Hollywood has recently taken a liking to various 1980s television series with a strong emphasis on cars. In the summer of 2007, director Michal Bay took the children's cartoon series "Transformers" and updated it as a live-action blockbuster. The film, about computer-powered cars with the ability to change into anthropomorphic battle machines and fight evil forces, was a big success, grossing over $700 million worldwide at the box office [source: Box Office Mojo]. The flashy special effects and movie stars were exciting, sure, but audiences most likely came to see the movie for the cars, each with its own personality and special attributes.
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Television network NBC used a similar formula when it brought "Knight Rider," the iconic detective show from the '80s starring David Hasselhoff, back to the small screen with a two-hour made-for-TV movie based on the original series and an updated series of the show to network TV in the fall of 2008. Hasselhoff wasn't the only star of the show -- in fact, some might say his non-human counterpart was the real star. In the story, K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Two Thousand) is the supercar Hasselhoff drives to fight crime. A black, two-door Pontiac Trans-AM, K.I.T.T. could drive around on its own, talk back to Hasselhoff's character, Michael Long, with snappy one-liners and provide logical detective work thanks to artificial intelligence.
The new "Knight Rider" updates the original series with a new story, new characters and more spectacular effects. K.I.T.T. also gets a makeover -- or three, technically. Instead of a Pontiac, K.I.T.T. is now a souped-up Ford Mustang GT500KR, and the car can morph into three different versions -- Hero, Attack and Remote.
With the Internet and DVD box sets keeping the cult status of "Knight Rider" alive, you can be sure there's a lot of debate and controversy over the choice of a Mustang. In this article, we'll see what the new version of the beloved K.I.T.T. can do and compare it with the original.
