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TITLE: KNIGHT RIDER - SEASON FOUR THE FINAL SEASON
Info:
DVD Release Date: April 4, 2006 (Universal Home Video)
Color/1985-86
MSRP: $49.98
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 21 (22 hours, one was a two-hour
episode)
Running Time: approx. 17 hours and 51 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx. 29 minutes
Audio: English
Subtitles: English SDH; Closed Captioned.
Special Features: K.I.T.T. Original Car Blueprints and
“The Great ‘80s TV Flashback.”
Introduction:
Michael Knight is back for one last time with the
fourth and final season of the action packed show
Knight Rider on DVD. Let’s take a trip back to 1985
and 1986 for 21 high-tech episodes—which includes the
two-part season premiere from Chicago! K.I.T.T. even
has some new features, including Super Pursuit Mode!
Knight Rider: Season 4 is digitally supercharged!
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. Patricia McPherson returns as Dr.
Bonnie Barstow. Joining the cast this season is Peter
Parros as RC3 (Reginald Cornelius III).
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Some memorable episodes this season include: The
two-part season premiere “Knight of the Juggernaut,”
“Sky Knight,” “Knight Sting,” “Knight Behind Bars,”
“Knight Song,” “The Scent of Roses,” “Killer
K.I.T.T.,” “Out of the Woods,” “Fright Knight,” and
“Knight of the Rising Sun.”
Memorable guests for this season include John
Considine & Blair Underwood (“Knight of the
Juggernaut”), Janine Turner (“KITTnap”), Robbie Rist &
Macon McCalman (“Sky Knight”), Scott Valentine (“The
Wrong Crowd”), Peter Mark Richman (“Many Happy
Returns”), Shelly Berman (“Knight Song”), Catherine
Hickland (“The Scent of Roses”), Lance Burton (“Deadly
Knightshade”), Terry Kiser, Don King, Jeff Quarry,
Danny Lopez, & Carlos Palomino (“Redemption of a
Champion”), and Robert Englund (“Fright Knight”).
Packaging:
Like seasons two and three, we got a box with three
slim cases. I personally think this is great
packaging. 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 are three different snapshot photos of Michael
Knight from various episodes. The set has a color
scheme of orange/red, gold. 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.
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 16-19;
side B has episodes 20-21 and the bonus material. All
the discs are evenly placed. 4 discs per episode,
though disc one has three episodes, but that is
because that is a two-part episode. So really there
are 22 hours on these six sides. Each episode runs
about 48:150-48:30 or so minutes in length. The
two-part episode runs about 1 hour 36 minutes.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menu screen is similar to the first two sets. But
first, for disc one side A only, they have three
trailers 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 Magnum P.I., Knight
Rider and A-Team Seasons 1-4; SNL sets for David Spade
and Alec Baldwin; and Law & Order Trial by Jury DVD.
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
(which loops). The options for this set are: Play All,
Episode Index, Languages, Bonus Materials, and Sneak
Peeks (disc one side A only). Sneak Peeks has
different DVD trailers than the ones that auto play
before D1 SA. Trailers for: Columbo; Murder, She
Wrote; Northern Exposure; Quantum Leap; House;
Battlestar Galactica; and Sleuth TV. Yes, “Bonus
Materials” is on each disc, though the bonus materials
are all on disc 3 side B. When selecting Episode
Index, you get to a screen of episodes with a screen
shot of the episode. When selecting the episode it
automatically goes to the episode. In the previous
sets, we got an episode summary screen. When you
select Languages, you can turn on closed captioning or
have subtitles in English SDH.
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
sounds good, especially when that opening theme is
playing! Fans will also be happy that the brief 30
second highlight of the episode is intact before the
opening credits, again like previous sets did. But for
some reason it is not on for two episodes “Knight
Song” and “The Scent of Roses.” Each episode is about
48:15-48:30 minutes or so, counting the opening &
closing credits and the 30 second episode highlight.
Without the 30 second highlight episodes run 47:45 or
so. No Universal logo this time before every episode.
There are chapters on this set as well. There are
about 4 chapters or so, even for the two-part episode.
The two-part episode's episode highlights has even a
voiceover from Edward Mulhare saying this is a
"special two-part episode from Chicago." No mentions
on the box this time about music missing.
Special Features:
For season one, we got a ton of bonus material. Season
two we got nothing. For season three we get a bonus
episode from season 4. The extras for season four are
probably the best since season one, but still not too
good. We get K.I.T.T. Blueprints. 6 images of KITT
are shown. You can print them out at
www.KnightRiderDVD.com. Also,
we have the 29:01
featurette on “The Great ‘80s TV Flashback.” If you
have some previous Universal sets like Charles in
Charge, you have seen this featurette already. The
featurette talks about all of the Universal ‘80s TV
series on DVD (example: A-Team) or are coming soon to
DVD (Simon & Simon). The shows featured are: Miami
Vice, Magnum P.I., The A-Team, Knight Rider, Simon &
Simon, Murder She Wrote, Quantum Leap, Gimme a Break,
Charles in Charge and Kate & Allie. Interviewed are:
Ray Richmond (Writer, The Hollywood Reporter), Alex
Ben Block (Columnist, TV Week), Robert Ward
(co-executive producer, Miami Vice), Stephen J.
Cannell (executive producer, A-Team), Debbie
Matenopolous (Host of “The Screening Room,” TV Guide),
Julie Cobb (Charles in Charge), Glen Larson (executive
producer, Knight Rider), David Hasselhoff (Knight
Rider), Jack Gill (stunt coordinator, Knight Rider),
and Lara Jill Miller (Gimme a Break!). Chapter breaks
are on this feature even!
Final Comments:
Overall, the set is good. The episodes are completely
unedited and now we are done with the series. The
extras are better than the last two sets, but way down
from the first set. The most important thing is that
we get every episode on DVD! The final season is worth
the buy if you have seasons 1-3 already. If you
don’t, buy those first and then get this set. The
series is now complete on DVD and I am so happy but
sad that we won't have any more DVD sets for this
series. Now, let’s hope we get the long anticipated
Knight Rider big screen movie but we won’t have any
promotional items for that since all four seasons are
now all on DVD already.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 4/5
Special Features: 2/5
Menu Design/Navigation: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
-- Reviewed by pavanbadal on 04/09/06
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