knight rider online

OK, first the pink elephant: to paraphrase Devon, "Any resemblance between this plane and TKR's is purely superficial."

Yes, I know Team Knight Rider had a plane. But I think it's purely coincidental that the new Knight Rider has a plane. We've heard that they want to give the series a bit off an international flavor to it (which should make the overseas fans pretty happy) and in order to do that, they need a plane.

I sort of wish I didn't know about the plane ahead of time. I'm wondering what kind of reaction people had if it took them completely by surprise. I will say that just about every Knight RIder fan out there should have at least had a little tingle of joy when they saw KITT starting to back out down a ramp for the first time in over 20 years. Classic KR.

That being said, there is absolutely NO logical reason for a car to exit a plane during take-off. Yes, it makes sense to drive in and out of a moving Semi, but a plane? They totally did it for the dramatic "cool" factor and I'll give them a free pass on that one. It's kind of silly, and that's a GOOD thing. Part of what made the original so much fun was when they did those over-the-top things, simply because it looked cool.

I can deal with the plane. It's cool enough, the only thing is I'd still like to see a Semi introduced so that while he's on the groud he can use that for KITT's repairs, updates, etc. I don't think it would be too far fetched to have both. After all, there's only so many places you can land a plane and wouldn't it look a bit conspicuous for the same car to be going to the airfield/airport over and over? Like i said, no problems with it to give it the cool factor and for transporteing overseas but i think still having a semi would be good as well. That's my two cents.

I had no idea there even was a plane in Team Knight Rider until members said so here on the boards, because I never watched a single episode. I agree that it was more a coincidence than a nod to TKR. The plane was also one of the few aspects of the movie I didn't know about at all (thankfully), and I got a real kick out of seeing that it was actually a plane that Mike was backing out of. I thought it was a cool little twist. Definitely vintage Knight Rider. A lot of people seem to have a real problem with the plane, though, but I feel that perhaps they may be overanalyzing. The show is clearly going to focus on international missions now and therefore it makes perfect sense to use a plane. As for backing out of it while it was still in motion, it seems like it was for the rest of the team's safety to not make a full stop and risk being ambushed, perhaps?

I'm sure we'll even see the return of a semi for the missions that take place back in California. I seriously doubt that Mike will be backing out of a plane in every episode if there is a series!

Very vintage KR.. a tad bit cheesy KR...

But the bluescreening CGI was horrible in that last scene. If it goes to series, I hope they clean that up a bit, or just don't show him exiting out the back like they did in original KR.

Nah, the bluescreen work looked okay. The last CGI shot looked a bit too artificial, but it was okay too.

It is a veeery long time ago that I have seen TKR and I have to admit that I haven't seen every episode. I thought the series sucked Anyway, I couldn't remember there was a plane and I didn't knew about the plane before I actually saw it. I don't know why so many people are complain about that. Maybe there will be a semi, that'd be great, but maybe there won't. A plane is okay and it has the advantage of allowing some episodes set outside the US, which should be pretty interesting.

Oooh, I was hoping someone would comment on this so I could throw in my 2 cents.

The plane is a C-130 Hercules, if I'm recalling it right?? It might be a C-5 like they used in TKR. Looked like a Hercules to me.

But, there are perfectly logical reasons to shove a moving vehicle off a plane doing the touch-n-go on a runway. My dad flew C-130s in Vietnam and Desert Storm. He could either fly the plane low or do touch-and-gos so they could shove cargo bundles, troops, Humvees, and even tanks out the back door. My dad could land a Hercules damn near anywhere- on the ice shelfs in the arctic, on a metal runway on the side of a mountain in Thailand, in the desert in Saudi.
It's ovbiously handy for war, but they use it often in humanitarian aid when it's too dangerous to stay on the ground. They can shove out palettes of bags of rice or wheat that have parachutes for a nicer landing.

I realize the scene is CGI, but it also happens in real life around the world.

Sorry, my first thought in that scene with the plane was my dad and his flying medals. Can't help it.

Michael Pajaro wrote: That being said, there is absolutely NO logical reason for a car to exit a plane during take-off. Yes, it makes sense to drive in and out of a moving Semi, but a plane? They totally did it for the dramatic "cool" factor and I'll give them a free pass on that one. It's kind of silly, and that's a GOOD thing. Part of what made the original so much fun was when they did those over-the-top things, simply because it looked cool.

Personally, I'm waiting to see when the plane zooms over the car during a chase scene, the back hatch open, and KITT jumps/turbo boosts into the plane. Why not?

Yeh i agree that the CGI on that last shot was terrible.. However, when i initially saw the car sitting there with Mike in it i thought "ah sweet, still in the back of a truck" and as he started backing down the ramp i was shocked when i saw the plane swoop into the air! I did cringe a little as i thought about TKR and how much a flop that series was.. But hopefully KR08 will have a better edge, which i think it does.

Adz

I actualy thought the plane looked rather cool,but i agree they should have a semi aswell.

