The Energon Pub

Before Optimus Prime was, KARR was. And in 1982 the evil twin prototype of KITT in the TV series called Knight Rider, was voiced by actor Peter Cullen.

Knight Rider fan site Knight Rider Online is now reporting on their site that the actor best know for giving voice to the original Optimus Prime as well as the current movie Optimus Prime, will reprise his role as KARR in the new series of Knight Rider. The episode is called Knight To King's Pawn and will air on NBC on January 21st.

The official synopsis can also be found on their site. Beware before reading the following text, as they do contain spoilers for upcoming episodes, which will resume to air on December 31st.

The following has been taken directly from the synopsis page from http://www.knightrideronline.com

TIME TO FIGHT BACK--Sarah is not coping well with her father's death and decides to leave town. Concerned, Mike goes looking for her and in return gets the answers he has been searching for about his past. Meanwhile, the NSA has decided to dismantle the SSC now that Dr. Graiman is dead and they can then move forward with KITT's nemesis KARR. With Torres' permission they take out KITT's chip that contains his personality and memories and place it in KARR. Upset by what has happened, Mike, Sarah, Billy and Zoe devise a plan to find where KITT has been taken and get him up and running and destroy the evil KARR once and for all.

Ok, let me get this straight: in this show, KITT can transform. KARR can transform into a robot. Peter Cullen will be voicing a transforming robot.

Are the producers of Knight Rider trying to make a new G1 series without the license?

To bad the new Knight Rider sucks. Transforming cars and really hot chicks im sad to say dont always work. But i think ill have to check these ones out to support Cullen. And for the eye candy.

Megatron_Wolf wrote:To bad the new Knight Rider sucks. Transforming cars and really hot chicks im sad to say dont always work. But i think ill have to check these ones out to support Cullen. And for the eye candy.

Cullen's voice is "Ear Candy".

Sabrblade wrote:Cullen's voice is "Ear Candy".

Stop nibbling on the man's head!

Last I read, the new Knight Rider series has already been cancelled and they are only gonna air the episodes they have recorded.

Whoever's idea it was for KITT to turn into a pickup really fudged up the show. The new series is pretty good if you're able to look past all of the unrealistic crap, especially KITT morphing into other vehicles. At least in the 80's, his transformation was realistic and wasn't done with computers. It was a great idea to bring the show back but they hired the wrong people to make it.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing Cullen play KARR again


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DavidT wrote:Last I read, the new Knight Rider series has already been cancelled and they are only gonna air the episodes they have recorded.

Personally, I tend to believe this guy more when he says the show is NOT cancelled...
Seeing as he does know what is going on and all...

http://knightrideronline.com/news/2008/ ... ys_gst.php

DavidT wrote:Last I read, the new Knight Rider series has already been cancelled and they are only gonna air the episodes they have recorded.

As far as I know, they haven't cancelled the show. They have, however, gutted the cast.

Raymond T. wrote:

DavidT wrote:Last I read, the new Knight Rider series has already been cancelled and they are only gonna air the episodes they have recorded.

Personally, I tend to believe this guy more when he says the show is NOT cancelled...
Seeing as he does know what is going on and all...

http://knightrideronline.com/news/2008/ ... ys_gst.php

I'm just saying what I read. There was a list of cancelled shows but I can't find it. It was posted on Yahoo news, or mail.com or something like that. I'm not saying your wrong or that someone was lying, just that I read that from a well known site. I like the show for the most part and I hope it's not cancelled.


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sweet that's what i call a birthday present to me

DavidT wrote:

Raymond T. wrote:

DavidT wrote:Last I read, the new Knight Rider series has already been cancelled and they are only gonna air the episodes they have recorded.

Personally, I tend to believe this guy more when he says the show is NOT cancelled...
Seeing as he does know what is going on and all...

http://knightrideronline.com/news/2008/ ... ys_gst.php

I'm just saying what I read. There was a list of cancelled shows but I can't find it. It was posted on Yahoo news, or mail.com or something like that. I'm not saying your wrong or that someone was lying, just that I read that from a well known site. I like the show for the most part and I hope it's not cancelled.


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Yes, there was a list. It was drawn up by TV "analysts" and "specialists" and they were giving their "scoop" of shows that were going to be axed this year.

But it was purely based on the fact that NBC didn't order the season to be filled with 22 to 26 episodes but 17 instead. So based on this, they called it that the show would be cancelled. They also backed their claim with proof that the episode Knight of the Living Dead had significantly dropped in the ratings. The fact that the episode aired during the US Presidential Election had nothing to do with this, of course.

I never watched the new Knight Rider (partly due to my biased opinion that KITT should be a Trans Am, but that's a whole other story) but I may need to watch this episode just for Peter Cullens voice.

Of course I would also watch a 1 hour long show that just featured Cullen reading the phone book

I only still watch KR for KITT and the random sports cars in the background If Cullen is going to voice KARR, that's an extra bonus :3 I just wish they'd do something about the (serious lack of) plot (I'm hoping the new episodes won't be as bad as the first batch...).

I watched one or two episode. I didn't mind the show. I will watch this one.

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!

Does Kitt actually transform into a robot? I used to watch the new Knight Rider and I've only seen him turn into a truck, a cop car,and "Pimp My Ride" Kitt.

DavidT wrote:

Raymond T. wrote:

DavidT wrote:Last I read, the new Knight Rider series has already been cancelled and they are only gonna air the episodes they have recorded.

Personally, I tend to believe this guy more when he says the show is NOT cancelled...
Seeing as he does know what is going on and all...

http://knightrideronline.com/news/2008/ ... ys_gst.php

I'm just saying what I read. There was a list of cancelled shows but I can't find it. It was posted on Yahoo news, or mail.com or something like that. I'm not saying your wrong or that someone was lying, just that I read that from a well known site. I like the show for the most part and I hope it's not cancelled.

