The "new" K.I.T.T character for KNIGHT RIDER(2008).
© NBC-Universal

Related Links

0

Producer and Star Talk New KNIGHT RIDER

Executive producer David Bartis and lead star Justin Bruening sat down and discussed the upcoming revision of "Knight Rider" for NBC with Alice Chapman Newgen. While covering the obvious basic points of interest, they did approach the subject of whether this new K.I.T.T will have that patented "turbo boost" and other cool little enhancements. A number of other topics were touched upon about behind the production interests and of course the theme song...

Here's a taste..

I understand that the voice is going to be different.

Bartis: Again, it's a balancing act. We want to give people elements that they are going to be familiar with, but, then bring something new to it. That's really what we did. You're going to recognize the theme, but it is completely re-recorded and re-instrumentalized. What you love about it is still there.

Readers are dying to know about the technology makeover that KITT has going from a Pontiac Trans-Am with smoke bombs to a souped up Shelby GT. What surprises do you have in store for us so far as its capabilities?

Bartis: Obviously, there are going to be a lot of new tricks that the car can do and I'm not going to give them all away. It's funny one of the most frequent questions we get asked is does the car have turbo boost? We know how passionate people are about what the car can do. We've gone into it really aware that it is important to the audience. We spent plenty of time building in some pretty cool tricks. I think everybody knows already that the car has the ability to morph. It can shape shift a little bit in ways that enhances its handling and its ability on the road. It also has weapon defense systems that are based on technology that I think are going to be pretty amazing when people see the way we have built the effects there. It's got a pretty deep arsenal of abilities and tricks there. The exciting thing for us, if we are lucky enough to get a series, is that we have this long list of things that we want to roll out and show people in each episode so people will be tuning in to see what's the new thing that we are going to reveal, or what's the new trick that the car can do. I think people are going to be pretty satisfied in the two hour pilot. They are going to see that the car has the ability to change colors, shift shapes, defend itself against bullets and things like that, and repair itself. There are some pretty cool effects that are as good as any effects you are going to see in a hundred million dollar plus movie.

To read more, click here.

"Knight Rider" will premiere Sunday Feb. 17, 2008 at 9/8 CST.