MKSP: 109 Trust Doesn't Rust
Michael Knight Sex Project: 109 Trust Doesn't Rust
This is the first episode with KARR, Wilton Knight's first attempt at a computer-controlled automobile. KARR scared the bejabbers out of me when this show originally aired and I have to admit that I'm sufficiently a wimp that I do get tense when they're going up against an amoral adversary with such a close match for KITT's abilities.
There is no GoTW this week, but Bonnie makes up for the "lack" by being especially awesome. And I think I remember a bit of Michael/Bonnie UST here. Maybe.
So anyway, this isn't really a Sex Project-able episode but it's an important one and a slashy one. Which is good enough for me. :D
After-viewing note: There are more notes, and more screencaps, here than usual. I spent a fair amount of time on the bad guys, Rev and Tony, because the *episode* gave them a lot of screen time. Definitely more than normal. And I did some deep (heh) pondering along the way. And, well, I was just into it.
--Do I say every time how much I love this show's music and opening credits, or do I just think it?
--This episode starts with an extended sequence with our two bad guys--a pair of down and out drunken losers Tony and Rev. "Rev" is short for "The Reverend" because he pops out bible quotes (and moral reservations) at odd intervals. But he's a weak personality (like wet tissue), so he goes along with Tony regardless. Rev and Tony are breaking into the "Future Site" of the Knight Museum of Technology".
--Why, pray tell, do they have a being as dangerous as KARR stored in a building with no more security on it than one guard who's never fired his sidearm and a lock that you might find on your house? Tony just pried the door open with a mini-crowbar.
--Oooo!! That's kind of a nice shot of KITT's dash as Michael sees it--dual monitors to the right, tachometer in that neat curve. The yellow box over the steering colum is showing that KITT's in Normal Cruise right now and the black space over that is where the voice panel is located. Sweet!
--Okay, this is making no sense. Really. Michael and KITT are on their way to the museum site to "secure" it (which makes me wonder why they bother with the guard) because the city's taking possession tomorrow. They're not really turning over the building WITH KARR IN IT to the city are they? Hopefully there's a nuance that I'm missing.
--KITT's bitching about the fact that they're running this errand at 2 am and he needs to recharge his power packs.
--Hee!! Apparently they're doing this task in the middle of the night because Michael spent the afternoon visiting "that Rosalie woman". :D Michael is quick to correct him that it's Roseyln. "Rosalie's the other one. She lives down by the beach." (And seriously, KITT has a perfect memory, he knows which girl they were seeing, he's just registering a protest here. :D)
--KITT: "Michael, why do you need to socialize with so many women? Wouldn't one be sufficient?" Michael: "KITT, you're beginning to sound like my mother here. I mean, what's wrong with a little companionship? Huh? You can understand that." KITT: "No, Michael, I cannot. When you're one of a kind, companionship does not compute."
--Ooo!! Nice! I'm feeling a bit of self-indulgence coming on.
--And we're back to Tony and Rev, behaving like all incredibly stupid drunken thieves everywhere and *turning on the lights* because every thief wants more light to work in. And they created a big ugly short when they flipped the switch labeled "Laboratory 3 Danger Do Not Engage Power".
--Rev is the one of the two with any sense. He keeps telling Tony not to do stuff (don't break into the building, don't flip those circuits, don't break into the room with the big red sign that says "Danger"), and Tony doesn't listen to him. Unfortunately, he's got sense but no spine.
--Eventually, when KARR's scanner starts going with a really rather creepy noise somewhat reminiscent of a freight train, they decide to run, but it's too late. Because, erm, apparently KARR can control the doors to the laboratory he's in? Huh? At least they close just as Rev and Tony get to them.
--Michael and KITT arrive. Michael gets out and, not seeing the guard, walks toward the building. KITT's following him--on his own decision which I just love. Michael didn't give him orders or anything but clearly expects him to be there.
--Michael spots the open door that Tony and Rev left (their skills as professional criminals obviously account for why they're so down on their luck at the beginning of the episode). KITT's a little reluctant about going that way because he's getting "some unusual readings".
--KITT: "They appear to be sensor echoes of my own telemetry. But that's impossible." Michael: "Buddy, if it's impossible ignore it." ::thwaps Michael:: Listen to your hyper-intelligent and capable partner when he says something's weird, Michael.
--It's a kind of neat shot of KITT though. At least it is on my computer full size. I bet it won't look like much here.
--Heee!! KITT: Michael: "I have a strange feeling about this." Michael: "What are you talking about? You don't have feelings." KITT: "I know. That's what's strange about it."
-So Michael goes into the creepy big warehouse with lab equipment and leaves KITT outside to back him up. (I thought Tony and Rev said it was empty. I guess they're just too dumb to realize the value of electronics.)
--Ooo!! :D
--I thought Rev and Tony turned on the lights? Maybe the short when KARR activated burned them out again.
--More Oooo!
--The guard's there, crumpled on the floor, but not dead. I just saw his hand twitch. Oh and now he's saying "Lab 3, Lab 3".
--KARR busts out of Lab 3, nearly running over Michael and the guard before bursting out the building and driving past KITT. Which would be an awesome picture--except that it's basically two black cars in the dark on a black night. :D It looks cool on the screen but I think a cap would look like a square of blackness with one red rectangle that's KARR's scanner.
--Michael runs out with the guard slung over his shoulder. Since I don't want to be a bitch, I'm not going to ask how the guard actually got hurt--he was *outside* the lab that Rev and Tony and KARR were in.
--KITT: "Michael, that car! It...it could have been my twin. It was exactly like me." Michael: "Not exactly, buddy. It almost killed me." Eee!
--And the next morning, Michael, Devon and Bonnie are at the mansion and Michael's demanding answers. :D
--Devon calls KARR Wilton's crowning achievement. "The Knight Automated Roving Robot." Devon: "KITT's primary function is to serve you and keep you from harm." ::squeaks:: Bonnie: "But KARR, the earlier model, had no such programming. Its primary function was self-preservation."
--Michael's still ticked about not having been told and Bonnie shoves responsibility for that square onto Devon. "Don't look at me. That was before my time." Devon shifts responsibility onto Wilton's conveniently dead shoulders and there it will have to stay.
