Knight Rider: Christmas Special

[clearspira]

Knight Rider was a cool concept that they have tried - oh so many times - to resurrect to no avail. And I think the reasons are two fold: First, the OG Knight Rider never took itself seriously. It was fun and often campy and it knew it. The reboot was VERY serious which is just not going to work. And Two, was the time and place. Computer technology and fancy gadgets were just becoming properly mainstream and people loved it. Talking cars were original. Nowadays there is a good chance that you have a talking car that can partially drive itself. A bit like Star Wars really - the concept has been done and better.

As to the show itself, it was alright, although I am struggling to think of an episode that I enjoyed. KARR is the one that truly jumps out in my memory. How can you not love the concept of an evil Megatron stuffed into a car?

There were two other prominent vehicle based shows I remember from my youth: Airwolf (about a helicopter) and Thunder in Paradise (about a boat). The latter treated us to the acting chops of Hulk Hogan which is always hilarious. If you have seen the episode of The Simpsons where they have a TV show called ''Knight Boat'' then you have already have seen the whole thing.

[planescaped]

I was just thinking today that I don't feel like playing any video game and that I've already watched Mandalore,Accursed Farms and Forgotten Weapons... then I remembered SF Debris always uploads on Christmas.

And here I find an hour long episode... a Christmas miracle.

[TGLS]

Chuck, you forgot the best part of the Star Thrower story, where the octopus eats the starfish.

[Darth Wedgius]

The message at the end was really nice. Thanks, SFDebris. It's rare to find a show both witty and thoughtful to this degree.

I found Knight Rider entertaining in its original run, but I was a lot younger then, and innocent enough that a Ship of Theseus line of thought would give that kid a different SSN. This isn't to knock the show; there are worse things than being fun, and I like how The Hoff portrays Michael as rough around the edges and the tonal conflict that brings with the more reserved Devon and KITT.

[thisithis]

Karr will be back.

[Mecha82]

Ah yes this cheesy 80's show. I used to watch reruns of this show back as kid when ever it happened to be on in TV when I was watching.

[CrypticMirror]

Yeah the reboots of Knight Rider (Team Knight Rider and that one with the mustang I think) refused to not only have a sense of humour, but they also didn't really embrace the adventure show with one person operating outside the system aspect. They both had it being the team as part of the system instead, and thus missed the adventure aspect of the show. Although Team Knight Rider with a tech team of misfits on a V-tol flying base found more success when it was rebooted as Agents of Shield.

I loved Knight Rider as a kid, but I feel that a lot of what made it work was the Hoff's idiosyncratic charm. It is difficult to capture that lightning in a bottle twice. I feel that the 00s reboot didn't even try though.

I did love that both KR's tech people, Bonnie and April, were women. Having them there was a huge positive role model for me. Women, back then, were so rarely given the tech roles. This would probably cause a flamewar if it happened now though.

[Nevix]

Thank you, Chuck. And you're welcome.

[CrypticMirror]

One thing that you notice when watching on a modern big screen tv is just how bad the panel gap and headlight popup fits were on the old Trans Ams.

[Wargriffin]

Are you telling me Night Rider started with a Face Swap plot?


-mind blown-


also


youtu.be/m-BB-Xk9xYY

got that out of my system