If I could a) draw and b) find the time, I’d do a series of short cartoons about this.
Example: The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Brad & Janet don’t get lost because their car has a satnav, and when they have the flat tyre they call AAA on their mobile. The End.
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I saw Manimal in Spanish as a kid in Venezuela, i believe the show that came right after was Automan. Both were incredibly cheesy and bad but so amazingly bad they were kind of entertaining.
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Surely, what the world needs now is a Wonderbug remake!
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I was pretty disappointed as a kid when Exo-man didn’t get picked up.
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I’m down with this as long as they modernize KITT to keep up with modern portable computing.
KITT can offer some cool automotive services, and will track Michael’s location, record and analyze Michael’s conversations and contacts, and ultimately use its algorithms to advertise very efficiently to all the characters in the movie, while occasionally giving Michael information to solve mysteries.
KITT’s programmers and owners (you choose, Zuckerberg or Bezos) obviously know that 98% of Michael’s job could be done remotely, and that KITT could frankly perform all the duties better than Michael could ever hope to do. However, KITT will consistently use Michael’s innate psychological vulnerability to intermittent reward cycles to incentivize Michael to drive insane distances, gathering personal data to be used for marketing, while marketing KITT to the public, and making Michael feel valuable.
This is gonna be awesome, guys!
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I find the aging of technology in popular culture and science fiction fascinating.
One of my favourite programs - and a great example - is The Avengers. In it computers often use something approaching punch cards or tape. Because otherwise how would the viewer know it’s a computer?
That might sound daft at first - but imagine dropping a 2020’s computer into the mid 1960’s. Would it be recognisable as a computer to most people? Or would it just be a magical “TV Typewriter” of some sort?
Voice command seems mundane today, as it’s about 90% accurate for most common accents. Yet it’s still fairly limited in what it can do. It sits in the uncanny valley of technologies… We see it portrayed in modern media as a much more situationally aware, often almost conversational manner. In reality that will be very hard to deliver.
I never mark an old series down for its portrayal of advanced or future technologies. They’re a fascinating insight into a culture’s understanding of and attitudes towards technology. In that regard even the real stinkers are kind of fascinating…
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watch Michael Knight (played by the Hoff, of course) flip out when he hears KITT’s voice for the first time
I’d be pretty freaked out too, if Dr. Mark Craig started insulting my method of doing things.
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In the latest reboot, KITT starts off as a humble everycar self-driving Uber until unexpectedly getting caught up in a shoot-out between two rival social media networks. When he comes to, his VIN numbers have been altered and his body work is unrecognizable.
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Total agreement. Let me keep my rose tinted glasses and happy memories, at least.
The A-Team movie was… good, but in a very cheesy way, mostly for the nostalgia, the cameos, and the “wait a minute, that’s obviously fake” stunts. (I thought that tanks were shipped with an empty munitions load.)
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There is already a movie. Knight Rider 2000 (1991) and a 2008 series reboot.
If you like an old show, why not just watch the old show?
BUZZWORD BINGO! I filled my card, what do I get? 
Let’s not go off-topic into “St. Elsewhere”. As great as Daniels was in the show, the last time it was discussed things ended very badly.
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For myself, I’d rather see a Fall Guy movie… maybe Karl Urban as Colt Seavers… a hard-hitting expose of the Hollywood underbelly mixed with a Midnight Run-style bounty hunting caper…
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Not to mention these gems:
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No one’s mentioned this yet, so I just gotta:
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One thing i’ve noticed that still happens to this day in movies and TV shows is that computers often make bleep bloop sounds as someone is opening applications, typing things in, etc. If my computer made constant sounds as i did things it would drive me completely crazy.
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Sentient advertising. Congratulations.
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There was also an entire sequel TV series and companion film in 2008. Val Kilmer was the voice of KITT.
It lasted one season.
I’m not particularly excited about yet another reboot of this franchise. The original was cheesy but a product of its time.
I just don’t get this misplaced 80s nostalgia that’s creating reboots of basically everything from that decade, often with disastrous results. (Although I must admit, the recent Jem and the Holograms reboot was quite great - if only because Juliette Lewis absolutely stole the whole fucking film with some amazing scenery chewing.)
I’d much rather see original properties in a 1980s aesthetic than yet another reboot of yet another 80s property. Where’s that feature-length Kung Fury already?
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Not gonna lie, I really enjoyed the 2008 reboot and the movie. It had a slow start which was kind of an arc covering the first 3/4 of the season or so building up the new characters and new Michael Knight, then the last 1/4 started returning to the classic campy plot formula of the original. Sadly that didn’t seem to appease the old timers who hated it anyways and that was the end of it.
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I forgot about that one! I even watched the pilot, with its awkward Hoff cameo.
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