Knight Rider: Better than the sum of its parts...

When it came to the small-screen revival of the Knight Rider franchise, expectations were low.

After all, the original TV show - although much loved by fans - really wasn't all that good to begin with! Add to that the concept of a two-hour long Ford commercial and we were looking at the prospect of another tepid reinvention (like the dire mid-nineties 'Team Knight Rider' series.)

Don't remember that one? Don't worry. It only lasted a few months.

But on Sunday, we were all pleasantly surprised. The new Knight Rider turned out to be an intelligent, well scripted sci-fi romp that deftly avoided the pitfalls most remakes stumble over.

Knight Rider succeeded by keeping things simple. The plot saw a four-man team of baddies (led by obligatory British villain Greg Ellis) trying to kidnap Knight Rider's inventor. While Dr Graiman ran for his life, his high-tech invention - the next generation of talking, stalking super-car KITT - zoomed off to track down his daughter at Stamford University and then recruit ex-Army Ranger Mike Traceur to protect her.

The two-hour television movie was basically just an old-fashioned chase - but all of the characters acted in believable ways and the bad guys were surprisingly competent and ruthless. The script was a zinger, too - with plenty of witty one liners. The climax was unexpected and explosive.

KITT, voiced by Hollywood veteran Val Kilmer, was a much darker, more threatening KITT than the prissy, continental original (voiced by former SAG president William Daniels.)

There were some awkward scenes. Sidney Poitier's daughter, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, was shoehorned into the role of a gratuitous lipstick lesbian (a scene definitely included for male titillation purposes) and the original Knight Rider, David Hasselhoff, returned for a cringeworthy 30 seconds at the end of the television movie. But put all the pieces together and it worked.

Knight Rider was a solid, entertaining TV movie that introduced all the ingredients for a solid, entertaining series: A sexy car, an engaging lead and witty and intelligent scripting.

Hopefully NBC will pick up this opportunity and we can look forward to a new generation of Knight Rider adventures soon!

Knight Rider Returns

Tomorrow sees the return of Knight Rider, in a two-hour made-for-TV movie staring Justin Bruening as the original Knight Rider's estranged son.

The movie looks exciting so far - as it rightly should. There are expectations that this 'television movie event' (as the network calls it) will serve as a 'backdoor pilot' for a new TV series about everybody's favourite talking car.

Whether that will happen or not depends on how well a rejuvenated KITT performs on screen tomorrow.

Fans of the original TV show, which ran from 1982 to 1986, will be pleased to see the original star David 'The Hoff' Hasselhoff back for a cameo. The REAL star of the show, though, will be replaced by a talking 550bhp Ford Mustang GT500KR. Personally, I'm going to miss the ol' Trans Am - but I've always had something of an unhealthy obsession with Firebirds!

Also missing is the original voice of KITT - classy American actor William Daniels. He's been replaced by a somewhat sly and sarcastic Val Kilmer (after original choice Will Arnett had to back out due to a sponsorship clash with his paymasters at General Motors.)

The plot revolves around KITT's inventor being kidnapped by nasty Brit Greg Ellis - and it's up to the scientist's obligatory gorgeous daughter (soap actress Deanna Russo) to team up with the new generation of the Knight Rider family (both car and driver) to rescue her father.

I'm sure we can expect lots of sexual tension between the leads (not to mention between the car, since clips reveal that Val Kilmer's voice work is positively smouldering.) Throw in some fisticuffs, a few squealing tyres and some of that witty banter than made the original Knight Rider so entertaining and it looks like NBC might be onto a winner.

Knight Rider hits your screen on NBC, Sunday night at 9pm. Catch all the latest videos, pictures and interviews at the official NBC website.

Knight Rider 2007 Update

In this posting, I ponied up what info I had on the new Knight Rider. It turns out a source on car-obsession site Jalopnik actually has pictures of the new KITT.

Here we go. I Shelby Mustang, as predicted, with the infamous red 'visor' flashing on the bonnet.

The accompanying Press Release revealed this information:

"The three cars to be employed in the series include the KITT Hero -- a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR that is playing the part of the everyday Hero car with 540 horsepower; the KITT Attack -- a super high-speed version of the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR Hero car that transforms into Attack mode with the help of air-ride technology and specialized body parts -- and a KITT Remote, which is a driverless Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR version of the Hero vehicle."

David Hasslehoff will be back as Michael Knight, but the star of the show will be young Justin Bruening, best known a soap-smudge on All My Children.

Although as it was back on The Hoff's day, when it comes to Knight Rider, the car's definitely the star. I'm still disappointed by the choice of auto, but let's wait and see what producers Dave Bartis ("Heist," "The O.C.") and Doug Liman ("Mr. and Mrs. Smith," "The Bourne Identity") can make with their rather bland ingredients.