If I can save just one other neuron from self-destruction...

[kickaha]

NBC's Knight Rider relaunch.

*twitch*

Makes the Bionic Woman relaunch look like Firefly. Really.

Avoid. I know, I know, you thought you didn't need to be told, but really. Avoid. It's worse than you thought.

Comments

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Why do you do that to yourself?

[eridan.livejournal.com]

because, when it all comes down to it, he's a nostalgia junkie, and a masochist.

And that combination is NEVER good.

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Name a combination with "nostalgia junkie" that IS good?

[eridan.livejournal.com]

...... "institutionalized?"

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Point to you.

Which raises the question, how good are IBM's mental health benefits?

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Obviously not good enough.

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and you can hardly hit that point during your interview, can you?

"Why do you want to work for IBM?"

"Well, I hear your mental health benefits are really good--I think I could use that."

[franktheavenger.livejournal.com]

If it's worse than I thought it could be entertaining...

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, it's not *that* bad.

It was mostly bad acting (but not so bad as to push over into complete cheese), mated with attempts at car porn... odd angle shots of details of the car, set to bad metal.

[tealynx.livejournal.com]

Hey! We liked it! All three of us, actually.

Maybe you're just not as uncultured and unsophisticated as we are.... yah, that's it.

(Now the bionic woman, that was terrible. Truly awful.)

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

*SRSLY*?

The acting was... meh - standard non-Sci-Fi-sci-fi fare. (ie, "It's *only* sci-fi... get some hacks. It's not like it's real tv.")

The plot was... oh gooodddddddd thin. Could have been done in a 1hr, if they hadn't been so focussed on showing carpr0n.

Which leads me to: The real problem I had was the pacing. It was either ACTIONACTIONACTIONCaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrpr0000000nnnnnnnACTIONACTIONACTION or attemptatdeepdialogCARPR0N!attemptatdeepdialog

Every time they tried to show off the car, it just blew any pacing out of the water. It was *always* incongruous with the scene it is was embedded in. I mean yeah, I realize KITT is a (the) major character, but holy crap. Get a director, already.

Honestly the BW pilot had me more intrigued. This was just... oy?

(And was anyone else kind bummed that the mom wasn't Bonnie? That would have been perfect, IMO.)

[badger.livejournal.com]

you thought you didn't need to be told

I was right, too!

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Ha! You were tempted anyway. I can tell.

[badger.livejournal.com]

Umm, no. Oh, that was sarcasm on your part. :)

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

Okay, I didn't see this? No TV. But I just went and watched an ad for it on YouTube, and I just gotta say, I *hate* the voice they've given KITT. It does not work at all. They've tried to make him sound more artificial and more badass, and -- gaaah.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

And it's Val Kilmer.

And I agree. He's even more mechanical, and it just falls flat. Right timbre, wrong delivery. Total phone-in.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Addendum: This lousy VO work may be because Val was brought in at the last minute to replace Will Arnett. Apparently, since Arnett has a voice-over contract for GM commercials, they bitched that he was voicing KITT... a Ford, and because of that he had to withdraw.

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

So was William Daniels just not available, or refused to do it, or what?

(Please tell me they thought to ask William Daniels.)

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

No idea, but he's 80.

This site (http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/02/07/arnett-out-and-kilmer-in-as-voice-of-kitt-blame-gm/) may have said it best:

KITT: "Hurry up, Michael."
Mike: "Actually, I go by Mike."
KITT: "That's fine Michael, but we really need to get going. I don't want to miss Matlock."
Mike: "Well could you hurry up, he's going to get away."
KITT: "The posted speed limit is 35, Michael."
Mike: "Yeah, but you're going 20, KITT."
KITT: "Better to be safe than sorry. (mutters) Damned kids always in such a damned hurry all the damned time!"
Mike: "What'd you say, KITT?"
KITT: "Nothing, Michael. When we get home I want you to sit in the garage with me for awhile ... to talk."

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

*laugh*

Yeah, okay, he's 80, but he's still working. (Hell, he was in Blades of Glory, for Chrissakes, so he obviously needs the money.) And all this would require is to have him sit in a recording studio. I have no idea if time has been kind or not and if he could still do The Voice, but if he could, I don't see a reason to replace him. I mean, if he up and dies on you, you could come up with a reason for KITT's voice to change then. *shrug*

Jesucristo, why do I care? The original show was crap, I know that now, watching it again as an adult, but god, whenever I hear that music ....

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

I have a vague recollection he's spent the last twenty-something years trying to live down having been KITT the first time around; he probably figures he shouldn't have to go through all that again.

I mean, can you imagine the flashbacks?

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

"Oh my god! I just had the most terrible dream! David Hasselhoff was sitting on my face and calling me his Kitten!!"

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Argh! Brain bleach!

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Heh heh heh.

*smugly rides off into sunset*

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

"whenever I hear that music ...."

You mean the proto-techno? :) Yeah. They used the main intro sequence as an intro riff in the new theme, and I'll admit it, I got all a-tingly. Then it went into the bad synthmetal they've apparently decided is necessary. I couldn't even being to hum or describe the new theme... it's just not memorable.

I think it was a pervasive issue with the pilot. :P

OTOH, the last minute or so made me think it might get more interesting. Remember the long hauler they used as a roving base? And how KITT would roll out the back while it was going down the road? (Okay, KITT did it *once* and then they just labeled it 'stock footage' and kept reusing it...) Exit semi, enter large cargo plane doing a touch-and-go. Now that was neat. And much more practical, IMO. It was one of the few bits that showed any thought had gone into the ep.

Kilmer needs to not phone it in. Live actors need acting lessons. Writers need lessons on plot and character development. Carpr0n needs to be turned waaaaaaaaaaaay down. Composer needs to be replaced.

Other than those details, it was peachy. ;)

Ah well. Like you said, why do we care??

[lirrin.livejournal.com]

I actually kind of liked it. My only beef was it really wasn't overly interesting, but I had no aversion to it beyond the fact that my brain kept wandering. I intend to watch a little more. I lost interest in the Bionic Woman for basically the same reason...no active aversion, just couldn't interest me after three or four shows.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

*nod* I'll probably subject myself to it again at some point to see if it gelled at all, but everything in it was just flat.