Team Knight Rider (1997). The Not-So Dream Team

[@JDoe-gf5oz]

This show was amazing, a staple of my youth in '97 and '98. I remember watching reruns late at night while playing Tomb Raider II for the PlayStation like a bawse.

[@raybearoz]

You've equally made me want to watch this and yet avoid it like the plague... perfect for the shows you review!

[@alshirley3444]

Avoid. Avoid at all costs. You will lose IQ points very quickly

[@ShamrockParticle]

The then-trendy and trendily-awkward references to Jackson Roykirk and Planet of the Spiders and 1975 Star Trek conventions are enough to make me want to avoid TKR...

[@JDoe-gf5oz]

It had good action and the blonde chick was a babe.

[@ArthurHILL-xp8bv]

Knight Rider 1982 to 1984 team knight rider 1995. Knight Rider 2000 for years 2000. And Knight Rider 2010.

[@ArthurHILL-xp8bv]

In the team knight rider the shadow of the man is Kitt.

[@rouenrobinson]

I really think of this as live action M.A.S.K. and there is no doubt in my mind that the creators of Fast & Furious 6 watched this show and then said, "hold My Beer." I really wish Christine Steel had gone on to more things though. Congrats to Nick Wechsler going on to bigger and better with Revenge & the Boys (together those shows sound like an indie movie lol.)

[@tomsenior7405]

How I bloody-love these "Never heard of it" TV Show Reviews. Wonderful to see the dross churned out by TV Execs. It is almost as though they had no idea what they were doing. Cheers guys.

[@cane6074]

This stuff was a precursor to the schlock we have now, but in their defense, they did try to make things entertaining and did not take themselves seriously and you could enjoy this because your expectations were not meant to high. Nowadays, shows and movies have become self-important and pretentious, and despite the big budgets, they come of bland and boring.

[@tomsenior7405]

@@cane6074 Fair comment. I agree that there does seem to be a lot of schlock around today. If memory serves, TV has never been very good. Fortunately Nostalgia draws us to a few fondly remembered programmes, but these were far and few. You are spot-on with your assessment of modern films. Yup, bigger budgets leads to a more cautious approach to filmmaking. More Money imposes Less Risk = more blandness + more remakes + more boredom.

[@TheMule47]

i have felt like i was one of a few people who saw this show back in the nineties, and have felt like i was the only one who appreciated it's goofy, ridiculous charm. glad to see others remember this show, and that while it was not a great or even all that good show, it was mostly fun, and in the realm of 1990s syndicated sci-fi/fantasy it was on the better end of average.

[@electricpaisy6045]

I actually enjoyed it in a non goofy way because I was like 12 when I first saw it. Now I look at it and laugh at it like it's a parody but back then I seriously enjoyed the action and the cool cars and I remember I found the Girl in the Mustang hot 😄

[@MrAnimeMilitary]

RIP Brixton Karnes(Kyle). From January 1, 1960 to May 16, 2012.

[@TheBigExclusive]

Whoa! Blast from the past. I remember this show from the 90s.

[@thedanielstraight]

This feels oddly like that 90's Dark Shadows reboot, or perhaps Poltergeist: The Legacy. I definitely watched this because 97 was around the time I was old enough to have a TV in my room 😅

[@223dmr7]

You can't beat the original. Miami Vice and the original night rider were my favorites when I was a kid.

[@maczepa]

I heard Team Knight Rider was in response to VIPER. VIPER was the only 90s action show that could hold Knight Riders candle. It actually had a lot of the same crew from KR working on Viper. Surprised no one talks about Viper. It was also way better then TKR.

[@alexpowers5117]

I can talk for hours about viper love that show all 4 seasons but season 1 was the best with that city and the outfit

[@hawkstringfellow]

I watched the 1st season of viper on NBC then losted the show 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@hawkstringfellow]

​. What happen to viper????

[@maczepa]

@@hawkstringfellow Ratings were too low for the cost of the series. It did decent. There were some lawsuits that happened when the series finished which is why it faded into obscurity. It was a very well put together series.

