Reboots - the good, the bad, and the ugly

I think BSG and Ghostbusters were right

CB2001 said:

About the KR "reboot", it was meant to be a continuation as well (Michael Knight, played by Hasselhoff himself turns up in the final scene of the pilot, as well as we see the remains of KITT from the original show in the opening scene in the garage). Now, I do agree, the show had its weak spots, and I feel that if it had been given a second season, it would have fixed all of them. By the way it looked towards the end, it was going to get back to what the original was: with the Foundation helping out the innocent and helpless against criminals who operated above the law (in fact, I kinda imagine that they would have brought Michael Knight back to become the Devon Miles of the group, and maybe even have The original KITT apparently still functioning and used for other things other than riding around and fighting crime). Honestly, if they had just gotten to that much sooner, or just had FLAG since the start of the series, maybe it would have been better.

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yeah,the pilot and episode 1 seem like two totally different shows. I don't think you even see the plane again(supposedly the new semi) after the pilot.

I wonder if they just couldn't afford david as a regular and had to rework the concept....

A couple of movies I'd like to see remade, with physical models but better budgets, is Robot Jox and Robot Wars. They're cheesy b-movies but it'd be nice to just see them done with a bigger budget.

Thats actually the type of movies I think that should get the reboot treatment. Movies that had a good premise, but maybe weren't successful because of budgetary issues or some other reason. I never understood the logic of remaking a movie that was already a success.

The 2011 the thing movie is not a remake it is a prequel to John carpenters the thing . just saying.

NeilT said:

yeah,the pilot and episode 1 seem like two totally different shows. I don't think you even see the plane again(supposedly the new semi) after the pilot.

I wonder if they just couldn't afford david as a regular and had to rework the concept....

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The plane was featured in at least three episodes (I think), with the last episode involving the plane crashing due to its landing gear getting jammed.

Well, even if they couldn't get David back to have Michael be the Devon Miles of the new group, the big issue is that they got back to the "one man making a difference in a world where criminals operate above the law" concept way too late. Another big turn-off for some of the fans is the fact that KI3T (what they use to designate the difference between the original KITT and the one from the 2008 series) was a Mustang. For some odd reason, a lot of fans have been hating on Fords since the previous spin-off attempt Team Knight Rider, them feeling that they should have used classic Pontaic Trans-Ams instead of mostly Ford vehicles (honestly, I don't mind the Fords, let alone the Mustang, being used for the main vehicle. Most fans choose vehicles like Ferraris and very expensive sports cars for their idea of what a new KITT would be. As a result, they missed one of the most important things that made KITT an interesting vehicle: the fact he was a super computer inside the shell of a car that was so common, that one of the running gags of the show was where people mistake him for a run of the mill car and are surprised when he reveals himself to be much more. Not only that, if you're tailing someone in a Ferrari, you might as well have a giant sign that reads "Hey, I'm following you!" Since the modern Mustang is so common, just like how the Trans-Am was a common vehicle was back in the day, it makes sense to use such a vehicle for a modern KITT). Believe me, I've had this conversation many times, so I'm aware of most of the issues some of the fans have with it (honestly, I thought Val Kilmer made a great voice for KI3T).

Honestly, when it comes to doing KR as a film, my issue is them turning the film into a comedy when the show was an action drama (I cite a good example with the Dukes of Hazzard movie, where they turned it from a family friendly action adventure into a stoner comedy starring Stifler and ******* Knoxville). Back when I was in high school, I came up with a script for what I wanted to see as the starting point for a KR movie, and had even used pictures of a 1999 Pontiac Trans-Am for KITT (it was for this online game called "Virtual Producer", where you created fictional movies (with cast listings, scripts, posters and websites and everything) then have them go head-to-head in a virtual box office where people would vote on the weekly releases to see how they were doing. I did such a good job that some people who stumbled across the website, despite the disclaimer on the front page, they thought it was a legit KR film website. Think about it now, probably would be really noticeable that it wasn't a real website). And even for a new KR movie, I'd still pick a modern Ford Mustang because of how common they are.

Another big turn-off for some of the fans is the fact that KI3T (what they use to designate the difference between the original KITT and the one from the 2008 series) was a Mustang. For some odd reason, a lot of fans have been hating on Fords since the previous spin-off attempt Team Knight Rider, them feeling that they should have used classic Pontaic Trans-Ams instead of mostly Ford vehicles (honestly, I don't mind the Fords, let alone the Mustang, being used for the main vehicle.

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Lots of muscle car guys are brand-loyal to a crazy degree. And rivalries don't get any bigger than Camaro/Firdbird versus Mustang. It's been going on for 50 years.

For many of the old KR crowd, rebooting KITT as a Mustang would have been like putting Kirk & Spock in the Millennium Falcon. "There IS NO explanation that would make this okay. Don't even try."

Batman Begins
The Thing (1982)
Battlestar Galactica

Those are some of the ones I like

Reading about the Dukes reboot, that was painful. It was an entertaining movie, but everything minus the General Lee was all wrong. It would've been perfectly fine as a stand-alone comedy movie by any other name, really. But they flipped everything about the movie that the show had. The characters were all backwards. The personality of Bo and Luke were flip-flopped, and in the series, Luke had a lot more sense about him, whereas the movie version they're both bumbling about. Boss Hogg as played by Reynolds, no fat suit? And then Roscoe is a big burly angry cop instead of the person he should've been, etc. Creative freedom and all that, sure, but for me it really took the spirit of the series and threw it out the window. Again, it's not that I didn't enjoy it, just was wrong for me.

