Earlier today, I posted the Greatest Picture, EVER!
There was much discussion about Knight Rider, and I have wondered this all day: Am I the only person who was crestfallen upon finding out that the voice of KITT was not, in fact, the voice of the car, but was, in truth, the voice of actor William Daniels?
When Bill was president of SAG, I had lots of meetings with him, because I am on the Board of Directors, and was part of our TV and Theatrical negotiating team. When I would have a meeting with Bill, I’d call Anne, and tell her, “I won’t make it for dinner tonight. I have a meeting with KITT.” And she’d say, “Is it in his office? Or is he meeting you around back in 5, buddy?”
Continuing the trip down Knight Rider lane…back in the old days, when there was only one Universal Studios, and the main focus of the whole experience was the tour, not the damn animal shows and gift shops…well, okay, it was the gift shops, but not as transparently as it is now…
But I digress.
Back in the day, at Universal Studios, they had a KITT car parked in this area where you could go and sit in it, and, I am not making this up, talk to KITT!
You could ask KITT all sorts of questions, and while you waited in line, you could hear the questions asked, and the answers given out by none other than KITT HIMSELF!
So people would sit in KITT, and ask all sorts of questions about the show, and “what did you do in episode [whatever]?”, and all sorts of technical questions about the specifics of his design, etc.
I so badly wanted to get into the car, and say, “Hey, KITT, I was wondering, do you ever cut loose when the people go home? I mean, tell me the truth. You can kick the A-Team Van’s ass, right? Do you ever just head on over to the backlot and do donuts, just because you can?”
But I totally chickened out, and, when I got up there, I froze, and asked, “What’s your top speed, KITT?”
The sad thing is, I can’t even remember what the answer was.
update: 8:41 PM PST: Cherish, a cool girl and helpful soapbox mod, just sent me this picture of her, sitting in KITT!
Second. Best. Picture. EVER.
Rock.
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Oh shoot, Wil. I just posted a lengthy reply in yesterday’s comments box when I meant to do it here.
OH well… it’s late here (11:50 EST)… been at the workstation ALLLLL day….
Time to sleep, methinks.
I remember KITT from my childhood days here in New Zealand, I recall it was a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am 2000, 1.8m (that’s a childhood memory)
We had Automan here too, he was great 🙂
Goddammit, I hate being the baby of the board. All I remember of KITT is how it came in to Celebrity Deathmatch to save David Hasselhoff from John Tesh.
Goddamn bastard Tesh.
That was C-3PO, whom I was referencing earlier.
Chris: you get a cookie for catching the “A Christmas Story” implications of the post. I was very seriously trying to work in a “Little Orpan Annie Secret Decoder Ring” reference, but I just couldn’t find a place for it.
Oh!
A-L-W-A-Y-S D-R-I-N-K Y-O-U-R O-V-A-L-T-I-N-E
hehehe
Ovaltine is so tasty. Good-for-you chocolate!
Wil,
Not surprising, considering the fact that I’ve watched the film at least 3 times EVERY Christmas for the past 8 years. What you could have worked in was a “But I didn’t say fudge.” reference. :):)
Seriously, was that whole 4-man bobsled team thing real? It’s hurting my head.
Art: Ottawa, Canada: Where it was -29 Celcius with windchill today. Brr! And here I was just enjoying the global warming non-winter. : (
KJB,
Try Ghirardelli hot chocolate mixes! They mix with milk and are to die for!
Oh. But wait… Ghirardelli is kinda tough for the decoder ring, isn’t it?
It’s a code unto itself!
ooooo – Willy-babe – how much into character did you get while being Wes – I mean – did you smile for days if there was a script where Wes did something cool ???
that is my KITT-question for you…
Tish
Spacewriter:
I have tried those Ghiradelli mixes. They rule, but are not filled with lots of healthy vitamins and nutrients.
Hmm…. (too much potential).
Wil? Is this an imitation-leather interior?
If I lean on your horn, will it really explode with…sound?
heheheh couldn’t RESIST!!!
hehehehehehe!!! Cool as HELL!
to Spacewriter and KJB…
three words (and three letters …)
Dutch Drinking Chocolate – O M G !!!
Tish
Re: Ghirardelli mixes
Well, I don’t rely on them for my daily health fix… that’s what the collection of fruits and vegies is for . But, on a cold, blustery night, they do hit the spot, especially when consumed in front of a nice little log fire, and a bit of nice music playing in the stereo.
Even better if it’s snowing out!
Ahhh, yes, but does this Dutch taste sensation still offer a decoder ring after all this time?
Methinks not.
haHA!
don’t know that the Dutch have decoder rings … maybe you get a miniture clog on a keyring or something …
Tish
No, but if you get the good Dutch drink in Amsterdam, I’m sure they would have some nice OTHER goodies on offer. Forget the decoder pen. 😉
No decoder rings, but now they’ve got all sorts of cheesy commercials to get a new generation of kids to drink their Ovaltine!
I always thought it had a weird aftertaste, myself….
… with or without batteries?
*ponders*
Tish
They’ve got decoder doohickies! I’ve seen them on the can! Ovaltine is as goofy and subversive as ever.
Mmmm, More Ovaltine, Please!
Wil!
I thought I was the *only* person who remembered that about Universal Studios! I remember being freaked out about seeing KITT there just answering questions. To tell you the truth I can’t even remember what I asked him.