[@mrhassell]

"No expense was spared, when it comes to sparing expenses.." - mint!

[@PlanetHouston]

I remember this show, and I feel like I somehow managed to enjoy it. But it is weird that the one thing I remembered was that the truck had a crush thing for the girl. Beast would literally ignore his driver, but would do anything Jenny asked.

[@lowket]

I enjoyed the effort to create something fresh within the IP.

[@CJJC]

The car that splits into two motorbikes looks much sillier than the prototype version from Malcolm.

[@NostalgiaBrit]

Awww, no, I absolutely _loved_ *'Team Knight Rider'* back in the day! I’m definitely going to have to give it a rewatch, very soon!

[@darrellhall6622]

Don't forget the Knight Rider with Val Kilmer as voice of K.I.T.T. I'm the voice of the Knight Industries Three Thousand. One with the Ford Mustang

[@pdlagasse]

“No expense was spared in sparing expense” - genius

[@Goldnfoxx]

TKR is one of those shows I'd rather was burned out of my memory somehow. Not only did they forget the fundamental theme of the original show, but this and KR2000 both proved to me that Hollywood had somehow managed to forget that "lighthearted" is a setting that lands _between_ high camp and dark action. Not everything needs to be either Batman '66 or Robocop. Then, in 2008, they _almost_ surprised me with the tone of the reboot (minus the fact that Val Kilmer was a terrible choice to voice KITT in that show) before turning right around and changing the tone completely when the show went to series. Twice. I dunno, it just never seemed like that hard of a formula to figure out why the original worked, but damn if it didn't look like Universal thought otherwise. Repeatedly.

[@up-to-eleven]

I've posted my comments above, but I think I felt duty bound to watch as it was 'Knight Rider' (in name) than actually ever really want to watch it for it's own merits. In some ways it almost felt like a cheap syndicated series with the 'Knight Rider' badge stuck on midway through development, as it has little real ties or feel to the original, other than the occasional "Is Michael Knight my dad?" thread. Gotta say though, I never much liked the 2008 series either, again so far fro the original that I wondered why they'd bother calling it 'Knight Rider' at all.

[@LakeHowellDigitalVideo]

Yeah, you completely missed the point. Knight Rider was slapped on for marketing by Universal -- this show was actually supposed to be a live action M.A.S.K.

[@Goldnfoxx]

@@LakeHowellDigitalVideo LOL, WHAT?! 😂 I hadn't heard that one. And if that's true, literally everyone missed the point. I was never huge into M.A.S.K., but wasn't one of the primary vehicles a trailer cab? Seems like it would've missed the mark even if that's what the series actually was.

[@patrickperalta59]

GoldenFoxPtime , I agree Val Kilmer was a terrible choice to voice KITT...they should have used original Voice actor William Daniels who voiced KITT in the original show.

[@doctorhandsome]

"By the end I didn't really mind the main characters." Stam, if the KZbin thing doesn't work out, you've always got a career in diplomacy to fall back on.

[@rosskwolfe]

A Jack of All Trades clip. I thought I was the only person to ever watch that show.

[@tituspannell6009]

Is was definetly aimed at me when I was 11 years old watching this show. Loved it.

[@thomasthompson2431]

In a magazine review of tiberium sun, re Christine Steele. " we're not sure who this actress is, but we can see she is familiar with the silicon medium"

[@AntagonistChan]

The thing about David A. Goodman writing for Star Trek: Enterprise and executive producing for the Orville caught my attention, so I decided to look him up, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was also the president of WGAW from 2017 to 2021 and was one of the main forces pushing the 2023 writer's strike. Nifty.

