Knight Rider/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • I have an original series related question. Why the HELL didn't FLAG supervise the cleanup and disposal of KARR and Goliath after they'd supposedly been destroyed the first time they fought Micheal and KITT? Not to mention leaving all of KARR's parts just laying around after the end of KITT VS KARR for anybody to come along and steal, I mean What The Hell Heroes?
    • On the subject of KARR, I really don't get what Wilton Knight was going for in making his primary purpose SELF preservation when his intention was to basically create a modern version of the Lone Ranger, out to help people who are in trouble, or desperate. Why would you even CONSIDER making the primary role of the car to protect ITSELF rather than the driver or other folks it's meant to be looking after? Seems like a no brainer.
      • Proof-of-concept prototype. Remember, the man is having to invent artificial intelligence from scratch. Programming an AI around a very simple and objective motive, such as self-preservation, would be an order of magnitude simpler than trying to program one to do something as abstract and complex as make ethical value judgements. KARR was almost certainly never intended for field service at all, just to be an experimental workup that the process of designing and building would teach them valuable lessons by which KITT could eventually be designed. The problem lay in not thinking ahead to 'so, what do we do with KARR once we've finished with it?'
  • Wouldn't 2008 KITT's plates draw unnecessary attention? Two-letter plates with no state marking or expiration sticker can't be legal. For a vehicle that's supposed to be covert, they risk some cop becoming curious.
    • It's also a blatant disregard of I Am Not Shazam, seeing how the phrase Knight Rider isn't even supposed to be used in-show, and refers to the driver, not the car.
      • "KR" in Knight Rider (2008) stands for Knight Research (and Development), the pseudo-company name that Charles Graiman and the FBI uses as a cover for their KITT and SSC-related ventures. But...none of this will mean anything after episode 13, when the SSC gets shut down, and the main characters regroup to revive the Foundation for Law And Government.
      • It looks like someone paid attention, since KITT's plates now have a more realistic look (and change to match the state they're in, as seen in episode 11).
  • Going back to the original show, how can a 70s nostalgia car be the car of the future?
    • 2008 series could've used Pontiac GTO '06. There - problem solved.
    • But IF they had gotten The Hoff back for the title role, he could've driven a Pontiac Vibe - it would make sense for a now middle-aged family man to drive a station wagon. Just sayin'...
  • From the pilot: "The steel plate in his head deflected the bullet away from his brain and right into his face. We'll never know what he looked like." Yeah, it's a shame driver's license photos hadn't been invented yet.
    • Wait I forget, who said that line? If it was one of the surgeons then there's a possibility that they would never know what he looked like - Wilton Knight would probably want it that way, so as to better conceal who he had been...
  • In "Trust Doesn't Rust", when KARR need maintenance, why did the villains immediately resort to kidnapping Bonnie. They could've at least made an attempt to recruit her willingly, by offering to pay her.
    • They're stupid, greedy petty thieves who think they've lucked into the big time. The last thing they're going to want to do is share any of the payoff, and they're not exactly deep thinkers or competent planners to begin with.