KNIGHT RIDER 2000

        

             

                 

          

 

         

In 1990, Michael Knight retired from the Foundation For Law And Government after burning out from the daily grind his job entailed.
In the year 2000, handguns have been banned, and criminals are cryogenically incarcerated. The police are forced to carry Ultrasound shockers, which stun criminals rather than hurt them. Suddenly, after the release of a prisoner from cryogenic incarceration named Thomas J. Watts (Mitch Pileggi) a rash of illegal handguns begin to appear, and are hurting and killing people, handguns that were supposedly turned in and melted down.
At the same time, the Foundation For Law And Government, now run by a former District Attorney named Russell Maddock (Carmen Argenziano) and Devon Miles (Edward Mulhare) is trying to sell the city on a plan to employ FLAG as a freelance investigation department to assist the local police department. The deal is based on the completion of a special advanced vehicle, which can do the job of an entire police department, known as the Knight Industries Four Thousand. Unfortunately, the project is behind schedule, and the crime levels are growing, elevated by the recent assassination of the mayor, and the attempted kidnapping of the Deputy Mayor, the latter stopped only by a rookie cop named Shawn McCormick. (Susan Norman)
Devon turns to an old friend to help out FLAG until the KIFT is completed. He tracks down Michael Knight, (David Hasselhoff) who, since retirement has been finding contentment in his lakeside cabin, working on his 57 Chevy, and working a bass charter. After some convincing, Devon gets Michael to reluctantly agree to the Foundation, only on the terms that KITT will be waiting for him.
Unfortunately, Maddock, in an effort to try to cut down expenses, and make the books look better, has had the (in his opinion) obsolete KITT dismantled, and his parts sold off and/or recycled, much to Devon’s and Michael’s amazement and dismay. After a confrontation, Michael then sets out to rebuild KITT from what parts he can into his Chevy.
The rookie, Shawn McCormick had picked up the gun that was used to kill the Mayor, and kept it, out of her own inner suspicions, she turned to her partner, Kurt Miller (Eugene Clark) for help. Unfortunately, her partner is working with Thomas Watts, as are her closer colleagues, Marla Hedges (Megan Butler) and Justin Strand, (John Cannon Nichols) and the decision signs off her death warrant. She is soon shot point blank in the back of the head. After reading her RNA, and performing a life saving chip implant procedure, Dr. Jeffrey Glassman (Francis Guinan) saves Shawn’s life against the wishes of Commissioner Ruth Daniels, (Christine Healy) who is also the great opponent against the integration of FLAG. Shawn finds herself unable to return to her work as a police officer, nor dealing with her boss, the Commissioner, and quits the force, and turns around and forces Maddock to reluctantly hire her into FLAG.
KITT (voiced by William Daniels) finds that he is missing several components, including some memory chips, and is very bitter about what has happened to him, and what is happening to him. He is entered back into service in Michael’s Chevy to try to help track down the gun running operation, which includes Watts as the ringleader, and a few bad cops as the foot soldiers. Michael finds out that, ironically, Shawn McCormick now has the missing memory chip implanted in her head. Shawn is partnered up with him and KITT to track down the gun running operation, despite the fact that Shawn’s new terse personality is a bit hard for KITT and Michael to initially deal with. Eventually they warm up to her, when they find out that some of her past memories are coming back to her, specifically the ones that led to her being shot, but there is a huge cover-up to keep her from learning about her past memories by the very doctor that saved her life.
The stakes in the tracking game get higher as Maddock finishes the Knight Industries Four Thousand (initially programmed with his voice and his attitude) but Watts and his people come to realize that FLAG may know more than they realize, and that Shawn may have more memory than originally thought. Devon is struck down, his RNA read, and then killed by Watts to see what FLAG is left with, at the same time that KITT in the form of the 57 Chevy is destroyed by the same bad cops, in a watery death.
           Michael is devastated by Devon’s death, and tries to return back to his hermit existence, leaving Shawn and Maddock behind to deal with the devistation left. Acting Mayor Harold Abbey (Lou Beatty Jr.) denies the freelance contract to FLAG, leaving FLAG hanging by itself. Maddock and Shawn refuse to let Devon’s death go, and Shawn works to persuade Michael to come back. He eventually returns, placing KITT in the body of the Four Thousand, much to Maddock’s dismay.
            Together, Shawn, KITT and Michael trace back the origins of the gun running operation to Watts, the bad cops, and Acting Mayor Abbey who had Watts released. They bust up the operation, killing Watts in the process, and putting Mayor Abbey back in the same cryogenic incarceration chamber that Watts was originally in. FLAG gets their contract, Michael returns to retirement, leaving KITT in Shawn’s hands.

 

Written By: Rob Hedden

Directed By: Alan J. Levi

Music: Jan Hammer      Producer: Charles E. Sellier

First Airing: May 19, 1991

Cast:

Michael Knight.................David Hasselhoff
Devon Miles.................... Edward Mulhare
Voice of K.I.T.T.: ..............William Daniels
Shawn McCormick: ............Susan Norman
Russ Maddock: .......... Carmen Argenziano
Kurt Miller: .......................... Eugene Clark
Marla Hedges: ..................... Megan Butler
Thomas J. Watts: .................. Mitch Pileggi
Commissioner Daniels: ....... Christine Healy
Mayor Abbey: ................... Lou Beatty, Jr.
Dr. Glassman: .................... Francis Guinan
Lt. Strand: ................ John Cannon Nichols
James Doohan: ............................. Himself
Andrew: ................................ Chris Bonno
Prison Guard: ................ Robert F. Cawley
Charlie: .................................. Phillip Hafer
Bag Lady: .................. Carolyn G. Jackson
Police Officer: ....................... Ron Jackson
Sandy: .............................. Stacy Lundgren
Shawn's Father: .................... Matt Menger
Businessman: ......................... Paul Menzel
Medical Technician: .......... J.W. Moore IV
Warehouse Clerk: ................... Edwin Neal
Police Sargeant: .................. Marco Perella
Mayor Cottam: ........................ Ellis Posey
Fellow Cop: ........................... Larry Roop
Lori: ..................................... Lori Swierski

 

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Trivia

Knight Rider 2000: 101

Nitpicks

  
 
 
 
 
 
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News and Notes:

Upon its release in 1991, Knight Rider 2000 was one of the highest rated Movies of the Week for NBC.

 The movie was actually a pilot for a series to revive the Knight Rider legacy, but plans fell through due to ratings, and the unavailability of Hasselhoff.

 This has been the only movie to the present (with the possible exception of the potential new movie in 2002) to feature the original Knight Rider storylines, as well as featuring Mulhare, Hasselhoff, and Daniels from the original series.

 The car used as the Knight 4000 was actually a 1991 Dodge Stealth encased with the faux shell of a Pontiac Banshee design. Pontiac would not allow the use of its concept car in the film, so the Dodge Stealth was modified.

 Several of the features of the Knight 4000 were re-uses of original Knight Rider KITT features with different names.

 Mitch Pileggi would go on to international fame as Assistant Director Walter Skinner on X-Files.

 

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