[@MoonjumperReviews]

I was (and am) a diehard fan of the original Knight Rider series, but passed over this series when it first aired, as it seemed so insultingly bad and off-premise. Many years later, during covid (while I was locked in my room WITH covid), I decided to give it a second look after rewatching the whole of Knight Rider and Knight Rider 2000 on DVD-let’s say to satisfy the completist in me. While it sadly didn’t appear to be available on physical media, I did find it on VUDU. As much as it pained me to purchase and not-own the series on digital, I watched all of it for the first time-and I had good time. (Maybe it was the covid talking, but it was, as you said, cheesy fun.) As far as the continuity, it can mostly work. It takes place before KR2000, so (with a couple of continuity complications and needle threading), it doesn’t necessarily preclude 2000 from taking place afterwards. But, more interesting is its possible continuity with the more recent NBC revival in 2008. Just like TKR, the 2008 mobile command center isn’t a tractor-trailer, but a massive VTOL cargo plane-as if directly acknowledging “Team Knight Rider,” if only subtly. And, frankly, I can’t think of any direct contradictions between TKR and 2008 whatsoever, even though TKR isn’t specifically mentioned. That plane, to me, suggests a connection. One might say, “Well, in TKR, Michael Knight had a daughter; in 2008, he has a son.” So? The kid can’t have a sister? I’d suspect half-sister and probably others. This is Michael Knight we’re talking about, if you know what I mean.

[@readhistory2023]

I have such found memories of this show. I was one of the hundreds of millions who didn't watch it.

[@dbmabe]

This was a decent show. I feel like the 2008 Knight Rider series took a lot of cues from this series. The KRO episode was my favorite of this series. It had a cool legacy tie in with the original series. I wish they'd have at least done a TV movie that would have resolved the revelations of Michael and KITT in the finale episode.

[@MattMcIrvin]

The car that turns into two motorcycles is amazingly silly even for a show like this--I like how they didn't even bother to figure out how that worked mechanically and just put in some animated lightning. There's also the question of WHY one would do this.

[@LakeHowellDigitalVideo]

Because the show was a live action version of the M.A.S.K. cartoon -- which also had a car that split into two

[@majorprofit]

What i do not get is the color choice. For me it looks totally out of place and that color makes me think of old sci-fi TV-shows, as is the design of the vehicle itself. This is what cars in the future will look like according to old sci-fi TV-shows.

[@heli88]

I watched TKR back when it was on, and have generally fond memories. Then again, I have a deep and abiding love for low budget cheese. The thing that baffled me was when they totally redesigned the two motorcycle car partway through. The original was just barely believable and appealed to my love of 80s sci-fi, but the new one was just two normal bikes, and totally gave up trying to be plausible.

[@marieodu3149]

I remember this and also remember I was too busy watching other 90s show not to be that interested 😊thanks for the review

[@indytim]

This show looks like the foundation for the Fast and Furious franchise.

[@andrewblanchard2398]

I liked this show

[@aaronleverton4221]

The one member of the cast who did anything else was Not Christian Slater. Roswell, Revenge and Chicago PD.

[@adamf1980]

Domino was voiced by Nia Vardalos, who went on to star in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

[@jaylenhioe2868]

I just wished there was a way to see this series again, as it hard to find it now.

[@mesicek7]

Was hyped when i saw the trailer for the show but then watched like a few episodes and after a while totally forgot about it.

[@sj460162]

Which episodes had the best catfights?

[@williammitchell4417]

TKR made several episodes more than the 2008 series with Justin Bruening. I did like Domino, the 3000's aunt. Domino's AI would be like Cora AKA Recon Viper 1.

[@jojocada3796]

Ten years ago all it took was ONE MAN and ONE CAR to get the job done ... now the foundation for law and government has assembled five highly skilledoperatives and pair them with the most ADVANCED state-of-the-art vehicles to take on a new breed of outlaw they are .. TEAM KNIGHT RIDER

[@plasterchief9582]

I don't care what anyone says, i still love this show. Infact i kinda prefer this over the original, but im weird so theres that. My favorite characters has to be a tie between Plato, Kat, and Beast.

[@alexpowers5117]

I agree with you I also love this show I just love super car shows with computers and guns

[@MeAmBatzarro]

I used to record this on VHS to see the new episodes that were released. It is 90s cheese, but the original was 80s cheese. *shrug* Give it a watch!

