Knight Rider (US TV series)

***Knight Rider*** is an American television series created and produced by Glen A. Larson. The series was originally broadcast on NBC from September 26, 1982 to April 4, 1986. The show stars David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, a high-tech modern crime fighter assisted by KITT, an advanced artificially intelligent, self-aware and nearly indestructible car. This was the last series Larson devised at Universal Television before he moved to 20th Century Fox.

Self-made billionaire Wilton Knight (Richard Basehart) rescues police Detective Lieutenant Michael Arthur Long after a near fatal shot to the face, giving him a new identity (by plastic surgery) and a new name: Michael Knight. Wilton selects Michael to be the primary field agent in the pilot program of his public justice organization, the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG). The other half of this pilot program is the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT), a heavily modified, technologically advanced Pontiac Firebird Trans Am with numerous features including an extremely durable shell and frame, controlled by a computer with artificial intelligence, voiced by William Daniels. Michael and KITT are brought in during situations where "direct action might provide the only feasible solution".

Heading FLAG is Devon Miles, played by Edward Mulhare, who provides Michael with directives and guidance. Dr. Bonnie Barstow (Patricia MacPherson) is the chief engineer in charge of KITT's care, as well as technical assistant to Devon (April Curtis, played by Rebecca Holden, fills this role in Season 2).

The car used as KITT in the series was a customized 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am sports model, that cost US$100,000 to build (equivalent to about $245,000 in 2014). Nose, dash and other interior of the car were designed by the design consultant Michael Scheffe.

The "Knight Rider Theme" was composed by Stu Phillips and Glen A. Larson. The rest of the series music was composed by Stu Phillips for 13 episodes, Don Peake for 75 episodes; Glen A. Larson co-wrote music only for the "K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R." episode and Morton Stevens who wrote music for the "Deadly Maneuvers" episode in the first season. Peake took over scoring duties at S1E14 in 1983, when Larson moved to Twentieth Century-Fox and Phillips was working there on his projects. Peake insisted as the only and main composer until the end of the series in 1986, exceptionally for the "K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R." episode in third season, which he composed together with Phillips and Larson.

The intro throughout most of the episodes began with this narration, voiced by Richard Basehart:

*"Knight Rider, a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist.*

*Michael Knight, a young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless in a world of criminals who operate above the law."*

During the first season, the outro was Michael and KITT driving though a road in the desert with Wilton Knight's words of *"One man can make a difference, Michael."*

Then the narration goes on to say:

*"Michael Knight, a lone crusader in a dangerous world. The world of the Knight Rider."*

The outro of Seasons 2 and 3 was Michael and KITT driving away from the sunset toward the camera. Season 4's outro was the same, except with KITT in Super Pursuit Mode.

The series began with a two hour pilot, "Knight of the Phoenix".

## **Spin-offs**

### ***Code of Vengeance***

The two-part episode "Mouth of the Snake" served as a backdoor pilot for a 1984 series to be called All That Glitters. Rejected by NBC, the lead character and actor were recycled for a short-lived 1985-1986 series titled Code of Vengeance(June 30, 1985 – August 24, 1986), revolving around Charles Taylor as Vietnam veteran David Dalton. As a result, the participation of Michael Knight and KITT in the episode was actually quite limited. The Knight Rider episode featured Dalton exhibiting great gymnastics, not unlike The Six Million Dollar Man without bionics, but when Code of Vengeance aired, Dalton was an ordinary-skilled drifter. It soon fell off the schedules after only two two-hour movies and two one-hour episodes.

### ***Knight Rider 2000***

#### ***"He can see through walls. Feel the heat in your veins. Stop you cold in your tracks. And take you beyond your wildest dreams."***

*Knight Rider 2000* was a sequel movie, first aired May 19, 1991, featuring Michael Knight and Devon Miles, with KITT being given a new sporty red body (a close copy of the Pontiac Banshee IV concept car, actually a Dodge Stealth with custom body work) as the Knight 4000. It served as a pilot for a would-be new series starring Susan Norman as Shawn McCormick, but the series never materialized.

In the year 2000, conventional handguns have been banned, with law enforcement carrying non-lethal "stun" pistols. Nationwide budget changes have resulted in the adoption of cryonic suspension over standard incarceration for convicted criminals. Following the assassination of a mayor in San Antonio, his replacement demands a solution, which is found in the form of the "Knight 4000", a car that will become the next generation of the Knight Industries' supercar KITT.

The theme song, "Knight Rider 2000", by Jan Hammer was released on his 1994 album Drive.

Actor James Doohan makes a cameo appearance as an innocent bystander that KITT mistakes for a criminal stealing money from an ATM. KITT stuns the suspect and the man collapses. When Michael and Maddock pick up the man to arrest him, they find Mr. Doohan, delirious (from being stunned), and mumbling various lines from his role of Scotty on Star Trek.

### ***Knight Rider 2010***

*Knight Rider 2010* is a TV movie loosely based on the show, which first aired February 13, 1994. The film was penned by Miami Vice writer John Leekley.

In a Mad Max style future, Jake McQueen is the ultimate smuggler, smuggling in Mexicans for money to survive, only for his smuggling to come to a halt when he is busted by his brother while getting his truck repaired.

However, what he doesn't know is that he is under observation by Jared, the crippled head of Chrysalis Corporation, who sends one of his most valued employees, Hannah Tyree, to bring him in to work for them as part of their video games division.

Jake initially is skeptical about the idea of working with Hannah, and is scared away when she admits that she accidentally downloaded herself onto PRISM, a crystalline solid-state memory unit for her computer, once, due to an unexpected side-effect.

Jake is then hunted down after Jared has his data, and eventually finds his way back home, only to find his father near death. Acquiring a junked Mustang, and a special engine his father had kept in trust, he goes to find a way to stop Chrysalis.

While pursuing a lead, he ends up shot, and is witness to Hannah's apparent death, only to find she was trapped in her PRISM. Going into battle against Jared, with Hannah as his car's new AI, he eventually destroys him when he discovers the one side effect of Jared's life support: that it is slowly killing the person it protects.

Now, Jake and Hannah travel the world of the future, fighting for justice in a lawless desert that is forgotten by the world.

### ***Team Knight Rider***

In 1997, *Team Knight Rider* (October 6, 1997 – May 18, 1998) was introduced as a spin-off. Set sometime in the near future, the show featured a fleet of intelligent vehicles. Michael Knight returned at the end of the final episode of the first season, though he was not played by David Hasselhoff. This was a cliffhanger intended to be explained in the next season. However, the show did not catch on and the second season was not commissioned. Team Knight Rider ran for 22 episodes.

The story is about a new team of high-tech crime fighters, assembled by FLAG, who follow in the tracks of the legendary Michael Knight and his supercar KITT. Instead of "one man making a difference", there are now five team members who each has a computerized talking vehicle counterpart. Like the original duo, TKR goes after notorious criminals who operate "above the law" – from spies and assassins, to terrorists and drug dealers.