Knight Rider - the new KITT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20071212/en_tv_eo/4afd8ce71767_4250_9486_858705d17b30;_ylt=AtDZhqlw_eNUz7QaERXG5Dbq188F


The new Knight Rider KITT car made its public debut Wednesday. And as leaked on the blogosphere last month, it's a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR.

"Quite honestly, we thought this was the coolest looking car," said Dave Bartis, an executive producer on NBC's upcoming Knight Rider TV movie, set to air in February.

Just as it took two Olsen twins to play Michelle Tanner, it will take three black, cobra-branded Shelby Mustangs to play KITT. All three were rolled out for a photo op at the NBC lot in Burbank, California, where owing to the ongoing writers' strike, plenty of parking was available.

"It's very smooth. For 600 horsepower," said former soap star Justin Bruening, who landed the human lead in the new Knight Rider, and spent the morning talking up his four-wheeled costar.

The Pontiac Trans Am, which played faithful KITT to David Hasselhoff's singular Michael Knight in the original 1982-86 series, was unavailable for comment. As in, completely, totally unavailable.

"They don't make Trans Ams anymore," Bartis said. "So, the Trans Am's gone."

In its stead, Bartis said producers looked to cast a car that was (a) American-made, definitely; (b) two-door, preferably; and (c) muscular, yes.

"Obviously, we thought Mustang was the right fit," said Ford executive Al Uzielli. "And that's what we started pitching almost immediately."

NBC, no stranger to Fords—a Taurus costars in Life—bit.

"This car has an amazing legacy," Bartis said. "And there's just nobody else who had a vehicle that could match that."

Since the auto blog Jalopnik posted early bird pictures of the KITT-styled Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR a couple of weeks ago, there has been carping, as there always is: Too boring, too safe, so not a Camaro, etc.

Nobody said keepers of the KITT flame were easy to please.

"Knight Rider enthusiasts probably are disappointed it's not an old Pontiac Trans Am, but the reality is there was a need to sell that marketing opportunity," Jalopnik editor in chief Ray Wert wrote in an email Wednesday.

Besides, not everyone is disappointed.

"I do know hard-core Ford fans are happy with the decision," Wert wrote.

Some hard-core Knight Rider fans, too. Neil Epstein, publisher of the fansite Knight Rider Online, sounded cautiously optimistic.

"Once we see some footage of the car in motion, we will be able to better judge," Epstein wrote in an email. "[But] the producers have taken a step in the right direction by honoring the original KITT and keeping the colors and styles that made the original popular."

The franchise can only improve on one of its latter incarnations, the little-loved 1994 TV movie, Knight Rider 2010, starring, in its KITT debut, a Ford Mustang. Albeit, an old '69.

"People watching Knight Rider—you know, a show with a futuristic talking car—have an expectation that the car's gonna look special," Wert wrote.

The new KITT, as previewed Wednesday, didn't look nearly as special as producers promise it'll look in the TV movie (and possible series), when, through the magic of post, it'll make like something out of Chamillionaire's garage, changing colors and shifting shapes.

Each of the three KITT cars has been assigned a specific duty: The so-called KITT Hero will roll with the actors; KITT Attack will handle the high-speed chase scenes; and the remote-controlled KITT Remote will double for KITT Hero.

The stunt-driver-driven KITT Attack showed off its stuff by doing a tire-burning doughnut in the parking lot. The driverless KITT Remote proved its high-tech worth by not crashing into the assembled press. The KITT Hero, under the direction of Bruening, demonstrated its carpool power by delivering the TV movie's four stars.

Not one of the models featured a strip of blinking red lights, à la classic KITT. And not one of the models featured a Michael Knight, à la classic Hasselhoff. But while the red lights weren't present, Hasselhoff will be. He appears in the new movie as his old TV character. Bruening plays Michael Knight's prodigal son, the equally name-blessed Mike Tracer.

Bruening, whose TV dad on All My Children was played by one Michael E. Knight, said Hasselhoff didn't give him driving tips so much as he gave him relationship tips.

"That's your best friend in the end," Bruening said Hasselhoff advised of KITT. "It's just [your character]. Alone on the road. With a car. That talks."

Arrested Development's Will Arnett will supply KITT's voice in the new movie, succeeding William Daniels, who advised Michael Knight in the 1980s' series.

A nontalking version of the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR will go on sale next year.

Oh, and the consumer model won't change colors or shift shapes, either.

"We haven't figured out the technology yet," Uzielli said. "But we're working on it."


The new Knight Rider KITT car made its public debut Wednesday. And as leaked on the blogosphere last month, it's a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR.

"Quite honestly, we thought this was the coolest looking car," said Dave Bartis, an executive producer on NBC's upcoming Knight Rider TV movie, set to air in February.

