Glen A. Larson had a prolific career in television as a writer and producer in a variety of genres, and he created numerous TV series in the 1970s and ’80s, including Alias Smith and Jones, Battlestar Galactica, B. J. and the Bear, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Fall Guy, Magnum, P.I., Quincy, M.E., and the reason we are gathered here: Knight Rider, an action series with some minor science-fiction elements. Airing over four seasons beginning in 1982, The Complete Series has been released on 4K UHD, presenting 90 episodes across 20 discs along with a bonus disc containing Knight Rider: Behind the Wheel.
Buy Knight Rider (1982): The Complete Series 4K UHDAfter being ambushed and shot in the face in the pilot episode, police detective Michael Long is rescued by ailing billionaire Wilton Knight (Richard Basehart) and given a new face and identity as Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff). Also getting a facelift of sorts is Michael’s car, a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, which has been given a technological overhaul including an autonomous, artificial intelligence, known as KITT, or Knight Industries Two Thousand (voiced by uncredited William Daniels). The first time Michael encounters the car all that’s seen is just a moving red light in its grill, resembling a Cylon from another Larsen work.
Together, they work for the Foundation for Law and Government (FLAG). Heading the organization is Devon Miles (Edward Mulhare), who takes over after Wilton’s death. Other members of FLAG include Dr. Bonnie Barstow (Patricia McPherson), KITT’s chief engineer in Seasons 1, 3, and 4. Without explanation, Bonnie was replaced by April Curtis (Rebecca Holden) in Season 2. Season 4 also saw the addition of mechanic Reginald Cornelius III aka RC3 (Peter Parros).
Throughout the series, KITT gets various upgrades throughout the series such as pyroclastic lamination, a protection from sustained heat up to 800 degrees (“Ring of Fire,” Season 2, Episode 10); a new traction system (“Speed Demons,” S2, Ep17)” and super-pursuit mode (“Knight of the Juggernaut,” S4, Eps 1/2).
Michael and KITT go on various adventures across the country and south of the border, some FLAG missions assigned by Devon, some things Michael just stumbles upon. Notable episodes are:
In “Trust Doesn’t Rust” (S1, Ep9), thieves discover and activate the previous version of KITT, knows as KARR (Knight Automated Roving Robot) (voiced by Peter Cullen). The vehicles clash again in “K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R” (S3, Ep6) with KARR now voiced byPaul Frees.
In the two-part Season Two opener “Goliath,” Michael also gets in on the lookalike action when he encounters Garthe Knight (also played by Hasselhoff with the requisite facial hair that soap-opera watchers know signifies he’s a villain), Wilton’s son, who is involved in arms dealing. Garthe steals the formula for KITT’s molecular bonded shell for use on a semi truck, which is what the episode is named after. “Goliath Returns” (S2, Eps18/19) sees the return of Garthe and his truck
In “Knightmares” (S2, Ep11) receives a concussion that causes him to only remember being Michael Long. He tries to return to that life only to discover Long has been dead for two years.
“Mouth of the Snake” (S2, Ep 21) is a backdoor pilot for the character David Dalton, who was later revised for a new pilot that aired as the television movie Code of Vengeance. However, the show was canceled during production
“The Scent of Roses” (S4, Ep 12) was intended to be a series finale, seeing the return of love interest Stephanie Mason (played by his then wife Catherine Hickland), but it wasn’t.
Displayed at its original aspect ratio of 1:33.1, new 4K scans graded for High Dynamic Range in HDR10 encoded in 2160p HEVC/H.265 reveal strong color hues along with inky blacks and bright whites, which contribute to a good contrast. The image offers depth and some texture detail but compression issues occur, impacting the picture’s sharpness.
The audio is available in DTS-HD MA 2.0. Dialogue is clear, effects have impact, and the iconic synth theme song sounds good. Completists will be disappointed about contemporary songs that appeared when the series aired have been replaced by soundalikes, instrumental music, or nothing at all.
The bonus features are:
Season One – Disc One
- “Knight of the Phoenix” Parts 1 & 2 Audio Commentary featuring Hasselhoff and Larson
Season One – Disc Five
- Knight Moves (SD, 6 min)
- Knight Sounds (SD, 7 min)
- Knight Rider: Under the Hood (SD, 16 min)
- Photo Gallery
- Blueprints Gallery
Season Three – Disc Five
- The Great ‘80s TV Flashback (SD, 29 min) – Available on nine other releases remembering Universal shows from the decade.
Season Four – Disc Five
- Knight Rider 2000 (SD 95, min) – A 1991 TV-movie set in the near future is a failed reboot of the series starring Susan Norman and Carmen Argenziano because Hasselhoff was busy with Baywatch.
Bonus Disc
- Knight Rider: Behind the Wheel (HD, 61 min) – A new documentary about the series.
Knight Rider is definitely a series of its era, but if you buy the premise, you are in. More silly than serious, it’s a show the family, well, fathers and sons anyway, can watch together, especially if they bond over cars racing and things exploding. This UHD release would have benefited from having one more disc per season to help with the compression issues, and it’s a shame the original music is not cost effective for the studio. But if one isn’t overly particular about A/V aspects, they’ll be happy to have the series collected together.