--Oooo!! Nice!
--Okay, apparently Wilton's company was stolen from him by Tanya and her gang. He had KARR put in storage, though Devon thought it was dismantled. And this all happened during the distraction and confusion of saving Michael and preparing KITT for him. So apparently no one alive knew exactly *what* was in Lab 3, just that it was bad enough to have warning signs on the door. That does make more sense. Boy it would have sucked for the people who were making the museum to go on in there and find him though.
--Devon's describing KARR as self-serving, animalistic, and dangerous. If the people who now have him (I guess Michael saw Rev and Tony in the car as it blew past) give him information that makes KARR feel threatened, he could be a hazard. Righty-o. They all agree that they need to get it back.
--Everyone say it with me: "Gosh Bonnie's pretty."
--So how come the *earlier* model car got the fancier and more advanced looking voice panel? Actually that's easy to answer--KITT was obviously constructed somewhat quickly, in about six to nine months it sounds like, so while he's got all the functionality of the prototype, they probably didn't bother with the purely cosmetic details.
--I almost feel for Tony and Rev here--waking up from a Bad Drunk to discover that they really do have the scary car and it wasn't all a dream.
--Tony and Rev come to terms with the fact that KARR's not just a car. There is a bottle of booze in Rev's hands, though I confess it's hard to see. That does appear to be their usual coping mechanism.
--Woah, KARR's pretty down on Wilton Knight, his creator who then turned on him.
--Rev: "You can't count on nobody except me and Tony." Like I said, Rev's got a glimmer of sense, though his brains are pretty well pickled in alcohol.
--KARR: "I have checked my data on basic human desires. Therefore I understand your needs. ... You wish to eat. ... You wish to drink. ... You wish to reproduce. Which one first?" Tony and Rev are pretty much agreeing with him every step of the way. :D
--KARR gets a little tetchy when they mention seeing another car just like him. "I am the prototype of the car of the future. What you saw was merely an inferior production line model. A pale copy of the original."
--They decide on food first and go to a drive-in. Tony and Rev are too boiled in booze to remember what they want to order and while they're trying to sort out what "that breakfast thing" is called, KARR's working up a righteous head of indignation that the "Ringmaster" (the vaguely humanoid microphone for the drive through) is a primitive remote devoid of locomotion.
--"Brace for collision." I remember this precise scene from 26 years ago. KARR schmeisses the Ringmaster. :D
--Rev really does show these entirely pickled bits of wisdom. KARR's there basking in pride at having been right about the ringmaster all along and they're trying to convince him to leave before the cops get there. So Rev likened "the slammer" to that room that KARR was locked in...and that was the perfect motivation to get them out of there.
--Oh!! ::flails:: KITT: "You're awfully quiet. Is something bothering you?" Michael: "Yeah, buddy, something is. I'm a little worried about you." KITT: "About me?" Michael: "Yeah. This whole thing has been a bit of a shock, you know? Learning about another car. Having to hunt it down. I mean, if I'm a little shook up, I can imagine how you feel." KITT: "Michael, really. By now you should know me better than that. I admit that I was somewhat surprised to discover that I was not in fact a prototype vehicle. But..." Michael: "There. You see? You're upset." ::hugs them both::
--KITT: "Instead of being a problem-ridden prototype, I'm the new, improved model." :D Oh, KITT I love you!
--Okay, so having just heard that a black TransAm is being pursued through the city after having smashed up the drive-in, Michael and KITT head in that direction. Naturally. But doesn't it occur to either of them that they're going to be mistaken for the black TransAm that busted the place up?
--Rev's trying to convince Tony to get rid of KARR but Tony being a stupider but more forceful personality is convincing him that with KARR's help they can start going for *bigger* scores than the penny-ante stuff they've been up to. "Rev, with this car, we could go all the way. We could go for the brass ring." (Why doesn't anyone want a *gold* ring?)
--And Michael shows up at the drive in and, after a moment spent looking very good...
--...promptly gets busted. (And yeah, I count seven guns on him for having, ostensibly, busted up a drive through without actually having hurt a *soul*. Apparently this town has some very bored police officers.)
--The next scene has one of the cops in the semi with Devon, Michael, KITT and Bonnie's pretty tush. (I'm sure the rest of her's there somewhere, but really her tush is most of what we see. And it's rather nice, though not in Sophie's league (Leverage).)
--Cop: "Maybe until this blows over with the stolen car, you should paint yours another color." Oh, yeah, KITT will love that suggestion. Devon: "We'll take it under advisement, officer. Thank you so much." :D
--Bonnie's making room in KITT's engine compartment for a new mystery component. I personally find it a little bit skeevy that neither Bonnie nor Devon are prepared at this time to tell KITT what that component is or will be. Basically they're doing significant surgery without getting informed consent. This distresses me.
--EEEEee!! ::flails:: This is wonderful!! KITT: "Michael, considering the confusion of the law enforcement authorities regarding myself and KARR, I'll understand it if you want to work without me until this crisis is over." Michael: "No, buddy. That's okay. Remember, I had a lot of partners when I was a cop. You're the best of any of them." KITT: "Thank you, Michael. I, of course, make no such generalization about you. However I project odds of a thousand to one against my meeting a more compatible human than yourself." Michael: "Thanks, buddy." Oh how I love these two!! ::goes to a very very very happy place::
--And KITT makes a reference to Xeno's paradox. Because KARR is as powerful and as nearly indestructible as KITT--they are the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. (Here I reveal my failure as a philosopher--that's not a paradox at all to me. Honestly. It's clear to me that would result is an almighty big explosion (whee!! Sara want big boom!) and both would be destroyed. Hello.)
--Ooo, I like the way they got the reflections on the glass to frame Michael's face!
--Has KITT *always* been calling Devon "Mr. Miles" and I just missed it?
--Ah, Tony and Rev are setting their sights higher and using KARR to bust into a bank for them.
--Didn't KITT bust out through that exact same window escaping from Tanya and her minions in the pilot?
--Well, Tony and Rev don't exactly have *good* taste in clothes now but at least they're *clean* (both clothes and body). It's an improvement.
