Are FLAG and Knight Industries Seperate entities?

[TinCanSailor]

I still don't understand why the Foundation For Law and Government (FLAG) shut down. Was it because of Devon's death (that is if he is dead in this series) or something else. Also while FLAG was gone it appears Knight Industusties was in operation because a new car was built and it called it's self the KNIGHT INDUSTRUSTIES THREE THOUSAND. I don't picture building the new KITT all by himself. Also is it possible that Micheal Knight is now in charge of Knight Industries and authorized the construction of a new car? Also I wished they would have mentioned something about Devon, they did mention Wilton Knight like 3 times. Devon played a big part in the original show as well.

[goldbug]

I think it's all speculation at this point but I'd say the two were definitely separate entities. Even when I watched the original series my gut feeling was always that KI funded FLAG.

[Lost Knight]

The way I see it, F.L.A.G. was the acronym for the Foundation itself, and was the main branch. Knight Industries was a subsidiary of the Foundation. I believe there were also other branches of F.L.A.G. that dealt more with the legal aspect of the cases that were being overseen by the Foundation as well, as per Devon's comment in the original Pilot that much of the Foundation's work would bore Michael to tears. In Knight Rider 2000, the F.L.A.G. branch was changed to the Knight Foundation, and I believe has remained that way until its demise, since I count its continuity as canon for the new telepic. Knight Industries had been reduced to an empty shell of its former self, being downgraded to Charles Graiman's garage and unable to employ other engineers. So Knight Industries is probably the only semi-surviving branch of the Foundation, hence the A.I. for the Knight 3000 still being called Knight Industries Three Thousand. From Charles' comment that he's resurrecting the Foundation, I'm sure it will be back but as a subsidiary of the FBI.

[Joe Huth]

FLAG and Knight Industries are separate entities - and Knight Industries came first. The following are excerpts from the first "Knight Rider" novel by Glen A. Larson and Roger Hill:

"The medical research wing of Wilton Knight's sprawling two hundred acre estate had been constructed and staffed in early 1970. It was the habit of Knight Industries to plow profits back into research; this rule applied to all branches of the conglomerate - fiscal, legal, charitable - but most specifically to the research and development arms."

"To finance the crushing expenditures caused by scientific research, he made sure that Knight Industries rode the wave of microprocessor technology that swept over the world during the decade of the 1970s."

(Devon) "Wilton, you already know that I've never been in total agreement with your intended applications of the FLAG project."

(Devon to Michael) "It's merely a sort of...ah...insignificant foundation...we came up with an acronym for it - FLAG - but that's not important right now....a private organization devoted to justice, to law. Good laws are resilient, but to actually implement the FLAG pilot program, we needed the man. The car we developed by ourselves."

"Wilton had since become a billionaire and was in the process of beginning a new organization dedicated to fighting crime - the Foundation for Law and Government"

Hope that answers the questions!

Joe

[Lexicon]

The way I see it, F.L.A.G. was the acronym for the Foundation itself, and was the main branch. Knight Industries was a subsidiary of the Foundation. I believe there were also other branches of F.L.A.G. that dealt more with the legal aspect of the cases that were being overseen by the Foundation as well, as per Devon's comment in the original Pilot that much of the Foundation's work would bore Michael to tears. In Knight Rider 2000, the F.L.A.G. branch was changed to the Knight Foundation, and I believe has remained that way until its demise, since I count its continuity as canon for the new telepic. Knight Industries had been reduced to an empty shell of its former self, being downgraded to Charles Graiman's garage and unable to employ other engineers. So Knight Industries is probably the only semi-surviving branch of the Foundation, hence the A.I. for the Knight 3000 still being called Knight Industries Three Thousand. From Charles' comment that he's resurrecting the Foundation, I'm sure it will be back but as a subsidiary of the FBI.

Charles Graiman is the CEO of Knight Industries. He's been running the show for years and developing technology for defense applications (where the money is) and funneling the money into his own research after the foundation collapsed. If you watch carefully, KITT puts some information about him on his display briefly and it gives a basic explanation that helps flesh out his character and the ties he has to KITT. As has been said here FLAG was getting off the ground in the first season of the show and Knight Industries created and built KITT in addition to all their other R&D projects, some of which were applied to KITT in certain episodes such as the lasers and reflectors used against KARR. Basically the Foundation is going to be as it was before (funded by Knight Industries) but obviously without Devon and with updated technology.