SPM= Cool or Work of Evil?

[The Real Michael Knight]

SPM was really gimmicy yes. I think it loosk cool hearing all those sound effects and seeing the car transform. And don't froget transforming things were really big back in the mid 80's. I mean every kid had a transformer toy. So you can understand where everyone got the idea for KITT's new features. SPM isn't very realistic in my opinion. It looks cool, but its comical. And I agree, the episodes though more serious in season 4, many of them were less realistic. In my opinion SPM and C mode were unnecessary to save the show. It was the wrong way to go about saving the show. Audiences aren't drawn in by gimmics. They're drawn in by compelling storylines and excellent scripts.

[sarfraz]

Hmmm, I had to think about this before posting. Yes SPM was a gimmick but like pretty much everything in Knight Rider there is a sound basis for the design.

I've studied vehicle and race-car aerodynamics as part of my degree so I have a fairly good understanding of the subject. Most of the individual components of SPM are used in race car design. Ok, the execution of SPM is a little debatable, but this is a TV show were talking about and not a multi-million pound (dollar ) race car team. The concept of raising the rear wing makes perfect sense. Most high end sports cars (like the Mclarean F1, Porsche) use a variable rear wing to generate rear-end grip. In order to do this, they need to extend a rear wing to generate down force. The SPM height maybe a a little high but its comparable to GT-racing cars and older F1 cars which travel at similiar speeds to SPM KITT, so its realistic.

There is also a wing underneath the car at the rear, again exceution is a little strange as its a plate and not a wing. This kind of design can be seen on the Lamborghini Diablo....although the Diablo intergrates the design into the bumper.

The vents that stick out the side of KITT only make some sense. The ones at the back of the door and on the B-pillar of the car are like the intakes of an F1 car. However the outlet vent at the front of the door simply won't work. Outlets need to be much smaller than that to control airflow back out of the car. Again that applies to the outlet on the hood of the car

The tiny side wings at the front of the car are used in Le-Mans racing cars and generate additional grip for the front tyres.

This leaves the big scanner pop-out section. Again the concept makes some scene. Huge front wing generates most of the downforce required to keep the front end to the ground. The front wing needs to be some distance away from the main body in order to work. This kind of designs was used recently by the Tyrell F1 team to generate additional grip as their standard lower wing, they believed was not sufficient on tight-twisty tracks.

There you go, SPM could work if an engineer modified it slightly. Personally I love it

Sarfraz

[KARR Engineer]

SPM... is great! Although I hate the nose going up and out. It's nasty. The rest of SPM is great.

KARR: "But I will not have SPM. It is nonsense. It is only good for a pale production line copy. SPM does increase speed, but cuts some power off other functions."

[growup]

"SPM" was in inevitable growth of a series to the point were it "jumps the shark". I've never cared for it. The base convertible was attractive. I would have liked to have seen "Kitt" introduced as a convertible.

[CB2001]

We all know that KITT's windshield wipers were evil, thanks to "Futurama". J/k

[Cougar]

I liked SPM but the sped up taped made it too unbelivable and silly. I also think it was overused.

[The Real Michael Knight]

Yeah no kidding, SPM was used in almost every episode in Season 4.

[Benjamin Knight]

I love SPM (K.I.T.T , Ck *sings* We are family! We are family! )

Anyhow yeah, SPM was a great future it was over used though. It was in almost every episode after it was invented. Thats alright though, there are few that don't have it. The theing that bothered me is when it was used more then once in a episode.... KOFTJ WOW! Good SPM shots... But what was it 3 or 4 times....... yikes. Oh well. After that it became over used. KITT SPMing once in a episode was nice very nice, super pursuit nice! Twice (epsecally within a few minutes) was alright! Three times was more then enough, more then enough indeed. Even if it is a 2 hour episode. KITT's SPM defented the idea of KITT driving at high speeds in his slick normal mode which looks great. (So does SPM most of the time) Now you see, in some episodes, Michael just went to SPM when ever they needed a little speed. That made SPM feel empty. But think about it, why go slower in normal when SPM is faster... That means that there would be less high speed normal cruise/pursuit mode shots. That isn't good. SPM maybe hot, but KITT driving in normal needs to be kept clean. That is why I also like the 4rd season. If I were Knight, I would use SPM only when it was needed. As I can bet it made him car sick!

Benjamin Knight

[Stargazer]

I liked it.

[knighttwothousand]

Hi folks!
Well, In my opinion, SPM was not cool. Kitt could go real fast even without the SPM. All the fins and the exhaust couldnt be fit into Kitt.
Also, what was the point of SPM? Nobody can control a car at 300 mph!
Remember, Kitt wasnt a race car!!!
knighttwothousand

[knighttwothousand]

Well, The only thing i liked about the SPM, was when Micheal says,"Ok Kitt, back to cruise mode". The EBS comes into play..and i love the sound effects and the skidding of kitt's tyres when the EBS is activated..
The other reason (the most important one) is that i am relieved that i do not have to see the fast forward footage of Kitt racing through streets with some plastic protrusions

[Arjun]

What annoyed me at times was this- new features with every 4/5 episodes in each season.

In Season 1, it was Ski Mode, then Grappling Hook, then the Jammer, the laser, the voice box. In Season 2, it was an anharmonic synthesizer, a trajectory guide, traction controls and a few more. Season 3 had a lot of new features- voltage induction, vital scans,... There were several features, helpful, but small. This made it a bit too much of a sci-fi show.

Season 4, on the other hand, just had 3 new features, but all were significant. Super Pursuit Mode, or Silly Pop-up Mode, as a few call it, made it much faster. This was very vital, since the missions in this season were really tough. Not the settlement of personal grouses of Season 2, or drama of Season 1, but just raw action. SPM helped KITT in episodes like KITTNAP, and especially Sky Knight. When they have to rush from city to city, far away, in quick time, this is where it counts. Even EBS, another unpopular feature, was quite useful, since it can help prevent accidents.

[KnightLegend]

I thought the SPM was actually quite coo. It never felt gimmicky to me. Although I can see why some of you would see it that way. For me, it was the right balance, not too tacky and 'boy racer-ish' (for want of a better phrase) yet it still looked really cool and made KITT seem cooler to me. I liked KITT's EBS as well.

[TurbomanKnight]

You do realize you just bumped a 4 year old topic?

[TheMechanic]

Silly KITT, pop-ups are for books!

No really...I did not like it. It just irks me that they mess up is sleek form with...whatever kind of stabilizers they are.
Ratings gimmick for sure. XP