--During a montage of Rev and Tony fondling money and wearing progressively nicer clothes. Rev: "I'm gonna buy me my own church." Honey, I think God sends you to Hell if you build a church with money you stole by driving your indestructible car into bank vaults.
--Heee!! OMG Madelinestjust, I found one of the bits where they're using footage of KITT in the stars from "Slammin' Sammy's...." as stock footage!! This is KARR. Though I imagine KARR would think of a thousand painful ways to kill someone who stuck silver stars on him. :D
--We've montaged our way through an unknown span of time. Long enough that the headlines in the paper are saying "Crime Wave Continues". No one's been hurt, which is possibly Rev's doing, more likely just good luck. So I'm wondering what Michael's been up to all this time...why hasn't he been able to stop them or at least have Dramatic Encounters with them? Rev and Tony have one big thing on their side--they're still drunks and the battle of personalities between them and KARR means that as a collective they behave somewhat erratically. They appear to be going for banks, coin dealers, etc. In a big city (I've always assumed the mansion to be in the greater LA area somewhere), that's just an awful lot of potential targets and Michael can't cover all of them at once. But at this point he should have surveillance footage from the drive-in (which should show two guys in the car). They might have been able to run fingerprints from the warehouse. He should know who's "driving" KARR by a week (or more) down the line and be able to make some good guesses as to where they'll strike next. He was a *cop*, a detective, for heaven's sake.
--Hee!! ::snort:: Devon and Bonnie's Very Dangerous Plan (dangerous to Michael and to KITT) is to use *this* on KARR. It looks like a giant water gun, to me, but apparently it's a super-fancy laser. Powerful enough to send a burst of energy into KARR's only vulnerable spot, the front scanner, which is protected by an alloy grill. (Is KITT's? I don't remember seeing that.)
--And I'll say it again, "Gosh bonnie's cute"! I can't tell you how many hours I spent trying to get my hair to do anything even remotely like that. Without ever having the slightest bit of success.
--OMG it's like shades of the briefing in the Yavin Base! Heee!! Devon: "Only a dead-on shot can work. Then the scanner will blow..." Luke: "I used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16. They're not much bigger than two meters." Michael: "Well, seems doable." LOL!
--It's interesting to me how calm Michael seems about all this. It's like he's really not taking KARR all that seriously yet.
--Mmmm!!
--And the briefing goes on. Devon: "To perform this task you must be directly in front of KARR. For maximum effect you must fire the laser at a distance no greater than 100 yards. And you must hold the laser on target for at least two full seconds." Michael: "Two seconds. A hundred yards. KITT and KARR can travel a hundred yards in two seconds." Devon: "Yes. That's the problem." It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home.
--Well, Rev and Tony are celebrating another successful robbery when KARR, the world's biggest buzz-kill, comes along to harsh their squee. He needs maintenance, and not just any maintenance, he needs an experienced cybernetic technician. KITT's technician.
--And Rev, who's apparently not opposed to *theft* on a huge scale, or property damage on an equally huge scale, draws his moral line at kidnapping. Well, okay, dude, it's nice to know you have one somewhere. Tony: "You're getting a conscience kinda late in the game, you know that?" Hee!
--Lord this episode you can totally slash the bad guys. Tony's basically wooing Rev along with promises of them doing one more big score and then flying down to Rio just the two of them.
--Devon and Michael are discussing the laser thing and the security alarm starts to go off. Michael immediately checks in with KITT of course, just to make me happy.
--Ooo! Lucky pause!
--Well, Tony talked Rev into believing they weren't going to do the kidnapping, then snitched Bonnie right out of the...do they really use the *semi* when everyone's at the mansion? I always assumed they had a garage when they weren't on the road.
--Michael and Devon are running across a rather attractive grassy and wooded hill, apparently trying to catch KITT on the driveway. Which is making me very confused about the geography of the mansion and its grounds. Michael's parking space is somewhere that's apparently a rather hefty *schlep* from the main building. Quoi? That makes no sense.
--Devon sees a sleek black TransAm just as Michael's calling for KITT. Michael looks at it and from fifty yards away *knows* that's not KITT. ::squeaks::
--Michael jumps on top of KARR, though what he thinks he can do from up there, I'm not sure. But he's being all action hero-y and that's nice.
--Yay, and here comes KITT! Devon points out where KARR went with Bonnie and Michael. "Thank you, Mr. Miles, I'll take it from here." LOL!
--Eee!! KITT rescues Michael by driving into position so that Michael can jump onto KITT and climb in through a window.
--KARR: "You waste your time, my twin. You cannot triumph over a prototype. Desist your pursuit. You will be damaged." KITT: "KARR, I didn't know you cared."
--KARR, possibly being savvy, possibly just going back to the warehouse they seem to be camping in, I'm not sure, leads the chase into a residential area so that KITT and Michael have to end it lest innocent people get hurt. Michael, all hopped up on adrenaline and frustration, is not a camper of happiness.
--Gosh, KITT's pretty!
--Oops, the new laser's been installed in KITT (it's a tight fit in his engine compartment), but it hasn't been properly calibrated and it can't be fired until it has been. Bonnie's the only one who can do that. Poor Bonnie's definitely the prize that both teams want right now.
--Bonnie's there working on KARR and tries something and get's zapped for her trouble. KARR: "Do not attempt to sabotage me again. I will defend myself."
--Poor Bonnie, forced to work on KARR, and for low-lifes like Tony and Rev, though Rev is still sleeping and unaware that Tony and KARR kidnapped her.
--Yay Bonnie! She noticed Tony pointing out to Rev their "big score" in the newspaper and she convinces KARR to turn on his scanners so she can work on them--and see which article Tony was pointing to. She doesn't also seem to have thought about the fact that KITT can pick up KARR's sensors when they're active, but effectively she also made a beacon for KITT and Michael to find her. Go Bonnie!
--Tony and Rev are having a domestic dispute, in which Rev, with the glimmering of astuteness he's always shown, points out that the car has changed Tony.
--Rev starts going all Biblical on Tony blithering about an infernal machine and how they've got to stop it and talking about going to the police. So Tony kills him with a liquor bottle (and yes there's definitely something poetic there). In the distraction, because KARR was watching the fight too, Bonnie slips away.
