DVD Release Date: August 3, 2004 (Universal Home
Video)
color/19 hrs. 45 min.
MSRP: $59.98
Number of discs: 4
Number of episodes: 21 (22 counting the 2-part pilot)
Languages and subtitles: English, Closed Captioned,
Subtitles in Spanish and French.
Special features: "Knight of the Phoenix" Commentary
with David Hasselhoff and Writer/Creator/Executive Producer Glen Larson; Knight
Moves; Knight Sounds; Knight Rider 2000 (1991 TV Movie); Knight Rider: Under the Hood; Photo
Gallery; Blueprints Gallery; and K.I.T.T. Owner's Manual
Introduction:
One man can make a difference. That is so true,
though, I'm sure many people made a difference making
this set. Knight Rider Season One is everything an
avid fan dreams of. It is that good. You will see
why below.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Knight Rider Season One features many memorable
episodes, such as the two-hour pilot "Knight of the
Phoenix," "Trust Doesn't Rust" (with the evil KARR);
"Chariot of Gold" and "White Bird" (with Hasselhoff's
fiance at the time, and later wife).
Some memorable guest stars from this season include
Tony Dow ("Nobody Does It Better") from Leave it to
Beaver, Catherine Hickland ("White Bird"), Tina Louise
("The Topaz Connection") from Gilligan's Island, and
Mary Margaret Humes ("No Big Thing").
Packaging:
The packaging on this set is incredible. The box art
has a shot of Michael Knight's face and KITT's body
(shown above). On top of that, on the top right, is
some of the words spoken in the opening credits, "A
shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who
does not exist..." The back of the box art has a
synopsis of the show and the set itself. There is a
photo of Michael Knight, KITT, and Michael sitting
inside of KITT. There is also a breakdown of the
bonus disc and a shot of KITT from the inside. Also,
the box's spine is holographic with changing colors
--very cool. The case's cover has KITT's front with
the words "Knight Industries Two Thousand."
The back of the case has breakdowns of each disc, what
episodes, bonus material, etc., with shots of KITT on
the right side. The inside of the case has the discs
itself. With wonderful high quality photos of
Michael, KITT, Devon, Bonnie, and even RC3 (who
doesn't appear on the show until the last season!)
surrounding the discs. There is also two enclosed
advertisements inside the case for Sci-Fi Channel's
Stargate SG-1/Stargate Atlantis and "Great Television
on DVD is Universal" for shows already released like
The A-Team, shows coming soon like Columbo, and shows
in the works such as Leave it to Beaver. One
complaint I have is that there is no mini episode
booklet for the Knight Rider episodes. Three of the
four discs are doubled sided, which many people would
agree is great for shows that are one hour in length.
The double sided discs have no photos on the disc, but
they have a little label around the disc indicating
what disc it is, like Disc 1 Side A, Disc 1 Side B,
etc. The bonus disc, which is not double sided, does
have a photo however. The photo is of KITT from the
front in dark purple/blue background.
Disc 1 Side A has episodes 1-3, Disc 1 Side B has
episodes 4-7, Disc 2 Side A has episodes 8-11, Disc 2
Side B has episodes 12-15, Disc 3 Side A has episodes
16-19, Disc 3 Side B has episodes 20-21. In essence,
the disc is 7 discs! Since, three are double sided.
There is no way, unless you have an ENTIRE free day,
that you can watch this all in one day. And I didn't
even get to the special features yet!
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menu navigation is very easy. The theme is
playing in the background with video clips from
various episodes, mostly featuring KITT. If anyone is
familiar with the A-Team menu screen, it is very
similar to that (a photo of the menu screen is above).
The main menu has the options: Play All, Episode
Index, Bonus Materials, and Languages. When you
choose episode index, you are at the episode summary
screen, in which the title of the episode is listed,
original airdate, a photo of the episode, a brief
synopsis of the episode, the play button, scene
selection, languages, or you can go back to the
episode index or the main menu screen (again, similar
to the A-Team's episode menu option). When you are
choosing something from the episode summary screen,
a little pointer of KITT indicates where you are; I
love that. The languages option has closed captioning
for the hearing impaired and subtitles in Espanol and
French.
Video and Audio Quality:
The video is crystal clear. I am very impressed with
it. It looks very good and remastered. Fans will be
happy to hear that, as I'm sure many have been
wondering. The audio is in mono, but it sounds like
stereo to me, especially when that opening theme is
playing! Fans will also be happy that the brief 30
second highlight of the episode is in tact before the
opening credits, again like The A-Team. Each episode
is about 48-49 minutes or so, counting the opening &
closing credits and the 30 second episode highlight.
Special Features:
Now for the special features! It is always good to
have special features, to make the set feel it is new.
This set has tons of special features and fans will
love and learn a lot from. Let's start with the audio
commentary by the star David Hasselhoff and
writer/creator/executive producer Glen Larson for the
pilot episode, "Knight of the Phoenix," which is
located on disc 1 side A. Both of them are talking
and are going back down memory lane about this
episode. It is very interesting to hear this.
Hasselhoff sounds like he is having a lot of fun doing
this and points out who is who, and asks Larson where
are they now. Don't worry, I won't give everything
away. To access the audio commentary you have to
choose the "Knight of the Phoenix" episode and go into
the languages section, and you choose the audio
commentary option from there.
The next two extras are located on disc 3 side B. The
first is called "Knight Moves." It's about 6 minutes
and they talk about KITT's moves and jumps. Jack
Gill, the stunt coordinator and David Hasselhoff are
the ones who talk in this feature. The next feature
on this disc is, "Knight Sounds." It's a little over
6 and a half minutes long with interviews with Stu
Phillips (main theme/series composer), Hasselhoff, and
Glen Larson. They talk about how the theme and sounds
of the show were so popular and are still strong
today. The rest of the extras are on the bonus disc.
The first extra on that disc is "Knight Rider Under
the Hood." It runs nearly 16 minutes. It features
interviews with David Hasselhoff, Glen Larson, Joe
Huth (author of Knight Rider Legacy), Stu Phillips,
and Jack Gill. They talk about everything. This is
clearly the best extra on the set, at least that is
what I think. Hasselhoff talks about things like how
he got the part and how he was sick that day. Larson
talks about KITT in detail. Stu Phillips talks more
about the theme and sounds. They also talk about some
episodes like the pilot, the one with KARR, and the
one with Hasselhoff's fiance. The next feature I'll
talk about is the Knight Rider 2000 TV-Movie from
1991. It has its own summary section, similar to the
episode summary section for the episodes. The movie
runs approximately 95 minutes. The next feature is
the "Photo Gallery." It is just under three minutes.
The opening theme is playing in the background for the
first minute or so, then the rest of the duration is
music from the episodes. The photos are mainly
publicity photos in black and white. The next feature
is the "Blue Prints Gallery." It is just over 3
minutes in duration. Video clips of KITT is mainly
playing and they show some blueprints from the set and
KITT. Finally, the last feature is "KITT Owner's
Manual." This is really cool! You have a view of
KITT's dashboard and you get to choose any feature you
want. You'll get facts and figures of anything you
choose. KITT's sound effects are playing in the
background.
Final Comments:
All in all, this set is wonderful. Like I said
before, a dream come true for any fan. If you haven't
seen this show at all, you can start from here and be
hooked! Hopefully the sales are above their
expectations and we get season two and the rest of the
series really soon with extras just as good as this
set or even better!
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Video quality: 4.7/5
Audio quality: 4.7/5
Special Features: 4.7/5
Menu Design/Navigation: 5/5
Overall: 4.8/5
-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 07/17/04
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