Huge interview with Bruening & Bartis (and some new photos)

[Duster]

ComingSoon.net has a very cool interview with Justing Bruening and Executive Producer David Bartis online. They talk about all things Knight Rider, what we can expect from the pilot, from a possible series, how and why they made certain decisions. They talk about the Hoff's involvement which apparently wasn't only in front of the camera, they talk about a possible involvement of William Daniels in the future and so on....
It's really worth the reading!

Btw, from the look of the new photo from the Hoff and another one which seems to be on the same location, one could guess father and soon meet at a funeral... but that's only my guess.

Oh, here is the link again: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=41270

[HungarianKnight]

It can shape shift a little bit

All right, this makes me a bit less nervous. I never wanted to see Kitt morph from Mustang into a Yugo or what not...

There is mention of the original KITT, but not a mention of the car. There were just certain limitations in terms of how much time we had to get into certain things. That would be the kind of thing we would explore more in the series, if we are lucky enough to go to series.

Fanboy mode activated! It would be nice to see the post-TOS pre-TNG era with flashbacks and how did Kitt end up halfway being dismantled...

In our minds, we believe that the original KITT's sort of motherboard is somewhere buried in the new KITT and enhanced.

So is the Knight 3000 not a completely separate entity but a reformatted version of the original Kitt?

I'm getting more and more excited. This is REAL Knight Rider, not just in name but a real continuation. I'm so eager to see what happened to the dear old Kitt and how was the legacy passed on from Michael to Mike.

[justinbrueningnet]

Thanks for posting this!!!

from the look of the new photo from the Hoff and another one which seems to be on the same location, one could guess father and soon meet at a funeral... but that's only my guess.

I agree, it does look like that may be what happens.

[Rockatteer]

Interesting article.

It's good to hear that the Hoff has had input into the show.

From that interview they seem to have their hearts in the right place for the show.

[davejames]

Aaarrg, why can't these guys just give us a straight answer on whether the car can turbo boost?? If the guy is even half the fan he says he is, he should know what an INTEGRAL part of the show that was...

[JimmyPSHayes]

That's a great interview. I really wasn't nervous about the show before, but now I'm super pumped!

[blowersho]

So if the K2000's motherboard is in the K3000, does that means we will never see the original in action again?

[seeker78]

CS: What was behind the decision to go with the Ford Mustang instead of the Trans-Am?

Bartis: If we stuck with the Trans-Am it would have to be an old one. It's not really a model they make anymore. We want to bring the car to a new audience and reinvent it enough and that meant going out with a new model. We also knew it had to be American. It had to be two-door and it had to have some muscle to it, and be exciting to watch. When you line up all the options available, it fulfilled all the requirements. For me personally, it became sort of an obvious choice. When we started digging into all the lines available, and Ford showed us this new Shelby, which isn't even on the market yet, it kind of blew us away. That car was just pretty cool.

Yes indeed, it did have to be American, which rules out the made in Canada Camaro. Have to agree with them here. Ford might be in economic trouble, but at least they're making a two door, backseat car in the USA. So Ford is enriching average, blue collar Americans. At a time of possible recession, Ford and NBC are strengthening a brand which is made on American soil by Americans.

Also, it was because the car was "just pretty cool" not because it was a RWD and a V8. SUV might have a more powerful engine than a Mustang but it is not "just pretty cool" like the Mustang is. Appearance is more important than type of engine or drivetrain. That is the correct method in my opinion.

qed...

--Brian

[cloudkitt]

Yes indeed, it did have to be American, which rules out the made in Canada Camaro.

No it doesn't, that's not what that means. My dad's Mercedes was made in Alabama, so could they use a Kompressor? No, he means an American company.


And WHY do they keep dodging that Turbo Boost question? But thank you for that, that was fascinating, I'm excited.

[PHOENIXZERO]

Well, they don't want to say no and disappoint a lot of people and they don't want to say yes if it would ruin a surprise.

As for the motherboard thing, I think that was meant in one of those "in spirit" kind of things.

[KnightLady]

Good interview, and it did kinda answer a lot of questions that has been going around on this board, like why did they choose the car they did? Or at least that was one of the questions I had. At least, by this article, the people involved did try to stay close to the spirit of the original series.

[Kaine]

on the turbo boost matter: well, if i remember correctly Shapeshifter told us

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

there is no turboboost in the backdoor pilot script. that doesn't rule out the new KITT has a turbo boost, it's just not used in the pilot. we'll propably have to wait for the series to know for sure

[Knight316]

You know what would kind of be funny...how they say KITTs motherboard is somewhere in the Knight 3000....in one episode have Mike and KITT driving down the road and all of a sudde, KITTs voice changes to William Daniels' voice and kind of keeps going back and forth throughout the show where it's almost like KITT has a split personality type thing and keeps calling him Michael but the Knight 3000 calls him Mike. I could see some REALLY funny scenes between Will Arnett and William Daniels as they kind of fight for control of the car. ANd Mike's reactions could be priceless. That could even be used as a setupi for anohter Michael Knight return where KITT 2000 gains full control at a point but doesn't know who Mike is so they bring back Michael Knight as KITT only listens to him(or you could substitute Hoff for an appearance by Patricia MacPherson as Bonnie)

[Rockatteer]

I wonder if the turbo boost issue is related to the number of stunt cars they have available to them? or maybe a cost issue of having that many panel workers rebuilding the jump cars each week.

