When Knight Rider was cancelled in '86

[DarylKnight]

We've always heard where David Hasselhoff and cast stood and felt about Knight Rider ending. I wonder how Glen A. Larson felt about it. This was such a great creation of his. I would love to know where he stood on the issue. Obviously I'm sure he was saddened, but did he like where the show went, was it bittersweet for him. I don't know if this has ever been addressed before on here, if so, forgive me. I'd love some good feedback. Thanks.

[JustinMacri]

It was canceled do to NBC's action show ratings do to the shows ratings went down so dod Knight Rider. Hasslhoff for years tried so hard to boosed it again. So here we are with Knight Rider 2008

[Victor Kros]

Glen is in Hawaii until the middle of May. You may have to wait until then to get an answer from him directly about this question although I can say off hand from speaking to Glen that he departed the show right before the fourth season started. He absolutely loathed the concept of Super Pursuit Mode and the direction the season was going in as well as NBC's consistant budget cuts.

I think by the time Knight Rider was cancelled he was already deeply involved in other projects to really care about it at the time.

=VK=

[Lost Knight]

He absolutely loathed the concept of Super Pursuit Mode and the direction the season was going in as well as NBC's consistant budget cuts.

That's interesting. I was under a different impression since he was going to be including Super Pursuit Mode in his movie, but I suppose that's for the purposes of making fans of that feature happy?

[Victor Kros]

The newer version of SPM is called something else and isn't so much related to the season four concept other then it's intended to give KITT a significant increase in speed. It won't involve any extravagant transformations either.

Part of the reason Glen loathed SPM is because it was just unrealistic and cheesy not to mention made no sense with all the panels popping out considering the car is covered by the MBS which is a shell originally intended to cover the entire car uniformally. How would it compensate for the gaps created by the multiple pieces? Especially in the split-front bumper.

I believe someone asked me to ask Glen how SPM worked on the board not too long ago and his response was "television magic" which is a code word term for "it's complete BS".

=VK=

[snafu]

Interesting- I never liked SPM either- sort of one of those "jumped the shark" things.
The "sonic boom" while KITT was in SPM irked me even more, probably because my dad is a pilot and I know how fast something has to be going to generate that noise.
Not to mention it would probably suck all the leaves off the trees....

Victor- how much control does the producer have over the direction of a TV show once it gets a time slot, and ratings and the whole 9 yards?

[Lost Knight]

Part of the reason Glen loathed SPM is because it was just unrealistic and cheesy not to mention made no sense with all the panels popping out considering the car is covered by the MBS which is a shell originally intended to cover the entire car uniformally. How would it compensate for the gaps created by the multiple pieces? Especially in the split-front bumper.

I believe someone asked me to ask Glen how SPM worked on the board not too long ago and his response was "television magic" which is a code word term for "it's complete BS".

Yes, that was me who originally asked that. I just had a different avatar at the time. Anyway, a theory that I came up with as to how Super Pursuit Mode was possible with the Molecular Bonded Shell is that it was applied sectionally. We never got to actually see it being reapplied in the fourth season, but we know it was reapplied in-between "Knight Of the Juggernaut" and "Kittnap" because K.I.T.T. was bulletproof in that episode. So I figured Bonnie coated each particular fin with the shell as they were exposed while K.I.T.T.'s engine was off. Therefore, it never actually breaks apart since it was no longer a uniformal shell.

[Showpro1]

If memory serves me correctly, Transformers was pretty popular at that time & I think the writers must have
started running out of ideas.
I wasnt that fond of SPM, but the thing is it was over used & when Knight Rider was cancelled it was destroyed
by a wrecking ball along with many other great cars.
Thanks once again Universal Studios for screwing over fans, Im just glad that some KITT's escaped
there clutches such as the one that my friend Russo bought and restored.

D. Doggett.

[PHOENIXZERO]

Blame Pontiac for that as it was their doing.

