Knight Rider (1982–1986)

Knight Rider was one of the staples of my TV diet as a preteen back in the wonderful (?) '80s. The main attraction to this young car fanatic was that...CAR. I swear, back then, that jet black Trans Am was awe-inspiring. It wasn't an '80s car in the sense that we know now, but an *'80s car*...new, ultra-high-tech, computerized! All those flashing buttons and lights and monitors were, like, so sophisticated. It even had a steering wheel that was a cross between an airplane's and a dragster's. Never mind that this Knight Industries 2000 talked with a voice like a somewhat more streetwise version of HAL 9000. Wow!

It still has an air of futurism in my memories--it seems like it should still seem fresh now in the year 2004--but then of course I haven't seen it since its original run ended. Maybe better that I shouldn't, or risk ruining my memories.

What I do remember, outside of having a minor crush on Bonnie and the chemistry between all the leads, is that as much as I enjoyed this show it had a distinct thread of creepiness running through the whole show. Technology had part of it--remember KARR, KITT's evil doppelganger? Or the episode where someone's voice had been cut apart and "reassembled" to say something different? But what I remember the most was the explosions. Funny how many shows I liked back then had lots of things blowing up (like The A-Team, another Universal TV favorite).

Knight Rider's creeped me out for some reason...the one non-KITT image I remember over any other from this show, for some reason, is a large stack of fuel drums set ablaze by bad guys in a factory or airplane hangar, and a long, long scene of these drums exploding and shooting into the air like rockets, accompanied by a repetitive stock explosion sound effect right into the commercial break. I dunno, I still get the willies thinking about that one. Then again, there's that Lear Jet getting blown up in the opening credits...that one WAS kinda cool.

Very strange what twenty years can do to one's memories of a show...some things are cystal clear, others (like the stories) I'm not sure I ever really paid attention to. Such is TV. KR was one of my faves once upon a time.