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The Top 5 Knight Rider Season 4 Episodes
The Top 5 Knight Rider Season 4 Episodes
Knight Rider season 4, the final season of the show, saw three big developments. The first was the inclusion of Peter Parros as Reginald Cornelius III, RC3, a former street vigilante in Chicago who, after the events of the season 4 opener “Knight of the Juggernaut,” ends up becoming a part of the Foundation for Law and Government (he drives the semi-truck, he works as an assistant to both Bonnie and Michael). The second is the development of “Super Pursuit Mode” for KITT, a thing where KITT’s body transforms after Michael pushes a button and KITT can go faster than ever before (RC3 actually helps make this happen). I always thought Super Pursuit Mode was cool. I still don’t understand how the transformation actually makes KITT goes faster but, again, the sequence where we see KITT transform is still fun and cool to this day. And third, along with Super Pursuit Mode, KITT was outfitted with a “convertible” mode. Because who doesn’t want to drive around/ride around in a convertible?
Just in case you missed the Top 5 lists for seasons 1, 2, and 3, check them out at the links below:
And now, without any further what have you, what are the Top 5 Knight Rider Season 4 episodes?
Honorable Mentions
–”Knight Sting”- Episode 7: This episode is interesting because Michael, Devon, Bonnie, and RC3 all go undercover to stop a deadly biological weapon from falling into the wrong hands. KITT also ends up going undercover in a way. The way the story plays out is kind of goofy, but it’s still fun to see everyone in the FLAG crew do something slightly “different.” And it’s cool to see Bonnie get to flaunt her sexiness because, let’s face it, she was always hot.
“Sky Knight”- Episode 4: : Bonnie gets caught up in a plane hijacking by Superfly hisself Ron O’Neal as terrorist Charles Zurich and Michael and KITT have to stop him. Bonnie plays a huge part in this episode and O’Neal is terrifying as Zurich. Brian Thompson, the Night Slasher from Cobra, is also in this episode as one of Zurich’s henchmen. I like the somewhat off kilter tone of this episode. It doesn’t quite play the same way as a “typical” Knight Rider episode.
5- “Knight of the Juggernaut”- Episodes 1 and 2: : This two part season opener has Michael and KITT battling the evil Phillip Nordstrom (the great John Considine, playing a different character than he did in season 3’s episode “Knight in Disgrace”), who wants to steal a new isotope that was somehow created by the Foundation for Law and Government. Nordstrom, who sports a sort of robotic hand that he uses to crush things and whatnot (because what else do bad guys use robotic hands for?), manages to kidnap Devon and replace him with a lookalike, finds out how to neutralize KITT’s armor, and uses a gigantic battering ram thing called Juggernaut to steal the isotope and just generally wreak havoc (the henchman driving the Juggernaut is the immortal Nicholas Worth, who fought Darkman and was transformed into a pig midget guy in Wes Craven’s Swamp Thing). On top of that, Michael also has to somehow convince Jennifer Knight (Mary Kate McGeehan), the daughter of Foundation founder Wilton Knight, to keep KITT and the Foundation operating. This episode also introduces us to RC3 (Peter Parros), a Chicago street vigilante who becomes a part of the Foundation at the end and helps create the whole Super Pursuit Mode thing. Knight Rider season premieres were all just so awesome and I don’t think any TV show since has managed to have season openers nearly as good. The great Mary Woronov also shows up in this episode, and that’s always cool.
