Junk Yard Dog

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Junk Yard Dog

Post by Knight Racer » Sun Aug 23, 2020 12:55 pm

I was watching the clip of kitt being repaired in Junk Yard dog when both Michael and Bonnie worked on him together and something dawned on me. The series reminds people constantly that kitt isn't the car. Kitt is just a series of microprocessors CPU that runs the Knight 2000 vehicle. Why would they have to take it back to the lab and run all those tests a second time when it's the CPU that had a problem performing the jumps, ski mode, and the test course a a high speed because it was scared to go back out into the field? If anything the car could have been worked on in 1 lab until it was up to spec while Bonnie restored kitt's CPU in another then install it when the car was finished. This episode really made you think that the car and mind are one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Il0iuXLrf4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwmXGFUdWrg



One thing I always found funny in this episode is at 2:36 of this clip you'll notice how kitt's repairs are being done on the season 1 and 2 dash interior without his button pods or steering wheel. Funny the season 1 and 2 interior is shown for a season 3 episode where the interior was already given a facelift after the season 3 premiere.

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Re: Junk Yard Dog

Post by KITTfan » Mon Aug 24, 2020 7:17 am

Maybe KITT's CPU was like computers and control modules in modern cars, they probably expect to see some other control modules and actuators at the end of the CAN bus to work properly? Test drive just to verify that everything works :)
Have been watching a lot of car repair videos at Youtube, and the modern scantools etc. sometimes bring a "cybernetic technician" from Knight Rider in my mind :D
Here's one repair video which might be interesting in this forum, South Main Auto Repair channel has a 1988 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am GTA in the shop for fuel pump replacement (2-part video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2txICWUkB0

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Re: Junk Yard Dog

Post by Dr. Raoul Duke » Fri Aug 28, 2020 10:34 pm

Knight Racer wrote:
Sun Aug 23, 2020 12:55 pm
One thing I always found funny in this episode is at 2:36 of this clip you'll notice how kitt's repairs are being done on the season 1 and 2 dash interior without his button pods or steering wheel. Funny the season 1 and 2 interior is shown for a season 3 episode where the interior was already given a facelift after the season 3 premiere.
There's a bunch of instances of that during Season 3, where you'll see the S1&2 dash. I guess they didn't have the money to put a new dash in every car they filmed with, just the "hero car" and the mock-up onstage for insert shots. A frequent giveaway is the buttons on the overhead console; often they were able to frame the shot so you couldn't see the old 2-TV dash, but they couldn't hide the S2 buttons.

The flip-side of that is there's a few scenes, especially when Devon and Michael visit the prison after C.J. Jackson's escape, where you see the S3 dash in the car despite the fact that KITT hasn't been wrecked and upgraded yet.
Michael: You are about as much fun as a divorce, which is not a bad idea.
KITT: I want custody of me!

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Re: Junk Yard Dog

Post by Knight Racer » Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:27 pm

Agreed, but the shot in the second clip at 22 seconds is a direct closeup of the dash. They could have just skipped filming the dash completely for that shot.

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Re: Junk Yard Dog

Post by Amir » Mon Aug 31, 2020 7:10 pm

Knight Racer wrote:
Sat Aug 29, 2020 12:27 pm
Agreed, but the shot in the second clip at 22 seconds is a direct closeup of the dash. They could have just skipped filming the dash completely for that shot.
I'm just about to finish rewatching the whole show for the first time in a few years. It's still by far my favourite, but I have to admit that filming and especially editing was nowhere near as tight as it would be now.

I mean, they had Michael in different clothes from shot to shot, a finger pushing Turbo Boost when there's no one inside KITT and old footage with KITT having a round steering wheel even in season 4. That's just the way it was.

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Re: Junk Yard Dog

Post by krrdr2010 » Thu Oct 29, 2020 3:53 pm

Junkyard Dog is One of My Favorite KNIGHT RIDER Episodes. Knight Racer is Right that the Car and the Mind are One. I was surprised that Michael didn't Toxic John Byron(Played by a Great Actor, Ramon Bieri)'s Butt Right after they got KITT out of that acid pit-There's something I wanted to see.

