Knight Rider - Season One - Region 1 DVD

Despite an onscreen benediction from the Hoff himself, the two-hour pilot movie admittedly clunks a bit, with a few too many cross-country trips and a lack of any real hissable villains. Things improve considerably once the regular series begins, however, as Man and Car face off against the likes of terrorist surfers, nitro-burning street racers, and many other evildoers equipped with a plethora of expendable, easily explodable vehicles.

Formulaically enjoyable as these early bikini-intensive episodes often are, though, things really pick up mid-season, with a genuinely tense three-part story arc that ups the dramatic ante, makes some surprising alterations to the cast roster, and, most importantly, reintroduces KITT's ticked-off cyborg nemesis KARR. The lack of a second season brought an end to this late-blooming creative surge, unfortunately, but, overall, this remains a breezily escapist, slickly helmed revamp that manages to do its daddy proud. Any series that features both KITT morphing into a truck and comes up with a scientific reason for its human leads to strip down to their underwear within the first 10 minutes of its first episode is a show with a firm understanding of exactly what it is. Special features include cast and crew commentary on the pilot, a rather overproduced gag reel, and several featurettes about the original series that should keep gearheads briefly riveted. --Andrew Wright