--Tony, on discovering Bonnie's disappearance: "You hunk of tin! Didn't you see her?" KARR: "I was watching you deactivate the Rev. Was he malfunctioning?"
--I hope that when Tony winds out arrested the judge give him an extra ten years for wearing that shirt with that jacket. Assault with a deadly fashion sense. Grah!!
--Yay! And KITT and Michael get there just in time to keep Tony from going after Bonnie and possibly deactivating her too!
--Huzzah for Bonnie knowing where they're going!
--Tony appears to have been on pretty much the same trajectory that literature tells us that those who have made a pact with a demon wind out on. For example, compare Tony with Norman in Blood Ties--increasingly tacky but expensive clothes and fewer and fewer inhibitions and impulse control.
--KITT and Michael and Bonnie get to the warehouse where the gems are being stored while Tony and KARR are still inside. Oddly, Tony's not trying to *take* the gems. He's just ogling them and them putting them back in their boxes which he's putting back in the crates. No, really! Rev, sadly, appears to have been the brains of their operation.
--Michael: "KITT, are you ready?" KITT: "Aren't I always?" Hee!
--Michael tries to convince Bonnie to get out, but she's having none of it. With the laser uncalibrated she's the only one in with a chance of being able to fire it.
--I'm sure KITT placed himself there in front of the shipping entrance to the warehouse for some reason other than that it would look cool for KARR to jump out over him. Not sure what it was though.
--Woah, Michael! They said a hundred *yards*, not a hundred inches. And Bonnie was still fiddling with the laser anyway, so they couldn't even fire then. ::sighs::
--The police have managed to block off KARR so he has to go out by driving straight at KITT. At least I think that's the plan.
--Oh no, he's lining up for a run so he can jump over the police barricade, so in the interest of jettisoning excess weight, he ejects Tony. Yay! :D He will get arrested for wearing that awful outfit I've been having to look at for the last half hour.
--Bonnie misses with her two shots. Clearly she needed to have Obi Wan telling her to use the Force. Of course, KARR skied out of the way of one of them and jumped out of the way of the other.
--But, even with the laser now defunct, they're going after KARR. They're going to take a parallel road and try and get ahead of him and cut him off.
--Bonnie: "Michael, you're putting us on a collision course with KARR." KITT: "I noticed that too, Bonnie." :D
--KARR's on the rather scenic coast road along the California coast. Very nice! And they wind out driving straight toward each other.
--KARR's clearly not quite as indestructible as KITT--he took a bit of damage driving through the cinderblock wall into the warehouse.
--KARR: "KITT, I am warning you. Change course at once." KITT: "I am not in control, KARR." KARR: "Then tell the humans to turn away. This is folly, KITT."
--KARR: "Your lives mean nothing to me."
--Both Bonnie and KITT are totally in agreement with KARR that Michael should turn away.
--Bonnie: "Michael, you know all those times I've called you irresponsible and impulsive? I didn't mean it." Michael: "Bonnie, remember all those times I called you bossy and demanding? I didn't mean it either." KITT: "Michael? Bonnie?" Both: "Yes, KITT?" KITT: "Why are you lying to each other?" Oh, KITT, how I love you!
--Eeee!! And just when they're about to collide, KARR turns away and jumps *right* off the cliff! (Which begs the question why he didn't turn the other way, but I'm probably not supposed to ask that one.)
--And see, the immovable object/unstoppable force thing does make a pretty satisfactory explosion.
--Michael and Bonnie are, naturally, quite relieved and not having been killed. Pumped with adrenaline they turn toward each other, as people do when filled with "OMG, I'm still alive". They get this close (and no closer) before realizing that it would be a very bad idea.
--Ooo! KITT's looking mighty pretty there. :D
--Back at the mansion, Michael, KITT, Devon and Bonnie are in the semi enjoying some champagne. Well, KITT's not drinking the champagne, though it is a combustible liquid right? So presumably he could run on it.
--All of them want to know how Michael knew that KARR would lose the game of chicken. Michael pointed out that KARR's basic programming was to protect his own life, so in a head to head confrontation he would always chicken out. KITT: "Michael, I'm speechless." Devon: "A likely story." KITT: "No really. Michael, your logic in this case is totally illogical, and yet it's absolutely correct. This is just amazing." :D
--Eee!! Then Michael proposes a toast to KITT and, I *swear* invites him out on a date! I swear!! I love this part! Michael: "What do you say you and I go out for a drive? A little celebration of our own. Get you a little car wash, a little wax. Hey, I'll let you beat me at chess again. What do you say?" ::flails and flails and flails until my flailer is busted::
--And OMG the look Devon and Michael give each other, like they totally know that Michael's asking KITT out on a date (and not *Bonnie*, you note, despite the almost sort of semi USTy moment).
--KITT turns him down. "Thank you, Michael. But it has been a draining day and my power packs could use a rest."
--Fortunately, Michael takes rejection well.
--So they all leave, wishing KITT a good night.
--On the way out, Michael stops to ask "How's it feel to be one of a kind again?" KITT: "As you know, Michael, I do not have feelings. However, for want of a better expression, being one of a kind is a very familiar feeling." And Michael totally fails to get the significance of that. ::thwaps Michael::
--The episode ends with poor KITT all alone in the semi. "Being one of a kind is a very familiar feeling." Poor KITT!!
--I've got a plot bunny hopping around that would be a coda to this episode. I might tackle writing it as soon as I'm done with my Dam paper. :D
As there was no GoTW save Bonnie, and I've already given my opinion about Michael and Bonnie (no, but I won't argue strongly against the notion that they had a relationship of probably brief duration and parted amicably), I have a different sort of final summing up this time...
One of the things they kept harping on in this episode was that KITT and KARR had the same nearly indestructible shell, the same abilities, etc. etc. So KITT was up against his *twin* only without the care for human (Michael's) life that's central to KITT's programming. However, in comparing car vs. car they were failing to take into account the fact that KITT had Michael. (Technically KARR had Tony and Rev, though counting them as assets rather than liabilities is probably being needlessly generous.) For example, KITT would never have thought of the approach Michael took to defeating KARR. Neither would KARR. KITT's advantage in this supposed duel of equals was that he had a perfectly illogical but absolutely correct human to help him (putting the cars at the center of this for a moment) and that was a *huge* asset.
