turbo boost rant

[ianruk]

ok you know what i know the people that making this new knight rider was good enough to add back in the turbo boost
but as anyone noticed how crap it looks compared to the old series?

its been 20 years since the 80's dont you think things would look better these days then they did 20 years ago. but its like things go backwards because the turbo boost from the old and the new have gone way way down hill

go to youtube and search for knight rider turbo boost and look at the one from the 80's show
accually here i got a link
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=arL04K3HLMw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

check that out turbo boosts from the 80's show

when the button used to hit and it went into turbo,none of this activating turbo boost then zooming into the circuits in the car and stuff like that

i blame cgi stuff for these things,everyone takes the easy way out so instead of making things look real it cheapens stuff

[KnightINSTINCT]

Wow, it's about time someone on these boards said something about the turbo boost


Good for you

[weeezl]

Times move on buddy, CGi is commonplace now and those Mustangs are too expensive to risk wrecking, maybe if it were a movie it would be different but on a tv show budget they just cant afford to trash the cars. I agree that CGI doesnt look as good as a practical jump but we just have deal with it and be grateful they gave us Turbo Boost back.

Who knows they may even do a big practical stunt at some point but until then..............

Its just nice to see it back IMO, Convincing Turbo Boost, to me is not nearly as important as seeing this show blossom and do really well, we could argue that is what made original KR so special but to me Im more worried about the story writing, the interaction between Michael & Kitt and the character arcs.

I want this show to do well and I know they cant afford to blow the budget by trashing the Mustangs, they are'nt cheap.

We may well see more practical stuff if the show gets renewed with a larger budget and until then I think we should show our support as fans and be grateful there is new KR on our screens, if the show fails they wont try again, for a long,long time, if ever.

[Tiogaw]

...


There is the issue of that green stuff that goes in your wallet. Budgets are tight, we should be happy we are getting to see real landings. It takes a lot of money to potentially wreak a car doing stuns like that. CGI can be very effective when used properly, and I have seen so much crappy CGI I find it funny. But the CGI in Knight Rider, specifically the bit were the camera goes into the engine, is one of the best I've seen on TV- second only to the two Stargate series. (or three now. SciFi channel is so screwed up. But that's for another forum entirely...)

btw, CGI isn't easy. It takes a lot of work and man hours to make a scene look perfect, or good at all.

However, I have to say that I do like the Turbo Boot in the Originals. 8D But I'm sure that if they had the CGI we have now they would have utilized it some how. I'm not against using real stunts, I love that stuff - I'd like to try it in a short movie that a group and I are thinking of doing (not KR related. Sorry.) I just see the benefits that properly used CGI can have, especially in the new KR series - what with all the budget issues and such.


Oh, and sorry if I get any presumptions about your post wrong, Ianruk. I can miss read things and go off like a loose canon sometimes....

Tiogaw [DJ]

[Kram061-1]

The CGI Turbo Boost is NOT that bad.....It's just that I think they're putting too much into in the sense that, I don't need to see all that BS of the camera taking an internal tour of the car AND the other thing is......the car is going through the air too slow....now if that was slow motion, that'd be one thing, but they're talking to each other in real time, having a short conversation. That is what I see. The CGI is not that bad, but it needs to look more like a real car jump....speed wise.....Almost looks as though KITT is sort of flying?? ....Hopefully I explained myself right here on this....
....but overall, I DO like the Turbo Boost...oh yeah, and it needs a button......

[Rockatteer]

While the "going through the engine" looks pretty kewl, I don't think it's needed in every turbo boost. and I would REALLY like to see a button pushed.

I think turbo boost would be just as effective if Mike pushed a button and we heard a turbo-jet type sound and saw the car launch.

I think the thing thats missing is the wider angle shots of the car in mid-air. TOS never had close ups of Micheal in the car. It was always a wide angle so we could see the car jump. Maybe the CGI team could work on creating similar shots for the new turbo boosts.

We want to see Kitt turbo boost.. not close ups of MIke in mid air

[weeezl]

I dont understand the big deal about physical button pressing, maybe as a back up but whats the point?

Everything is voice activated these days, Cell phones, home appliances... etc, Ive even seen a kettle that you only have to say "boil" and it makes your hot water.

Everything is touch screen or voice activated these days, whats the problem?

[Gadjet]

I dont understand the big deal about physical button pressing, maybe as a back up but whats the point?

Everything is voice activated these days, Cell phones, home appliances... etc, Ive even seen a kettle that you only have to say "boil" and it makes your hot water.

Everything is touch screen or voice activated these days, whats the problem?

My answer is: Pushing a button is alot quicker than shouting "turbo boost"

Also what about if Mike looses his voice due to the flu or a realy good rock concert the night before, voice recointion is a bit useless then.

So just have both buttons and voice activation just like KI2T did.

Gadjet

[Squirrel3D]

You know say what you want, but the turbo boost in the new KR is crap. It's not even believable!!! It might have looked cheesy back in the day, but they did everything to make it believable. I've seen it in the new show now, and just like all the special effects I've seen in this show (sans the transformations which is nice) it doesn't look believable at all.

