It Should Be A Movie By Now: Knight Rider

Is it bad that I didn’t even know that there was a “new” show that came out during 2008-2009? Or is it that the show was that bad, and no one bothered to tell me? Either way, I’m not referring to that garbage (I looked it up – you can find episodes on NBC’s site). I’m referring to the classic Hoff show that helped to launch his career and boost him into German stardom.

who didn’t want their very own KITT?!

I wasn’t even into cars when Knight Rider was on television, but I always wanted KITT. For those that are unaware of what Knight Rider was even about, let me debrief you. The creator, Glen Larson said simply, “I wanted to do the Lone Ranger with a car…” and that’s kind of what it was. It was a mix between reality (at the time), sci-fi, and a classic western. The hero, Michael Knight aka “the Hoff”, was recruited to be the primary field agent for a special organization formed by a self made billionaire, Wilton Knight. To help battle injustice, Michael is also given KITT, the Knight Industries Two Thousand, known to everyone else as the 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am. (It cost a whopping $100,000 to make – yikes)

I think what really sold the public on the show was the intro song … I’d place a bet that even if you haven’t seen the show, you’ve probably heard the song.

I forgot the car could fly…

So doing my due diligence to come up with material for this post, I found that there had a been a television movie called Knight Rider 2000 back in 1991. Consider me surprised once again because I knew nothing of it. I’m starting to question my right to call myself a child of the 80’s. Either way, I looked on IMDB and the rating for said “movie” was awful, a 4.7 out of 10 tallied from over 1,500 users. Which just makes more sense in my mind to why it needs an actual big picture release. Granted the reboot of the TV series flopped, but look at the cast and the car they used … everything was wrong from the get go.

Really…?! Abomination.

Let me also point out that they screwed up by allowing the car to transform. It goes from a Mustang, to a Fast and Furious Mustang, to a F150, to a Van, to an old classic Mustang, to even a robot. (there are some others it transformed into … but I’ve said enough) Everything about the show was wrong and it’s easy to see why it didn’t make it past season one.

Let’s move on before I just start to sound whiny.

This show needs to be a movie. I could see how they could take an awesome car, give it some attitude (kind of like Bumble bee in Transformers), have it interact with the star of the show and go after a villain bent on ruling the world. Throw in a gorgeous girl as a love interest and you’ve got a solid flick that I think would make some serious money. The way I see it, if Transformers, Fast & Furious, James Bond, and Need for Speed were to have an orgy the outcome could very well be Knight Rider. You have to side with me to some degree on this one, this is an easy sell for a motion picture. I know that there has been some internet rumors flying around about a movie being produced with Chris Pratt as the lead man. If those rumors are true, I’d be quite happy with the casting decision there. Chris seems to be coming into his own now and is quite the popular casting decision for bigger and better pictures. I’m for it – make it happen!

Casting:

This time around, I’m going to agree on the idea of Chris Pratt being the lead man as Michael Knight. I have no qualms about this decision what so ever. I’ll back that call.

Though, there is one other key member that needs addressed…KITT. The original voice talent behind KITT was none other than Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World … William Daniels. Who better to take over for him than David Hyde-Pierce? Aside from these two, I could care less who they cast for everyone else in the movie. The whole thing hinges on the relationship between the man and his car – and the banter that would go on between David and Chris would be nothing less than spectacular.

Oh, and this needs to be the car – or at least something like it:

Better than a transforming Ford Mustang.

I leave the question to you my internet friends – do you think Knight Rider is due for a movie? I think it should be a movie by now, and I wish that we would’ve received a movie instead of the show that we got back in 2008. I hope that particular flop didn’t scare producers and directors away from the prospect of it being something fantastic. If anything I know the Hoff would be all about it just so that he can make another cameo appearance.

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Hey guys & gals, my name is Lucas Tetrault and if you like this post or any of the others I’ve done – please feel free to venture over to my Blog and take a gander at some other stuff I write about. I promise I don’t intend to waste your time.

I work as a Creative Director and spend time away from my job with my wife and son, writing for Unreality, and trying to be creative with my own personal projects.