I didn't mind SPM when I was little, now it's just corny and I kind of get annoyed by it after it's used the second time in Knight of the Juggernaut with how KITT and Michael react. Then of course there's how every single time it was used they used the exact same footage and in the same order, same thing kind of bugs me now with the accelerator from season three on when they added the lights that served no purpose aside from looking cool. Oh and there's how the effect was achieved and how it seemed they didn't care all that much with at the very least, not making it so blatantly obvious that the film was just being played at a faster speed.

[kitt34]

I Actually liked the SPM, it made K.I.T.T even sleeker as ever, especially the black part of it, shiny good reflection.

[Lost Knight]

I Actually liked the SPM, it made K.I.T.T even sleeker as ever, especially the black part of it, shiny good reflection.

Super Pursuit Mode may have done some things, but making K.I.T.T. look sleek definitely wasn't one of them! If anything, it made K.I.T.T. the exact opposite of sleek. I also don't see how you can think it made K.I.T.T. look shinier, either. The film was sped up so fast in those sequences you barely get a good look at the car in that mode.

[Knight316]

Now i know that the later episodes contradict this but Victor please correct me if i'm wrong but didn't they say in Juggernaught that the Shell couldn't be replaced and SPM was something Bonnie added as (for some reason or another) a substitute to make up for it. I think i remember a line along the lines of "It won't make up for the loss of the shell, but may be it'll help"

[Romulus9]

Now i know that the later episodes contradict this but Victor please correct me if i'm wrong but didn't they say in Juggernaught that the Shell couldn't be replaced and SPM was something Bonnie added as (for some reason or another) a substitute to make up for it. I think i remember a line along the lines of "It won't make up for the loss of the shell, but may be it'll help"

In that episode, Bonnie DID say that but said so meaning that the shell couldn't be replaced (on such short notice and without FLAG's full compliment of laboratories and technicians) but that SPM would give Michael and KITT a bit of an advantage for the final battle. Didn't mean that the shell couldn't be replaced at all. I guess it goes back to Glen's "television magic"... and the beauty of suspended disbelief.

[Victor Kros]

I believe SPM gave KITT a 40% increase in speed. I also believe the reason why Bonnie couldn't reapply the molecular bonded shell in Knight of the Juggernaut is because her and Michael were laying low in RC3's garage due to Jennifer Knight's decision to liquidate FLAG (which she later changed). So they simply didn't have access to the formula or the supplies to reapply it.

I believe in later episodes (Hills of Fire?) KITT mentions the molecular bonded shell was reapplied.

=VK=

[Knight316]

Thanks. I was pretty sure that she did say that. Guess that explains it.

[snafu]

I don't see how increasing the surface area of an object results in an increase in speed.
SPM doesn't even make it past elementary physics, for me, anyway.

[Victor Kros]

I believe it was the "rocket pods" under the spoiler in the rear of the car combined with the ramjet hood scoop intake is what they implied created the extra speed, not so much the transformation which was more for alleged stablizers and whatnot.

=VK=

[Michael Pajaro]

I don't see how increasing the surface area of an object results in an increase in speed.
SPM doesn't even make it past elementary physics, for me, anyway.

The intake vents make sense. More air into the engine can produce more power.

The fins did not create extra speed. Rather, they were needed to compensate for the additional speed. A Trans Am body might be kind of stable at 150 or 200 mph, but at some point all that wind traveling under the car might start creating lift. The fins would help stabilize the car and keep it on the ground.

I don't believe Barris designed SPM based on the literal laws of aerodynamics, but it there is SOME level of logic to it.

[Akaihiryuu]

There's a reason that the "stock footage" was used for each transformation. They had to use 3 different cars. One regular car, one driveable car in the SPM configuration, and a transforming one. The transforming one had to have its engine and drivetrain removed to make room for the moving panels, and the panels had to be moved by hydraulics. In other words, this car had to be stationary. The transformation had to be filmed a few times from different angles, and cut in with footage of spinning tires and roads to give the "illusion" that KITT was transforming. It was impossible to make the car actually transform.