PremiereWatch: 'Knight Rider'
You know things aren't going to go well with a show that starts off at "Foreign Consulate, USA." Apparently the universe of Knight Rider allows for only one consulate, and a multi-national one at that, to be inside the United States. I guess in the show's post 9-11 world, we have become far more xenophobic than I imagined possible. With that in mind, and more than a hint of sarcasm, here's what took place in the premiere...
Michael was there at the "Foreign Consulate" along with some attractive woman, but not the right one. Michael needed to find his good friend Sarah, who was in the vault room trying to steal the valuable "files" before the evil "guards" attacked her. Poor Michael was forced to ditch the attractive woman in order to find Sarah and he was apparently also very interested in getting the "package" too. It was all so foolish and didn't get any better when KITT got detained and went into "attack mode," which, rather than leading him to attacking his armed detainers caused his tires to smoke ferociously. He then initiated a "turbo boost" which allowed him to perform a jump over his attackers. Woo-hoo!
With KITT in the clear, Michael saved Sarah who didn't give up her "information" on where Mike Traceur was, and the two escaped in KITT who turned into a flatbed truck so they could jump into him. It almost goes without saying that KITT instantly transformed back into a Mustang and Michael and Sarah popped up in the driver and passenger seats respectively. I wonder how they made that happen, because if I could outfit my Accord with such an awesome Transformers thing like that, I think it would be pretty sweet. Oh, not to worry, the night didn't end with a few bullets bouncing of KITT's paint job, a helicopter was soon in pursuit which somehow, I kid you not, launched a missile that was homing in on Mike. I don't know what kind of fancy-pants missile homes in on a specific person in a car that has been cooled to ambient air temperature, but those paramilitary guys must sure have paid a lot of money for it. Even the nice folks at KNIGHT Industries didn't know what to do and the missile exploded on KITT.
Of course, KITT "diverted just enough power at exactly the right moment to withstand that missile." Awesome, go KITT! Apparently a car's structural integrity is solely based on how much power is diverted to something or other from somewhere else. KITT didn't even lose any speed due to the impact, and the advanced form of napalm burning his exterior seemed not to bother him, though Michael was getting a mite toasty inside.
Even though it might kill Sarah and Mike due to the power drain, back at KNIGHT Industries, Alex Torres insisted that they upload the "files" right then and there. Charles, Sarah's dear old daddy, acquiesced. To get back at dear old daddy, claiming it was just to keep them cool, Sarah suggested she and Mike strip down to their skivvies. They did, but sadly they passed out due to the heat before they could do anything worthwhile.
After speeding up failed to cause the fire to extinguish, they were brought back to the lab still in flames and all the oxygen was sucked out of the entrance tunnel to cause the fire to dissipate. Sure, that worked great, but apparently the doors at the lab aren't built quite as well as KITT, because once the emergency doors were shut they couldn't be reopened. Incompetent techie guy, Billy (he also came up with the failed "go really fast" plan), managed to get the door opened just in time. Random girl who speaks a lot of languages (I think that might be her job title) Zoe's response "that was awesome." Yes, my thought exactly.
After some internal discussions, KITT and Michael headed off to Washington, D.C. to get the "package," and on the way they talked about Mike and Sarah's past relationship. Apparently KITT has detected signs of sexual arousal when the two are together. Is there anything KITT can't do?
By the time they got to that point in the conversation however, they were at the "package" intercept point. Michael learned that the package was a guy, but wasn't able to get away with the guy before yet another lady showed up. Michael didn't remember her, but she had a tattoo on her bosom that matched a tattoo on Michael.
The mysterious lady knocked Michael to the ground and absconded with the "package." Michael claimed again not to know her even as KITT showed Michael footage of him in Beirut with her. Michael next claimed that he had never been in Beirut. Ah, the old "amnesia" ploy, I haven't heard a good amnesia ploy in a long time.
Michael decided to keep claiming amnesia, and rather than paying attention to the mysterious woman and the car, Michael had a chat with Sarah. In it he learned that he asked Sarah to marry him via phone while he was in "Iraq" just before disappearing for three years. And, to make matters worse, he asked Sarah to marry him on the same day the footage was taken of him in Beirut with the girl. Oh horror of horrors!
Sarah tried to talk to daddy about Mike's Iraq (or perhaps Lebanon) issues, but daddy explained that sometimes things happen in wars that people don't want to talk about. Sarah said that wasn't the problem, that this was something "very bad." Cause, you know, war is just regular bad, not "very bad."
