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How did Michael know all of Kitt's button's?

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:10 pm
by whet
A thought came to me the other day, How come Micheal knew exactly where each button was on Kitt without realy looking.

with the mass button's for all Kitt's function's plus new funtions and hence new buutons appearing through out the series, you would think he would hit the wrong one from time to time :?:

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:31 pm
by Knight of Sweden
yeah.,..
its oki with those beside the stearing wheel but the "radio buttons" in the roof is kind of strange that he never presses wrong :D

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:38 pm
by growup
In the show, Michael does not make many mistakes. In reality it would only be a matter of time before something like that would happen. It happens to everyone. Some people might say KITT would analyze the situation and make sure the proper button was pushed. Then I would ask the question what is the point of Michael doing any of the driving in the first place.

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:50 pm
by Knight of Sweden
maybe the CPU doesn't really want to drive all the time :)
and how funny would it be to be driving the car without the driver :D

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 2:56 pm
by growup
There was an episode where KITT was driving and Michael slept. They passed a police officer and he pulled them over. KITT had to wake Michael up.

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 3:59 pm
by neps
That was in the Pilot, Michael had to pretend that he had a crink in his neck and could not hear because it took awhile for him to be pulled over by the police.

I don't know. I can pretty much type fast on the keyboard without looking as I'm sure many of you can. This came from practice and just general use. But how do we know he doesn't look? Michael reaches for the button, and then they cut to a shot of him pushing the button in most cases, right? Couldn't his eyes have looked down when the camera was not on them?

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 6:33 pm
by whet
Yeah Good point Neps.

But on the other hand Michael must have good eye sight to read the buttons from his postion.

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:13 pm
by Skav
Actually, if you look carefully, for a split micro second he does look at the button before he pushes it.

This is most evident before he goes to turbo boost over something.

Skav

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:16 pm
by knightdriver
My theory is that is why the buttons were colored differently. That and being being well versed on KITTs layout, a quick glance is probably all that was needed to minimize any mistakes.

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:52 pm
by jup
I still say the Gull Wing needed a few 'hot keys' for those all-so-common functions like Turbo Boost and auto pilot.

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:31 pm
by aussieknight
Actually, the "wheel" DID have a couple of thumb buttons/light up panels near the top of each handle grip. Marks cutom kits website shows this clearly in a shot of the original car they restored. Although who knows what their original purpose was. Check this out:
Image
Image
Never saw them lit up though...

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 8:42 pm
by Knicks4973
Practice, practice, practice. He did have a manual though. In Slammin Sammy's Stunt Spectacular Show, in the beginning, you see Michael reading a book. If you look closely, it says Knight 2000, so it had to be a manual. Besides, we really don't know how long Michael drove KITT since the pilot, so he probably had a lot of time to learn what each button did and where it was located.

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 11:21 pm
by jup
aussieknight wrote:Actually, the "wheel" DID have a couple of thumb buttons/light up panels near the top of each handle grip.
Oh...that's trippy. 8) Those look like they came right out of Star Trek. (The original series.) Such fine little detailing that we aren't shown. Even has a pop-out cover door.

I wonder if they were always there or just a seasonal upgrade? I'd say that I'd try to seek them out...but, my tape collection really doesn't have that kind of quality for such small detailing.

Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2004 11:36 pm
by Knight Industries 3000
jup wrote:I still say the Gull Wing needed a few 'hot keys' for those all-so-common functions like Turbo Boost and auto pilot.
I agree 100%.

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 1:15 am
by IceKnight
Not to stir argument, Aussieknight, but Mark's Custom Kits can't be held credible when it comes to that "restored" car, as has been argued here before. In fact, I highly doubt any such buttons ever existed. Otherwise, we would have heard about them. I have, however, heard of repli-car owners adding Gull Wing buttons for their own amusement.

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 1:49 am
by aussieknight
Oh no, that's not stirring up an argument, no way. :-) Well, it looks pretty well original from the pics, but, having not seen the car in person myself, I can't be sure. But if those light-up panels WERE original, but never focussed on or mentioned, it wouldn't surprise me. Does it really matter?
:kittspin:

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 12:44 pm
by whet
Come to think of it most of the time Michael says,"turbo Kitt"
or Something like "lets give em a little oil slick"

so by that Kitt could know what function he is about to use!

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 4:26 pm
by knightdriver
Those buttons actually do exist. They were meant to be some type of laser firing button (or so I heard previously). You can see these in the begining credits of season 3/4 if you look closely. The green lights are on in some sceens. I dont think they used them in all of the cars during filming though.

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 4:57 pm
by aussieknight
Brian, do you answer PM's? Or emails? I've been wondering how your demo DVD's were coming. Any news?

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 5:09 pm
by knightdriver
Hey Aussi..... ,

Check your PM box. I sent you a reply. Thanks.

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 6:37 pm
by Skav
I know this may sound stupid but the green light on the steering wheel could be a sensor for KITT to see how hard Michael is gripping the wheel...this, in turn, could tell KITT Michael's blood pressure, somehow.

In 'Return to Cadiz' KITT mentions how tight Michael is holding the steering wheel and mentions his blood pressure at the same time.

So, to me, it's some kind of touch sensor for KITT.

As for the little door, who knows?

But yeah, it might have been made up by Mark's Custom KIT's.

Skav

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2004 10:08 pm
by cloudkitt
I always wondered about Turbo Boost, sometimes they're really high, oth times they aren't. I know KITT has that trajectory guide-but most of the time Michael didn't have time to use that. So everytime Michael just pushed that button-KITT had to scan the situation and judge what kind of jump it should be.

Also, those times where Michael asks about Turbo boost and KITT says theres a bus or something on the other side-what if Michael had just pushed the button without asking-would KITT be able to stop it?

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 1:43 am
by aussieknight
KARR was able to override the brake pedal in KvK, and KITT drove quite happily on quite a few occasions while passengers tried to wrench control, so why not have KITT override the function buttons? Mind you, there's an ep where Michael and some dude are fighting inside KITT, and they keep bumping the wheel and swerving. I thought that when KITT took control that was it. Plot hole? Dunno.
:kittspin:

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 2:44 am
by SeishinRyu
Maybe Kitt was trying to help Michael by swerving and throwing the guy off ballance?

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2004 5:51 am
by SwEeTiNsAnItY
SeishinRyu wrote:Maybe Kitt was trying to help Michael by swerving and throwing the guy off ballance?
lol maybe... :P

In KITT vs KARR, right after KARR said "manual override," he told John to press turbo boost. When he didn't obey right away, KARR said "Press it" all ominously so he did and then they flew though the back of the semi. But if KARR could've just turbo boosted on his own why'd he have John press the button? There are so many instances of contradictions in the show that you just kinda have to accept things as they are.