Knight Rider: The Complete Second Season DVD Review:

Man and machine merge in this popular eighties television series starring David Hasselhoff, and now the second season is available on DVD for the first time. Hasselhoff stars as Michael Knight, an ex-cop who was rescued by millionaire Wilton Knight and given a new identity, including a new face. This is how Michael Long becomes Michel Knight, a new kind of law enforcer. Michael is paired up with the ultimate vehicle, Knight Industries Two Thousand, or K.I.T.T. for short. This black Trans-Am is custom built with a personality and plenty of other perks. Although it never seems like the car goes over 100 MPH, we are told that it is actually going 300 MPH, and in T.V. land we don’t ask questions.

Season two opens strong with a two hour episode, in which K.I.T.T. faces a semi-truck that shares his protective coating, and Michael faces an identical twin of sorts. Wilton’s actual son, who shares the same face as Michael, is back to try and steal some missiles being held in Indian Territory right outside of Vegas. It is up to Michael and K.I.T.T. to stop him in time. With the fight scenes between Hasselhoff and Hasselhoff the true essence of Knight Rider comes out. While it often seems like more of a soap opera than an action show, it always seems to pick up at the right time.

Much of the season relies on the relationship between Hasselhoff and a talking car, which sounds dangerous, but actually seems to work quite well. Thanks to the voice of William Daniels, who also made his mark in television as the neighbor and teacher on Boy Meets World, the relationship is humorous and successful. K.I.T.T. is the vehicle (pun intended) that drove Knight Rider into being an original idea.

The DVD comes with three discs in slim cases, which hold all 21 episodes from season two. The discs are double sided, which keeps the packaging down, and it all comes together in a sleek box, with a flashy cover. There are no real special features to speak of, but with a show from the early eighties, not much can ever be expected.



Ryan Izay