[@NorthernMouse52]

Fair enough however 80s cheese was at least edible whereas 90s cheese looked like ass and smelled like dead feet! 🧀🦶🤢

[@hatchet646]

I watched it when i was 12 or smth. Could not care less about the acting when you hear cars roasting each other inside a fing plane and seconds later you could see Kathy Trageser in stockings... lmao

[@brotherkellymatthewbarnes8882]

I enjoyed Team Knight Rider and this video as well🚙🏎🏍🏍🛻

[@absolutefoot4594]

One of these days, I’d like to see a Knight Rider reboot that has budget above $17 and some actually decent effort

[@alshirley3444]

I remember this. 😅😂😂😂😂😂😢. The 90s were crazy.

[@chrisbullard5901]

I watched all of these attempts at reviving Knight Rider, and the Knight Rider 2000 tv movie was by far the closest one to get the formula right. Frankly, if NBC and Universal wanted to revive the concept, they should’ve just promoted Michael Knight to Devon’s position over the course of three or four seasons, train RC to take on Michael’s job, and… …rebuild and reprogram KARR. KITT’s already learned everything he needed to know about humanity, and a series where there’s a redemption arc for KARR could make the interaction with RC trying to teach him compassion interesting.

[@Scatscar1985]

I only liked this for its theme tune, and for Kathy Trageser's looks...

[@geekzakidd]

You should really do a video about another 90's syndicated Sci-Fi/Action show, Super Force. It was shot almost entirely at Universal Studios... Orlando. Unlike Team Knight Rider, there were a ton of recognizable faces who would show up as guest stars including Traci Lords, Sting (the wrestler), and Richard Moll. It also had an episode directed by Jerry Lewis. Yes, that Jerry Lewis. Get on it. You'd love it.

[@Indians-dl3to]

It was a weird mash of StreetHawk/Robocop/Predator/Batman. Too bad that bike wasn't seen that much in the show.

[@Maniac536]

I did love the KRO episode

[@randomguysays]

Oh I vaguely remember this.. it came on at like 2 am where I was.

[@hawkstringfellow]

Beast and duke but the super Vehicle phase had passed by the late 90s in 2008 knightrider did return untill they added super pursuit mode which killed the orginal show aswell

[@l.a.gothro3999]

My late mum was a big fan of "Knight Rider" but *only* with David Hasselhoff as the star along with KITT. Oddly enough, she wasn't a "Baywatch" fan.

[@cernstormrunner7263]

Attack Beast was awesome.

[@gavinlisk2292]

My friends and family used to think i was mad when i said that this show existed! They never believed me. I think it was on tv on Saturday afternoons ( in the UK).

[@BrianKitching-wv5nh]

Yes it was,it aired at 5pm on Saturday's.I thought it was crazy and but liked it.But you can't beat the original show.

[@ferociousmullet9287]

The inner nerd in me identifies the DANTE screen as being a re-purposed early Blaupunkpt GPS head unit. Source : Used to fix these things. The buttons around the outside are a complete give away. They were very cool units with green vector graphics. Like a Sat Nav battle zone.

[@michaelstaunton1632]

Oh dear god no make the pain stop 📺

[@TheSniperGTO]

I don’t even remember this show. Did it only air in Peru or something? I was a kid when Knight Rider aired. I remember the one with Val Kilmer’s voice. I don’t remember this at all.

[@andrewblanchard2398]

MOBIUS was supposed to be GARTHE KNIGHT who survived the DEATH of GOLIATH and with a broken back swam to the rogue submarine to plot his revenge

[@andrewblanchard2398]

MICHAEL LONG was LAPD working on a case in LAS VEGAS

[@mb2000]

18:18 Jackson Roykirk? As in the guy that invented the Nomad Probe in Star Trek TOS “The Changeling”!?

[@brevin630]

I'd love to see you talk about the short-lived Knight Rider reboot from the late 2000s, that had Val Kilmer as KITT

[@StamFine]

it's on the list...

[@dmann1982]

I remember this series, with some kind of weird mild fondness.