Just as it took two Olsen twins to play Michelle Tanner, it will take three black, cobra-branded Shelby Mustangs to play KITT. All three were rolled out for a photo op at the NBC lot in Burbank, California, where owing to the ongoing writers' strike, plenty of parking was available.

"It's very smooth. For 600 horsepower," said former soap star Justin Bruening, who landed the human lead in the new Knight Rider, and spent the morning talking up his four-wheeled costar.

The Pontiac Trans Am, which played faithful KITT to David Hasselhoff's singular Michael Knight in the original 1982-86 series, was unavailable for comment. As in, completely, totally unavailable.

"They don't make Trans Ams anymore," Bartis said. "So, the Trans Am's gone."

In its stead, Bartis said producers looked to cast a car that was (a) American-made, definitely; (b) two-door, preferably; and (c) muscular, yes.

"Obviously, we thought Mustang was the right fit," said Ford executive Al Uzielli. "And that's what we started pitching almost immediately."

NBC, no stranger to Fords—a Taurus costars in Life—bit.

"This car has an amazing legacy," Bartis said. "And there's just nobody else who had a vehicle that could match that."

Since the auto blog Jalopnik posted early bird pictures of the KITT-styled Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR a couple of weeks ago, there has been carping, as there always is: Too boring, too safe, so not a Camaro, etc.

Nobody said keepers of the KITT flame were easy to please.

"Knight Rider enthusiasts probably are disappointed it's not an old Pontiac Trans Am, but the reality is there was a need to sell that marketing opportunity," Jalopnik editor in chief Ray Wert wrote in an email Wednesday.

Besides, not everyone is disappointed.

"I do know hard-core Ford fans are happy with the decision," Wert wrote.

Some hard-core Knight Rider fans, too. Neil Epstein, publisher of the fansite Knight Rider Online, sounded cautiously optimistic.

"Once we see some footage of the car in motion, we will be able to better judge," Epstein wrote in an email. "[But] the producers have taken a step in the right direction by honoring the original KITT and keeping the colors and styles that made the original popular."

The franchise can only improve on one of its latter incarnations, the little-loved 1994 TV movie, Knight Rider 2010, starring, in its KITT debut, a Ford Mustang. Albeit, an old '69.

"People watching Knight Rider—you know, a show with a futuristic talking car—have an expectation that the car's gonna look special," Wert wrote.

The new KITT, as previewed Wednesday, didn't look nearly as special as producers promise it'll look in the TV movie (and possible series), when, through the magic of post, it'll make like something out of Chamillionaire's garage, changing colors and shifting shapes.

Each of the three KITT cars has been assigned a specific duty: The so-called KITT Hero will roll with the actors; KITT Attack will handle the high-speed chase scenes; and the remote-controlled KITT Remote will double for KITT Hero.

The stunt-driver-driven KITT Attack showed off its stuff by doing a tire-burning doughnut in the parking lot. The driverless KITT Remote proved its high-tech worth by not crashing into the assembled press. The KITT Hero, under the direction of Bruening, demonstrated its carpool power by delivering the TV movie's four stars.

Not one of the models featured a strip of blinking red lights, à la classic KITT. And not one of the models featured a Michael Knight, à la classic Hasselhoff. But while the red lights weren't present, Hasselhoff will be. He appears in the new movie as his old TV character. Bruening plays Michael Knight's prodigal son, the equally name-blessed Mike Tracer.

Bruening, whose TV dad on All My Children was played by one Michael E. Knight, said Hasselhoff didn't give him driving tips so much as he gave him relationship tips.

"That's your best friend in the end," Bruening said Hasselhoff advised of KITT. "It's just [your character]. Alone on the road. With a car. That talks."

Arrested Development's Will Arnett will supply KITT's voice in the new movie, succeeding William Daniels, who advised Michael Knight in the 1980s' series.

A nontalking version of the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR will go on sale next year.

Oh, and the consumer model won't change colors or shift shapes, either.

"We haven't figured out the technology yet," Uzielli said. "But we're working on it."

OMGJEEZUSCHRISTFTW...!!!

<-huge fan when still a kid...

I know...who didn't want turbo boost and super pursuit mode.

Thats pretty cool. I wish all cars could talk. Hell, id probably get lost alot less.

I loved that tv serial when I was younger. It was really good(for it's time).

i was a HUGE knight rider fan too , i wanted his car ,,,,, cool

but it was a huge move from a trans am...

imma having mixed emotions...

KITT looks more like a "Bond Car" now if you'd ask me...

I hope it doesn't suck.

teaser

http://www.knightrideronline.com/news/2007/12/new_knight_rider_teaser.php

lol..That was a quick teaser, They say Mike now? It's supposed to be "Hello Michael". I'm so gonna check it out in Febuary. I bet they change alot of stuff up, watch.

I know, it didn't sound right. Why mess with it. We'll just have to wait and see.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237588.html

Interesting Stats ,Mike.

