Trust Doesn't Rust
Nitcentral's Bulletin Brash Reflections:
Knight Rider:
Season 1:
Trust Doesn't Rust
Trust Doesn't Rust
As Michael and KITT approach a Knight Industries lab which is scheduled to be shut down, they run into a duo of thieves who have stolen a car that is a near copy of KITT. The Knight Automated Range Robot was created six months before Michael joined the Foundation, but was shut down and locked into storage because Wilton Knight made a critical mistake in it's design - he neglected to add the programming to protect human life. Bonnie designs a super-powered laser to deactivate KARR, but in the meantime KARR has assisted the thieves in several heists, and plans to aid them in a museum heist worth millions. Needing maintenance after a heist, KARR heads to the Foundation headquarters and kidnaps Bonnie. Bonnie tricks KARR and finds out about the museum heist, and Michael and KITT eventually come to her rescue. After the laser fails to hit it's target, Michael take a gamble and drives at maximum speed directly at KARR - but KARR flinches first, driving off a cliff to destruction. Michael knew KITT would preserve human life at all costs, but KARR was only interested in self-preservation.
THOUGHTS:
-Very cool episode!
-I'm sure other kids who grew up in the 80's noticed that Peter Cullen provided the voice of KARR. Cullen did the voice of Optimus Prime from "Transformers" and voiced many other great cartoons from that era, including "G.I. Joe," "Voltron" and "The REAL Ghostbusters."
-Some fun moments with KARR and the thieves, especially at the fast food place with the "ringmaster."
-This is the first episode where Bonnie is referred to as "doctor."
-Things I noticed about KARR:
>KARR has the same red sensor light as KITT
>KARR has a yellow voice indicator with three bars, and the outside bars are reversed (at this point KITT has only a plain red box)
>KARR's voice indicator panel is plain silver (while KITT's is black)
FAVORITE QUOTE:
(Michael was talking to KITT about needing to go out with more than one woman. Michael asked KITT if KITT ever thought about it...)
KITT:"When you're one of a kind, companionship does not compute."
FAVORITE QUOTE EVIL!:
(As KARR pledges to serve Tony and Rev in gratitude for their "saving" KARR from lockdown)
KARR:"Do you wish to eat? Do you wish to drink? Do you wish to reproduce?...Which first?"
NITS:
-Quite a coincidence that the thieves chose the same night to steal from the lab as when Michael and KITT came to shut it down.
-Only one guard around the lab? No special code to access the room where KARR is stored? No tapping in a code to activate KARR?
-If KARR is so dangerous, why didn't Wilton Knight dismantle KARR instead of just putting KARR in a dark room?
-At one point Devon and Michael look at a simple drawing of the laser. What's the point of looking at a simple drawing when they already saw the laser in action?
-As KITT delivers the line "KARR is going to give Trans-Am's a bad reputation..." all of the mode indicators underneath the voice indicator are dark. I believe the "Normal Cruise" light should be on at this point.
-The shots of KARR robbing a bank are actually shots of KITT breaking out of COMTRON headquarters from "Knight of the Phoenix."
-The shots of KARR committing other heists come from other episodes as well. There's even a shot that comes from "Slammin' Sammy's Stunt Show Spectacular" - you can even see the stars on KITT's hood!
-If Bonnie is so important shouldn't there be some guards around her at all times?
-After Michael jumps off of KARR's roof into KITT, there is a shot during the ensuing chase that shows Michael still on the roof (the shot is from inside KARR...you can see Michael's feet dangling outside of the rear window).
-After Michael rescues Bonnie and pursues KARR, there's a shot of KITT approaching the museum in which Bonnie disappears completely.
-How come Bonnie can calibrate the laser but KITT can't?
-Bonnie said that if she had KITT fire the laser twice it would burn out KITT's battery, but the laser does fire twice and KITT's fine.
-The footage of KARR driving off the cliff is actually stock footage from an old movie called "The Car." No wonder it doesn't look like a Trans-Am!
-If KARR is so indestructible, how come after driving off the cliff, KARR blows up?
-I mentioned in "Knight of the Phoenix" that throughout the first season, in practically every episode KITT's hood is open for a few shots. I thought I'd point out (again) that this episode has some prime examples, not just with KITT but with KARR also.
By constanze on Friday, December 16, 2005 - 1:57 pm:After reading the Misting of the script (the rest can also be found at the Misting Mine), I remembered when I'd seen (or read the novel of) this ep.
One major thing I wondered about in this ep. was: if KARR is interested in self-preservation... why does he do such a stupid thing as driving over the liff? Why not brake or swerve? And don't tell me he didn't know about the cliff - KITT's sensors were always good enough for that, so KARR should be able, too.
Another point: if KARR is so dangerous only because of its programming ... why lock away the whole car and build a new one (must've been expensive with that invulnerable hull!) instead of replacing the software only? Was everything hard-coded into the car? (But doesn't Bonnie later make all kinds of upgrades? And when KITT is hit by an electric cable and "looses his memory" in a later ep., Michael simply lays down in front of him and pops in a new board. Hmm... although he says KITTs basic programming won't allow KITT to harm him... But even if the basic idea is hard-coded, why not replace these circuits? Superstition?)
And yeah, I shouldn't take this too seriously... I think every ep. of Knight Rider (or other action shows!) had implausibilities and people being as stupid as the Keystones, otherwise the script wouldn't work. 
By R on Friday, December 16, 2005 - 6:33 pm:If KARR is so indestructible, how come after driving off the cliff, KARR blows up?
Its part of hollywood physics. Any vehicles that drives off a cliff becomes so falmmabile that air friction is able to cause it to combust and explose violently.