Knight Rider 2000

Knight Rider 2000
Promotional poster for Knight Rider 2000
Directed by	Alan J. Levi
Produced by	Michele Brustin, Rob Hedden
Written by	Rob Hedden, Glen A. Larson
Starring	David Hasselhoff Edward Mulhare Susan Norman Carmen Argenziano Mitch Pileggi
Music by	Jan Hammer
Cinematography	Billy Dickson
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date(s)	May 19, 1991
Running time	91 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Knight Rider 2000 is a 1991 sequel movie to the television series Knight Rider. It is included in the Region 1, Region 2 and Region 4 versions of the Knight Rider Season One box set. The movie served as a pilot for a proposed new series, but despite high ratings, the plan was abandoned.

Plot

This plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (October 2008)

This article may require copy-editing for grammar. You can assist by editing it now. (January 2009)

In an unspecified city in an alternate year 2000, handguns have been banned and law enforcement carry non-lethal "stun" pistols. Criminals are sentenced to cryonic suspension instead of conventional jail cells.

Thomas J. Watts (Mitch Pileggi) – a former cop turned psychotic killer, has been released from the prison and assassinates the mayor. Police officer Shawn McCormick (Susan Norman) confronts the masked Watts holding the next mayor hostage at gunpoint. She shoots Watts, who flees. Shawn finds the handgun used in the murder and hides it, not knowing what to do. The city's new mayor demands the gunman be found, but his fellow councilmen reprimand him for his choice to disarm the police and set up the cryo-prison where the inmates "sleep away" their sentences and emerge the same people as before.

The Foundation for Law And Government (FLAG) offers a possible solution - the "Knight 4000" – a car that will become the next generation of the Knight Industries supercar previously called KITT. Devon Miles (Edward Mulhare) and his partner, Russel Maddock (Carmen Argenziano), are greenlighted on the idea, but the city wants to see a working prototype of the 4000 in thirty days. Devon informs the mayor that completion will take at least three months, but the mayor stands firm with his deadline. Devon decides to bring in Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) as the test driver.

Shawn gives the gun to her partner not knowing what to do. Later, Watts ambushes Shawn, shooting her in the head after she discovers that some of her fellow patrolmen are working with the assassin to rearm the criminals so the city will have no choice but to give the police their "real" weapons back. Doctors save Shawn by installing a microchip implant into her brain. She recovers, but can't remember the details of the attack.

Devon visits Michael and convinces him to join the project, but Michael is furious to learn KITT has been disassembled. Michael is ready to walk away, but later decides to rebuild KITT's AI unit, which he finds difficult since Maddock has sold most of KITT's technology to medical research. Michael is able to reactivate KITT's logic module and installs him in the dashboard of his 1957 Chevy Bel-Air.

Shawn quits the police force after she learns Daniels didn't want to authorize her brain chip implant, nor get involved in her case. She seeks employment with the Foundation where Michael learns one of KITT's missing cybernetic chips is now in her head. Because of this, KITT is able to link up with the chip through physical contact and extract her missing memories. Shawn remembers that Watts is the one who shot her and her fellow officers were with him when he did it — including her partner.

Watts learns Shawn is still alive and sends the crooked cops to eliminate her and Michael, who are easily chased down when they try to get away. KITT evades capture by driving off a pier where he quickly sinks. Michael and Shawn are kept safe inside the car but KITT isn't so lucky as water seeps in and shorts out his circuitry. With Watts believing Michael and Shawn are dead, he captures Devon and uses mind scanning technology to discover what Devon knows, killing him afterward.

Michael and Shawn swim to safety and return to the Foundation, learning of Devon's fate. After Devon's funeral, the mayor terminates FLAG's contract. With the Knight 4000's development complete, Michael quits. After Shawn confronts him, Michael returns and secretly retrofits the Knight 4000 with KITT's AI. KITT gets used to his new body and the vehicle's advanced features.

Michael and Shawn follow her former partner to a warehouse where the guns are stored. By altering Shawn's voice to resemble Watts', she arranges a meeting and gun transaction with her former partner. She confronts him, but before he can fully cooperate with FLAG's investigation, Watts shoots him. Michael arrives just in time to prevent Shawn from being killed.

Maddock sends KITT a copy of the prison release papers for Watts, signed by the murdered mayor. KITT indicates it is an electronic signature. Michael has KITT print more copies, sending one with a fake signature to Daniels using her name, and a similar one to the mayor, this time with his name. Following the mayor's limo, they record a conversation between the mayor and Watts discussing the release papers.

After showing the police commissioner the video of Mayor Abbey's conversation with Watts, Maddock proposes a pact with the police force. After ambushing a caravan of corrupt cops, they find no guns. KITT informs Michael there is another group of police cars headed for the local mall. Maddock convinces Daniels to allow KITT to pursue them.