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This is the first episode with KARR, Wilton Knight's first attempt at a computer-controlled automobile. KARR scared the bejabbers out of me when this show originally aired and I have to admit that I'm sufficiently a wimp that I do get tense when they're going up against an amoral adversary with such a close match for KITT's abilities.
There is no GoTW this week, but Bonnie makes up for the "lack" by being especially awesome. And I think I remember a bit of Michael/Bonnie UST here. Maybe.
So anyway, this isn't really a Sex Project-able episode but it's an important one and a slashy one. Which is good enough for me. :D
After-viewing note: There are more notes, and more screencaps, here than usual. I spent a fair amount of time on the bad guys, Rev and Tony, because the *episode* gave them a lot of screen time. Definitely more than normal. And I did some deep (heh) pondering along the way. And, well, I was just into it.
--Do I say every time how much I love this show's music and opening credits, or do I just think it?
--This episode starts with an extended sequence with our two bad guys--a pair of down and out drunken losers Tony and Rev. "Rev" is short for "The Reverend" because he pops out bible quotes (and moral reservations) at odd intervals. But he's a weak personality (like wet tissue), so he goes along with Tony regardless. Rev and Tony are breaking into the "Future Site" of the Knight Museum of Technology".
--Why, pray tell, do they have a being as dangerous as KARR stored in a building with no more security on it than one guard who's never fired his sidearm and a lock that you might find on your house? Tony just pried the door open with a mini-crowbar.
--Oooo!! That's kind of a nice shot of KITT's dash as Michael sees it--dual monitors to the right, tachometer in that neat curve. The yellow box over the steering colum is showing that KITT's in Normal Cruise right now and the black space over that is where the voice panel is located. Sweet!
--Okay, this is making no sense. Really. Michael and KITT are on their way to the museum site to "secure" it (which makes me wonder why they bother with the guard) because the city's taking possession tomorrow. They're not really turning over the building WITH KARR IN IT to the city are they? Hopefully there's a nuance that I'm missing.
--KITT's bitching about the fact that they're running this errand at 2 am and he needs to recharge his power packs.
--Hee!! Apparently they're doing this task in the middle of the night because Michael spent the afternoon visiting "that Rosalie woman". :D Michael is quick to correct him that it's Roseyln. "Rosalie's the other one. She lives down by the beach." (And seriously, KITT has a perfect memory, he knows which girl they were seeing, he's just registering a protest here. :D)
--KITT: "Michael, why do you need to socialize with so many women? Wouldn't one be sufficient?" Michael: "KITT, you're beginning to sound like my mother here. I mean, what's wrong with a little companionship? Huh? You can understand that." KITT: "No, Michael, I cannot. When you're one of a kind, companionship does not compute."
--Ooo!! Nice! I'm feeling a bit of self-indulgence coming on.
--And we're back to Tony and Rev, behaving like all incredibly stupid drunken thieves everywhere and *turning on the lights* because every thief wants more light to work in. And they created a big ugly short when they flipped the switch labeled "Laboratory 3 Danger Do Not Engage Power".
--Rev is the one of the two with any sense. He keeps telling Tony not to do stuff (don't break into the building, don't flip those circuits, don't break into the room with the big red sign that says "Danger"), and Tony doesn't listen to him. Unfortunately, he's got sense but no spine.
--Eventually, when KARR's scanner starts going with a really rather creepy noise somewhat reminiscent of a freight train, they decide to run, but it's too late. Because, erm, apparently KARR can control the doors to the laboratory he's in? Huh? At least they close just as Rev and Tony get to them.
--Michael and KITT arrive. Michael gets out and, not seeing the guard, walks toward the building. KITT's following him--on his own decision which I just love. Michael didn't give him orders or anything but clearly expects him to be there.
--Michael spots the open door that Tony and Rev left (their skills as professional criminals obviously account for why they're so down on their luck at the beginning of the episode). KITT's a little reluctant about going that way because he's getting "some unusual readings".
--KITT: "They appear to be sensor echoes of my own telemetry. But that's impossible." Michael: "Buddy, if it's impossible ignore it." ::thwaps Michael:: Listen to your hyper-intelligent and capable partner when he says something's weird, Michael.
--It's a kind of neat shot of KITT though. At least it is on my computer full size. I bet it won't look like much here.
--Heee!! KITT: Michael: "I have a strange feeling about this." Michael: "What are you talking about? You don't have feelings." KITT: "I know. That's what's strange about it."
-So Michael goes into the creepy big warehouse with lab equipment and leaves KITT outside to back him up. (I thought Tony and Rev said it was empty. I guess they're just too dumb to realize the value of electronics.)
--Ooo!! :D
--I thought Rev and Tony turned on the lights? Maybe the short when KARR activated burned them out again.
--More Oooo!
--The guard's there, crumpled on the floor, but not dead. I just saw his hand twitch. Oh and now he's saying "Lab 3, Lab 3".
--KARR busts out of Lab 3, nearly running over Michael and the guard before bursting out the building and driving past KITT. Which would be an awesome picture--except that it's basically two black cars in the dark on a black night. :D It looks cool on the screen but I think a cap would look like a square of blackness with one red rectangle that's KARR's scanner.
--Michael runs out with the guard slung over his shoulder. Since I don't want to be a bitch, I'm not going to ask how the guard actually got hurt--he was *outside* the lab that Rev and Tony and KARR were in.
--KITT: "Michael, that car! It...it could have been my twin. It was exactly like me." Michael: "Not exactly, buddy. It almost killed me." Eee!
--And the next morning, Michael, Devon and Bonnie are at the mansion and Michael's demanding answers. :D
--Devon calls KARR Wilton's crowning achievement. "The Knight Automated Roving Robot." Devon: "KITT's primary function is to serve you and keep you from harm." ::squeaks:: Bonnie: "But KARR, the earlier model, had no such programming. Its primary function was self-preservation."
--Michael's still ticked about not having been told and Bonnie shoves responsibility for that square onto Devon. "Don't look at me. That was before my time." Devon shifts responsibility onto Wilton's conveniently dead shoulders and there it will have to stay.
--Oooo!! Nice!