[@jw4499]

I thought I'd not watched this show until I started watching this vid and suddenly the memories come back to me .......😂 I remember enjoying the nonsense but my heart will always be with the original Knight Rider

[@brevin630]

This show feels like it was not only trying to reboot Knight Rider, but also was trying to make their own version of Power Rangers. Just without the stock footage

[@5captain619]

The Vehicles personally was intended to reflect the agents true side that was the joke as it was

[@hawkstringfellow]

KRO was the best episode of tkr

[@ThePerradox]

Nice work. Are you planning to cover the newest Knight Rider series?

[@StamFine]

yes, at some point down the track.

[@RichardEKranz]

Christ! Someone get George Lazenby for a 007 tv series.

[@bensneb360]

This looks like Power Rangers, but instead of alien ninja suits, elaborate creatures, and giant robots… it has Ford cars lol

[@TheBigExclusive]

Can you do an episode about Viper TV next? It was a TV show from the 90s with a transforming Dodge Viper car.

[@zerocool5395]

The car from the show sold a couple weeks ago, I think it was $80k.

[@alexpowers5117]

I love viper tv show

[@up-to-eleven]

As a pretty hardcore original 'Knight Rider' fan, TKR was a series that I felt more duty bound to watch than one I would have naturally have been drawn towards otherwise. It always felt cheap and unmemorable compared to the original; and although the cast were nothing special, Brixton Karnes I found particularly empty and un-engaging for the lead; Duke would have made a far better leader. Despite this, I actually did stomach TKR slightly better than the two misguided 1990s movies (even if KR2000 did have Hasselhoff) and the frankly dislikeable 2000's one season effort. I always thought the TKR vehicles should c/should've had new versions of KITT's scanner on the front of each vehicle at least, to give them some kind of across-the-board visual connection, and to... y'know... make them look a bit Knight Rider-ish! I don't consider it KR canon (only the original series is, to me), but can't wonder it it would have fared better if simply not branded as 'Knight Rider' at all but as it's own thing . Oh, and it always struck me that some of the original inspiration felt to have been a cross between 'Knight Rider' and 'The A-Team' - each member has "skills" (con artist Erica is wannabe female Face, etc.), and right down to the "Ten years ago..." opening to the credits. Then again, pretty much everything seems similar to 'The A-Team' in my head...

[@Homeschoolsw6]

Thanks. Never Knew about this.

[@knightrcer]

Good review on the series. Are you planning to do one for the 2008?

[@StamFine]

yes

[@darrellhall6622]

Megaman. There was a episode in original based on the same idea but that person was not FLAGG. Can't remember the name of the episode.

[@jamesstewart7736]

So TKR are part of FLG. I'd forgotten much we loved acronyms in the 90s 😂 ps I never saw this. It looks really bad! Props to Stam Fine for keeping my interest in his video.

[@maximusprime3459]

I had hopes for this show, but once I realized actual Michael Knight and KITT were never gonna show up...that was it for me.

[@jupreindeer]

Oh, but they did. KITT played the part of a Folger's can and 'Mannequin' Michael Knight was in the viewfinder for a glorious couple seconds. And I think the cast sacrificed a couple hamburgers to pay for their presentation. Probably as a bribe to find something that worked from the props department to a hungry custodian.

[@JessicaGraiman84YTTV]

for me i think TKR gives me this feeling like i'm watching power rangers turbo not Knight Rider.

[@WanderingCactus]

I remember this show, not so fondly, though I do really want to know who the bad guy was, and what his story was.

[@brotherkellymatthewbarnes8882]

Do 1)Robin's Hoods 2) Space Rangers 3) Time Trax 4) The Phoenix 5) Rip Baywatch a New One!

[@jimibaboza]

The Ford bashing here is off the charts!

[@peacexlove]

16:54 Good God, dude… 😂🤣💀

[@cartoonfan959]

how about STREET HAWK

[@Yxalitis]

TKR = Thunderbirds Knight Rider.

[@TheToonMonkey]

Man I hated this show for using the Knightrider name. 😂

[@MarinetteDupainCheng564]

the show reminded me a lot on Power Rangers. As if the Power Rangers tried to be Knight Rider, but with Terrorist as a the bad guys.

