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Knight Rider Online have been tipped off that the Canadian Entertainment Tonight programme ran a feature on Knight Rider, with an interview — and guided tour of the K.I.T.T.-Cave — with Justin Bruening:
Knight Rider Online: Justin Bruening Interviewed by ET Canada
John Kubicek of BuddyTV.com got to interview Paul Campbell onset, which can be viewed via YouTube below:
BuddyTV: Exclusive Video Interview with ‘Knight Rider’ Star Paul Campbell
NBC.com have posted some cool timelapse footage of the construction of the huge K.I.T.T.-Cave set over at their Official Knight Rider Site:
It’s currently restricted to US viewers, but the Knight Rider Online team have a YouTube capture which you can view at the link below:
Newsarama.com have an interview with new series showrunner Gary Scott Thompson, where he talks about bringing Knight Rider into the 21st Century, the differences between his show and the original, and the possibility of David Hasselhoff’s return. He had this to say about the first episode:
“My idea was really to try and bring a feature mentality to a TV show which is to do an on-the-edge of your seat action packed show once a week in prime time TV,” he said. “Now whether we can pull it off every week, I’m not sure but the first episode has over 700 visual effects in it and that is more than a feature has. It’s a massive undertaking but the plus side is once you do it, you learn how to do it, how to do it quickly, and be more cost effective. The initial phase is the tough part but we really just went flat out balls-to-the-walls. We want to entertain, have fun, to be up to date, be technologically advanced, and make a popcorn movie where it’s one hell of a wild ride for one hour every week. Hopefully, people will tune in to see what happens next and what kind of crazy stuff these guys get into.”
Newsarama.com: Producer Gary Scott Thompson on the New Knight Rider
The UK’s SFX Magazine includes Knight Rider in their fall preview, and give it a 3-out-of-5 excitement factor. They do, however, place their faith in Gary Scott Thompson, who is interviewed in the piece. He talks about the level of competition the new series faces, not just from other TV shows and movies, but interactive computer games and how they’re going to compete with that. Thompson describes this incarnation of the show as “fast cutting, fast-paced, the cool car, sexy girls, cool-looking guys, fighting and everything.” SFX also refer to the new Knight Rider team as an extension of Team Knight Rider, although this is almost certainly a misunderstanding of the new team dynamic. There is still no word on a UK broadcast for the movie or series.
It’s issue #174, October 2008, on sale now!
It’s less than a month now until the new series hits, and it’s almost time for an update here at the Knight Rider Archive — and it’s the biggest one yet! Stay tuned to the site over the next few weeks for masses of new content, pictures, guides and articles covering every incarnation of Knight Rider! Keep your scanners peeled…
You don’t want to miss it!
Fans of Deanna Russo — Sarah Graiman in the new Knight Rider — will be pleased to know that she has done an interview and photoshoot for the September issue of the US Maxim magazine. She talks about her character’s makeover in terms of getting in on the action and fight sequences, and assures the fans that they aren’t butchering the franchise: “The most important part of Knight Rider was the car, and we’re putting it on the highest pedestal we can — honoring it as this incredible machine. Nowadays, everybody has a talking car, with GPS systems and OnStar, but this K.I.T.T. is on a whole new level.”
Thanks to Knight Rider Online for the pointer!
Knight Rider Online have a feature in their blog on the Autoseum car show attended by George Barris, a K.I.T.T. replica… and a K.A.R.R replica! Check it out:
Knight Rider Online: Barris & K.I.T.T. at Star Cars for the Autoseum
SciFiWire paid an exclusive visit to the set of Knight Research’s SSC (Satellite Surveilance Center) — better known by its nickname: The K.I.T.T.Cave! The lab is an elaborate set at Santa Clarita Studios, just north of Los Angeles, and represents K.I.T.T.’s multilevel underground hideout. The computers on the set were inspired by futurists at Microsoft, executive producer Gary Scott Thompson told them. “We met with their technology people to see what they have coming up, and we were surprised that we were actually coming up with ideas that they weren’t going to be doing for another 10 or 20 years or so. But we used some of their ideas.”
Among the high-tech equipment: tables that that can download information from a telephone or computer set on top of them and computers that can manipulate images at the flick of a finger. “I just move my hands over the computers, and someone in the back is flipping lights and buttons to make it look like I’m doing something,” cast member Paul Campbell (Billy) said. Bruce Davison confessed that he’s really a technophobe: “I’m not into this technical gadgetry at all,” he said. “I had to learn a lot, but it has been fun.”
According to SciFiWire, “the producers promise that the series will be less campy than the original 1980s show, while remaining funny and family-oriented. But there will be lots of eye candy: Thompson said the first episode has more than 700 special effects. “I’m not sure we will be able to keep up that level of fast action, but we’re going to sure try,” he said.
“The show will update the characters and premise first introduced in a television movie/backdoor pilot that aired on NBC in February. Bruening’s character has been given a mysterious past involving his experiences in the Iraq War, and he will have disdain for Blackwater personnel in particular.
“When someone says, ‘So your car can talk; so what, so can mine?’ then Knight says, ‘Yeah, but can your car do this?'” Thompson said.”
NBC’s Official Knight Rider site has got an update as we’re now only a month away from the premiere. Some links are still non-functional, but expect to see new additions such as Episode Guides, NBC Exclusives, Games and a Knight Rider-dedicated store come online in the coming weeks.