--Okay, apparently Wilton's company was stolen from him by Tanya and her gang. He had KARR put in storage, though Devon thought it was dismantled. And this all happened during the distraction and confusion of saving Michael and preparing KITT for him. So apparently no one alive knew exactly *what* was in Lab 3, just that it was bad enough to have warning signs on the door. That does make more sense. Boy it would have sucked for the people who were making the museum to go on in there and find him though.
--Devon's describing KARR as self-serving, animalistic, and dangerous. If the people who now have him (I guess Michael saw Rev and Tony in the car as it blew past) give him information that makes KARR feel threatened, he could be a hazard. Righty-o. They all agree that they need to get it back.
--Everyone say it with me: "Gosh Bonnie's pretty."
--So how come the *earlier* model car got the fancier and more advanced looking voice panel? Actually that's easy to answer--KITT was obviously constructed somewhat quickly, in about six to nine months it sounds like, so while he's got all the functionality of the prototype, they probably didn't bother with the purely cosmetic details.
--I almost feel for Tony and Rev here--waking up from a Bad Drunk to discover that they really do have the scary car and it wasn't all a dream.
--Tony and Rev come to terms with the fact that KARR's not just a car. There is a bottle of booze in Rev's hands, though I confess it's hard to see. That does appear to be their usual coping mechanism.
--Woah, KARR's pretty down on Wilton Knight, his creator who then turned on him.
--Rev: "You can't count on nobody except me and Tony." Like I said, Rev's got a glimmer of sense, though his brains are pretty well pickled in alcohol.
--KARR: "I have checked my data on basic human desires. Therefore I understand your needs. ... You wish to eat. ... You wish to drink. ... You wish to reproduce. Which one first?" Tony and Rev are pretty much agreeing with him every step of the way. :D
--KARR gets a little tetchy when they mention seeing another car just like him. "I am the prototype of the car of the future. What you saw was merely an inferior production line model. A pale copy of the original."
--They decide on food first and go to a drive-in. Tony and Rev are too boiled in booze to remember what they want to order and while they're trying to sort out what "that breakfast thing" is called, KARR's working up a righteous head of indignation that the "Ringmaster" (the vaguely humanoid microphone for the drive through) is a primitive remote devoid of locomotion.
--"Brace for collision." I remember this precise scene from 26 years ago. KARR schmeisses the Ringmaster. :D
--Rev really does show these entirely pickled bits of wisdom. KARR's there basking in pride at having been right about the ringmaster all along and they're trying to convince him to leave before the cops get there. So Rev likened "the slammer" to that room that KARR was locked in...and that was the perfect motivation to get them out of there.
--Oh!! ::flails:: KITT: "You're awfully quiet. Is something bothering you?" Michael: "Yeah, buddy, something is. I'm a little worried about you." KITT: "About me?" Michael: "Yeah. This whole thing has been a bit of a shock, you know? Learning about another car. Having to hunt it down. I mean, if I'm a little shook up, I can imagine how you feel." KITT: "Michael, really. By now you should know me better than that. I admit that I was somewhat surprised to discover that I was not in fact a prototype vehicle. But..." Michael: "There. You see? You're upset." ::hugs them both::
--KITT: "Instead of being a problem-ridden prototype, I'm the new, improved model." :D Oh, KITT I love you!
--Okay, so having just heard that a black TransAm is being pursued through the city after having smashed up the drive-in, Michael and KITT head in that direction. Naturally. But doesn't it occur to either of them that they're going to be mistaken for the black TransAm that busted the place up?
--Rev's trying to convince Tony to get rid of KARR but Tony being a stupider but more forceful personality is convincing him that with KARR's help they can start going for *bigger* scores than the penny-ante stuff they've been up to. "Rev, with this car, we could go all the way. We could go for the brass ring." (Why doesn't anyone want a *gold* ring?)
--And Michael shows up at the drive in and, after a moment spent looking very good...
--...promptly gets busted. (And yeah, I count seven guns on him for having, ostensibly, busted up a drive through without actually having hurt a *soul*. Apparently this town has some very bored police officers.)
--The next scene has one of the cops in the semi with Devon, Michael, KITT and Bonnie's pretty tush. (I'm sure the rest of her's there somewhere, but really her tush is most of what we see. And it's rather nice, though not in Sophie's league (Leverage).)
--Cop: "Maybe until this blows over with the stolen car, you should paint yours another color." Oh, yeah, KITT will love that suggestion. Devon: "We'll take it under advisement, officer. Thank you so much." :D
--Bonnie's making room in KITT's engine compartment for a new mystery component. I personally find it a little bit skeevy that neither Bonnie nor Devon are prepared at this time to tell KITT what that component is or will be. Basically they're doing significant surgery without getting informed consent. This distresses me.
--EEEEee!! ::flails:: This is wonderful!! KITT: "Michael, considering the confusion of the law enforcement authorities regarding myself and KARR, I'll understand it if you want to work without me until this crisis is over." Michael: "No, buddy. That's okay. Remember, I had a lot of partners when I was a cop. You're the best of any of them." KITT: "Thank you, Michael. I, of course, make no such generalization about you. However I project odds of a thousand to one against my meeting a more compatible human than yourself." Michael: "Thanks, buddy." Oh how I love these two!! ::goes to a very very very happy place::
--And KITT makes a reference to Xeno's paradox. Because KARR is as powerful and as nearly indestructible as KITT--they are the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. (Here I reveal my failure as a philosopher--that's not a paradox at all to me. Honestly. It's clear to me that would result is an almighty big explosion (whee!! Sara want big boom!) and both would be destroyed. Hello.)
--Ooo, I like the way they got the reflections on the glass to frame Michael's face!
--Has KITT *always* been calling Devon "Mr. Miles" and I just missed it?
--Ah, Tony and Rev are setting their sights higher and using KARR to bust into a bank for them.
--Didn't KITT bust out through that exact same window escaping from Tanya and her minions in the pilot?
--Well, Tony and Rev don't exactly have *good* taste in clothes now but at least they're *clean* (both clothes and body). It's an improvement.
--During a montage of Rev and Tony fondling money and wearing progressively nicer clothes. Rev: "I'm gonna buy me my own church." Honey, I think God sends you to Hell if you build a church with money you stole by driving your indestructible car into bank vaults.