From the sublime to the ridiculous, mystery woman wanted a sample of the package, but he didn't have anything to give her -- he was shaved bald and exfoliated every four hours so that no one could get anything from him. Mystery woman had no choice but to cut off the package's thumb and push him out of the car.
Good old Michael picked the package up and, apparently in gratitude, the package explained that he had created the ultimate code and put the cipher to the code in his DNA. The mystery woman was out of her car by that point and meeting some blonde guy at the train station. What could KITT do but hop on the tracks and drive to the station that way? Just as Michael got the thumb back from the woman, Carrie showed up and shot him.
When they were back on board the plane, Carrie explained to Mike that she had only killed "Mike Traceur," that his past couldn't come back to haunt any of them now because everyone thought he was dead (I bet she uses that line on all the guys).
Before the episode ended, KITT scanned the file that might give Michael a clue to what happened to him in Iraq (or Lebanon); Michael apologized to Sarah about his previous actions and tried to ask her out; Charles told Alex that that if Michael ever remembered what had happened to him, Michael would come after Alex; and Michael took the last name "Knight." As for me, I sat there amazed that the show was actually on television.
Question of the Knight: So the special effects were pretty good, and everyone was pretty attractive, but was the plot... oh, I don't know... let's say "foolish?"
The TV and Film Guy's Reviews - Where we are never dumb enough to put the cipher in our DNA.
I'm kinda with you on this one. I had cut the writers' some slack with the movie since it had to be written in a few days and couldn't be edited because of the WGA strike, but it seems like they actually think thought that was good writing. My guess is the show won't make it past Thanksgiving.
The effects were awesome, but the plot was, eh... well, just "eh." The nostalgia still hasn't wore off yet, so I'll stick with it a few more weeks, although this reeks of "Bionic Woman, part 2"
Josh,
Your recap was more entertaining! My wife and I sat there in disbelief that this was on tv. Unreal!
Was I the only one who enjoyed it for what it was... entertainment. Sure KITT is amazing and it's all about the car. But I also like Justin's work and have seen him in other stuff. I'm going to give the show a little while before I rush to any judgements.
this show isn't going to last. and that's really sad, because I was really looking forward to it! I really wanted it to be good.
But, they've made kitt look way too silly in the "super pursuit" mode. those back tires look ridiculous. and the transformation mode is pushing it a little, but when you have 2 people in the back of the pickup truck and they magically end up in the seats of the mustang - c'mon!!! again, ridiculous.
I had such high hopes. but it can't last like this. one of the appeals of the original kitt was that you could envision yourself in it, that it was close enough to reality so as to be feasible! But not now. sigh.
It's just amazing to me how many people are surprised that a show about a super car that can talk is silly and far fetched. It's like walking out of the "Transformers" movie complaining about how it is physically impossible for a robot to change into a fully functioning semi-truck.
Not sure how many people have ever seen the show this is based on, but - newsflash - it's silly and unrealistic.
Talking cars that can do anything, people. If you aren't able to enjoy a show with that concept, don't tune in.
The show reminds me of a Michael Bay movie. If you're looking for a fast paced, loud, dumb popcorn movie, that's what you get. Knight Rider is never going to even attempt to excel at plot or realism. It's about the car and surrounding the car with good looking people... and occasionally lighting the car on fire so the good looking people have to take their clothes off.
Sure the show is ridiculous, but is it any more inane than the average episode of Las Vegas or CSI: Miami? The long history of goofy series with moderate sucess shows that sometimes eye candy and mindless fun make up for acting and writing. I submit to you the Baywatch Effect - although because The Hoff is linked to both shows, perhaps it's more H***elhoff related than anything...
Far fetched talking cars can be fun but plot and character wise this thing is a piece of crap! I really agree with the statement about being amazed that it's on TV. Thanksgiving? Maybe it will make it to Canadian Thanksgiving (October 13th)!!
I enjoyed it. I was expecting a dumb popcorn type show and I got just that. As someone else commented, I too remember Knight Rider being silly, but it also had heart. Take on local baddies picking on average folks instead of secret operative types from nasty nations.
Wow it was bad. Worse it was bad episode of the 80's show. With way to much FX. The whole thing on transforming into a truck is stupid. If Ford wants to sell trucks buy a commercial. Far to much transforming in "attack mode". They don't get why the first show was fun and succeeded. Also, Kitt went over 350mph in the opening segment; yet he was unable to catch up with the woman with the boobie tattoo