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Knight Rider

DON'T STOP THE KNIGHT

They say a rule of good storytelling is to have your hero go up against a worthy adversary with seemingly insurmountable obstacles – a bad guy who’ll give your boy (or girl) a run for the money, making them sweat, burn, and go through all the labors of Hercules before coming out on the other side. This is what we wanted to do with Episode 110, the first stage of the Knight Rider Re-boot, “DON’T STOP THE KNIGHT”.

If I do say so myself, I think we delivered.


In the first place, we had the good luck of casting master evil do-er Rick Hoffman (Hostel, Cellular) in the role of the show’s main villain, “Chris Stevens”. Rick is a great actor, who not only nailed the character, but was able to improvise within the framework of his scenes to make Stevens more than a bad guy… he’s a bad guy you’ll love to hate.


Secondly, for the central “insurmountable obstacle” we tasked Mike with rescuing African Ambassador “Olara Kumali” played by Vanessa Williams. As you’ll see, Vanessa spends most of the episode in a pretty tight space, but she was still able to bring depth and humanity to her character – plus some mighty fight. Thank you, Vanessa!


As for the Herculean labors, well, in this show we have four of them – each once crazier the last. First is a prison break, which we shot at a real prison. All the orange suited guys you’ll see are paid extras, but if you look in the deep, deep background you can also spot the real deal. (Q: How do we know none of the orange-suited inmates got mixed up with the orange-suited extras? A: We don’t!) The prison break sequence is noteworthy ‘cause this is where we wound up wounding Attack Kitt. Not permanently, of course. For the landing shot in the yard we set up a ramp so we could have Kitt jump over the camera. When the time came, the director called “action!” and Kitt made the jump… it was sweet but when he touched down, he cracked his front end something bad. Thank god for nanotechnology (and our team in Transportation, who fixed him up fast)!


Next comes the theft of the x-ray machine, where Mike gets tasered in the butt. I wish I could tell you that we actually tasered Justin Bruening, but we found that he acted the part so much better without 5000 volts rushing through him that we shot the scene with “blank” rounds, then added the effects later.


After this comes the exchange with the three Russian agents, affectionately known to the crew as “The Hotskies”. We shot this sequence in the parking lot of Six Flags Magic Mountain and lucked out in casting three gorgeous girls who were not only able to look sexily menacing – they were also able to do a three-way synchronized prat-fall without the use of stunt doubles. I still laugh every time I see them do it.


Finally, there’s the face-off between Stevens and Mike at the abandoned sugar mill. We shot this sequence over the course of two days, with three camera units – plus our crack visual effects team at Master Key Films, who created the UAV drone out of thin air, as well as most of the show’s explosions including the one at the show’s climax. We battled heat, sun, snakes, and freak accidents (day one a light stand collapsed, messing up the finger of one of our grips) until – like a TV crew version of Hercules, ourselves – we wrapped the shoot with enough kick-ass action to bring the show to completion. Whew.


Now, did I mention this is a two-parter…?


TUNE IN NEXT WEEK!

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KARR IS REALLY BACK.DID CARRIE REALLY DIE? AND DID MIKE EVER GO UNDER 100 MILES PER HOUR? WHY IS KARR A ROBOT LIKE MACHINE AND KITT ISN'T? THAT ISN'T FAIR DID HE REALLY THROW KITT?

this is the best episode so far!! u guys rock. im happy to see that kitt is having a more important roll, and seeing more action like the original ki2t. keep up the good work, tell kitt i love him, see ya next week!!!

First throw KITT? did I miss something?

Anyways this episode was amazing! I can't wait until next week. I know Carrie is supposed to die, but I don't believe she is dead yet. When they first said that her father was a CIA agent I thought it rather suspicious that she was working for FBI, hollywood likes to play on the competition between the two agencies. So it seems highly coincidental that she gets a message from her father then they find out the CIA is blocking the release of the criminal. I don't believe they killed her off without the "message" coming into play. She is involved in something bigger I believe.

Also thought it was funny the protocol to knock the guy out was NBC4.

I loved the episode great work can't wait to see next weeks episode.

Wow. I genuinely enjoyed this episode. I'm glad I decided to give the show another chance for the reboot, and I'm looking forward to next week's episode. Also -- kudos for jumping a real car instead of just CG-ing it, that was quite a nice touch.

This episode is the best I've seen and I can't wait to see what's coming in the weeks ahead! Please, please, please give us fans a season 2!!!

This is the best episode by far! Keep up the good work!!!!

do not pull the show

I loved this episode

Keeping the action tasks going AND it was a "to be continued" episode! So far so GOOD.

Six Flags Magic Mountain, wow, what time did you shoot the scenes there??

The Hank scenes were random, but cute.

Kitt: [blinks headlights]

"Backup plans suck."

Episodes like this are why we've been supporting the ridiculous idea of shows about talking cars for over 25 years. It had action, comedy, was kid-friendly... but most importantly it had FOCUS. We like the supporting characters, but mostly we want to see Mike and KITT out having adventures. And that's what this episode delivered. Even smaller things were much improved: the musical soundtrack wasn't overbearing, it greatly added to the action. Well done, all around.

Okay, so. Lemme make a list, or at least a paragraph of items.

No romance, no bikinis, no sexy subplots, no plot holes (NO PLOT HOLES!), nobody smart acting stupid, nobody missing the obvious. Kitt acted independently, interacted with Mike, and showed personality. The villain has clearly read the Evil Overlord List. The jokes were funny. The drama was engaging. The B-plot was engaging. The action was fun to watch.