--Heee!! OMG Madelinestjust, I found one of the bits where they're using footage of KITT in the stars from "Slammin' Sammy's...." as stock footage!! This is KARR. Though I imagine KARR would think of a thousand painful ways to kill someone who stuck silver stars on him. :D
--We've montaged our way through an unknown span of time. Long enough that the headlines in the paper are saying "Crime Wave Continues". No one's been hurt, which is possibly Rev's doing, more likely just good luck. So I'm wondering what Michael's been up to all this time...why hasn't he been able to stop them or at least have Dramatic Encounters with them? Rev and Tony have one big thing on their side--they're still drunks and the battle of personalities between them and KARR means that as a collective they behave somewhat erratically. They appear to be going for banks, coin dealers, etc. In a big city (I've always assumed the mansion to be in the greater LA area somewhere), that's just an awful lot of potential targets and Michael can't cover all of them at once. But at this point he should have surveillance footage from the drive-in (which should show two guys in the car). They might have been able to run fingerprints from the warehouse. He should know who's "driving" KARR by a week (or more) down the line and be able to make some good guesses as to where they'll strike next. He was a *cop*, a detective, for heaven's sake.
--Hee!! ::snort:: Devon and Bonnie's Very Dangerous Plan (dangerous to Michael and to KITT) is to use *this* on KARR. It looks like a giant water gun, to me, but apparently it's a super-fancy laser. Powerful enough to send a burst of energy into KARR's only vulnerable spot, the front scanner, which is protected by an alloy grill. (Is KITT's? I don't remember seeing that.)
--And I'll say it again, "Gosh bonnie's cute"! I can't tell you how many hours I spent trying to get my hair to do anything even remotely like that. Without ever having the slightest bit of success.
--OMG it's like shades of the briefing in the Yavin Base! Heee!! Devon: "Only a dead-on shot can work. Then the scanner will blow..." Luke: "I used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16. They're not much bigger than two meters." Michael: "Well, seems doable." LOL!
--It's interesting to me how calm Michael seems about all this. It's like he's really not taking KARR all that seriously yet.
--Mmmm!!
--And the briefing goes on. Devon: "To perform this task you must be directly in front of KARR. For maximum effect you must fire the laser at a distance no greater than 100 yards. And you must hold the laser on target for at least two full seconds." Michael: "Two seconds. A hundred yards. KITT and KARR can travel a hundred yards in two seconds." Devon: "Yes. That's the problem." It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home.
--Well, Rev and Tony are celebrating another successful robbery when KARR, the world's biggest buzz-kill, comes along to harsh their squee. He needs maintenance, and not just any maintenance, he needs an experienced cybernetic technician. KITT's technician.
--And Rev, who's apparently not opposed to *theft* on a huge scale, or property damage on an equally huge scale, draws his moral line at kidnapping. Well, okay, dude, it's nice to know you have one somewhere. Tony: "You're getting a conscience kinda late in the game, you know that?" Hee!
--Lord this episode you can totally slash the bad guys. Tony's basically wooing Rev along with promises of them doing one more big score and then flying down to Rio just the two of them.
--Devon and Michael are discussing the laser thing and the security alarm starts to go off. Michael immediately checks in with KITT of course, just to make me happy.
--Ooo! Lucky pause!
--Well, Tony talked Rev into believing they weren't going to do the kidnapping, then snitched Bonnie right out of the...do they really use the *semi* when everyone's at the mansion? I always assumed they had a garage when they weren't on the road.
--Michael and Devon are running across a rather attractive grassy and wooded hill, apparently trying to catch KITT on the driveway. Which is making me very confused about the geography of the mansion and its grounds. Michael's parking space is somewhere that's apparently a rather hefty *schlep* from the main building. Quoi? That makes no sense.
--Devon sees a sleek black TransAm just as Michael's calling for KITT. Michael looks at it and from fifty yards away *knows* that's not KITT. ::squeaks::
--Michael jumps on top of KARR, though what he thinks he can do from up there, I'm not sure. But he's being all action hero-y and that's nice.
--Yay, and here comes KITT! Devon points out where KARR went with Bonnie and Michael. "Thank you, Mr. Miles, I'll take it from here." LOL!
--Eee!! KITT rescues Michael by driving into position so that Michael can jump onto KITT and climb in through a window.
--KARR: "You waste your time, my twin. You cannot triumph over a prototype. Desist your pursuit. You will be damaged." KITT: "KARR, I didn't know you cared."
--KARR, possibly being savvy, possibly just going back to the warehouse they seem to be camping in, I'm not sure, leads the chase into a residential area so that KITT and Michael have to end it lest innocent people get hurt. Michael, all hopped up on adrenaline and frustration, is not a camper of happiness.
--Gosh, KITT's pretty!
--Oops, the new laser's been installed in KITT (it's a tight fit in his engine compartment), but it hasn't been properly calibrated and it can't be fired until it has been. Bonnie's the only one who can do that. Poor Bonnie's definitely the prize that both teams want right now.
--Bonnie's there working on KARR and tries something and get's zapped for her trouble. KARR: "Do not attempt to sabotage me again. I will defend myself."
--Poor Bonnie, forced to work on KARR, and for low-lifes like Tony and Rev, though Rev is still sleeping and unaware that Tony and KARR kidnapped her.
--Yay Bonnie! She noticed Tony pointing out to Rev their "big score" in the newspaper and she convinces KARR to turn on his scanners so she can work on them--and see which article Tony was pointing to. She doesn't also seem to have thought about the fact that KITT can pick up KARR's sensors when they're active, but effectively she also made a beacon for KITT and Michael to find her. Go Bonnie!
--Tony and Rev are having a domestic dispute, in which Rev, with the glimmering of astuteness he's always shown, points out that the car has changed Tony.
--Rev starts going all Biblical on Tony blithering about an infernal machine and how they've got to stop it and talking about going to the police. So Tony kills him with a liquor bottle (and yes there's definitely something poetic there). In the distraction, because KARR was watching the fight too, Bonnie slips away.
--Tony, on discovering Bonnie's disappearance: "You hunk of tin! Didn't you see her?" KARR: "I was watching you deactivate the Rev. Was he malfunctioning?"
