KITT

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.

Discover more from WIL WHEATON dot NET

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

301 thoughts on “KITT”

  1. another one for ya……..
    TRANSFORMERS!!!!
    Wow, didn’t realise that I loved so many programmes in the 80’s…. at the end of the 80’s I was only 10!!
    But that is one of the programmes that sticks in my mind… I just thought the voices were really cool!! LOL
    I really should get something for this problem I’m developing!! LOL
    Alright peeps!

  2. Jessica,
    Vodka (lots), grape juice (for colour) and Baby Duck is a Purple Jesus Punch. for a more refined taste subsitute 4 Aces (wino water) for the grape juice. Serve well chilled so you don’t have to taste it on the way down or up as the case may be.
    Canadian 0812

  3. I saw William Daniels on Broadway in “1776” back around 1972 or thereabouts (and in the video ever since it came out).
    To hell with KITT.
    William Daniels is – and always will be – the definitive John Adams. 🙂
    ADAMS: I feel like such a fool.
    FRANKLIN: That’s good for you, John.

  5. I’ve been lurking around for the past couple of months and first have to say, Wil, great job with the site….two thumbs up!
    Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled program…
    I remember those days of Universal Studios and I actually got to sit in KITT……I really wanted to ask him some questions but my brother hogged all the questions. Oh well, I’m pretty much over that but I have to say that it had to be one of the coolest things I ever did 🙂
    Speaking of the 80’s, anyone else remember the show Airwolf? Had to be one of my fave shows next to Knight Rider, Transformers (Robots in disguise!), Thundercats, and Voltron…….dude, the 80’s had the best shows!!!

  6. Jon: My god, I actually DO remember Bionic Six–I used to really like the villain on the show because he just didn’t seem to take the whole villain thing that seriously.

  7. I’m so late with this… Oh well.
    A part of my soul died when KR was taken off the air, but it was reborn the day I touched KITT at Universal Studios. KITT really talks! It’s not an actor! It CAN’T be an actor! It just can’t be.
    William Daniels is just a cover and Speed Racer LIVES! The truth is out there.

  8. Gail!! Get out of my head!! ” I so wanted to be Cheetarah! I used to run up and down the garden so fast thinking I
    was approaching cheetah-like speed.”

  9. Hey Jon,
    Mine’s short for Jonathan also.
    How do we know we’re not the same person?
    I *know* we can have some fun with this somehow ; )

  11. Just did a little research on the whole Super Knight Rider 3000 movie…. It looks like it is due out in October of 2002, same as the new Star Trek Movie…could October be any better 🙂

  13. Actually, Mr. Daniels did not play KITT…KITT played Dr. Erlich on St. Or-Elsewhere…
    And, yes, Wil, I *have* no life…

  15. GAAAHHHH!!! Mr Belvedere did the voice of KITT??? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Well, thanks for ruining my memories of Knight Rider Wil.
    Where is that D@mn line from:
    “Fuck! Even in the future nothing works.”

  17. Thundercats, She-Ra, He-man, Lady Lovelylocks, My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite…
    Was the Bionic Six that family who had amazing powers, and the mom was psychic or something, and they sang a song on their parent’s anniversary:
    “Happy anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary, happy Aaaaaniversary!”?
    I’m going nuts.

  18. “I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am the out-of-controller!”
    Being off-topic is good Twitch. 🙂
    His only weapon… 600 horses of fuel-injected vengeance.
    Oh yeah baby.

  19. Thank you Mandy! I was starting to wonder if that went completely over everyone’s head. And, hey, Mad Max was released in ’80, wasn’t it? I love my new Aussie dialogue DVD!

  22. Gods- I was about to freak that no one mentioned Voltron.
    But FOR GODS SAKES!!!
    What about Danger Mouse?
    Also an early 90s shout out to the Tommorow People- Brittish Science Fiction rocks.. thankfully the New Zealander’s picked up the ball with show’s like “The Tribe”
    Nick kicked soo much ass for kids.
    Damn the Cartoon Network for building up soo much good cartoonage and then tossing it away!
    (I really didn’t expect them to show Sailor Moon SS and Stars though- But I’m grateful for Cowboy Bebop- Showtime should freaking pick up Trigun.. opps too much Anime stuff pouring out- my bad)
    -K
    Power and Chaos!
    Big Fire!