4. “Voo Doo Knight”- Episode 22: This episode, the series finale and, according to imdb, the last episode actually filmed, doesn’t seem to be well liked by fans of the show because it doesn’t feel like a proper series finale. Lots of people feel as though “The Scent of Roses” should be the series finale. In some respects, I agree with that assessment because “Scent” definitely feels like a finale of sorts. That episode has “substance” and real emotion to it. But on the other hand I like that “Voo Doo Knight,” which is “just another episode,” is the finale because it shows us, even if the show is over, the adventures continue. We’ll never get to see them, but Michael and KITT, along with Devon, Bonnie (she doesn’t appear at all in “Voo Doo Knight” and I have no idea why) are still out there fighting the bad guys. “Voo Doo Knight” is also cool because it’s weirdly sleazy, and most of that is due to the performance of John Vernon in his second appearance in the show (he also appeared in the season 2 episode “A Good Knight’s Work”). Vernon plays a sleazebag archaeologist who, along with a brilliant Henry Gibson, stole a valuable artifact that a “voo doo princess” named Harana (Rosalind Cash) wants. And Harana uses an ear ring device that makes people turn into her henchmen (Swamp Thing’s Duck Durock and noted character actor/stunt performer Allan Graf are the main henchmen here). This episode also has some weird as hell fights in it (every time one of Harana’s henchmen attacks someone the attack is bigger than you expect it to be). If you’re one of those fans who don’t like this episode as the finale, I urge you to check it out again. It’s not bad at all. It’s way better than you remember it.
3- “Knight Racer”- Episode 9: In this episode, Michael and KITT help Bonnie’s friend Elena Thomas (Jourdan Fremin), who operates a CART Indycar team with her father Mac Thomas (John Crawford). Elena’s driver was recently killed in an accident that Bonnie believes was sabotage, and Michael intends to find out if that is what happened. In the course of the investigation, Michael becomes the new driver for Elena’s team, gets attacked by a car with a spike filled battering ram, and pisses off Devon because Devon wanted Michael to go to Cincinnati and work on a case there. The biggest draw for me with this episode, though, is all of the Indycar footage, which is both cool to see and absolutely ridiculous. The Pennzoil car that Michael drives is a beautiful racing machine. I would like to know what the deal is with the Confederate flag patch on Michael’s driver’s suit. Back in the mid-1980’s that was more of a NASCAR thing than a CART thing. Still, the racing footage in this episode is fun to watch.
2-. “Fright Knight”- Episode 20: In this episode Michael and KITT are tasked with finding out who is sabotaging the production of the big Hollywood movie “Raging Sky.” There are rumors of a phantom (The Phantom of Stage 28) running rampant at the studio, but Michael assumes that the real culprit is more real world based. This episode features the Universal Studios backlot and ends with a chase through what I assume is the Universal Studios amusement park (the Jaws ride figures into the end of the chase). The moviemaking segments are a goofy hoot (the director of “Raging Sky,” played by Antony Ponzini, complains all of the time about how the movie stinks and he would rather be in Masui making a “bikini” movie). And the Robert Englund is in the episode as, what else, the real villain of the episode (that isn’t a spoiler because, really, why else do you hire Robert Englund for your TV show if he isn’t going to be the villain? Englund also played the villain in an episode of MacGyver the same year). And Englund is hilarious as both the nice guy secretary to the studio vice-president and the plastic mask wearing bad guy. Absolute fun for 49 minutes.
1- “The Scent of Roses”- Episode 12 : In this episode, as I said earlier, most people feel should have been the real series finale, has Michael resign from FLAG after being shot and seriously injured by international terrorist Durant (Aharon Ipale) while Durant infiltrates a U.S. government data center. Devon, Bonnie, and RC3 try to keep Michael in the fold, but they eventually let him go when they realize that he’s done being a crime fighter. Michael also reconnects with the love of his life Stevie (Catherine Hickland) and marries her. Now, in the course of all of this, Durant tries to hunt down and kill Michael because he believes that Michael saw his face and can identify him. Several of Durant’s schemes fail (check out the way he blows up the beach house Michael and Stevie hang out in), but Durant does manage to shoot and kill Stevie at her wedding (easily one of the toughest scenes to watch in the series. Truly thrilling and emotional and heartbreaking). After Stevie dies, Michael uses KITT to hunt down Durant and exact revenge. This episode is definitely one of the most serious minded of the series and, as a result, probably the best of all four seasons. Hasselhoff’s performance as a beaten Michael Knight is Emmy worthy (obviously that would have never happened because it’s Knight Rider). And the episode ends on a high note, with Michael realizing that FLAG is his family, being Michael Knight and fighting bad guys is his calling, and the world needs him. Just tremendous stuff.
**
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