I read the same article a couple of weeks ago too-it was on Yahoo. NBC's going to let it run it's it's current order for the show but, based on that article, hasn't picked it up for new ones. I think there are 8-10 left.

No matter what the producer hopes, the numbers are so bad for this show and production costs are so high that it really doesn't stand a chance. Who knows, maybe the CW or USA will pick it up.

It also doesn't help that the show totally sucks.

maybe if peter brings up the ratings they might keep the show

actually kinght rider they went with a realsict kinda look to stay with the times if knight rider was his orginal form what was it i know nothing about cars i think it was ponitac everyone would think they are trying to remake it with saem original car this series takes off the orgiinal.

all the fans of knight rider on youtube seem to like the show kitt does not transform into robot but karr might i saw some few images of him on the holloween episode that they had showed karrs first look in the original series then a more scifi upgrade to look him.

i was skeptical since kitt wawsnt a sporty car but the ford what ever companie makes this car it grew on me scenes with the actors with kitt makes fun for me & the humor is littl over top at times but i think its only to get childern involved transforming car, comedy.

lookinmg foarward to more episodes after christmas or the holidays

"I HAVE NO EGGS. PERHAPS YOU COULD DIRECT ME TO A CHICKEN."

I think this is a great nod to the original series, and to us Peter Cullen fans of course, a very nice touch from the producers.

As for the show itself, I agree it's a bit hard to swallow that KITT is a Ford now (I'm a big Trans Am fan myself, some nice clean lines in that design... but sadly they're no longer making them), I especially don't like the fact that they make it so very clear that it's a Ford by showing the emblems and such. The original car was only referred to as a "black T-Top", all the Firebird decals were removed.
And then there's the computer effects and "transformation sequences"... which are completely unrealistic. But I have to admit that the show is a bit of a guilty pleasure, it's pretty much what the original was, which I enjoy(ed). So I do like it, I do watch it, and having Peter Cullen in it is a very nice bonus

I'm curious about the reboot, btw. Hope it really makes the show better.

UltraPrimal wrote:Does Kitt actually transform into a robot? I used to watch the new Knight Rider and I've only seen him turn into a truck, a cop car,and "Pimp My Ride" Kitt.

No, but from the looks of it, KARR does. Or at least an exo-suit of some sort.

Hans wrote:I think this is a great nod to the original series, and to us Peter Cullen fans of course, a very nice touch from the producers.

As for the show itself, I agree it's a bit hard to swallow that KITT is a Ford now (I'm a big Trans Am fan myself, some nice clean lines in that design... but sadly they're no longer making them), I especially don't like the fact that they make it so very clear that it's a Ford by showing the emblems and such. The original car was only referred to as a "black T-Top", all the Firebird decals were removed.
And then there's the computer effects and "transformation sequences"... which are completely unrealistic. But I have to admit that the show is a bit of a guilty pleasure, it's pretty much what the original was, which I enjoy(ed). So I do like it, I do watch it, and having Peter Cullen in it is a very nice bonus

I'm curious about the reboot, btw. Hope it really makes the show better.

From what they've told us so far, with a warning for spoilers, because in the next few episodes the CSS will be disbanded KITT will no longer be able to use his Transformation feature as much as he has so far. And the team will break off from the NSA, because they were behind Mike's Mindwipe and the progress of KARR, the team will be a small group from episode 13 onward. Mike and KITT will be roaming the roads and concentrate on more domestic troubles against people and companies who thing that they are above the law.

So basically, it will be more closely resembling the old show then what is has been to date. With only minor Transformations (how cool is that word/name *inside joke between Hans and me *), if they will use it all. Gary Scott Thompson already said that they will be working to see if they can work in actual Turbo Boosts and Skiing stunts into the series, if they can secure dummy cars for them to crash.

They've already hired Steve Whiteside to their team, who I believe was the stunt co-ordinator on the original series.

http://knightrideronline.com/news/2008/ ... teside.php

I prefer the "turbo boosts" (the car jumping a big distance) to the transformation sequences for sure... there was one turbo boost in the pilot episode, but it was done with CGI, and didn't look nearly as good as the jumps in the original series (which is weird, since that's more than 20 years old). I don't know if the show will return, it doesn't seem likely... I saw what the producer said, but Fox executives are going to make a decision after they've seen the early ratings of the reboot/revamped episodes... and if the numbers stay the way they are now, the show's simply too expensive to keep around.
But if it does return, I hope Ford will make some jumpcars for the show. Pontiac did for the original, a jump car was simply a steel frame with an engine and some plastic body panels on it, and they managed to squeeze about 8 or 9 jumps out of a single car. I really hope they can bring that back, it was always a high point of every episode of the original series

Hans wrote:I prefer the "turbo boosts" (the car jumping a big distance) to the transformation sequences for sure... there was one turbo boost in the pilot episode, but it was done with CGI, and didn't look nearly as good as the jumps in the original series (which is weird, since that's more than 20 years old). I don't know if the show will return, it doesn't seem likely... I saw what the producer said, but Fox executives are going to make a decision after they've seen the early ratings of the reboot/revamped episodes... and if the numbers stay the way they are now, the show's simply too expensive to keep around.
But if it does return, I hope Ford will make some jumpcars for the show. Pontiac did for the original, a jump car was simply a steel frame with an engine and some plastic body panels on it, and they managed to squeeze about 8 or 9 jumps out of a single car. I really hope they can bring that back, it was always a high point of every episode of the original series

Knight Rider has been promoting them alot lately with competitions and commercials (on NBC), so it might persuade Ford to do just that.