  23. I wondered if anyone was going to mention the tribe, now theres a program that rocks.
    I was thinking about programmes I used to watch as a kid, does anyone remember MASK. I loved ulesses ( how ever you spell it!), there was gummy bears and care bears, my little pony (skinny and boney), Batman and Robin (really cheesy), Brick a Brack, the list is endless.
    I dont suppose anyones remembered the name of that programm I meantioned in my last post.
    Spike

  26. Wait wait wait…KITT isn’t there anymore?
    BULLSHIT!
    I remember sitting in KITT at Universal, and it made my day. I also one time sat in the actual Back to the Future DeLorean. They forgot to lock it or something, so I was chillin’ in the Marty seat, flux capacitor and all.
    Then some guy ran over and told me to get out of it. But hell, it wasn’t like it was gated off or something.

  27. Showing my age here (and beating a dying horse… er… thread), but, while I recognise a bunch of those mentioned, in my time it was Super Friends (“Wonder Twins Power, activate!” “Form of… a wombat!”), Hong Kong Phooey (Number-One Super Guy!), Scoobey Doo, of course Bugs, Daffy and the gang, Spiderman, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Fat Albert, The Flintstones, The Pink Panther, and Speed Buggy. Whew!
    And “word” out to Bill Bixby, as the Hulk and the dudes from “Emergency!”
    Check out: http://www.yesterdayland.com/
    —
    “…and there he was trying to scream without a face.”
    [points to listeners plate with fork]
    “You going to eat that?” — Goose
    “Mad Max” is porn for car junkies…

  29. i’ve just been flicking through the channels on SKY digital and ……… OH MY GOD!!!
    CAPTAIN CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVVEMAN!!!!!
    I loved that show….. along with Dungeons and Dragons (anyone else think Eric was mega cute!!!?? LOL)I used to want a unicorn like the one they had on there!!!
    Over and out!

  30. i’ve just been flicking through the channels on SKY digital and ……… OH MY GOD!!!
    CAPTAIN CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVVEMAN!!!!!
    I loved that show….. along with Dungeons and Dragons (anyone else think Eric was mega cute!!!?? LOL)I used to want a unicorn like the one they had on there!!!
    Over and out!

  34. > Where is that D@mn line from:
    > “Fuck! Even in the future nothing works.”
    That line is from the Mell Brooks movie “Spaceballs”
    > He got new arrows when a crow would fly by and
    > drop a feather, which would change into arrows
    > when it hit the ground. I’m wondering if it was
    > Wizards and Warriors, but I can’t remember…
    I don’t remember anything like that from the show “Wizards and Warriors”, which I used to watch religiously with my parents. (Did it used to come on after “Amazing Stories” or that time travel show with the kid?) But the crow dropping a feather for new arrows thing sounds familer…
    Don’t think anything like that happened on V…

  36. I remember that! Don’t tell me KITT isn’t there anymore! I will be so crushed!
    They also had the BTTF2 Delorean there that you could pose with. I have a picture of me with it somewhere.

  38. William Daniels rocks!
    Let me repeat that:
    WILLIAM DANIELS ROCKS!!!
    Do yourself a favor. Run out to your favorite video rental store and find: ==”1776″==. His performance as ‘John Adams’ (against Howard DeSilva’s ‘Ben Franklin’) is utterly hysterical. One of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen.
    And yes, I’m aware Brent Spiner reprised the role on Broadway. I don’t wanna diss Data, but (judging from the album) it ain’t even a close comparison — Daniels *owns* that role.

  39. Megalion,overwhelmingly glad that it isn’t, I mean, wasn’t just me that did that! I suspect you didn’t keep playing with My Little Ponies (secretly, until now that is) until you were 17. See, I bet that you were NEVER that sad!
    There’s a band in Glasgow called the Cheetarahs, but IMHO they don’t live up to the magnificance of that name!
    I run more like Bagpuss than Cheetarah now *sigh*

  40. I went to US and talked to KITT when I was a kid.. I asked him how old he was, but my brother thought he would be a smart ass and catch the guy running the car, so he asked him to flip up his lights.. Lo and behold the lights flipped up.. Those US people thought of everything..