They did the same with Starsky and Hutch. Made a slapstick comedy over a gritty cop buddy movie. Just so they could have big flares and the huge collars of the seventies. I didnt like the new knight rider too much. It, was watchable but having the new kitt with a nano tech shell rather than just having the indestructable molecularly bonded shell was a bit weird. That and having Karr reappear as a transformer? Really? Of course I am slightly bias because of my daily drive. Or at least he will be once ive gotten around to respraying him.

doppelganger said:

They did the same with Starsky and Hutch. Made a slapstick comedy over a gritty cop buddy movie. Just so they could have big flares and the huge collars of the seventies. I didnt like the new knight rider too much. It, was watchable but having the new kitt with a nano tech shell rather than just having the indestructable molecularly bonded shell was a bit weird. That and having Karr reappear as a transformer? Really? Of course I am slightly bias because of my daily drive. Or at least he will be once ive gotten around to respraying him.

http://i448.photobucket.com/albums/qq205/mk1rob/Mobile Uploads/30021090001_large-1.jpeg

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yeah, the nanto tech shell was just an excuse for him to change into different model ford cars.

the other thing that bothered me a bout this kitt, is that i don't think he had any real special abilities minus the nano tech. I think they only added in a fake turbo boost because people complained.

it didn't seem like there was alot of thought to make this show special. the inside 'design' of the car showed that much. unless they where told by ford, don't change it so much that we loose our product placement.

CB2001 said:

Honestly, when it comes to doing KR as a film, my issue is them turning the film into a comedy when the show was an action drama (I cite a good example with the Dukes of Hazzard movie, where they turned it from a family friendly action adventure into a stoner comedy starring Stifler and ******* Knoxville). Back when I was in high school, I came up with a script for what I wanted to see as the starting point for a KR movie, and had even used pictures of a 1999 Pontiac Trans-Am for KITT (it was for this online game called "Virtual Producer", where you created fictional movies (with cast listings, scripts, posters and websites and everything) then have them go head-to-head in a virtual box office where people would vote on the weekly releases to see how they were doing. I did such a good job that some people who stumbled across the website, despite the disclaimer on the front page, they thought it was a legit KR film website. Think about it now, probably would be really noticeable that it wasn't a real website). And even for a new KR movie, I'd still pick a modern Ford Mustang because of how common they are.

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one of the things i liked about the original kitt is that the car looked futuristic. it seemed like most of the cars in the background where from the 70s or so and KITT stood out more being a newer trans am.

NeilT said:

one of the things i liked about the original kitt is that the car looked futuristic. it seemed like most of the cars in the background where from the 70s or so and KITT stood out more being a newer trans am.

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Well, it looks futuristic on the inside, but on the outside, it still looked like a standard car enough that it didn't stand out (unlike a modern Ferrari, or even a vintage Ferrari in that timeframe). Besides, during the four season run of the show, the Pontiac Trans-Am became more common place. People forget that Michael drove a 1982 Trans-Am in the pilot episode before he got shot (in fact, Michael himself confuses KITT for the same car he drove before he got shot when Michael is first introduced to KITT). The funny thing is that if it hadn't been for a simple train accident, we would have had KITT inside of a Datsun 280ZX.



But in regards to the comment about how most of the cars appear to be late 1970s vehicles, it would make sense, as the show came out in 1982, so it'd make a lot of sense that those cars were still common and on the road. I don't know if they ever had more 1980s vehicles in the show as the seasons progressed (as I haven't seen the whole series in quite some time). Besides, KITT and KARR were not the only Trans-Ams featured in the show.

The 1982 remake of The Thing is terrific as is the 1986 version of The Fly. Can't really think of any others that were good. That's pretty sad when you think about it.

Mola Rob said:

The 1982 remake of The Thing is terrific as is the 1986 version of The Fly. Can't really think of any others that were good. That's pretty sad when you think about it.

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I used to think that the people behind the brand at the networks didn't know enough about it to hire the right people for the right job. and didn't care to do even that much. they think the brand name alone is enough to survive on.

At least back in the day, I think they TRIED to get some things right. not so much now.

I would absolutely love to see a tastefully made six million dollar man AKA six billion or whatever denomination that would suit the current time. I have the series pilot and have watched probably every episode released...GM

Murdoch said:

I would absolutely love to see a tastefully made six million dollar man AKA six billion or whatever denomination that would suit the current time. I have the series pilot and have watched probably every episode released...GM

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Probably won't happen since the series was based on a novel, and the author Martin Caidin passed away years ago, so whoever has the estate for him may be asking for a very high price tag for it (this is why The Bionic Woman got rebooted for TV instead of TSMDM, because Universal still owned the rights as the spin-off wasn't directly based on the original).

Riceball said:

The best reboot I've seen so far, that I know of, has to be Yamato 2199, an overall very faithful adaption of the original Yamato series but updated at the same time.

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Yeah, it was great, though "fan service" moments yanked me out because I am immediately thinking oh "fan service"! LOL But it's a minor gripe.

CB2001 said:

Probably won't happen since the series was based on a novel, and the author Martin Caidin passed away years ago, so whoever has the estate for him may be asking for a very high price tag for it (this is why The Bionic Woman got rebooted for TV instead of TSMDM, because Universal still owned the rights as the spin-off wasn't directly based on the original).

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Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't the novel called Cyborg?

Murdoch said:

Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't the novel called Cyborg?

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You're right, it was called Cyborg. There were three sequels to the first novel, all written by the author. They all have a different continuity from the show.