This 4-disc set collects the entire first and only season of NBC's Knight Rider re-ignition which originally aired in 2008.It is a shame this series was cancelled because it is for the most part good fun, packed full of pretty people and even prettier car chases. The use of Val Kilmer as the voice of the Knight Industries Three Thousand is inspired. The sleek, sentient KITT now speaks with the suppressed monotone of a madman who has recently undergone a frontal lobotomy. You believe KITT could snap anytime, eject Michael Knight and then repeatedly reverse over him before calmly driving off humming Light My Fire. This would not be an entirely unwelcome occurrence, as the new Knight (played by Justin Bruening) is definitely the weakest link here. He is essentially a generic Hollywood heartthrob who lacks the unique visual impact and charisma of the young David Hasselhoff, and the wisecracks and faux edginess soon irritate.
The feature length pilot episode is a solid reintroduction, but the following nine episodes are bogged down by the will-they-won't-they love dance between Knight and Sarah Graiman which is devoid of chemistry and gets old really fast. Mercifully, halfway through the series things shift up a gear, the writing becomes tighter and instead of our heroes simply stalling the bad guys until the law arrives, Knight is blowing away waves of hoods with various weapons while AC/DC’s Rock ‘N Roll Train pounds in the background. It is a jarring, but much needed change in tone. This does lead one to believe that perhaps the poor ratings the show received can be put down to programme makers being unsure of their target audience and maybe more time should be spent on market research if another Knight Rider revamp is to be considered?
