Analog-Theater 2.0

Back in the 80’s, there was this series called Knight Rider.  In this show, there was a man named Michael Knight who had a talking Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. Together the two of them fought crime for four years.  A few years ago, they tried to bring the show back, but with more cars and a pair of motorcycles that combined to become a car.  This show was called Team Knight Rider.  This show was thankfully canceled after one season.  However, they have once again tried to bring it back with just one car again, but this time it’s a Mustang.

Justin Bruening plays Mike Tracer, who at the end of the first episode changes his name to Michael Knight when they declare Mike Tracer dead.  Val Kilmer is the voice of KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand). 

The new KITT differs greatly from the original (and I’m not sure it’s for the best).  The original KITT was bullet proof, fire proof, and could even withstand explosions.  The new KITT has a bunch of nanobots that reinforce its body and instantly repairs any damage.  Though it can morph into attack mode, which makes it indestructable.  The one thing that I don’t understand, if you can make an indestructible mode for the car, why not just make the whole car indestructible?  And speaking about the morphing, KITT can change into a variety of shapes, including a Crown Vic police cruiser, a Ford F-150 pickup truck, a Ford E-150 van, and a F-22 Raptor (actually they haven’t, but they probably will do it later).  Robert and I were discussing how that could even be possible since the van and the pickup both have significantly more mass then a mustang.  The only thing we could come up with was nanobots.  Somehow nanobots create and get rid of the mass.  The new KITT also has some very interesting abilities.  It has a solar hybrid engine that gets 167 miles to the gallon and can reach speeds of over 300 miles per hour (in attack mode), it can access military satellites, it has a pair of rocket launchers and a laser, it has a 3D object generator (nanobots can build objects out of nothing), the windshield is also a touch screen heads up display, the hood of the car is also a touch screen display, KITT can analyze and synthesize blood and pharmaceuticals, and it has ground sensing radar.  And that’s all just in the first six episodes.  All thanks to the power of nanobots.  I’m thinking that the writers just use nanobots to solve any problem with physics and common sense.

To make things even more interesting, for some reason Michael doesn’t have KITT transform until its too late.  For instance, KITT’s ground sensing radar detected that the road ahead of them was mined.  They wait until halfway through the mines before morphing into the indestructible attack mode.  Of course, they hit a mine in midtranformation and knocks KITT out of commission.

Did I mention that Mike Tracer is actually the son of the original Michael Knight?  And he is former Special Forces who served in Irag and has a large gap in his memory from his tour of duty.  Oh, and they no longer has the tracter trailer mobile garage that KITT drives into, they now use a cargo plane.

The show does, in my expert nanobot opinion, have one redeeming factor.  The character of Zoe Chae (played by Smith Cho), the sassy, attractive, asian linguist who works at Knight Industries.

However, these nanobots appear to be unable to help Doctor Who.  David Tennet was not available to film season 5 because of his commitment with the Royal Shakespeare Company.  He did film 4 one hour specials that will air during the course of 2009.  I heard mention of Easter and Christmas specials.  Doctor Who will return in 2010, but without David Tennet and without Russel T. Davis, the executive producer and writer.  They have not announced who will be replacing David Tennet as the Doctor, but Steven Moffat will take over as the executive producer.

During season 4, the Doctor meet Professor River Song, who knew the Doctor from his future.  She even recognized his incarnation (the tenth doctor) and after looking at him closely, said he was early in his incarnation, suggesting that she meet him later during that incarnation.  However, if he is going to be replaced soon, then she couldn’t meet him (unless they bring her back during one of the specials).

For more about David Tennet and why he is leaving Doctor Who, click here.