Slashdot Mirror
Specs For the New KITT
An anonymous reader writes "The upcoming made-for-TV Knight Rider movie features an all-new version of the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT). Popular Mechanics has the 'specs' for the original Hasslehoff-mobile, as well as for the digital-effects enhanced version in the 2008 production. 'Designer Harald Belker, who has created the Batmobile for Batman and Robin and a next-gen space shuttle for Armageddon, came onboard to give the new KITT. a unique look. "The goal was to make it look more aggressive without being hokey or garish," Belker says.'"
300MPH to 0 in 12 feet? Sure, let's calculate the G's from that. Somehow I missed the specs for the inertial dampeners. What really peeves me is that this is Science Fiction that is too lazy to try to conform to the realm of possibility rather than exceed those limits to make a really good story.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
...doesn't fit. When I see that I don't see KITT and that should be what I see immediately. Looks pretty ugly...
I agree. Especially given that we just had a slashdot article on a car that actually matters (the Aptera). Who cares about Knight Rider?
We should start dealing in those black-market beagles.
For the love of all things Holy, can we please stop making shows with impossible (or at least highly improbable) technology? KITT was really fun in the 80's, primarily because of a misconception about AI. It was felt at the time by the public (and to a lesser degree by actual AI researchers) that the only thing holding a computer back from sentience was enough computing power. 20+ years of research has since disavowed us of that notion.
Otherwise the original show was reasonably good about keeping the tech on the level. KITT was powered by Gas Turbines (good!), had laser weaponry (okay), was capable of computer graphics (actually, that's almost amusingly primitive at this point), and had an ultra-strong "Molecular Bonded Shell". (Unlikely, but at least within the realm of possibility.)
The show tried doing the "ridiculous tech-thing of the week" when they brought on the April character, but that didn't go over all that well. Eventually they dropped it and got back to showing solutions that didn't involve Deus-Ex Machina plot devices.
While I understand the need for suspending disbelieve, I just can't help but think that it would make a more enjoyable show if they simply tried to ground and enhance what was already presented in the original show. Updated with modern communications technology, satellite data, reconnaissance methods (could you see KITT launching UAVs?
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
It was actually a Saleen S281E. The rights to the cars we're bought by GM so all the cars had to be GM, no Fords or Volkswagons allowed. Why else would Bumblebee be a Camero instead a Beattle. The only exception was Optimus Prime, which was a Peterbuilt, because GM doesn't make Semi-Tractors.
My guess is that the rights for the new Knight Rider were bought by Ford so it had to be a current production model car. It's sad, I really like the old Pontiac Trans-Am. It lent a air of 80's cool, like the Trans-Am in Smokey and the Bandit.
But this is just another NBC anti-war propaganda show. Never mind the car, the new "Hoff" is going to be a "Jaded" Iraq war Army Ranger Who lost his entire battalion in Iraq. Funny, I never heard anything on the news about an entire battalion being lost in Iraq at any time during this war. I guess NBC has high hopes eh?
Why you gotta make everything so complicated?
Assuming constant deceleration, you'd average 150 mph over the 12 feet. Do the calculation: 250 g.
Another way to think about it: if you were to run that car into a solid wall at 300mph, the front might crumple 6 feet. Going from 300mph to 0 in 12 feet is about half as severe as just driving into a wall.
Or a little worse than driving straight into a wall at 200mph. Whee.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
And a Mustang GT500 in I Am Legend too.
Maybe I'm just a little bitter 'cause I'm not a fan of the new Mustang, but it's appearance didn't seem necessary in the film at all.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
They seem to misunderstand what KITT was. KITT was sleek, and elegant. It had class. And it was something we all imagined we might have some day. Until the producers get what the old show had, they should stop trying to reproduce it with horrible bulky cars.
I read the article, but I didn't see any mention of KITT's Cylon "eye". There's a little gap there, but not sure if that's supposed to be the "eye". I am a child of the '80s, I did watch the show (sometimes), and this can't really be Knight Rider if KITT isn't a Cylon.