Watts has begun a transaction with a gun buyer. KITT locks the doors and jams the radios of the police cars. When one of the corrupt cops guarding Watts sights Shawn moving in, Watts shoots her, then the buyer and Watts flee. Michael catches up to Watts and disarms him. A fight ensues between Michael and Watts, Michael only stopping when Watts picks up his handgun. Shawn (only wounded near her left shoulder, like Michael in the original series pilot) arrives with the other handgun, instructing Watts to drop his. Michael talks Shawn down from shooting Watts. Watts then draws another gun hidden under his coat but Michael draws out an ultrasound gun faster hitting Watts, who falls to his death.

After Watts' defeat, the mayor is incarcerated. Michael returns to retirement. KITT remains behind at the Knight Foundation with Shawn and Maddock. The trio continue their police work.

The Knight 4000's features

The Knight 4000 has most of KITT's original features including a few new and improved systems.

• Voice Activated Controls - The Knight 4000's dashboard is less "cluttered looking" than KITT's original dash with most of the controls now being completely voice activated rather than having to push a button.

• Virtual Reality Heads-up Display - Rather than dash-mounted CRT displays, the Knight 4000 uses a virtual reality heads-up display (VR-HUD) that makes use of the entire windshield as video monitor.

• Microwave Stunner - Similar to the non-lethal sidearms used by the police, the Knight 4000 is equipped with a microwave stunner that can incapacitate criminals.

• Thermal Expander - The Knight 4000 is equipped with an offensive weapon which consisted of a microwave projector that caused the temperatures of targeted objects to quickly rise and either ignite or explode.

• Fax Machine - The Knight 4000 can print out faxed messages from a dash mounted printer.

• Amphibious Mode - The Knight 4000 can float and manoeuvre on water much like a boat. The system was actually a major improvement over KITT's original hydroplane ability which during the original series was prone to malfunctions during its experimental phase.

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (June 2009)

• The movie was executive produced by Charles E. Sellier, Jr., whose previous output includes numerous Sunn Classic films, The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, Greatest Heroes of the Bible, The Boogens, the original Silent Night, Deadly Night, and The Annihilators.

• The theme song by Jan Hammer was released on his album Drive.

• While early versions of the script had the story set in Seattle (including a climax featuring the use of KITT's amphibious mode to intercept Watts on a Washington State Ferry), there is no dialogue on film to imply that the story occurs in any city in particular — much like the original Knight Rider TV series.

• Knight Rider 2000 was filmed in two Texas cities, San Antonio and Corpus Christi. In some scenes, characters are in San Antonio locations such as Paseo del Río and the Tower of the Americas one moment, and the next they are at the shoreline of Corpus Christi.

• The studio was unable to use the real Pontiac Banshee IV concept car for the movie, so instead it hired Jay Ohrberg Star Cars Inc. to customize a 1991 Dodge Stealth for the Knight 4000. The custom car can also be seen, albeit briefly, as a stolen supercar in CHiPs '99.

• In several episodes of the TV series (one being season 3, episode 1, Knight of the Drones) there are pictures on the wall of the Knight semi trailer of what would seem to later become the Knight 4000 in Knight Rider 2000. This is evident in all the episodes from late season 2 up through 3.

• In the episode "Forget Me Not" of the original series, Michael mentions driving a 1956 Chevy in high school, to which KITT asks if it had any special abilities. This movie shows retired Michael driving a 1950s Chevy and installing KITT in it.

• Actor James Doohan makes a cameo appearance as an innocent bystander that KITT mistakes for a criminal stealing money from an ATM. KITT zaps the suspect with a stun beam and the man collapses. When Michael and Maddock pick up the man to arrest him, they find Mr. Doohan, delirious (from being zapped), and mumbling various lines from his role of Scotty on Star Trek. In the scene, Maddock mentions that there have been ten Star Trek movies by 2000, and Doohan was in all ten. The script writers were somewhat close. However, Doohan's last appearance was in the crossover-movie, Star Trek Generations, his seventh Star Trek film. When he was asked by a fan at a Seattle Star Trek convention as to his motives for doing the cameo, Doohan humorously replied "Their money was green."

• In the ATM scene, the original script had football linebacker Brian Bosworth getting stunned by KITT. The scene was later rewritten to feature James Doohan instead of Bosworth.

• Dan Quayle, who was Vice President of the United States in 1991, had become President of the United States by 2000 in the Knight Rider universe.

• Also in the Knight Rider universe, a Philippine War happened in 1993.[1]

• With the original KITT being the Knight 2000, and the new version being the Knight 4000, it is not made clear in the movie if there was ever a Knight 3000. However, the Knight 3000 is the car in the 2008 Knight Rider Sequel.

• No mention is made of Bonnie or RC3 in the story.

• Mayor Abbey is incarcerated in a cryogenic prison. The technician who closes Abbey's cryogenic unit mentions that he is also getting ready to release "some Manson guy" that's been there for a long time.

Cast

External links

• Knight Rider 2000 Online - Comprehensive website about the movie
• Knight Rider 2000 at the Internet Movie Database