Rank the Seasons

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nickeeg
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Rank the Seasons

Post by nickeeg » Fri Dec 15, 2017 5:55 pm

Hi everyone

Being the nerdy mathematician that I am, I rated every episode out of 5 during my last watch through. Here are my seasons in order of average result (lowest first) and a couple of significant episodes, both positive and negative. Basically anything that I gave a 5 star rating to is labelled as a "high", anything with a 2 or 1 star rating is a "Low".
Please feel free to agree or disagree with my opinions - everyone has their favourites!
I have to say that some episodes might have scored higher had I not seen them before. For example it would be interesting for me to have seen "Goliath" for the first time, not knowing what was going to happen. Once the wow factor had subsided, I realised there was not a lot of plot - certainly not enough to fill 2 episodes anyway!

OK, here we go....

4th place - Season 4

Highs: The Scent of Roses
Lows: Knight Racer, Knight Behind Bars, Knight Song, Knight Flight to Freedom, Voo Doo Knight

3rd place - Season 1

Highs: Pilot (Knight of the Phoenix)
Lows: Inside Out

2nd place - Season 3

Highs: KITT vs. KARR, Junk Yard Dog, Knightlines
Lows: Knights of the Fast Lane, The Rotten Apples, Knight of the Chameleon, Ten Wheel Trouble

1st place - Season 2

Highs: Soul Survivor, Ring of Fire
Lows: Silent Knight, Speed Demons

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David
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Re: Rank the Seasons

Post by David » Sun Dec 24, 2017 9:42 am

Hmm, Scent of Roses is definitely a 'low' of S4 for me, I'd have to go with Knight Of The Juggernaut as its highpoint - as much as I hate Stupid Pursuit Mode! It's probably the season I've seen least since it originally aired, but I do remember the ep Sky Night as being a good stab at doing something different.

It's been ages since I saw S3, but KITT vs KARR, Knightmares, Junkyard Dog, Lost Knight and Halloween Knight are definite stand outs. I also really liked Circus Knights.

S2's highpoint has to be Goliath, other good eps include Soul Survivor, Speed Demons, Return To Cadiz, Brother's Keeper and Ring of Fire.

S1: Pilot, Trust Doesn't Rust, Hearts of Stone, Inside Out, No Big Thing, Chariot of Gold. The first series has my favourite 'version' of KITT with extensive use of Michael Scheffe's pilot dash, sadly some of the stunts, auto cruising and general close-up shots of KITT (you can usually spot a round steering wheel and/or mocked-up stunt dash in each ep!) don't really stand up to close scrutiny in the HD age - and some of the writing is a bit creaky too - but in general I love the 'pre-hit' feel of the early eps, and at least they tried to do the action 'for real' rather than using the miniatures of later seasons.

Ranked in order of pure quality, I'd have to go with:
1st: Series 2
2nd: Series 3
3rd: Series 1
4th: Series 4

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Mechanicjay
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Re: Rank the Seasons

Post by Mechanicjay » Tue Dec 26, 2017 4:27 pm

A mostly agree with David above.

Season 2 is solid.
Season 3 vs Season 1 are really close for 2nd place for me. I'd need to go back and do a thorough review of episodes before determining a "winner".
Season 4 is clearly the overall weakest, though I remember as a kid I totally ate up that Super Pursuit Mode!

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KITTfan
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Re: Rank the Seasons

Post by KITTfan » Wed Dec 27, 2017 12:45 am

Interesting topic :)
For me it's almost the same as above. From best to weakest:
1. Season 2, lots of memorable and exciting episodes like Soul Survivor, Knightmares, etc. If hard pressed, maybe Mouth of the Snake, Return to Cadiz and Brother's Keeper are my less watched episodes.
2. Season 1, the original Knight Rider :) The first KARR episode! Stu Phillips music in the first half of the season! Again, I have to press hard to find episodes that I watch less often, maybe Short Notice.
3. Season 3, still many great episodes like KITT vs KARR, Junk Yard Dog, The 19th Hole, Knight & Knerd, Knight in Retreat, Lost Knight, Buy Out, Knight in Disgrace and Circus Knights. I must say I like more the original 2-tv dash in KITT so that kind of takes something away from these last two seasons.
4. Season 4, let's just say I'm not the biggest fan of SPM either, C-mode KITT looked nice though. Season 4 still has some good episodes like Killer KITT, Scent of Roses, Hills of Fire and Fright Knight but some not so good ones also, for example Knight Song altough I liked a lot of the New Edition - Count Me Out music in it. Knight Flight to Freedom isn't my favourite either. Voodoo Knight must be the worst episode in the entire series.

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KFCreator
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Re: Rank the Seasons

Post by KFCreator » Wed Dec 27, 2017 11:30 pm

I'm nearly finished with a re-watch of every episode of the classic series and, as far as ranking the seasons go, here's my order from best to worst:

1. Season 3 (Some really memorable episodes, and the tipping point for me is that, aside from Season 4, it is the most "modern" feeling of the series).
3. Season 4 (Again, some great episodes, and I really liked the addition of Super Pursuit Mode, but I feel like there were more weak episodes than strong ones in this season)
2. Season 2 (Several extremely high-quality episodes, although the overall film quality and aesthetics make it look a bit too dated)
1. Season 1 (While there are some fantastic episodes that I will always love, they all look extremely dated by today's standards in every regard, from fashion, to the technology, to the film and quality and music. Also, the cheesiness was in full swing here and doesn't help the episodes much.)

Judging these episodes by today's standards means taking a hard look at the quality of the episodes in every way, and trying not to let nostalgia get the better of you. Don Peake probably was at his height with the series in Seasons 2 and Season 3, for instance, while Seasons 4 and 1 felt a bit repetitive, with Season 1 also feeling like it's clinging too heavily to the 70's. The film stock that they used only got better with each passing season so Season 4 of course looks the best in regards to color and crispness. The fashions changed considerably over the seasons and by Season 4, it had migrated from a late 70's/very early 80's look to full on Miami Vice mid-80's glory. I was never a fan of the cheesiness of the show, which is almost always what other people say they remember about it, but really most of that was seriously dialed down by Season 2 and was completely absent in Seasons 3 and 4. K.I.T.T. was always supposed to be the car of the future so in that sense, Season 4 made him the most modern that he ever appeared, with some very hi-tech gear and fantastic design inside and out. There also was a pretty big change in nearly every episode having Michael being a womanizer and rescuing the damsel in distress in the early seasons to less of a dependence on that trope by the later seasons, although the sex appeal for Michael was never discarded entirely.
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