The Bionic Woman & the voice of KITT (almost)

[Michael Pajaro]

Crank up those memories, old-timers.

I just watched the original Bionic Woman DVD of "Doomsday is Tomorrow". This is the classic episode where Jaime fights the HAL-like computer, the "Alex-7000". I was curious about the guy who did the voice of Alex. It was Guerin Barry, who also did the voice of Dr. Theopolous in Buck Rogers (another Glen Larson effort). But here's where it gets interesting: I found this interview where Guerin says that before Buck Rogers, he auditioned for the part of KITT. And he later had a role in Custom Made Killer as a fashion photographer.

guerin-barry.jpg (49.02 KiB) Viewed 4808 times

Here's a sample clip of what KITT might have sounded like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEz7MHGMTqY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Interview with Guerin:
http://www.alex7000.net/d1/barry_g.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Joe Huth]

Actually Mike, I can confirm that. We spoke with Guerin for the new Knight Rider book and he told us the exact same thing!

Joe

[Michael Pajaro]

Shoulda known this was old news to you, Joe!

Think of this is a sneak-peek at what people can look forward to reading about when the new book comes out.

[Lost Knight]

After reading the first book, it's hard to imagine there being any new information left about the series to talk about!

And that Alex 7000 computer...what a blatant rip-off of HAL! If Stanley Kubrick ever wanted to sue the producers for that, he would have had a good case.

As for the difference in voices, I think Devon said it best in Knight Rider 2000: "It lacks K.I.T.T.'s humanity."

[Knight Racer]

He might have lacked kitt's humanity but lets not forget that kitt in season 1 was a lot less human than season 3 and 4.I remember at some point I heard kitt laughing as he said Michaael in the later seasons.Hard to pre-program a laugh response for an AI.