Season 1 DVD Review at DVD Talk

[Sith]

Video:
They were shot fullframe, and we get them fullframe. All is right in the world of aspect ratios on this release. The picture quality though, is a mixed bag. The good – there is plenty of detail evident in the picture, and the colors look really nice. The picture is sharp and flesh tones look nice and natural. Sounds perfect, right? Well, there’s a lot of edge enhancement on this release, and it does get a tad distracting in a couple of scenes. There are even a few spots where the image is almost wiggly because of it. This brings the overall viewing experience down a bit because of it. There’s also a bit of print damage constantly rearing its head throughout the series, though none of it is overly severe.

Sound:
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track sounds pretty good. The screeching of the tires, the monotone voice of KITT, the dialogue, they all come together nicely without any hiss or distortion problems at all. There could have been a bit more bass, but turning up the sub a wee bit takes care of that problem. Overall, these episodes all sound very solid. There is an English closed captioning option as well as optional Spanish and French subtitles.

Extras:
On the first disc, over the pilot episode, is a full length commentary from star David Hasslehoff and series creator/writer Glen Larson. Despite the fact that the levels on this track seem a tad low, there’s some fun information in here and listening to the two ‘main guns’ of the series reminisce about their work makes for a good time. Aside from that, there is an approximately six minute long documentary called Knight Moves that focuses on the stunt work done in the show, and how they managed to get the car to do what it could do. A second short documentary entitled Knight Sounds takes a look at the music that was created for the show, with most of the focus put on the series’ instantly recognizable theme song. Knight Rider – Under The Hood runs just over fifteen minutes and is a nice, well rounded ‘making of’ retrospective that looks back on the series run through interviews with Hasslehoff, Larson, and a few others involved in making the show. A decent sized still gallery of black and white behind the scenes production stills and a gallery of blue prints for the car, the truck, and some of the other hardware seen on the series can also be found on the fourth disc. Finally, the KITT Owner’s Manual is a fun feature that allows viewers, through their remote control, to figure out through pop ups what all the buttons on the dashboard of the car were supposed to be used for.

As an added bonus, Universal has also included Knight Rider 2000 – The Movie. In this made for TV feature, Michael Knight is called out of retirement to fight crime in Seattle, where things are getting worse by the day. KITT 2000 has been dismantled and sold for scrap parts, but with some help from Devon, they’re able to rebuild KITT into Michael’s fancy 57 Chevy. He teams up with a sexy lady cop to clean up the streets of Seattle while the Knight Organization begins work on a new car.

Final Thoughts:

Aside from the edge enhancement, the series looks pretty good and even if it is really dated, there’s so much nostalgic fun contained on this series that it’s hard not to enjoy it as fun, popcorny, entertainment. The extras are handled nicely as well, rounding out a pretty solid package, and Knight Rider – Season One comes recommended.



For more, including the score and episode summaries, go here: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=11640

[R.J.1984]

I can't wait till I have my own copy.

[imranbecks]

Cool... Great review.. The KITT Owners Manual sounds really interesting....

Abt 2 more weeks for the DVD release... I can't wait to have it!!!!

[R.J.1984]

I'll either win it or buy it but either way I'm going to get it and own it.

[neps]

Only 4 days left to enter, and lots of entries to sort through, oh boy...

[Joe Huth]

I provided the function descriptions for the KITT Owner's Manual. I gave them about 32, so if they used them all, it should make for an excellent feature! Some features probably won't be attached to a button, but maybe to a bar graph - ones that comes to mind are Infrared Tracking Scope and Radar. I can't wait!

Joe

[86chvs10]

I'm sure that the dvd's will be great and awesome.Thanks also for adding the that function Joe Huth make the dvd more exciting.

[Skav]

I read another interview that someone posted a couple days ago and that was positive too so it sounds really good!!

Wouldn't worry about the edge enhancement in the pic quality as it all comes down to opinion, plus you need a big screen tv to see it.

those reviewers watch it on ridiculous sizes that aren't realistic for home viewing.

Skav

[FuzzieDice]

Sounds awesome! I am wondering though why they didn't do an interview of William Daniels on this DVD? Or did they? Anyone know? I think he would be considered a main star since he did K.I.T.T.'s voice. I hope he's in there somewhere too.

I am really going to have fun with that K.I.T.T. owner's manual.

[R.J.1984]

Sounds awesome! I am wondering though why they didn't do an interview of William Daniels on this DVD? Or did they? Anyone know? I think he would be considered a main star since he did K.I.T.T.'s voice. I hope he's in there somewhere too.

I am really going to have fun with that K.I.T.T. owner's manual.

Your not the only one!!!!!!

[imranbecks]

I really hope that sales for the Season One Knight Rider boxset will be good so that they can continue release the other 3 seasons..

I just don't want something like the NYPD Blue DVD sets to happen. Sales were not good for the NYPD season 1 and 2 sets and FOX stopped producing the rest of the seasons from the series...

I hope that sort of thing won't happen to the Knight Rider DVD set... Hope that it will sell very well.... C'mon guys, all of us shd go get this and make sure they will go on and produce season 2, 3 and 4....