Thoughts on ‘80s Knight Rider “Trust Doesn’t Rust”/”KITT vs KARR”

So I had a kind of a Knight Rider marathon last night. I watched the pilot, both KARR episodes, Soul Survivor, and a couple other random ones. I might do the Goliath and Garth ones later. Trying to catch some of the highlights before they go off Netflix and I only own a few of the episodes.

But I had apparently never seen KITT vs KARR before? And it had been ages since I saw any KR at all. Anyway here are my thoughts on that. Spoilers below (in case y’all haven’t gotten to the early 80s yet)

“Trust Doesn’t Rust”

OH MAN. ALL MY FEELS. ALL OF THEM. FEELS EVERYWHERE. Ok so I adore KITT. I had the biggest crush on him as a kid. Still kinda do. THAT BEING SAID I think KARR actually left the tire tracks on my heart. Yes I am that cheesy. I’m reviewing 80s buddy cop AI tv shows on tumblr what the frack do you expect I’ve always had a difficult time seeing KARR as sinister. Maybe it’s the voice (PETER CULLEN fgs). Maybe it’s that he’s so clearly -not- a fully developed AI like KITT. He’s very…not sure if childlike is the right word? KARR is limited by his programming (and feels betrayed by his original programmer…that is very clear. He also seems pretty resentful of KITT’s existence) and just trying to understand the world by what context clues he’s been given. He’s just a program trying to have a purpose. He doesn’t go out of his way to murder people. In fact…there really isn’t a part of this episode where he seems outright…bad? He does what the humans tell him should be done. He makes them rich. All he asks in return is for some repairs. And then they betray him. AGAIN. (the HUMANS are the ones beating each other up though) So he makes a run for it and KITT and Michael run him off the road and over a cliff. Basically.

He might not be as cute and cuddly as KITT, just because he doesn’t particularly care about whether or not humans live or die…but…? He’s not actually malicious. And he does try very hard to get along with the humans (not sure if it’s because he realizes a self-driving car is suspicious or not). Overall, yes he is threatening, but I see no evidence of Evil Computer at play here.

Fast forward two years to…

“KITT vs KARR”

I tried so hard to not get caught up in the campy inconsistencies but…oh man.
Ok I’ll buy that Undestructible Supercar could have flown off that cliff and not been damaged but HE LANDED UPRIGHT. Magic. Also somehow falling off a cliff changed the light color in his scanner. UH OK SURE. I miss Cullen’s voice already. But it is cute that he decides to take the humans for a joyride. Especially given that he seems to now have the ability to blackout his windows and thus no longer -needs- humans to be seen driving him.

But he has chaaaaaanged. Granted, after being constantly betrayed, shut down, THROWN OFF A CLIFF, and left for two years to be buried by sand (how come he didn’t wake up and drive off before then? how come the Knight Foundation DIDN’T GO OUT to retrieve what they thought were the remains of their HIGHLY classified prototype? why was his program never freaking FIXED ISTG) I’d be grumpy too, but this is weird. His AI has advanced alarmingly. He’s gone from “YOU ARE HUMANS. YOU REQUIRE FOOD, YES? LET ME TAKE YOU TO FOOD.” to a grandiose, mustache twirling, “Step inside, my children, I shall show you the pleasure of leaving all your responsibilities behind for a life of crime”. (Ok, I tried to be on board with this by going with the “all programs desire to be useful” thing, and he’d had so much success in the past as a getaway car…but he’s just gotten so darn over-the-top). He actually compares himself to the Genie from Aladdin. He nearly kills a person and then makes a casual comment to the person about it later. About the only part of this that made any sense was when instead of going after the armored truck, he was actually setting a trap for KITT. I CAN BELIEVE he’d want revenge.

Michael makes a comment that “leaving loose ends” isn’t like KARR, or something to that effect…and…uh…what? We met the guy once and I don’t recall him murdering his accomplices then. I don’t recall him murdering ANYONE then. In fact, KARR was only violent when he was defending himself or his drivers. Suddenly he’s like…hehe I can kill this guy if I shut off his pacemaker.

wut.

Also if his primary function is self-preservation, why did he turbo-boost front-first into KITT when that was his vulnerable spot? Unless now his primary function is revenge/being evil.

This episode is such a mess. Maybe I can justify it to myself by saying KARR was awake those last two years and all he could do to pass the time was watch TV and learn about humans, and think about how much he hated the universe.