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Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 4:41 pm
by rwmu
Been a while but I thought I come back, so i'll start with question or two.

As far as I can see on the original release KR had very little merchandise, does anybody think this may harmed the public perception and longevity of the Brand. Alot of the other big Brands relied heavily on merchandise and have remained in the public eye because of it. Star Wars obviously started the big rush but Star Trek, Doctor Who, the works of Gerry Anderson also made use of merchandise and additonal material as well (Books, records etc).

The other thing I wonder is would the Brand be helped if original fans had been inspired to go into TV production, the main benefit of this is Doctor Who pretty much all the production crew and alot of the newer actors are fans of the original show and took up their professions because of it.

If Knight Rider fans had been inspired in similar ways through merchandise and jobs would we have had a better new show and smaller gaps between the sequals and better sequals and spin offs?

Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 7:55 pm
by Skav
You mean KR2008? Possibly. But I think Obama's speech after the third or fourth episode hurt the series, as well as just crappy writing and straying too far from the basic concept.

Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 12:47 am
by rwmu
Nope I meant the brand as a whole.

I don't remeber much merchandise back in the day, maybe and annual and a strip in Look-in beyond on that I can't think of much.

Where were the action figures, where were the original novels, where was the really cool KITT toy that used the same tech as Evil Kenival to jump KITT through plastic blocks !

Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 6:48 am
by Skav
Are you kidding? Just go on Ebay and see for yourself.

Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 7:57 am
by Knight Racer
When I was in kindergarden or pre-school I remember a friend had the knight rider walkie talki set with the red label shown here.I felt so jealous when I saw it.There have been some rediculous knight rider merchandise out there like yoyo or cap gun even stickers for kids.I for one never saw an episode he used one or a knife.What's also strange is that ertl is releasing a second kitt model so has matchbox,matelknight rider 80's t-shirt,games.Its all funny to me how even though the show's been off the air for years and stopped production since the 80's you still see so much new kr merchandise out there.

Ertl hand painted model
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Nintendo game
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handheld game
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AM radio
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Parker Brothers board game
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Knight Rider novels
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Knight Rider thermous and lunchbox.One is now in the smithsonian.
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Knight Rider currency
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Knight Rider read along vinyls
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Turbo booster
[imghttp://img215.imageshack.us/img215/4299/turbobooster.jpg][/img]

Knight Rider voice car with Michael Knight Action figure
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walkie talkies i was jealous over
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wrist watch
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Yoyo
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Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 1:34 pm
by rwmu
I stand corrected then.

So on the second point, would the various failed relaunches have been better if the KR fans had turn their love of the show into a career and helped relaunch the show successfully.

Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 3:20 pm
by Skav
rwmu wrote:I stand corrected then.

So on the second point, would the various failed relaunches have been better if the KR fans had turn their love of the show into a career and helped relaunch the show successfully.
While the new Dr. Who was successful, I can only think of one other franchise, a movie, that was made by fans of it. Jason Goes To Hell in the Friday 13th series. And that was appalling! Almost universally said so by people.

So, I have no idea on that one. It may be 50/50.

Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 4:17 pm
by rwmu
Fair enough, from that it would seem its a good idea, Doctor Who is huge and getting bigger all the time, nearly 50 years it's been going.

It's not that KR fans are a non-productive lot the amount of cars that get built prove that, its just a wonder none of the fans went into TV or film production and once they were established used their clout to make a successful relaunch, surely there must be some modern day producers, directors etc who are KR fans and would love to make a new show.

Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 7:36 pm
by Knight Racer
I was pondering the same thing while kr08 was still on.What if the fans that weren't so happy with kr08 would all gather together and each take a shot of making a kr 008 episode into what was so special about kr82.

Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 7:48 am
by Skav
At the end of the day, I think it's important to bare in mind that even if the fans did make a movie or tv show, that not everybody would love it. You will always get your haters!

Re: Lack of Merchandise

Posted: Fri May 13, 2011 1:09 pm
by rwmu
You can't please all the people all of the time, but with fans who have made it their job to be TV show production at least we could have had a show and not be left in limbo.