Mango19 wrote:

Michael Pajaro wrote: That being said, there is absolutely NO logical reason for a car to exit a plane during take-off. Yes, it makes sense to drive in and out of a moving Semi, but a plane? They totally did it for the dramatic "cool" factor and I'll give them a free pass on that one. It's kind of silly, and that's a GOOD thing. Part of what made the original so much fun was when they did those over-the-top things, simply because it looked cool.

Personally, I'm waiting to see when the plane zooms over the car during a chase scene, the back hatch open, and KITT jumps/turbo boosts into the plane. Why not?

All i can say is- "Ki3T better have a damn good braking system."

I have no problems with it if it's done for international missions and the plane still moving so it could take back off made sense to me. It gave me a TKR flashback, the not so good CG didn't help either but I really do hope certain things are just coincidences. There's also the potential Prometheus issue as well....

PHOENIXZERO wrote:I have no problems with it if it's done for international missions and the plane still moving so it could take back off made sense to me. It gave me a TKR flashback, the not so good CG didn't help either but I really do hope certain things are just coincidences. There's also the potential Prometheus issue as well....

I agree, the first thing I thought when I saw the plane was "Oh look, it's SkyOne"....however, I do think it makes perfect sense to HAVE a plane...I just don't know if deploying on a civilian used road is exactly practical ..though it was sorta neat to watch....I agree also that the semi needs to comeback in some form, using the plane and it together is a good idea.

Where Prometheus is concerned, I just hope I'm wrong...but the series elements state otherwise.

A point that I feel is worth noting is that the landing takes place on a deserted road, rather than an airfield. As SD_Chick noted, with the right pilot, a Hercules can touch down almost anywhere, and make whatever kind of landing that's deemed necessary. In this case, it appears that a touch-and-go landing was made within the valley of a mountainous region somewhere within the Czech Republic.

Matt

Did they show the plane's interior? Even if they'd use the semi in new KR series, the computing power has increased radically from the 80's so the big cool looking mainframes inside the trailer unfortunately shouldn't be necessary these days

This bluescreening here is what I'm talking about. The perspective and feel of the road doesn't come close to what you'd really be seeing out of a plane landing on a highway.

While yes, things going fast are blurry, as are things far away. But that shot has no depth of field focusing going on... it's sharp sharp SMUDGE.

Who cares? It still doesn't look that bad. What does irritate me, however, is that shows like 24 to this day still use "Poor Man's Process" and shoot the driving scenes in front of a blue screen with projected traffic almost every time. In this case since Mike was backing out of a plane, I hardly noticed...that is until it was brought up here.

Saw this on another board - but did anyone notice that the side of the ramp on the plane said "Knight Industries"?

Joe

Yeah I did on the first watch. Not that we saw much of the plane side on, but it was black. Wonder if it had any gold stripes and a Knight chest piece on the rear???

I didn't know about the plane prior to watching the pilot and thought it was going to be the semi. To be honest I thought the plane concept works much better if the series mission are not just going to be based in the US. Not one bit fazed by potential TKR similarity and I think it was just pure coincident.

Sarfraz

I thought it was a great nod to the original. I was wondering how they would explain away the interior being so much bigger than the exterior (like they ignored in the original) but they were able to with a plane. It also makes sense if he's got a mission in the Czech Republic. The new KI3T is not scared of flying it seems....

It worked for me! I'm just so glad it wasn't a VTOL cargo plane that was used. That's what really ruined the concept in TKR, that a C5 could hover and take off like a chopper - and that it was the size of an aircraft carrier in there. They're big planes but not THAT big...

The way i see it it's just another mobile centre in addition to the Semi which has he ability to take you to other countries. The reason they chose a plane over the semi for the finally is that a) it would be suprise and b) the series is evolving by not just staying in the US (plus it surely helps international success if some episodes may be filmed/take place in your own country)

If anyone bothered to read an interview with one of the actors/actresses on this site (I think it was Deana Russo) they said the episode ends in Peru.

So the only reason why KITT exited a plane is because they were in another country. I'm sure the plane won't be a regular mode of transportation except to travel internationally.

Hmmm... I'll have to "peru-se" that.

I e-mailed my dad about it and here's what he said:

"We had a Low Altitude Pallet Extraction System (LAPES) where we flew low, popped a paracute, unlocked a load on pallet that allowed the load to be pulled out of the aircraft. Yes, this is possible and currently used in the C-130 world."

So, slightly different than what's going on in the video. Presumably KITT would have some sort of stability system that keeps him from flipping end over end once exiting the aircraft. I know they can deploy loads with the aircraft actually on the ground but still able to accelerate to takeoff speed once the cargo is out.

Did anyone else think that KI3T was going to parachute out of the plane or something?

I knew it was a plane before they showed anything than an interior shot. When they opened the cargo bay door and showed the plane was still moving, I immediately thought they were going to drop KI3T out mid-air.

Still, I don't mind the plane as long as they do the shot properly and not make it look like it's doing a forward spin and then a rear spin.