The show itself is crap!! I have seen one episode now tonight and I'm disgusted.

[Rockatteer]

I dont understand the big deal about physical button pressing, maybe as a back up but whats the point?

Everything is voice activated these days, Cell phones, home appliances... etc, Ive even seen a kettle that you only have to say "boil" and it makes your hot water.

Everything is touch screen or voice activated these days, whats the problem?

It's about building expectations and excitement to the viewer. When you see the button pushed you know what comes next... beeeeep.... WHHHHOOOOOSSSHHHHHH and Kitt fires through the air.

Thats what Turbo Boost was all about back in the day, and I don't think this new Turbo Boost quite captures that. They're close, but just not quite there.

[cloudkitt]

I was also bummed about the CG turbo boost. I'm generally a CG defender when it's used correctly, for example, I have absolutely no qualms about the CG transformation. That's really the only way they could do it so I don't mind. And more than that, how about how phenomenally better KITT's laser looked than it did in the old one? And I've cited before the movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children as an example of just what CGI is capable of.

But I would much prefer that they would simply jump the car. Jump a standard black Mustang if you have to, not the GT500. BUT, someone on this board (I can't remember who), made an excellent point which I cannot deny. And that is, while CG is the "easy" way out...the easy way out back then was the model car. And the model car looked AWFUL. I absolutely hated the scenes with the model T/A, and given the choice, I would take CG any day of the week.

[seeker78]

Well in terms of believability, you shouldn't be able to see a laser beam unless it's going through dust. It is coherent light. Thus if you are off to the side, YOU SEE NOTHING. You can see the end of the laser generator light up, and then the target gets lit up, but you should not see a beam in between. COHERENT LIGHT.

btw phasers in star trek are different, that's a particle beam, not a laser, and there is syncrotron radiation and cherenkov radiation (if it is in a fluid).

--Brian (played with lasers a lot in science club in middle school)

[Lost Knight]

ok you know what i know the people that making this new knight rider was good enough to add back in the turbo boost
but as anyone noticed how crap it looks compared to the old series?

its been 20 years since the 80's dont you think things would look better these days then they did 20 years ago. but its like things go backwards because the turbo boost from the old and the new have gone way way down hill

I understand your complaints. But the turbo boosts from the original series weren't perfect, either. Every single boost began with stock footage of the Trans Am shooting straight up in the air, and while the actual jumps were real, the landings never were. In fact in many instances you can clearly see when the Trans Am was about to be completely wrecked from a landing (check out the mega turbo boost over the lake in "A Good Day At White Rock" and you'll see what I mean). So with real jumps even today it's highly unlikely that we'd be seeing one continuous shot of taking off up until the landing. My point is that there would be complaints no matter how it was done. It's also been said by members of the show's CGI effects team that real stunts are preferred whenever possible and that CGI is more or less a last resort. We have 13 guaranteed episodes, and I'm sure the boosts will only get better and better.

[Radicalas]

I thought they can use REAL cheap old cars for jumps, and make it to Attack KITT with CGI. It would be more realictic. Or they can add sensors on that old car and later by the data of those sensors make Attack KITT jumping with CGI! I'm sure it's possible! And it wouldn't cost much to trash old cheap cars! Take any old Mustang-sized car and make it jump, and later change it to Mustang with CGI! I'm telling this second time, but nobody tells me what are they thinking about this suggestion. Besides, they need to add sound like in TOS when Turbo Boost is used! Only that cool sound makes us "WOW"!

[Army_F_Body]

At least it puts all the 'how does turbo boost work' arguments we used to have on these boards in the old days to rest!

[weeezl]

They might well make a couple of jump cars if they get the go ahead past 13 episodes, nobody knows.

Of course it looks more realistic than CGI but I dont think the CGI jumps are bad, just different.

And as for a button activated Turbo Boost, yes it would build exitement but they've already designed the dash, where would it go?

[Rockatteer]

They might well make a couple of jump cars if they get the go ahead past 13 episodes, nobody knows.

Of course it looks more realistic than CGI but I dont think the CGI jumps are bad, just different.

And as for a button activated Turbo Boost, yes it would build exitement but they've already designed the dash, where would it go?

Well I firmly believe that the dash needs a complete redesign to make it look hi-tech and match the rest of Kitt. So when they do that they could place the function buttons... or they could just bring back the center console screen from the pilot movie and use that as a function pad, along with various displays. It wouldn't be that hard to write a story line reason for Kitt getting a redesigned dash though, and while they where at it, the same "accident" could wipe out those stupid blowers on attack mode's hood. :d

[weeezl]

They might well make a couple of jump cars if they get the go ahead past 13 episodes, nobody knows.

Of course it looks more realistic than CGI but I dont think the CGI jumps are bad, just different.

And as for a button activated Turbo Boost, yes it would build exitement but they've already designed the dash, where would it go?

