Bullet Points: Knight Rider 2000
Knight Rider was a bonafide hit for NBC running for four seasons on the network beginning in 1982. The series made David Hasselhoff a household name and an 80s icon.
On May 19, 1991 NBC attempted to capture Knight Rider lightning in a bottle once again with the made for TV movie, Knight Rider 2000…
- In the Year 2000: Knight Rider 2000 is a fitting title for this made for TV movie, since the story takes place in the year 2000, which was a look into the future when the movie first aired. In this future handguns have been outlawed, even the cops are using ultrasound pistols to police criminals in non-lethal fashion. The prison system has also changed from the traditional model and all convicted criminals are now put into cryonic suspension for their duration of their sentences. As the movie begins, we see former police officer Thomas J. Watts (Mitch Pileggi, Shocker) being brought out of his cryonic suspension after doing time for using an illegal handgun to apprehend a criminal…. we eventually learn Watts is the antagonist in the movie, as he has rallied a group of cops who are against the handgun ban and have taken their disgruntlement to the extreme.
- The More Things Change: One thing that has not changed since we last saw Devon Miles (Edward Mulhare) is his drive to carry out the vision of his old friend Wilton Knight, who was the founder of the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG for those in the know). Devon along with his new business partner Russell Maddock (Carmen Argenziano, Red Scorpion) are trying to get a freelance contract with the San Antonio Police Department, although I don’t believe they ever refer to it as San Antonio, instead they call it “The City of the Future”. Why is ol’ San Antone the City of the Future? I guess because of the Tower of the Americas restaurant and the mall with a river running through it but it could have been due to favorable tax breaks to shoot the movie there. The selling point to this freelance deal where FLAG is concerned is the launch of their new state of the art crime fighting vehicle, the Knight 4000, which was a modified 1991 Dodge Stealth that was made to look like a 1988 Pontiac Banshee concept car. The Mayor gives Devon and Maddock 30 days to have the Knight 4000 ready, if they can’t do it, there is no deal.
- Gone Fishing: With FLAG being under a serious time crunch, Devon knows he’s going to have to try to coax his old friend Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff, Bail Out) out of retirement to assist… if it was a matter of getting the car ready, it probably would have made more sense for Devon to see if Bonnie to be called in, but Patricia McPherson doesn’t have the star power of The Hoff, plus they had to get Michael Knight back in some fashion, who would watch a Knight Rider movie or television show without Michael Knight!?!? Michael can’t say no to his old friend Devon, but he quickly wishes he did when he immediately butts heads with Maddock and is infuriated to find out KITT has not only been decommissioned but some of his parts have been sold to raise funding to keep FLAG going. But have no fear… Michael improvises and installs what is left of KITT into his 57 Chevy (with William Daniels back as the voice of KITT)…. why wouldn’t he install KITT in the Knight 4000?!?!
- One Good Cop: I really need to mention the other major character in Knight Rider 2000, Officer Shawn McCormick (Susan Norman). McCormick finds herself opposing Watts’ rogue group of cops and finds herself shot as a result. With Shawn clinging to life, the chief surgeon goes against the police commissioner’s wishes and does some quasi-futuristic surgery to save Shawn’s life that involves installing a microchip in her brain… and the microchip that was installed in her brain, was one of KITT’s chips that was sold. If that sounds stupid, let me assure you… it was. The chip and the fact that she found out her boss didn’t want to spend the money to save her life, leads Shawn to FLAG… where she will have a chance to bring her would be killers to justice, when she’s not bickering with KITT and Michael Knight. If that sounds awful, let me assure you… it was.
I am not exactly sure what I was doing back on May 19, 1991 but I know I was not watching Knight Rider 2000, so whatever it was I was doing was a better option. If only I was doing something else when I decided to watch Knight Rider 2000 last weekend. It was a tough movie to get through… the best parts of the movie were the callbacks to the original series, but even The Hoff couldn’t save this one. And *SPOILER ALERT* killing off Devon was not cool, but even that wasn’t the worst part of the movie…
The worst part of the movie was easily the Shawn McCormick character. She has to be one of the most unlikeable “action heroes” in history and I can not believe this movie was meant to set up a potential series with Shawn McCormick as the centerpiece. Who would want to watch that show?
Who would want to read these Bonus Bullet Points? Dare I say, EVERYBODY!!!
- Where’s the Turbo Boost?: The Knight 4000’s coolest feature is that it has an amphibious mode, if it had any other features I had already mentally tuned out.
- Familiar Face: James Doohan (aka Scotty from Star Trek) played James Doohan and after accidentally getting the shock treatment from KITT, James “Scotty” Doohan goes into some of his classic Star Trek lines.
- New Theme: Jan Hammer provided the music for Knight Rider 2000. The theme reminded me more of Hammer’s work on Vanishing Son than it did his most notable theme, Miami Vice.
- May I Suggest: If you want to watch a quality movie that was shot in San Antonio, I highly recommend checking out 1984’s Cloak & Dagger.