Maybe they are holding off to see if they get to series before they employ all the panel guys and bring in more stunt cars for jumping. It's been a long time since I've seen the original KR pilot.. did they have turbo boost in that?

[PHOENIXZERO]

Having watched the pilot for the first time in a long time just lastnight/this morning. Yes, they did Turbo Boost in it, several times. But I'm willing to bet the original show's pilot had a lot longer prep time than this one did.

Man, I forgot how Buddy's mom was total MILF.... I wonder if Michael ever did go back to "visit", heh. They really didn't have many reoccurring characters in the show's run, I'm surprised they never went back to her and Buddy, I'm sure Michael did.

[Lost Knight]

Man, I forgot how Buddy's mom was total MILF.... I wonder if Michael ever did go back to "visit", heh. They really didn't have many reoccurring characters in the show's run, I'm surprised they never went back to her and Buddy, I'm sure Michael did.

That particular character never came back in the original series, but Pamela Susan Shoop did return as a different character in "Knight Of the Juggernaut."

[DarylKnight]

Yes indeed, it did have to be American, which rules out the made in Canada Camaro.

Actually, GM closed that F Body Camaro plant years ago. The final Camaro/Firebird models were built in the States upon discontinuation. We don't really yet know where the Camaro will be built when they begin production.

[blowersho]

The Camaro and other "zeta" platform vehicles will be built in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. GM has invested a lot in the new "flex" line and has high hopes for the new facility.

[seeker78]

The final Camaro/Firebird models were built in the States upon discontinuation. We don't really yet know where the Camaro will be built when they begin production.

Well, Wikipedia -- which I know is not the world's most credible source, but one of the only ones that I know of which state such things -- claims that the 2009 Camaro Concept is going to be built in Canada.

Made in USA is my preference, see my post in the Lounge section...

--Brian

[TurbomanKnight]

Yes indeed, it did have to be American, which rules out the made in Canada Camaro.

Actually, GM closed that F Body Camaro plant years ago. The final Camaro/Firebird models were built in the States upon discontinuation. We don't really yet know where the Camaro will be built when they begin production.

The 4th Gen Camaro/Firebird were built in Canada.

[knightendo_phil]

The whole bit about Hasselhoff's ex-wife marrying Michael Knight (I knew that much) but who then went on to play Justin's father in his soap, and not Justin's new charcter's father IS Michael Knight.... wow! You just couldn't make that up!!

I am SUPER hyped about this movie! And hopefully this interview will spell the end of all talk of this being a sneaky "backdoor" pilot, it is a full-blown pilot and I for one hope it gets picked up!! Bring it on!!

[krfan1]

It will be interesting to see how KR fares with today's TV viewers. In the interview, they said the series (if produced) would be a throw back to the original -- lighthearted. Bartis also said 80's shows were fantasy-like (not everything was believable). Interestingly, that is the same thing said on the ADitorial that was on the later season Universal boxsets [KR S4, A-Team S5].

krfan1

[davejames]

I wonder if the turbo boost issue is related to the number of stunt cars they have available to them? or maybe a cost issue of having that many panel workers rebuilding the jump cars each week.

Maybe they are holding off to see if they get to series before they employ all the panel guys and bring in more stunt cars for jumping. It's been a long time since I've seen the original KR pilot.. did they have turbo boost in that?

Yeah it's almost definitely a cost thing. Unlike the original show, they just don't have nearly as many cars to work with.

This new transforming "attack mode" is clearly a way to make up for that, the same way the original used SPM when THEIR budget got a lot smaller.

Still though, I would put up with a CG or model turbo-boost over NO turbo-boost at all.

[davejames]

I wonder if the turbo boost issue is related to the number of stunt cars they have available to them? or maybe a cost issue of having that many panel workers rebuilding the jump cars each week.

Maybe they are holding off to see if they get to series before they employ all the panel guys and bring in more stunt cars for jumping. It's been a long time since I've seen the original KR pilot.. did they have turbo boost in that?

Yeah it's almost definitely a cost thing. These Mustangs probably cost a lot more to modify, and they don't have nearly as many to work with.

This new transforming "attack mode" is clearly a way to make up for that, the same way the original used SPM to death when IT'S budget got a lot smaller.

Still though, I would put up with a CG or model turbo-boost over NO turbo-boost at all.