Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Ford, Lifestyle, Celebrities
The thinking (or lack thereof) behind KITT F-150
Click above for high-res pic of the actual KITT F-150
Mike Levine from Pickuptrucks.com recently spoke with Knight Rider Executive Producer Gary Scott Thompson and got the skinny on KITT's new ability to transform himself (seriously, I just called it a "him") from a 2008 Shelby GT500KR to a 2009 Ford F-150 FX-4. The idea for having KITT morph into a truck came to Thompson when he needed his main character and that week's damsel in distress to make a quick getaway without KITT having to stop for them to get in, so he imagined the car as a pickup. This way the characters could hop right in its bed (we see this happen in the new clip that was released by NBC), though we're unsure how they survive the metal origami that turns KITT back into a car. We also disagree with Thompson when he alludes to the GT500KR being "about the same mass" as the F-150, but he feels justified in taking this direction with KITT after consulting with "futurists" at Microsoft who predict that vehicles will change their shape to suit our needs by 2030. We don't know what being a futurist entails, but we're not inclined to believe ones employed by Microsoft who failed to predict the backlash against Vista, how bad the Zune would sell or that the entire first batch of XBox 360s would fail. Clairvoyants they are not.Though the rendering at right reveals KITT F-150 was originally designed to bear a bigger resemblance to the GT500KR on which the car is based, it's ended up being just a blacked-out F-150 FX-4 with KITT's signature red light bar above and behind the top bar of the grille. That should make it easy for fanboys to recreate with their own 2009 F-150s though, because we just know sales of the truck are going to skyrocket after the new season of Knight Rider begins.
Gallery: The new KITT - OFFICIAL PHOTOS
[Source: Pickuptrucks.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Isuzu32 11:03AM (7/30/2008)
Opel Frogster anyone? hahahahaha
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TJ 11:08AM (7/30/2008)
"We don't know what being a futurist entails, but we're not inclined to believe ones employed by Microsoft who failed to predict the backlash against Vista, how bad the Zune would sell or that the entire first batch of XBox 360s would fail. Clairvoyants they are not."
Admit it. You own a Mac, and Ipod, and stock in Apple... ;-)
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Seminole 11:08AM (7/30/2008)
"after consulting with "futurists" at Microsoft who predict that vehicles will change their shape to suit our needs by 2030. "
Are these the same type of futurists who 50 years ago predicted we would all driving around flying cars? They need to get real.
Oh, and this show will totally blow.
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JD 12:34PM (7/30/2008)
Well, no, because Microsoft didn't exist 50 years ago. But yeah, I do want to know where my flying car is.
Red 11:14AM (7/30/2008)
Simple explanation:
This is what happens when non-car guys/girls (aka most directors and screenwriters) attempt to do car-guy/girl things because they think it'd be "cool" without caring whether it's actually plausible or not. And usually, it WOULD be cool to car-guys/girls if it were actually plausible, but since it's (usually) not, we all just find it a ridiculous ploy by the car company to attempt to sell their products "sumbliminally". Except since we all know it's not subliminal, we find it even more ridiculous than had it been subliminal and change the channel.
Or laugh about it on blogs and forums.
Case in point:
The Fast and The Furious franchise...
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Dude 11:25AM (7/30/2008)
I think it's telling that they are into the first batch of shows and are already out of ideas on how to have their main character escape from the bad guys without resorting to implausible escapes.
Red 12:20PM (7/30/2008)
You're pretty much spot-on. I mentioned it awhile back, but I spoke to one of the editors that went from last year's "Bionic Woman" to "Knight Rider" and he said "Knight" makes "Bionic" look like an Emmy winner. The gent explained he was literally piecing MINUTES together to make something watchable for the first episode.
Also, if you examine the preview video above, it looks like it was shot with the same camera they use on those softcore Cinemax after-dark pornos, which is embarrassing for two reasons:
First, almost all shows shot now have a cinematic look (think Heroes, Grey's Anatomy...even Top Gear). This looks decidely cheap by comparison. Even the old "Viper" show looked better than this.
Second, "Knight Rider", while sounding like a medieval porno, doesn't have any actual T&A, so if I wanted to watch something that LOOKED like a porno, but ISN'T a porno, I just watch Zombie Strippers again, which, while not an Oscar winner, was intentional funny ("Knight" being unintentionally funny) and actually had boobage.
I mean, not that I only look for boobage in my movies and shows or anything....
geo.stewart 1:47PM (7/30/2008)
well duh, a hard top convertible would be much harder to swallow....
LMBVette 11:16AM (7/30/2008)
Who are the producers of this show....10 year olds???
The pilot sucked....and now the show will continue to raise the suckiness-bar. Sigh.
With that said...I'll still have to watch just to see how much it sucks....so I can come back here and commiserate with everyone else about how much it did indeed suck. ;-)
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garlinski 11:24AM (7/30/2008)
kill this show now and bring back The Hoff. This is awful.
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Wally 11:33AM (7/30/2008)
Why do they insist on continuing to poop on my childhood?
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ehisforadam 3:12PM (7/30/2008)
They hired Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
s13hybrid 11:33AM (7/30/2008)
I bet actual truck owners wish they could morph their truck into a car after they get away from the badies. It may save them some gas.
They should have just made the new Kitt a pontiac UTE. Then they would stay with pontiac, and have the utility of a truck while keeping with the sportyness of a car.
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pmalloy4391 11:35AM (7/30/2008)
I must be the only one here who enjoyed the pilot. I mean dont get me wrong, it wasnt fantastic... but elts be honest... the OG show was just as bad. It was "entertaining" even though alot of it is not plausible.
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Paul 11:36AM (7/30/2008)
LEGENDARY FAIL
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Soccer Mom 11:38AM (7/30/2008)
Besides bored 8 year-old, will some one watch it?
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jg 11:45AM (7/30/2008)
the target audience will eat it up. I know I would if I was 9. I loved the original Knight Rider and Chips and the A Team. High brow tv they were not.
'This is what happens when non-car guys/girls (aka most directors and screenwriters) attempt to do car-guy/girl things because they think it'd be "cool" without caring whether it's actually plausible or not.'
They care if the tv show will attract enough eyeballs that they can charge big bucks for commercials during the show. They will push any boundary to achieve that.
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Jeff 11:45AM (7/30/2008)
Once I saw two men kissing, and that was the gayest thing I ever say until I read this piece.
Did I mention I was one of the two men?
This is friggin' gay!
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thtthtytjtyujet 11:48AM (7/30/2008)
This is ridiculous. The director or whoever should try watching the original. KITT doesn't morph, he doesn't have weapons, he's not a FORD! This is beyond stupid, call the show something else. Its not "Knight Rider", its "Transformers Meets Stupid."
This is nothing more than a huge product placement exercise for ford!
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Gungosa 11:58AM (7/30/2008)
Microsoft got owned hard by this one.
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