DVD Release Date: April 12, 2005 (Universal Home Video)
Color
MSRP: $49.98
Number of Discs: 3 (double-sided)
Number of Episodes: 21 (24 hour long episodes, three
were two-part episodes)
Running Time: approx. 19 hrs. 33 min.
Languages: English
Subtitles: Spanish & French; Closed Captioned
Special Features: None
Introduction:
Michael Knight is back in style with the second season
of the action packed show Knight Rider on DVD. Let’s
take a trip back to 1983 and 1984 for 21 high-tech
episodes—including three, yes, three, two-part
episodes! The show originally aired on NBC and was
huge success and had its highest ratings ever.
Catch Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) and the
baddest car on four wheels, KITT (voiced by William
Daniels), as they chase more elusive criminals in each
action-packed episode. The heart-pounding second
season of Knight Rider packs in even more thrills and
more high-speed chases. It’s full-throttle excitement
with Michael Knight and KITT in the action series that
left all others in the dust. Edward Mulhare is also
back as Devon Miles. Rebecca Holden joins the cast as
April Curtis, replacing Patricia McPherson as Dr.
Bonnie Barstow. McPherson returns though for the
final two seasons.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Some memorable episodes this season include: “Goliath”
in which Michael battles Wilton Knight’s son, who is a
carbon copy of him; “Soul Survivor” in which a whiz
kid hacks into KITT; “Knightmares” in which Michael
has amnesia; “Goliath Returns” in which the evil twin
Garth Knight returns; and “Let it Be” in which we see
another appearance by David Hasselhoff’s then wife,
Catherine Hickland. The two-part episode “Mouth of
the Snake” is the pilot episode for the series
“Dalton’s Code of Vengeance.” The pilot didn’t work
as planned, but the show did premiere two years later.
Charles Taylor starred as David Dalton and the show
lasted just six episodes.
Memorable guests for this season include David
Hasselhoff in a dual-role as Garth Knight in “Goliath”
& “Goliath Returns;” Barbara Rush in “Goliath;” Dana
Elcar in “Merchants of Death;” Geena Davis & Keene
Curtis in “KITT The Cat;” Brian Robbins in “Soul
Survivor;” Ann Turkel in “Soul Survivor” & “Goliath
Returns;” Lance LeGault in “A Knight in Shining
Armor;” Peter Mark Richman in “Goliath Returns;” John
Vernon in “A Good Knight’s Work” and Catherine
Hickland as Stevie March (“Let it Be”).
Packaging:
The packaging for season one was excellent I thought.
I later thought, it was a little too big. Well,
Universal fixed that this season! The set this time
doesn’t come with a big case inside a big box. This
time, we get a smaller box, with three slim cases! I
personally think that is much better. The box art has
a shot of Michael Knight's face and KITT's body (shown
above) again. Left of Michael there are some of the
words spoken in the opening credits, "A shadowy flight
into the dangerous world of a man who does not
exist..." The back of the box art has a synopsis of
the show and the set itself. There is a photo of
Garthe and Adrian, two photos of Michael Knight and
Michael with Stevie March. The set has a color scheme
of red, blue and black. The three slim cases have the
same cover as the box art. The back of all three
cases has episode info for each disc. Episode title
and a brief synopsis are provided in a KITT style
font! When we open the cases, we get the discs, but
surrounding that is just plain white color. They
should have done something better than that. The
discs are doubled sided again, so no photos or
graphics on the discs itself. One other note: There
is also two enclosed inserts when you open the box,
one if a mail-in rebate form and the other one is
"Great Television on DVD is Universal" booklet for
shows already released like Kojak, shows coming soon
like Leave it to Beaver & Woody Woodpecker, and little
tags saying another season of an already released set
is in the works such as The Munsters Season Two.
Disc one side A has episodes 1-3; side B has episodes
4-7. Disc two side A has episodes 8-11; side B has
episodes 12-15. Disc three side A has episodes 16-18;
side B has episodes 19-21. All the discs are evenly
placed. About 4 discs per episode, though three of the
sides has 3 episodes, but that is because those three
episodes are two-part episodes. So really there are 24
hours on these six sides. A little math shows that
equals 4 hours on each side--each episode runs about
48-49 minutes in length. The two-part episodes run
about 1 hour 36-37 minutes each.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menu screen is similar to the first season. But
first, for disc one side A only, they have about 3 and
half minutes of previews that automatically play. You
can fast forward or skip the chapter at any time,
though. In case you want to watch, you’ll see
previews for Season 2 of Magnum P.I., Knight Rider and
A-Team; Miami Vice Season 1; Meet the Fockers DVD;
SWAT 4 video game; and Flat Out video game. The menu
screen starts off with video shots of KITT, and then
various clips from episodes are playing with the
catchy and cool theme song in the background. The
options for this set are: Episode Index, Languages,
and Play All. When selecting Episode Index, you get
to a screen of episodes, when you choose one you get
to the episode summary screen. On that you can choose
Play, Scenes, or go back to the Episode Index. There
is a nice KITT pointer so you know what you are
choosing, just like season one. On that screen it also
has a screenshot from the episode, episode title,
original air date, and a brief synopsis. When you
select Languages, you can turn on closed captioning or
have subtitles in French or Spanish.
Video and Audio Quality:
The video is again marvelously crystal clear. I am
very impressed with it. It looks very good and
re-mastered. Fans will be happy to hear them continue
to give us the best copies. The audio is in mono, but
it sounds like stereo to me, especially when that
opening theme is playing! Fans will also be happy that
the brief 30 second highlight of the episode is in
tact before the opening credits, again like season one
did. Each episode is about 48-49 minutes or so,
counting the opening & closing credits and the 30
second episode highlight. This time there is a 20
second or so Universal logo before EVERY episode.
That annoyed me a bit; they already have that before
the FBI Warning when you put the disc in. Maybe they
should have put that after the closing credits
instead. There are chapters on this set as well, like
season one. There are about 4 chapters or so, even
for the two-part episodes. They should have done
eight for those episodes, but I’m not complaining.
One interesting note, on the box it says "Music May Differ from Televised Version." I'm not sure if any music was replaced, but since it said that on the box, there could be some replacements. The A-Team season two box does not have that statement.
Special Features:
Unfortunately for some reason there are NO special
features. Yes, none! What a let down after we got
tons and tons of extras on the season one set. What
would have been cool is if they gave us the first
episode or two of that series Dalton’s Code of
Vengeance. Hopefully the final two seasons will make
up for the lack of bonus features on this set. If you
buy the A-Team set, you’ll get a bonus episode of
Knight Rider from season two, the episode “Brother’s
Keeper.” I wonder why this set didn’t have an A-Team
episode?
Final Comments:
Overall, I think the set is still worth the buy. The
episodes are very good and the quality of the episodes
is just amazing. Much better than what I used to
watch as a kid on Saturday evenings on WWOR. I give a
slight advantage to the packaging for this season. I
liked the slim cases and the smaller box. It does
well for my DVD shelf! I’m anticipating and waiting
for the final two seasons. Season 3 was rumored for
December, hopefully that is still the date, if not
sooner. But first, go out and buy this set, before
Garthe Knight & Goliath try to out duel you!
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: N/A
Menu Design/Navigation: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 04/08/05
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