Knightrider (2008) [US - Spoilers]

Mr E

Early indications aren't good... no screener DVDs sent to critics, no Trans Am, no Will Arnett, and written by a guy with very little writing credit to his name.

The masses are going to watch it though, so post your thoughts here...

Jesus Wept

I fully expect this to be a big pile of shít.

Gunna watch soon.


Edit: This is tough going, 25 minutes in, it's felt like 1.5 hours. Val Kilmer the voice of Kitt? What? That doesn't work.

Kitt's voice is so bizzare. It's so clearly recorded later and added in, it sounds more like an inner thought, doesn't sound like it's coming from the car like in the original. So bad.

Basq

I'm not gonna bother watching to be honest.

Mr E

The-Rigger wrote: »

Kitt's voice is so bizzare. It's so clearly recorded later and added in, it sounds more like an inner thought, doesn't sound like it's coming from the car like in the original. So bad.

Thats exactly right, Rigger.... the whole track was originally recorded by Will Arnett (the original Kitt). Since he does voice work for GMC, they asked him to pull out of the movie, so all the voice work had to be redone (by Kilmer).

I'm curious more than anything, but it seems to be pretty universally panned.

squire23

Unbelievably crap - bring back Bionic Woman but more importantly BSG

Basq

squire23 wrote: »

Unbelievably crap - bring back Bionic Woman..

Christ.. let's not go nuts!

It couldn't possibly be THAT bad!

humanji

Well, I thought it was great! I think people were expecting too much from it. It's pretty much like the old series, just with updates. And that's exactly what I was hoping for.

The car is pretty cool. I wasn't too sure at first, but when you see it in action it's a worthy successor to the old Kitt. The acting was better than I expected (especially when you compare it to the original), and the characters are OK, i guess. You don't get to much info on anyone but the leads.

Plot wise, it was a good introduction. It's always a problem with pilots to get the right mix of plot, character development and back story. This didn't do a great job, but it was good for keeping me interested. There was a little too much history of the main characters which they could of spread out to other episodes to keep this a little tighter.

And I thought Val Kilmer was pretty cool as Kitt. As was said above, it does sound like a voice over. I put this down mainly to the short amount of time they had to record it. They could probably have done a better effort at making it sound like it came from the car, but after a while I got used to it.

My only gripe with it isn't even about the show itself.

It came to the funeral scene and I was assuming the Hoff makes a cameo. And just as his arm came into the screen the feckin avi file became corrupt!!! It was like it knew!

I don't know if it's being picked up or not, but I hope it is. It's bringing back the Saturday afternoon type of TV shows that I grew up with rather than all the new after the watershed shows. It's just what I was hoping for.

edit: Oh, and I forgot to add, I even got shivers down my spine when the theme started playing.

feylya

I actually enjoyed that. It's just updated Knight Rider and I think it works. And I got shivers too

Mr E

Yup, I hate to say it, I actually kinda liked it too. It was a real 80s throwback, wasn't it? Glad to see Glen A Larson co-produced it too.

Pity they morphed that classic theme into an instrumental Linken Park track....

Mossy Monk

A new Knightrider series?

How did I not hear about this one,

TheIrishGrover

Oh good God that was AWFUL. I mean, I wasn't hoping for BSG. I was actually hoping for one of those things that knows it cheesy but goes for it anyway, y'know? But this was SO bad that it broke through the bad-bad barrier, right past the bad-good barrier to find a WHOLE other level of bad. Val Kilmer sounded like he was doing KITT while reading the newspaper and sitting on the toilet on Sunday morning he sounded that bored. I mean what ever happened to William Daniels (The voice of the original KITT)? He's still alive right?
Plus, I know Ford must have spent a lot of money on getting their car into the show but the constant closeups of the various model logos? You may have though the Sony product placement was OTT in Casino Royale. You ain't seen NOTHING yet. 2 hour ford ad.
Awful
AWFUL!!!!!!!!

TheIrishGrover

basquille wrote: »

Christ.. let's not go nuts!

It couldn't possibly be THAT bad!

basquille........... Brace yerself. Makes the Bionic woman remake look like........ I don't know..... er ...... Something classy. OH MY GOD, KR HAS KILLED MY MIND........ oh no, that was the booze. Nevermind

humanji

Mr E wrote: »

Yup, I hate to say it, I actually kinda liked it too. It was a real 80s throwback, wasn't it? Glad to see Glen A Larson co-produced it too.

Pity they morphed that classic theme into an instrumental Linken Park track....

Yeah, that kind of annoyed me a little. It's great when it starts, but it could still be worse. It's the kids you see, they're into this "rock" music!

WENTY07

Well i'd say it's almost certain it'll get a pick up for a series as it achieved 12.7 million viewers for NBC plus had the highest 18-49 rating for any movie on any network in almost 3 years(per Futoncritic).NBC Isn't going to turn their nose up at a potential "new" hit show.

humanji

Lucky it wasn't on Fox, they keep getting mixed up and cancelling the good shows.