Not only was this a good episode (which you've done before, in Hard Day's, Hunter, Living Dead, and Zodiac), not only did this episode feel like Knight Rider (which you've only done in Hunter, honestly), this episode felt like a REALLY good episode of Knight Rider. It just. It hit things. Bang on. If the whole run had been like this I wouldn't have to be keeping my fingers crossed for the reboot and a second season. This episode was RIGHT and if any of you folk were within arm's reach of me I would give you a BIG HUG and share my chocolate with you.

Oh, man, I hope the rest of the season is this good! Keep this up!

Seriously, the stuff I could find in this episode to 'ding' as it were is pretty minor, and one of them a friend had to point out to me-- one, Kitt's supposed to 'do no harm' as established both last week and in the pilot, so he asks Mike if he wants to deal with the KGBabes in lethal or non-lethal manner? Weird. Second, I didn't like the lead KGBabe's pants, but that's not even because of the sexualization issues, that's just because... they were slightly ridiculous pants. Third, wait, we're doing a Speed plot and nobody made a Speed JOKE? Maybe next week.

Fourth, and I kick myself for not remembering this bugged me before I posted in the forum, because EVERYONE does it (and the old series did it once or twice, too), Africa? Is not a country. Africa does not have ambassadors. That's like saying 'the North American ambassador' or 'the European ambassador.' There are lots of different countries in African to choose from and they all have their own ambassadors. It's really not enough to just say 'African.'

But seriously, FOUR things! Four! And none of them really have me frothing! (The gender stuff gets me frothing.) And Hafnium is real and has the properties described in the show, even if they are untested! I am delighted, I am a happy camper, I am renewed in my desire to own this season on DVD!

Win, guys. Slam dunk, touchdown, home run, hat trick, whatever other sports-metaphors there are that mean you rocked my socks this week. Boom, baby, you did it! Now KEEP doing it. I want more awesome on this level, because this? This is a level of awesome worth watching TV for.

Fingers crossed that Karr is going to be as awesome as he looks! Heck, he'd be highly awesome even if he's only half as awesome as he looks. Just from the last two weeks' teasers I already know I like how he moves, and that's a big test for any CGI robot. He has gravity, and a measure of grace.

GREAT episode guys. Keep up the good work. You were losing me there 4 episodes ago but this reboot is definately what it needed. NBC would be stupid to NOT have a second season. Knight Rider has so much more potential. I cannot wait until you have the old KITT and the new KITT in an episode. That will be very interesting.

I was told David Hasselhoff and the old KITT will be in an episode before the end of the season. That would make a great 2 part episode. I cannot wait for next weeks part two. GREAT job everyone this reboot will defiately prove that Knight Rider is worth keeping to the NBC execs.

THIS WAS A CRAP EPISODE, WHY MUST YOU DISRESPECT US WITH THESE EPISODES WITH THE CIA AND THE FBI, THIS ISNT KR. MAYBE MY MIND WILL CHANGE WHEN YOU FINALLY BRING BACK KARR AND FLAG

This was the best. This is the kind of KR we've been waiting for. All the elements needed to make an epic epi were there: humor, action, Mike and KITT interacting...jeez, the list goes on. The reboot is going to be a complete ringer. And the last few episodes are going to rock too. Because after you deliver this kind of show, you can't stop delivering. Just know we fans love you guys and keep it coming!

The best episode yet. Only complaint is the turbo boosts looks really crappy. Just generic, I'm sorry but It would look 10 times better if you guys actually filmed a car jumping from start to finish. Well at least mike showed a reaction when he turbo boosted. That's a bonus.

First, I agree with others that this was the best episode yet and it actually felt like the original series (few others have). I really enjoyed it. Thanks for spending less time on the secondary characters and more time on Mike and KITT facing a powerful criminal that only they can stop. It's about time they get into situations that make us worry a little bit about Mike and KITT pulling through--just like in the old series episode where a toxic-waste villain dumped KITT into acid. With so many characters on the show you almost need two hour episodes fit in everything if you want to do it right--either that or reduce the cast (maybe that's what we'll get in next weeks part two conclusion...)

I really have to say though, it doesn't make sense that in this latest episode KITT takes out three spys early in the show and then when face to face with three really bad guys at the warehouse (one of which is our villain) he doesn't just pop them with three darts too. Mike would have rescued the girl and the best episode yet would have been over. Instead, highly-capable KITT with his knock-out gas and darts and who knows what else just sits almost idle through the whole thing to ensure we get a "to be continued" ending. The best he can do is an audio clip of Mike. And how is it that in the opening scene when the briefcase is stolen KITT did not detect explosives on that truck or the oddly placed cell phone? Also, I think the original Michael Knight would have gone into the warehouse with a non-functional x-ray machine to ensure the villain didn't get the ability to create destruction. It could have been created by KITTs 3-D generator. Maybe we'll find out in part two that this is the case.

I'd like to see more closure in these episodes. Yeah, it's just a TV show--but I'd like to hear someone say that the authorities picked up the three spies and returned the convict to the prison after they were knocked out. I did hear them say they were smoothing things over with the college dean. That was good.

Finally, I got to watch this episode on a new HDTV as well. WOW! Would love to see this series come out as Blu-ray when you release them. I'll be at the store on release day. Nice improvements on the series and keep it up. Let's hope to see season two.

I must agree with almost all the comments here except from "SOMEONE" Hey dude! If you don't like the show...DONT WATCH IT! Don't come on here disrespecting the crew who put it together.

Anyway, hey GST PLEASE tell me you didn't kill off Rivai! I know I have to wait til next week to find out...but it would be a little premature to start killing off cast members. Anyway this show was definitely the best so far...oh and nice plug for the network that carries the show,(NBC 4)

Keep up the good work guys

I have to say I agree with the common thought that this was a great episode. I agree with Anon that i expected KITT to at least dart the main villain. All in all great episode, Keep up the good work.

yeah ggod episode!!! but please, KARR ever car!!!

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