"Fifteen years ago, all it took was one man and one machine to get the job done. Now, the Foundation for Law and Government has assembled five highly skilled operatives and paired them with the most advanced, state-of-the-art vehicles to take on a new breed of outlaw. They are: Team Knight Rider."
Team Knight Rider is a short-lived Sequel Series to the original Knight Rider. It ran from October, 1997 to May, 1998, and a total of 22 episodes were produced in its single season. Rather than focusing on one man and his car, TKR featured a team of five operatives and vehicles:
- "Dante" (Tom Kane), a Ford Expedition. Operated by Kyle Stewart (Brixton Karnes), a former CIA agent.
- "Domino" (Nia Vardalos), a Ford Mustang. Operated by Jenny Andrews (Christine Steel), a former Marine. She was a veteran of The Gulf War.
- "Beast" (aka "Attack Beast"; Kerrigan Mahan), an F-150. Operated by Duke DePalma (Duane Davis), a former Chicago police officer and boxer.
- "Plato" (John Kassir) and "Kat" (Andrea Beutner), custom motorcycles which could combine to form a "high speed pursuit vehicle". Operated respectively by Kevin "Trek" Sanders (Nick Wechsler), and Erica West (Kathy Trageser). Sanders is a technical expert; West is a former con artist and professional thief.
TKR aired in syndication as part of the Action Pack (which also aired Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess) in 1997.
Tropes:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: KRO was essentially this show's KARR, with the twist that the reason for this was that his AI was mapped to his driver, and his driver happened to be a psychopath.
- Automated Automobiles
- Cliffhanger: The series finale, unfortunately titled "Legion of Doom".
- Cool Garage: In this case, a VTOL cargo plane.
- Everybody Owns a Ford
- The Faceless: Several.
- "Shadow Man", eventually revealed to be a hologram produced by KITT.
- Michael Knight in the series finale.
- Moebius, the series Big Bad, in his first several appearances. His true identity was never revealed, but he was eventually given the face of actor David McCallum.
- Five-Man Band:
- The Leader: Kyle / AI Dante
- The Lancer: Jenny
- The Smart Guy: Trek / AI Plato
- The Big Guy: Duke / AI Beast
- The Sixth Ranger: Erica (due to her background as a former criminal)
- The Chick: AI Domino
- Immune to Bullets: Though to a lesser extent than its predecessor. Explained in episode "KRO": Although the cars all have high-impact armor and bulletproof glass, FLAG vehicles post-KITT (and moreso post-KRO) have been deliberately designed with weaknesses and vulnerabilities, in case one should go rogue (as did KRO).
- In Name Only: Not much connected it to the original.
- The Lab Rat: Trek, Plato's driver.
- Mythology Gag: Pictures of Devon Miles, Michael Knight, and KITT are occasionally seen in the background.
- Off-the-Shelf FX: Most prominent with Kat and Plato; the two motorcycles have odd-looking bits of plastic bolted to them to look "futuristic", and the combined High Speed Pursuit Vehicle
looked like two motorcycles slinging a frame between them. - Opening Narration: Quoted above, and performed by Don LaFontaine.
- Robot Buddy: All the cars, natch, just like its predecessor. A Shadow Archetype can be found in KRO, who goes out of his way to rescue his original pilot from prison.KRO: I have your man. Give me mine.
- Speaks In Shoutouts: Plato and Trek.
- Three Laws-Compliant:
- Discussed and subverted in the following exchange:Erica West: Shouldn't you be programmed to happily sacrifice yourselves for the team?AI Dante: Was that supposed to be funny?AI Domino: Are you out of your mind?!AI Plato: Give me a break.AI Kat: No way!
- AI Beast subverts it further; as a running gag, he doesn't get along with his driver Duke and oftentimes refuses to cooperate with him (unless someone's life is on the line, that is). On the other hand, Beast seems to hold quite the candle for Jenny...
- Discussed and subverted in the following exchange:
- Weapon of Mass Destruction: In nearly every episode. Superweapons include: a weather control device; an earthquake machine; two mind control devices; Liquified Nitrogen Gas (which is a high explosive. Presumably the writers really meant Liquified Natural Gas; Nitrogen is inert); KRO; an EMP gun; super-powered armor.