--I hope that when Tony winds out arrested the judge give him an extra ten years for wearing that shirt with that jacket. Assault with a deadly fashion sense. Grah!!
--Yay! And KITT and Michael get there just in time to keep Tony from going after Bonnie and possibly deactivating her too!
--Huzzah for Bonnie knowing where they're going!
--Tony appears to have been on pretty much the same trajectory that literature tells us that those who have made a pact with a demon wind out on. For example, compare Tony with Norman in Blood Ties--increasingly tacky but expensive clothes and fewer and fewer inhibitions and impulse control.
--KITT and Michael and Bonnie get to the warehouse where the gems are being stored while Tony and KARR are still inside. Oddly, Tony's not trying to *take* the gems. He's just ogling them and them putting them back in their boxes which he's putting back in the crates. No, really! Rev, sadly, appears to have been the brains of their operation.
--Michael: "KITT, are you ready?" KITT: "Aren't I always?" Hee!
--Michael tries to convince Bonnie to get out, but she's having none of it. With the laser uncalibrated she's the only one in with a chance of being able to fire it.
--I'm sure KITT placed himself there in front of the shipping entrance to the warehouse for some reason other than that it would look cool for KARR to jump out over him. Not sure what it was though.
--Woah, Michael! They said a hundred *yards*, not a hundred inches. And Bonnie was still fiddling with the laser anyway, so they couldn't even fire then. ::sighs::
--The police have managed to block off KARR so he has to go out by driving straight at KITT. At least I think that's the plan.
--Oh no, he's lining up for a run so he can jump over the police barricade, so in the interest of jettisoning excess weight, he ejects Tony. Yay! :D He will get arrested for wearing that awful outfit I've been having to look at for the last half hour.
--Bonnie misses with her two shots. Clearly she needed to have Obi Wan telling her to use the Force. Of course, KARR skied out of the way of one of them and jumped out of the way of the other.
--But, even with the laser now defunct, they're going after KARR. They're going to take a parallel road and try and get ahead of him and cut him off.
--Bonnie: "Michael, you're putting us on a collision course with KARR." KITT: "I noticed that too, Bonnie." :D
--KARR's on the rather scenic coast road along the California coast. Very nice! And they wind out driving straight toward each other.
--KARR's clearly not quite as indestructible as KITT--he took a bit of damage driving through the cinderblock wall into the warehouse.
--KARR: "KITT, I am warning you. Change course at once." KITT: "I am not in control, KARR." KARR: "Then tell the humans to turn away. This is folly, KITT."
--KARR: "Your lives mean nothing to me."
--Both Bonnie and KITT are totally in agreement with KARR that Michael should turn away.
--Bonnie: "Michael, you know all those times I've called you irresponsible and impulsive? I didn't mean it." Michael: "Bonnie, remember all those times I called you bossy and demanding? I didn't mean it either." KITT: "Michael? Bonnie?" Both: "Yes, KITT?" KITT: "Why are you lying to each other?" Oh, KITT, how I love you!
--Eeee!! And just when they're about to collide, KARR turns away and jumps *right* off the cliff! (Which begs the question why he didn't turn the other way, but I'm probably not supposed to ask that one.)
--And see, the immovable object/unstoppable force thing does make a pretty satisfactory explosion.
--Michael and Bonnie are, naturally, quite relieved and not having been killed. Pumped with adrenaline they turn toward each other, as people do when filled with "OMG, I'm still alive". They get this close (and no closer) before realizing that it would be a very bad idea.
--Ooo! KITT's looking mighty pretty there. :D
--Back at the mansion, Michael, KITT, Devon and Bonnie are in the semi enjoying some champagne. Well, KITT's not drinking the champagne, though it is a combustible liquid right? So presumably he could run on it.
--All of them want to know how Michael knew that KARR would lose the game of chicken. Michael pointed out that KARR's basic programming was to protect his own life, so in a head to head confrontation he would always chicken out. KITT: "Michael, I'm speechless." Devon: "A likely story." KITT: "No really. Michael, your logic in this case is totally illogical, and yet it's absolutely correct. This is just amazing." :D
--Eee!! Then Michael proposes a toast to KITT and, I *swear* invites him out on a date! I swear!! I love this part! Michael: "What do you say you and I go out for a drive? A little celebration of our own. Get you a little car wash, a little wax. Hey, I'll let you beat me at chess again. What do you say?" ::flails and flails and flails until my flailer is busted::
--And OMG the look Devon and Michael give each other, like they totally know that Michael's asking KITT out on a date (and not *Bonnie*, you note, despite the almost sort of semi USTy moment).
--KITT turns him down. "Thank you, Michael. But it has been a draining day and my power packs could use a rest."
--Fortunately, Michael takes rejection well.
--So they all leave, wishing KITT a good night.
--On the way out, Michael stops to ask "How's it feel to be one of a kind again?" KITT: "As you know, Michael, I do not have feelings. However, for want of a better expression, being one of a kind is a very familiar feeling." And Michael totally fails to get the significance of that. ::thwaps Michael::
--The episode ends with poor KITT all alone in the semi. "Being one of a kind is a very familiar feeling." Poor KITT!!
--I've got a plot bunny hopping around that would be a coda to this episode. I might tackle writing it as soon as I'm done with my Dam paper. :D
As there was no GoTW save Bonnie, and I've already given my opinion about Michael and Bonnie (no, but I won't argue strongly against the notion that they had a relationship of probably brief duration and parted amicably), I have a different sort of final summing up this time...
One of the things they kept harping on in this episode was that KITT and KARR had the same nearly indestructible shell, the same abilities, etc. etc. So KITT was up against his *twin* only without the care for human (Michael's) life that's central to KITT's programming. However, in comparing car vs. car they were failing to take into account the fact that KITT had Michael. (Technically KARR had Tony and Rev, though counting them as assets rather than liabilities is probably being needlessly generous.) For example, KITT would never have thought of the approach Michael took to defeating KARR. Neither would KARR. KITT's advantage in this supposed duel of equals was that he had a perfectly illogical but absolutely correct human to help him (putting the cars at the center of this for a moment) and that was a *huge* asset.
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