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Re: Junk Yard Dog

Post by Knight Racer » Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:30 am

krrdr2010 wrote:
Thu Oct 29, 2020 3:53 pm
Knight Racer is Right that the Car and the Mind are One.
Actually my point was the opposite of what you're saying. The entire series they were showing us the car and mind aren't one. In the first episode Devon let Michael drive through the hangar doors. Devon had to activate the car's mind by typing kitt's activation code on the lower console. Kitt explained in the pilot it was the voice of the knight industries two thousand microprocessor, not the car's computer. In soul survivor, they removed the knight 2000's cpu and installed their own to run the cars numerous systems. The knight 2000 is a vehicle line later proven in the book that the pilot novel discussed a knight 2000 private jet, another vehicle in the same model series line.

My question was if it was kitt's cpu that was having issues on the test course, why did they bother to tow his body to lab 3 to retool it when it was just the cpu that was having the issues getting enough steam to perform?

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Re: Junk Yard Dog

Post by Matthew » Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:54 am

The key to what Michael and Bonnie do is in the conversation with Dr. Von Vorman after KITT struggles with the obstacle course. The doctor has written KITT off. He can't understand that there is an intangible human element to KITT now, because he only sees a machine. What Michael and Bonnie do is more in line with a counselling session than a repair session. Michael makes KITT feel more like his old self with the black paint, and Bonnie fine tunes every component possible so the Knight 2000 feels more like the three year car KITT is used to.

This is also why Michael is behind the wheel the next time around. KITT is seldom alone; his relationship with Michael is truly symbiotic to the point that future Knight Industries AI's are designed to specifically bond with their human partner, leading to the disastrous partnership of KRO and Martin Jantzen. As a result, the improved performance is less about the car, and more about getting KITT back into his comfort zone.

Also, you've got to remember that Soul Survivor introduced us to the idea that KITT was different without the Knight 2000. This was where we first learned that the sum of the Knight 2000's parts were an important part of KITT's personality by that point. Junkyard Dog further established that the simple reproduction of the Knight 2000's parts may not be enough to bring KITT back.

And as it turned out, the reproduction parts weren't enough. It took Michael's refusal to give up to truly bring KITT back.

Matt
Welcome aboard the Knight 2000.

Thank you. What's all this, it looks like Darth Vader's bathroom?

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Re: Junk Yard Dog

Post by Knight Racer » Sat Oct 31, 2020 5:03 pm

Matthew wrote:
Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:54 am
The key to what Michael and Bonnie do is in the conversation with Dr. Von Vorman after KITT struggles with the obstacle course. The doctor has written KITT off. He can't understand that there is an intangible human element to KITT now, because he only sees a machine. What Michael and Bonnie do is more in line with a counselling session than a repair session. Michael makes KITT feel more like his old self with the black paint, and Bonnie fine tunes every component possible so the Knight 2000 feels more like the three year car KITT is used to.

This is also why Michael is behind the wheel the next time around. KITT is seldom alone; his relationship with Michael is truly symbiotic to the point that future Knight Industries AI's are designed to specifically bond with their human partner, leading to the disastrous partnership of KRO and Martin Jantzen. As a result, the improved performance is less about the car, and more about getting KITT back into his comfort zone.

Also, you've got to remember that Soul Survivor introduced us to the idea that KITT was different without the Knight 2000. This was where we first learned that the sum of the Knight 2000's parts were an important part of KITT's personality by that point. Junkyard Dog further established that the simple reproduction of the Knight 2000's parts may not be enough to bring KITT back.

And as it turned out, the reproduction parts weren't enough. It took Michael's refusal to give up to truly bring KITT back.

Matt
I wholeheartedly agree with what you said about Kitt being brought more into his comfort zone with the black paint job and being with Michael behind the wheel. It's what he was used to and would make him relax more. But what I don't agree with is this part of your response:

Also, you've got to remember that Soul Survivor introduced us to the idea that KITT was different without the Knight 2000. This was where we first learned that the sum of the Knight 2000's parts were an important part of KITT's personality by that point. Junkyard Dog further established that the simple reproduction of the Knight 2000's parts may not be enough to bring KITT back.

If anything, we should have seen kitt feeling so vulnerable right after he was reinstalled back into the knight 2000 body at the end of soul survivor in season 2 instead of having that vulnerability show up in junk yard dog. The only reason why I would think it shows up here is because kitt actually faced his mortality here more than in Goliath, or even Knight of the drones because he actually died in this episode. He sunk in an acid pit, probably realized his mbs breaking dissolving, his cpu dissolve, any chance he would live thought it would be slim, and just completely shut down before Knight of the Juggernaut where he died a second time without going through the same drama. To be switched back on should have scared him more than anything to feel like there was a possibility that he could ever go through anything like that ever again. I could see him lose his nerve even as a computer.

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