[@BrianKitching-wv5nh]

Where can i watch this please?

[@electricpaisy6045]

I remember this after the original knight rider being the coolest show ever for me as a little boy. Then I rewatched one episode as an adult and couldn't stop laughing about how comically dumb this was. I didn't realise as a kid. Same story as with Sledge Hammer 😂

[@TheBlindDyslexic]

Um yeah. I Tried to watch it once or twice after the debut episode. TRIED.

[@patrickperalta59]

I heared KITT and Michael Knight were to return KITT did return well not his Trans-Am Body but his computer self. and the last episode showed a mystery man who introduced himself as Michael Knight.............the show was not that good aside from Kitt and Michael returning but I loved the intro music and the two women.

[@Midtable1881]

How I miss 90s cheese like this.

[@stevew8513]

I do remember watching a lot of this show. Mainly because I tended to work late and it would play at something like 1am around here. It had the feel like they'd mixed Knight Rider with Power Rangers just to see what happened. It was as deep as a paper plate and was very disposable entertainment, but I still kind of liked it. And it didn't surprise me at all that it never received a second season.

[@seanahmed9079]

Is the guy saying Law and Government or Lore and Government??

[@LakeHowellDigitalVideo]

I'm still shocked that even Stan completely missed the boat on this show. It wasn't Knight Rider, it was actually a live action M.A.S.K. show. Watch an episode of the M.A.S.K. cartoon, then watch this.... Then you'll get it. The tone, main characters, storylines and vehicles are basically identical. TKR was a continuation of the M.A.S.K. cartoon.

[@ghost_knight_001]

Morbius felt like garth knight to me kro is obvious karr , as the rest you funny , shadow is obviously michael knight

[@nottomykidsyouwont8062]

No, Shadow was K.I.T.T! Though I also did not careuch about this show, I caught episodes here and there and this 'Shadow' character had me intrigued. 'He' would appear and disappear out of the vehicles and the A.I.s onboard were unaware of it. The K.I.T.T. device left me with the impression that Kitt, himself was hacking into the auto's systems as Shadow... I don't recall hearing evidence of Mobius being Garth Knight, but considering he was out for revenge, I'm ok with it(though, if the show runners were actually going to use Garth, having the otherwise GREAT David McCullum play him was an odd choice. Heck, even if Hasselhoff DIDN'T come back to help resolve the(in my opinion) very good plot twist season finale to an otherwise bad show and first season, a decent replacement would suffice. And since the Hoff' didn't want to be Garth ever again, having Garth horribly (& ironically!!) disfigured would be an easy out.

[@crackers23]

It made me wonder if it was Garth but made me think more that Mobius was Kyle's father. He had made remarks about Kyle "always" being a certain way, once referred to him as his sweet prince, but also called him "my son" but they never said Kyle's father's name. They made mentions to him being some sort of traitor but the show somewhat implied they had some sort of relationship.

[@BrianKitching-wv5nh]

So shadow was KITT in disguise, I hadn't realised that.

[@crackers23]

@@BrianKitching-wv5nh Yeah, Shadow was K.I.T.T. since he primarily only appeared inside of the cars or inside of Sky One undetected but the finale made me wonder why he had them meet him at that building instead of just appearing again. But when Shadow appeared to Mobius and he got the K.I.T.T. unit out of the console of the situation room, Shadow disappeared.

[@pedropires1911]

the real KNIGHT RIDER was THE T-TOP FROM THE 80'S!!!!

[@torchwood00]

sliders

[@Jerrytheclass812-gq6]

team knight rider should've been kitt, streethawk, airwolf and thunder

[@si7817]

Growing up in Ukraine I remember watching this and that Mad Max one. The Mad Max one was truly awful.

[@Janet71990]

What vehicles name of voice actors

[@BrianKitching-wv5nh]

We all know Kro was KARR, Mobius was Garth and Shadow was KITT

[@andrewblanchard2398]

DUANE DAVIS was in the movie SUMMER SCHOOL he spent 6 weeks in the bathroom

[@colormedubious4747]

No KITT? No KARR? No way!