Well I firmly believe that the dash needs a complete redesign to make it look hi-tech and match the rest of Kitt. So when they do that they could place the function buttons... or they could just bring back the center console screen from the pilot movie and use that as a function pad, along with various displays. It wouldn't be that hard to write a story line reason for Kitt getting a redesigned dash though, and while they where at it, the same "accident" could wipe out those stupid blowers on attack mode's hood. :d

Hey if this gets a second season they might follow the formula of TOS and Kitt gets destoyed and rebuilt as a season starter, then maybe I could see them doing a redesign but for now its here to stay.

[Bishop37]

I dont understand the big deal about physical button pressing, maybe as a back up but whats the point?

Everything is voice activated these days, Cell phones, home appliances... etc, Ive even seen a kettle that you only have to say "boil" and it makes your hot water.

Everything is touch screen or voice activated these days, whats the problem?

It's just not as dramatic as physically pushing a button. There's more anticipation, I think, of an insert shot of a finger pressing a 'turbo boost' button, or a 'fire' button, or a 'self-destruct' one.

Also, in the classic show it was under the physical control of the driver which also amped up the tension.

[ianruk]

thanks for all your input in this
i didnt mean to offend anyone or anything like that
i think my problem is a was such a huge fan of the old series that watching this 1 and the old 1 makes me think 'urm they could have done this better ' or 'o this is missing'

maybe its like any show they bring back people compare to the orignals

saying that season 1 of the orginal knight rider was not as good as the other seasons,it takes season 1 to be like a prototype kinda thing where they sit down after season 1 and say 'ok this isnt working,we could make this better,we need to do this and that and add this'

i think they have kinda taken note in things from the pilot and the first epsde for example,kitt is starting to learn a sense of humor if you see from the last episode,,just like kitt was bit boring in season 1 of the orginal but season 2 started and michael knight and kitt were interacting more and so on and the voice sounded better

i understand about the car costs a lot and they cant afford to keep jumping the car for real,but hopefully they will make the cgi thing and the jump look better,they must be able to somehow make it look like the car is jumping,rather than seeing mike in the air in slow motion,and im sure with time they will improve that,hell they might even read these bored and take into account what people think.

on closing i just like to say sorry if anyone thought i was bad mouthing the show,i didnt mean to make it sound like that,because i accually enjoy it,ok it might not have the orignal knight rider feel,but something they have done is made this a contuning story adding bits to mike's past every episode,so people will tune in to see what happend and to get more bits of the story

[KnightCrusader99]

BUT, someone on this board (I can't remember who), made an excellent point which I cannot deny. And that is, while CG is the "easy" way out...the easy way out back then was the model car. And the model car looked AWFUL. I absolutely hated the scenes with the model T/A, and given the choice, I would take CG any day of the week.

I believe that was me, and I am glad someone else agrees. It's odd that not all people realize this fact. I guess everyone is willing to forget the issues with TOS so they can have another reason to bash the new Knight Rider. I think it is really good for a show that, so far, is a gamble for NBC. Hopefully this gamble will pay off and they will put more money into it like other people have suggested. Here's hoping....

[astrokat]

Yea. i have to admit. A fan of the original series, i absolutely hated this show when i saw the pilot. I gave it another chance and I am beginning to accept some things. There are two things i can't seem to get around:

KITT being a transformer (although cool) makes this show completely unrealistic. I don't think KITT had anything in the original series that couldn't be invented in my life time, you would likely be crushed to death if a car actually transformed.

The turbo boost is complete BS. I do applaud the poster who brought up the topic of "real landings" - but I almost feel like i am watching an episode of Power Rangers when KITT turbo boosts - and to me that is the coolest thing KITT could do. The engine sequence is too long and fake looking (although i am not totally against it), but after that the take off and landing - complete BS. I am angry .. lol.

[cloudkitt]

Well in terms of believability, you shouldn't be able to see a laser beam unless it's going through dust. It is coherent light. Thus if you are off to the side, YOU SEE NOTHING. You can see the end of the laser generator light up, and then the target gets lit up, but you should not see a beam in between. COHERENT LIGHT.

Well duh, but I didn't say the laser looked more realistic, I said it looked BETTER. And phasers in star trek may well be different but you still couldn't hear them in space! My point being it's to be enjoyable. Sci-fi schows would be boring as hell without sound in ship battles and there is much better effect to seeing a laser.

[NeoRanger]

I'm against replicating the original Turbo Boost. Those Shelbies are expensive. And I seem to recall several times in the original series that not only were the cars destroyed during the stunt, but some of the crashes even made it on film. If changing cars all the time means cutting down the budget in half and ending up shooting half of the episode in the KITT Cave, then no, thanks.

Having said that, I'm all for improving their current method of doing it. CGi, but shoot it from better angles. The turbo boost is flashy enough as it is; lose everything else that's just overkill.

[Rockatteer]

Yeah the new turbo boost is growing on me more each time I watch it, my only real wish now is that we could actually see kitt doing the jump, I don't care if it's CGI/green screen or real, but I think part of what made Turbo Boost what is was, is that we saw the car actually jumping, not Micheal inside the car or seeing it go over the camera like we currently have.

I just had a thought too ,that the "through the engine" shot could work just as well if it went in through the front grill of the car if they wanted to remove those god-awful blowers