molecular Bonding shell
+Voice System
-Fun stuff in the scene where Michael falls asleep at the wheel, KITT takes over, the police pull Michael over and KITT tells Michael to pretend he's deaf.
FAVORITE QUOTE:
"Great. A car that talks back to me."
-Michael, introduced to KITT's voice for the first time.
NITS:
-In the opening title sequence, you can see the tracks in the dirt around KITT where the camera crew had to drive the car beforehand to get it into position.
-Also in the opening title sequence, KITT's steering wheel is missing the red "knight" symbol.
-Throughout the first season, in practically every episode KITT's hood pops open for a few shots. One way to tell is by looking at the headlights (big gap where there should be none) or the red scanner light (big gap above it).
-Michael sneaks into the garage where KITT is being held. Shouldn't there be some security around?
-From the time KITT is introduced and throughout the 2-parter, KITT mainly has an extended hood with the scanner very close to the front of the car, not the usual KITT with a rectangular protrusion in front of the scanner.
-The first time KITT's scanner is shown, it is much smaller and doesn't appear to use the LED system. IT also sounds a lot more like the Cylon scanner from Glen Larson's other tv series, "Battlestar Galactica."
-Right after Devon surprises Michael in the garage, we see a shot of KITT where there is a bright glare off the hood and windshield. In the very next shot, the glare is gone and we can now see inside the car.
-Why does KITT have a broken steering wheel? What if Michael had to make a tight turn and needed that extra grip?
-KITT's scanner stays off for most of the episode, even when auto-cruise is on.
-The first time KITT talks (after Michael asks where the radio is), the voice modulator doesn't engage: "What would you like to hear?" is heard, but the red box doesn't light up.
-Tanya tells her people (over the phone) Michael is driving around in a black trans-am, license plate "lettering knight." How does the person on the other end know she doesn't mean "night"?
By Lolar Windrunner on Monday, February 03, 2003 - 6:49 pm: I always thought that the steering wheel was broken like that because it was like a video game. The more Michael turned it the more KITT knew to turn. Either that or KITT figured thigns out for Michael anyhow.
By Richard Davies on Tuesday, February 04, 2003 - 1:56 pm: Some racing cars have steering wheels not much bigger than KITT's, I presume KITT has a 'drive by wire' system. I like Michael's comment that KITT's dashboard looks like Darth Vader's bathroom.