As a side note, I also remember on that trip to U-Studios, I met some cheesey guys in Transformer suits. It sucked. The guy wasn’t even a good Starscream. Remembering back on it, they actually looked like those corny robots from the Power Rangers.
Ok, off my memory lane trip. Time for bed.
Milo is crunchier…
and if you add it to icecream with a spoon of instant expresso – can keep you up for two days straight.
But I believe that the USA does not know of this… oh and has more vits then Ovaltine
😛
Tish
Off the subject here… but did anyone hear about that guy who is facing up to 20 years in prison for using the airplane bathroom during the last 30 minutes of the flight? The sky marshalls arrested him, and made the rest of the passengers put their hands on their heads until they were docked at the gate.
Does this worry anyone?
Guess he had too much Ovaltine during the flight
Kendoka, don’t get me started. 🙂
I remember walking past KITT when I was 11 years old. I wanted to ask him if he ever gets tired of Michael sitting in there and stinking up the car when he passed gas. My mom pulled me out of the line when I told her my question. My mom always did hold me back.
*grrrrrs*
I used to be grateful that I didn’t live in a police state…but now that the Prez is cutting funding to healthcare to fund his undeclared war, I’ll probably die anyway. d:
Yeah, that’s disturbing.
So is Yancy Butler, but in a different way.
Melli,
Isn’t it like all mothers to suppress us just at the point of ultimate knowledge? You had the answer to THE question within your grasp when BOOM. Repression rears its ugly head.
P.S. do you realize that when I add an “S” to your name, you become Smelli?
Ooooh, the ironic goodness…
You know, Melli, you could totally do some sort of really offensive art installation that the right-wingers would want to ban, and you could totally blame your mom.
“This is an expression of my mother’s repression of my need to ask about Michael Knight’s farts”
Do I actually become Smelly or is it just smelli? I am concerned. When I add an “s” to Chris it just looks silly.
Am I the only one disturbed with Britney Spears Movie “Crossroads”? There are starving children in Africa and she gets to make a bad movie?!
Wil,
Isn’t that just like a man. Blame the woman.
Wil, then when my art is banned everywhere and I am a starving artist I will have to run to my mom to feed me and clothe me… She would enjoy the irony in all that.
Hey, there were starving people in Africa when Mariah Carey made her bad movie and when Madonna made her 5 bad movies. What’s the big difference?
Britney Spears gets to make bad movies because she is SatanSpawn ™.
Heck, there are starving people in the United States, and the President is still pulling more money from everywhere to start trouble in other countries.
Difference is that I now want to make a bad movie.
I thought that was Adam Sandler’s excuse.
Really now? To the best of my knowledge, Kitt was never equiped with the ability to smell. Unlike Data’s emotion chip, they never did have an episode where Kitt was given a special device to smell with. (Please correct me if I am wrong.) However, if Mr Danials was stuffed under the dashboard or in the back seat with a mike during the filming, then there could be a problem.
Kitt would have been a fun car most the time, but not one I would want to make out in!
Yeah, but can he speak Bocce?
Posted by: wil on February 11, 2002 08:04 PM
Wow, Wil.
That took balls.
discussions on chocolate drinks, toilets, farts and modern art …
all in all a good time
+++ QUICK POLL +++
(1) How many women think that Legolas (Orlando Bloom) is too sexy???
(2) How many men are sick of hearing woman harp on about ‘the damn elf’ ???
btw KJB & I have plans to kidnap him and start a male harem…
Tish
Why not? Did Kitt seem to you to be a back-seat driver type personality?
very true…(Michale is making out with a woman in the car)
KITT: Michael it would be wiser if you reached underneath the shirt to remove the bra.
I grew up in Columbus, Ohio.
No Cedar Point, No Paramount’s Kings Island (but I did love pissing the Klingons off)- just OSU and COSI (interactive science museum).
So instead of a talking car, I spent the night with Jaws.
Yes the shark- the full length moveable shark from the movie.
Even touched it’s lip.
What a night that was being only 10 years old and sleeping only 3 feet away from this creature.
Prolly explains why I’m so weird.. well in part.
^_^
-K
Personally, Tish, it was all over for me when I found out that the blond hair was a wig.
Hmm… Interesting MissKitty. I actually used to sleep with a blow-up plastic human-sized dinosaur that I used to…well… nevermind.
A wig, yes. But let’s not forget, he had a mohawk underneath it.
my Knight Rider anecdote…
A few years back, I spent a year volunteering in a small mountain town in Ecuador. I had a chance to spend a week with an indigenous family who lived way out in the middle of nowhere (I mean the bus drops you off on the side of the road, then you hike for 5 miles into the backcountry, turn left at the cows, right at the chickens, you get the idea.) This community has virtually no contact with the outside world, save for hiking into town for the farmer’s market once a week. Anyway, one family in this small community had a television set. So once a week, the whole village would gather at that family’s home to watch their favorite program…none other than Knight Rider! All the girls had a crush on David Hasselhoff, and everyone thought that most people in the USA had cars like KITT.
Globalization at its best, folks. 🙂
Wil-
God do I remember the good old days sitting inside KITT’s magnificent “cockpit” asking him the most innane, assinine questions. And I was 12, at the time. I remember, KITT was sitting out in the open, and the Delorean from Back to the Future was sitting under a tarp for all to oggle. I even sat through the A-Team Stunt Show watching that badass van dodging bombs and landmines. I must say, it didn’t get any better. Thanks for such a wild trip down memory lane. Ahhh….