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Knight Rider Series One DVD Boxset
01/08/2005 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
DVD. Univeral Studios 8229062. 20 episodes, 2 pilots and extras. Price: £24.99 (UK) - it varies so shop around for the best deal). stars: David Hasselhoff, Edward Mulhare, Patricia McPherson and William Daniels. Buy Knight Rider in the USA - or Buy Knight Rider in the UK  As I covered the book, 'The Knight Rider Legacy', over a year ago, it's only appropriate that I get around to the first season of 'Knight Rider' itself. If you're a fan of the series, then this is really something for your collection especially considering the number of extras from stills to blueprints to how it was cone covering all things KITT. The only real problem is that it appears to be a DVD boxset put together by someone who must have been near-sighted. I mean, why have the original pilot episode on the 7th DVD instead of the first and even have the 'Knight Rider 2000' pilot on the 8th instead of after the final fourth season. 'Course, with DVD, you can at least put things in the right order to watch things but it must be a little disconcerting for new viewers that a little more attention couldn't have been spared to the running order. It isn't as though things couldn't have been put in the right around.
For those not in the know, Michael Long was an undercover cop investigating corruption in Las Vegas, when he and his partner are found out. His partner is killed in Vegas and Long is shot and left for dead out in the desert. Fortunately, for him, the Foundation for Law And Government (F.L.A.G.) were keeping not a quite close eye on him (or he wouldn't have been shot presumably) got to him, saved his life and gave him plastic surgery and a new identity as Michael Knight (actor Hasselhoff). The dying financier of F.L.A.G., Wilton Knight, millionaire owner of Knight Industries, believed in 'one man can make a difference' especially when it came to crime that could evade the law. 'Course it could be helped if this man had the right equipment. In this case, it was the second prototype of a new super-car, masterly disguised with a Cylon red sensor light and cockpit installed in a Pontiac Trans-Am, equipped with all kinds of gadgets, including the AI itself, the Knight Industries Two Thousand or KITT for short and the ability to boost like a rocket over or through various obstacles.
From then on, its adventures all the way with Michael getting involved with cases handed to him by his boss Devon Miles (actor Mulhare) or accidentally running into them himself.
The series was also finding its feet with frequent modifications along the way. KITT's mobile engine home in a Semi changes from white to the classic black and is slightly bigger on the inside than it had any right to be. After its encounter with KARR, the first prototype, someone must have figured that the former had the better dashboard and KITT got a better speech module.
Oddly enough, apart from the computer games and screen resolution, KITT's technology still looks impressive today. As with the later 'Airwolf', this is also one of the last car based series that depended solely on real effects. Even with the aforementioned 'Knight Rider 2000', little was really done with the new KITT car simply because it was too expensive to trash such an expensive car as the Spyder.
One thing which is always of interest with old series is spotting actors starting out in their careers or even in mid-stream. Amongst these is Mark (DS9) Alaimo, William (Bladeruner/The X-Files) Sanderson, Jean (Airwolf) Bruce Scott, Theodore (Babylon 5) Bikel, Guy (Quantum Leap) Stockwell and Robin (Star Trek films) Curtis. In the 'Knight Rider 2000', we also have Mitch (X-Files) Peleggi and Carmen (Stargate SG-1) Argenziano. You'd never realise unless you paid attention.
'Knight Rider' was never meant to be a totally serious show and humour was used to lighten anything too heavy. This balance must have worked for memories of 'Knight Rider' to have lasted so long and why it hasn't had any competition for comparison since. With season two out about now, you might well want to go back for another turbo-boost.
GF Willmetts
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