BKtje

I thought it was alright. Val Kilmers voiceover was a bit odd but i guess they can work on that for the tv show itself.
Reminded me of the original which i still think is fun sometimes so i think this might have some potential

Beelzebub

Couldn't be arsed to be honest.

mickoneill30

I was about 8 when the original series came out. After reading this thread last night I had a look a the new version. Way less cheesy than I was expecting. It wasn't anything too deep but it was grand for a Tuesday night movie. If they make a series I'll be watching it.

One question though. If Michael Knight started off 25 years ago with KITT that means that he had the kid before he was shot. It didn't really tie in with the kind of lifestyle Michael Knight had in the original programme. Also with their naming conventions they'd better not make an Knight Industry Four Thousand. KIFT won't be too easy to pronounce.
Also where were the cheesy turbo boosts. It's not Knight Rider without those

humanji

Well,

Michael Knight slept around a lot in the original series (hell, he had a new girl in almost every episode), but I don't think it really ever mentioned anything much about his life before, so he could of just as easily have been a slut then too

And I'm glad they didn't have the turbo boost. I hated it But the car did morph, which was cool.

120_Minutes

just watched it. not bad, not great.

liked the car. kilmer did ok, but he was probably re doing arnetts performance verbatim, its on his shoulders to develop the character so it could go either way...and its already on a fine line. i'm not sure if i wanna see "everything wrapped up in an hour" or "long story arcs". but at the moment its not in the least bit taxing on the brain, and neither was the original.

oh and

the hoff's cameo is gratuitious as ****.

hehehehe

newbie2

Sh1te

lostexpectation

wasn't the old actresses death glossed over abit...

Ivan

I, like most people, hated the first 20 minutes with a fiery passion. There are a few scenes in particular where I had to restrain myself from taking the offending harddrive out of my computer and playing street hockey with it. But after the first 20 minutes it seems to settle down into a semi-decent film/show. It seems to become more genuine and the acting seems to get a helluva lot better.

I started to get worried again when I saw

Hasselhoff just off screen as I was worried it was going to get overly cheesy again

but the writers managed to write some semi-decent dialogue that even he couldnt cheese up.

Overall, I think it was ok, definitely has some promise. No one is more surprised to hear me say that than me as I was trying very hard to hate the show but felt I owed it to a guilty childhood pleasure, to watch it through.

FrostyJack

The car was cool, the rest of the movie was absolute rubbish, so many plot holes, rubbish acting etc etc.

The chase scenes (the bread and butter of knight rider) were retarded, the car was bullet proof yet they ran away instead of just ramming the bad guys car and this is supposed to be a high performance car yet, a poxy MPV could keep up with it. Also why couldn't KITT just turn off it's wireless function to stop being hacked?

The original was cheese factor ten this one is crud factor ten. If they shoot the ten year old script writer and hire an adult and the series could be saved.

Ivan

There is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief required for this type of show, be it in the 80's with turbo boosters and super smart and sassy AI, or in the present with nano-reflective shielding and a dimwitted super-intelligent AI but you just cant create a show like knightrider without the suspension of disbelief. Likewise with the A-Team then or now, or the terminator movies and the terminator series.

People seem obsessed with the idea that "they dont make shows like they used to" but the fact is, special effects and massive budgets for blockbusters has completely ruined our ability to suspend disbelief.

What you call rubbish acting and plot holes I would call, a certain amount of latitude with the priorities in the making of the show. I'm sorry, but it just frustrates me when people can look back at the likes of Knightrider and the A-Team and laugh, saying how great they were and how cheesy. And then look at a similar artistic failure and yet entertaining show like the new knightrider and totally dismiss it out of hand.

Knightrider 2008 is no Firefly, Dexter or even Chuck, but it certainly deserves more than an out-of-hand dismissal.

oriain

All in all I think for a pilot this show was pretty ok.... It could have been a lot worse. I was expecting it to be much worse than it actually was so I was pretty surprised. Except for a few gratuitous scenes with absolutely no point what so ever!

I mean, lets face it. Pilots are generally dodgy things anyway. I didn't really like the 30 rock pilot but now it's one of my favourite shows!

So yeah, I'll keep watching it if they keep making it. Plus the car is pretty sweet! Even if the voice leaves a lot to be desired.

New series starts tonight on NBC

TarfHead

The reviewer in the NY Times kicked it's ar$e - I think she referred to is as this year's "Bionic Woman" :rolleyes:

Overheal

Its on now.

Its got more Transforming tricks than Optimus Prime; As much brains as a Dell Customer Service Rep.

I thought the pilot was decent enough. Not great, but not bad. Certainly better than the Hoff's 80's-gone-homosexual rendition.

Basq

Didn't watch the pilot... and I'd rather light me testis on fire than watch the series.

So I'm gonna pass...

Overheal

you just piss optimism dont you basquille

AlmightyCushion

Overheal wrote: »

you just piss optimism dont you basquille

He just longs for the hoff.

