Polizei friend, ally and occasional contributor Jordan Vega took some time out from his MBA studies to watch the new Knight Rider…er…in hopes of re-living his mispent youth. Click below to read his review of the first episode.

As a self-declared car fanatic, I am a huge fan of the original Knight Rider. Who can resist a series about a law abiding vigilante with a car that was light years ahead of anything on four wheels, and every episode was a “shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist.” While I knew nothing could match the 1982 Pontiac Trans Am, 80’s hair, and Members Only jackets of the original series, I was still hoping for anything entertaining in the new version. The pilot that aired in February left much to be desired, so I prayed that this first episode would fix past mistakes. After a few minutes I realized the major flaw with the new Knight Rider; technology that was a fantasy in the 1980’s is now a reality, and the new series hasn’t added anything spectacular. In the original series every gadget that KITT had was unobtainable. Now things like thermal imaging, GPS tracking and locating, real-time satellite surveillance, bulletproof exteriors, and even some artificial intelligence are all realities if you can afford them. Let’s face it, if you merged Polizei’s 144A with the MIT car that can drive itself , you would have a car with near identical capabilities as the original KITT. The only new feature in the 2008 series is KITT’s ability to morph into any Mustang variation or even a completely different car. I got tired of seeing these less than realistic images in the Transfomers movie. And when KITT does transform, it looks like someone bolted on everything they found on sale at their local Auto Zone store. Don’t get me wrong, I actually like the idea of a morphing car, but it was better the first time when it was done in the original TV series, Viper.

The only capability that I will never get tired of is the signature Knight Rider turbo boost. But I fell off my couch laughing when the seizure inducing computer generated images showed the “boost” pass through the engine block and out the exhaust, because I thought someone changed the channel and I was suddenly watching a nitrous scene from The Fast and The Furious. Then after a half a second of research, I discovered the reason for the similarity. Knight Rider’s Executive Producer Gary Scott Thompson wrote The Fast and the Furious 1 and 2, aaaaand the soon-to-be-released 4th installment. Between the needless transformations and the turbo boost scene, it’s clear the new series is just dressing up old ideas in a shiny new exterior with extra clear coat.

I think that Knight Rider is best viewed in its original 1980’s version on TV Land around 1am after a few drinks when we can all get nostalgic about bulletproof talking cars with pistol grip steering wheels. The only thing that might be able to save the new series is to bring back David Hasselhoff as the driver to generate some cheesy humor and continuity from the old show. And judging by Hasselhoff’s cameo in February’s pilot and other film projects, I think that he would probably accept any reasonable offer.