Price New: $45.6 million, as tested ( OMG, Guess I'll be getting the Matchbox Diecast Car version of Kitt then. )

And What? No Flame Throwers? And Shape Shifting..Wow~ This should be interesting.

From imdb.com
Trivia for
"Knight Rider" (1982)

advertisement photos board trailer details

KITT, the Knight Industries Two-Thousand, was a customized 1982 Pontiac Trans-Am. The 1982 model year was the first year of the third-generation (1982-1992) F-bodies (Chevrolet's Camaro and Pontiac's Firebird share the same platform), and was a complete redesign of the second-generation (see Smokey and the Bandit (1977) for a 2nd-gen Trans-Am).


Glen A. Larson borrowed the idea of K.I.T.T.'s hood mounted scanner from one of his earlier projects, 'Battlestar Galactica'. The Cylon Centurions in that series had an almost identical scanner that functioned as eyes, and Larson adapted the idea for K.I.T.T. Also, originally K.I.T.T. had a square red light on the dashboard that lit up as he spoke. His more familiar 'voice modulator', with three red lines broken into cells which went up and down as he spoke, was introduced half-way through the first season.


Pontiac, who supplied the Trans Am for the series, found itself swamped with customer requests for black Firebird Trans Ams with T-tops, tan interiors, and red lights on the front bumper, just like the show car.


The "jumping car" was a hollow-fiberglass Trans Am


The "auto-cruise" car was a right-hand drive car, so that Hasselhoff could get into the car without cutting the scene (only on the last season).


David Hasselhoff and William Daniels (voice of K.I.T.T.) meet on the Christmas party after six months filming the season. Until that point, Hasselhoff hadn't seen the face behind the voice of the car.


The "auto-cruise" car was driven by a stunt inside the driver seat.


Super-Pursuit Mode was introduced as a means of retaining viewers for a fourth season.


You never see a long shot of KITT changing into Super Pursuit Mode, since KITT is not moving at all. A shell of KITT's body was used when filming the transition to Super Pursuit Mode, since large hydraulic rams were needed to articulate the body panels, and there was no room for an engine or running gear in the car.


The narrator of the show's opening credits was Richard Basehart who played dying benefactor Wilton Knight in the pilot movie, Knight Rider (1982) (TV).


Throughout Season 1, there is another car that appears regularly besides the Knight Industries Two Thousand and Devon's Mercedes-Benz convertible. It is a red 1974 (or thereabouts) AMC Gremlin X, possibly one of the crew's personal vehicles. It was never used in a "supporting" role, but only as a vehicular "extra", usually driving away from the camera.


In many of KITT's jump scenes, the screen jumps to another angle (such as Michael driving) before landing. This is because more often than not, the front end of the stunt car is totaled upon landing.


The second series saw the extensive use of miniatures provided by Jack Sessums for most of the really impossible stuff like jumping over trains, over helicopters, crashing into Goliath and "walking on water". The miniatures of KITT were made to 1/8th scale, modified from the existing commercially available Monogram kit of the 1982 Camaro Z-28 to the same scale. Almost everything done involving trains were miniatures built by Sessums and his crew, as it turns out Sessums was a model train enthusiast who had large scale garden railway models already built, and the production crews made a lot of use of these models which for the most part were ready for use. The same model trains were also used in "The Fall Guy" (1981) and other similar productions of the time.


The character of Michael Knight was originally known as Michael Long before undergoing reconstructive surgery on his face and joining Knight Industries.


K.A.R.R. (the evil Trans Am) stood for "Knight Automated Roving Robot".


According to Brandon Tartikoff, the head of programming at NBC during the 1980s, the inspiration for the series came about when NBC executives started complaining about the problems of casting handsome leading men in TV series, because many of them couldn't act. Tartikoff and his assistant came up with a concept for a TV show called, "The Man of Six Words". Each show would begin with the leading man getting out of a woman's bed and saying, "Thank you." Occasionally, throughout the show, the leading man would say, "Okay," when receiving orders from his boss. Then he would chase down some villains and say "Freeze!" Finally, when the people he had saved from death would thank him, he would say, "You're welcome." For the rest of the show, the car would do all the talking. Although Tartikoff had meant the pitch to be a joke, the NBC executives liked the idea of a TV show about a man with a talking car, and approved it for development.

KR Likely not, show will probably be made with V6 models dressed up in KR body kits. Just a guess but why bang up a bunch of cars likely to sell for 100K when they can put 5K into a V6 model and make it look the same?

Like they did for Dukes and other shows, they may have one or two "real" KITT cars and a bunch of stunt doubles.

i wanna car like kitt [stamps foot]NOW lol

I read Val Kilmer it going to be the voice of KITT!

http://www.variety.com/VR1117980382.html

But, But whhhhy? What was wrong with the original voice? I'm so usedta that voice. They're tryna change everything.

The guy who used to be KITT is under contract with GM, and since new KITT is a Ford......