Overheal

well i finished watching it. Its a bit rough, with some terrible acting. The car itself fits the bill and has more tricks than Optimus Prime, but weak sci-fi plotpoints in the first 10 minutes that make you want to get taken in the ass by william shatner. Saving Grace: if you manage to sit through 10 minutes of ass rape, you are rewarded with a half naked, sweaty female lead for 2-3 minutes. Thats followed by 30 minutes of filling in what looks like a series long arc, which sounds interesting enough, but could turn out to be just as bad.

The problem here is that Knight Rider is yeah, first about the crime solving second about the Tech, but it does the Mystery stuff only on par, and the tech stuff is just horribly slapped together. The only saving grace is I find one of the supporting characters, Billy, to be humourous, but half of that humour comes from the fact that its the same billy that got his ass shot as Billy in BSG. Billy easilly steals some of the best lines in the episode though.

Overall its a 3/5. I'd watch another one, so long as they ground it with a bit more realism.

Mr E

Watch for the viewer ratings later today on Futon Critic. They'll tell alot. If number of viewers is much less than 10m (for such a big budget show in a primetime slot), then the show is in trouble.

Ivan

I'll do a bionic woman marathon, back to back for 2 weeks for charity - if this breaks 10 million viewers

Mr E

Ivan wrote: »

I'll do a bionic woman marathon, back to back for 2 weeks for charity - if this breaks 10 million viewers

LOL... quoted, just to be safe. Over 2 weeks, that means you'd watch each of the 9 episodes 2,344 times *

* Might not be accurate, but sounds good awful!

Basq

Don't do it Ivan... won't someone please think of the children?!?!?! *




* and your sanity...

sutty

The new series sucked it down badly. They changed a load from the "movie". Kitt now Transforms rather than morph. But even then it was only to a similar model of car.

Now its into a 4x4 truck!

Oh and that looks really bad and cheaply done

The whole "Turbo Boost" Jump is back and looks like a cartoon when its done.
In general a over use of cheap CGI.

The acting was even worse. With some new characters added. Two of which are taking over for the nerdy mecanic it would seem. (A nerdy science guy and a Asian girl) Both of which are just annoying and really crappy actors trying to be the comedy releaf for the show. Its more "Team Knight Rider" than "Knight Rider". With really crap editing, jumping between all the characters for crapy one liners or reactions to what is going on.

Dont think I will even give it a go for one season, it was just to painful to watch.

Overheal

Mr E wrote: »

Watch for the viewer ratings later today on Futon Critic. They'll tell alot. If number of viewers is much less than 10m (for such a big budget show in a primetime slot), then the show is in trouble.

futon critic ratings only appear up as far as monday night. you might be waiting longer than you think.

Mr E

Futon critic will have individual press releases for last nights shows today (however if KR tanked, NBC won't be releasing a press release to advertise that!)

TV By The Numbers should have last nights Nielson Ratings in full later today. For example, Tuesday nights results were published yesterday.

Mr E

Looks like Ivan is safe.

Early figures show Knightrider as getting a 4.9/8.
Just over 5m I reckon.

Overheal

8% of 114.5 million televisions = 9.16 million viewers

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/us-viewers-households-up-sligtly-in-2008-09-tv-season/

you dodged a bullet Ivan

Though technically there are 290 million television VIEWERS, so in fact, an estimated 23.2 million single viewers tuned in to watch Knight Rider.

Im inclined to make you watch bionic woman for the sake of the children.

Mr E

8% had it on, but 4.9% were actively watching.
Splitting hairs.

Overheal

4.9% of 290 million

dammit i have the title tune stuck in my head. damn you knight rider.

FX Meister

Mr E wrote: »

Thats exactly right, Rigger.... the whole track was originally recorded by Will Arnett (the original Kitt). Since he does voice work for GMC, they asked him to pull out of the movie, so all the voice work had to be redone (by Kilmer)..

Seven month on reply but I think you mean Will Daniels, not Will Arnett. Will Arnett was in Blades of Glory, Arrested Development etc.

FX Meister

Overheal wrote: »

you just piss optimism dont you basquille

He does actually. He still has hope for Prison Break and Heroes. Both toilet paper tv shows these days.

Basq

FX Meister wrote: »

He does actually. He still has hope for Prison Break and Heroes. Both toilet paper tv shows these days.

Holy contradiction Batman!

Episode 2 was much better... but can't say I was massively impressed with the opening two episodes overall. It's like flogging a dead horse.. they really need something inventive and shocking introduced this season.

Because it's on a par with 'Prison Break' in the "jumped-the-shark" stakes right now.

Good call FX... gooooood call!

Overheal

anything you like atm?

Basq

Overheal wrote: »

anything you like atm?

Me or FX? I like plenty on the box right now.

Mr E

FX Meister wrote: »

Seven month on reply but I think you mean Will Daniels, not Will Arnett. Will Arnett was in Blades of Glory, Arrested Development etc.

Heh..... Dave says "Oooops"

FX Meister

basquille wrote: »

Holy contradiction Batman!


Good call FX... gooooood call!

Yeah I spotted that post earlier and thought you must have been feeling off when you wrote it. Glad to see we agreed on something.