  41. I always remember when KITT came to Australia and I was so overjoyed by the thought of being able to go and talk to the car. It was one of those experiences I dont think I will ever forget. The old polaroid shot of me sitting in KITT is one I keep. Then when I went to US in the late 80’s there it was at Universal. I sat again and it was like an old acquaintance.
    Somehow the magic goes as you get older and to top it off the next time I went in 97 for my honeymoon I was all excited about showing my new bride. It was gone and the universal magic just lessened that little bit more.

  42. Miscellaneous comments on previous posts:
    C3PO did not introduce himself as “C3PO, human cyborg, relations.” He introduced himself as “C3PO, human/cyborg relations.” He is not a meat popsicle.
    I have to agree with RavinDave: William Daniels fans need to see the film version of the musical “1776”, made in 1972. Difficult to find, but someone always broadcasts it around the 4th of July. Remember Ken Howard as “The White Shadow”? He sings, too.
    But I’m sorry: AirWolf would leave nothing of KITT but a grease spot on the tarmac.

  43. Sweet damn. First you get me all nostalgic about the cylon space ship and now you get me all nostalgic about KITT and what’s more being crestfallen when I found out it wasn’t the voice of the car. This is getting scary. The next post I read better not be about my life too or I’m sueing you and taking my life back!

  44. It’s funny reading all the comments! I’m 18 Years old and I just have to say one thing: Since I was a young boy I love Knight Rider, exspecially KITT! If i should get rich, I’ll by a Ford Mustang just like KITT, i’m sure !!!!

  45. I’ve got an old photo of KITT parked on that platform overlooking the pond.
    Last I heard, KITT was sitting in a storage lot, fully exposed to the elements. And the birds have been none too kind. Sad, really.
    As for KITT vs. (anything), I’ve ran multiple simulations in the past. With exception for one opponent, the battle always seems to go down the same. KITT faces off his opponent. The opponent strikes first, delivering a tiny amount of damage. KITT returns the strike, usually with a full frontal assault. BAM! The opponent is nearly toast with a 70%-95% destruction count. KITT charges again and delivers a KO blow. The end. Even Airwolf went down in a blaze of…fire.
    So, who is this mysterious opponent that my battle engine says can defeat KITT, over and over and over? Sadly, it says Herbie, The Love Bug can…and with ease, to boot.
    Then again, this is the same battle engine that says the Enterprise can blow the Voyager to pieces and still only require a day’s worth of repairs in Dry Dock. (Well, there was that one battle where Voyager was only 2% intact and Janeway plows through the ^0%+ Enterprise’s saucer section at Warp 1 for some firey results. I suspect one Voyager room had life supports left. Though, who survived??? Probably Janeway, with her 158 victories and 1 loss track record.) And, when I asked it what numbers to play for the lottery, it eventually replied (Took a couple hours to kick out the results) “DONT PLAY”. I look at the results this engine produces and ponder if today’s computers aren’t already AI smart and just haven’t yet bothered to say, “Hi.”
    This message thread deserves a link in The Big List of Knight Rider Sites. ( http://www.knightrider.8m.com )

  47. night rider rules i am currently bilding k.i.t.t. for my own pleasure with all the effects except turbo boot
    and super pursuit mode bummer
    complete with the voice cool huh!!!! k.i.t.t. is awsome let u know when its finished e-mail me

  48. I remember watching knight rider when i was a kid in the 80s. I have allways wanted to have this car but never thought that when i got older and had a good paying job that i could build the car of my dreams.Well being 25 know me and my friend who does autobody helped me with this convershion lets just say having a hard top car converted to a t-top car can be kinda spendy but fun to do to a 1984 trans am. I hope to see knight rider back on nbc and get this tv show passed on to the new generation of younger viewers. Having my car at car shows and just driving it around town is really fun,having the scanner on and seeing people my age and younger kids allways look twice and usually ask does the car talk. As long people still build thtse cars knight rider will bearound for a wile

  49. I am john I fell in love with Michael the first time i saw him he is so cute his cock is big i bet i love you michael knight will u suck mine if i suck yours 🙂

  50. EVER WANTED TO DRIVE KITT WELL NOW YOU CAN MAKE YOUR VERY OWN BY VISITING MARKS CUSTOM KITS .CO.UK WHERE YOU CAN BUY ALL THE PARTS FOR YOUR DREAM CAR BY THE WAY KITT IN REAL LIFE IS A PONTIAC FIREBIRD SO CHECK IT OUT YOU WILL BE STUNNED

Comments are closed.

Related Posts

Recent Posts