(insert a "thumbs down" picture here)
I watched, with anticipation, the new Knight Rider 2-hour premier last night on NBC. After watching the promotional teasers leading up to foro poquercartas en el pokerjuegos cartas pokeraprende a jugar pokerjuego de poker para descargarpoker runjuego de cartaslos mejores cuartos del pokerpoker pc games,strip poker games,poker gamescomputer poker gameel pokerjuegos poker,juegos de poker,juegos cartas pokerjuegos on line pokertexas holdem gratisstreap poker onlinejuegos de poker online gratistop poker onlinejuego de poker pcjuego de poker onlinepoker torneos gratispoker lineastrip poker pcpoquer de dadosdescarga pokerdescarga juego de pokerhow to play pokerjugar card studpoker en linea libre7 card stud gratisstreep poker on linedouble bonus poker downloadtorneos de pokerjugar texas holdemwww polli poquerbonus de poker en lineajuego al instante internetpoly pokerpoker online espańoljuego poker gratuitoroulette lineainternet casinosganar dinero verdadero portal internet,ganar dinero,ganar dinero verdadero pagina internetjuego interactivo lineajuegos de ruletasistemas ruletapromocion casino onlinecasino compremio paginas internetjuegos webganar premios portales web this "event", I was counting on seeing a blockbuster… on TV. The two hours were a let down.
I’ve read on other sites that fans were put off by the car the series producers decided to use - the Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra (whatever letter combination you can use to further alienate this particular car from any other version, the VCRX-S56 something?). I personally think the Mustang is a classic whether it was built in 1964 or 2008. It has stood the test of time. I really don’t care if the red animated lights on the hood are beaming from a Pontiac Trans-Am or Ford or Lamborghini or whatever. Here’s a simple fact: In the old series, a working-class American could actually AFFORD the car (sans high-tech computer system) in Knight Rider. I doubt most people at a dealership can even get close to a version of this Mustang without alarms and bells going off.
I had a problem with the car’s believability. In the old 80’s series, before CGI (computer graphics) defined EVERYTHING we see on TV, the car was somewhat believable. Yes, it talked and could hold a conversation. Yes it had a computer (wireless!) that made it functional. Yes it was bullet-proof. Ok, we have computers in cars today and on some cars, if the computer malfunctions and stops working, so does the car. We have bullet-proofing. But in this new "3000" model, the car can morph. This effect turned me off. Need a spoiler on the trunk? Got it. Need to change paint colors? Done. Bullet holes get repaired almost instantly… by the car. At least for me, this was too over the top to hold my interests. Cool? Yes, of course. But, other than its computer being hacked into (another cheap plot), this car cannot be destroyed. Actually, I’m waiting for the episode where it morphs into a human and walks away.
Then, to spread out the 2-hours of computer imaging, there was a cheesy love story brewing between the fresh-out-of-acting-school main character (it isn’t the car) Justin Bruening, playing Mike Tracer, and Sarah. I think she’s the mother of John Connor in Terminator? I don’t know, I lost interest. Anyway, Deanna Russo plays her part. The show was more about them, a half-plot, and what the show’s design team learned in computer graphics college than about the car. Tracer, by the way, turns out to be Michael Knight’s son, played by the original, not computer generated, David Hasselhoff. Hasselhoff attempts to awaken the audience with his appearance near the end. This worked, but it was too late. Maybe when the car morphs into a human, it’ll start dating Sarah and make the show interesting again.
I was also put off by the voice of the car. In the TV trailers leading up to this event, the voice of the car was more like a deep version of the old KITT (car). During the actual movie/show, however, the car sounded no different than a human…without feelings of course. Val Kilmer provided the voice for the new KITT. In the 80’s series, William Daniels was the voice - and sounded like everything you would expect a car to sound like, and then some. Daniels sounded like he put more into the voice than Kilmer. Kilmer read the lines but that was about it.
And then there’s the theme song. Typical for just about every program on TV these days, it was some sort of instrumental rock. It had a taste of the original version, then that quickly smeered away. The show continuously snapped us out of the 80’s - the show’s original concept and design - and back into the 2000’s, except for the idiotically-futuristic things this car was capable of.
My guess is, NBC was directing this piece, like most shows on TV these days, for those who were not born in the 80’s. That’s fine. Call it something else, then. Don’t bring back an original ahead-of-its-time classic, redo 95% of it, then put your stamp on it. Didn’t CBS do that with "The Brady Bunch" - the title wouldn’t work for today’s audience so they renamed it to Big Brother?