30 Years of Knight Rider to be celebrated at Memorabilia

No, they didn't have the internet as we
know it back in 1986. That URL has been
added by David's fan site.

Break out your Look Ins! The 30th Anniversary of cult SF detective show Knight Rider will be marked at Memorabilia at Birmingham's NEC later this month, with a rare signing event by its original star, David Hasselhoff.

Memorabilia Birmingham, Britain's biggest collectors' event, returns to the NEC on 24-25 November, and there's a host of special guests already confirmed for the show - from Hollywood stars to sci-fi heroes, cult favourites to sporting legends.

Here's just a small selection from the first wave of announcements:

World First Signing

- David Hasselhoff will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Knight Rider by making Memorabilia his first ever signing event. The Knight Rider and Baywatch star will be meeting fans at the show on both Saturday and Sunday.

Movie & TV Guests

- Warwick Davis - Show favourite and star of Life's Too Short, Warwick's movie credits include Willow; Star Wars; Harry Potter and Leprechaun..

- Michael Biehn - Starred in James Cameron sci-fi movies The Terminator as Kyle Reese, Aliens as Cpl. Dwayne Hicks, and The Abyss as Lt. Coffey.

- Eddie McClintock - Star of Warehouse 13, where he plays co-protagonist Pete Lattimer. Other credits include Bones and Desperate Housewives

- Britt Ekland - Best known for her roles as an iconic Bond girl in The Man with the Golden Gun and as Willow in cult British horror film The Wicker Man.

- Craig Charles - Most famous for playing likeable slob Dave Lister in Emmy Award-winning sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf, which recently retirned to UK screens for its tenth season in Dave.

- Only Fools And Horses - Cast member reuniting at Memorabilia include John Challis (Boycie); Tessa Peake-Jones (Raquel); Sue Holderness (Marlene); Gwyneth Strong (Cassandra); Patrick Murray (Mickey Pearce); Paul Barber (Denzil) and Christopher Ryan and Roy Marsden (The Driscoll Brothers).

- Craig Parker - Best known for his roles as Haldir in The Lord of The Rings movie trilogy and Gaius Claudius Glaber in Spartacus: Blood And Sand.

- Virginia Hey - Starred in sci-fi favourite Farscape as Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan, the Delvian priestess imprisoned aboard Moya for assassinating her planet's leader.

- Ken Foree - Most famous for playing Peter in George A. Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead, widely regarded one of the best horror films ever made.

- Jeremy Bulloch - Best known for playing Boba Fett in the original Star Wars trilogy. Jeremy's TV credits include Doctor Who and Robin of Sherwood.

- Claudia Christian - One of the main cast in J. Michael Straczynski's popular science fiction series Babylon 5, starring as Commander Susan Ivanova.

- Peter Lamont - First ever signing by Oscar-winning art director and production designer famous for working on 18 James Bond films, Titanic and Aliens.

- Eunice Gayson - Best known for playing James Bond's girlfriend Sylvia in Dr. No and From Russia with Love. Also appeared in The Saint and The Avengers.

- Alan Tomkins - Oscar-nominated art director who has worked on movies such as The Empire Strikes Back; Batman Begins; Saving Private Ryan and JFK.

- Garrick Hagon - Best known for his role as Biggs Darklighter in Star Wars: A New Hope, Garrick's credits also include Batman, Doctor Who and Spy Game.

- David Hedison - Played James Bond's ally Felix Leiter in Live And Let Die and Licence to Kill. Also appeared in The Fly, Knight Rider and Charlie's Angels.

- Kathryn Leigh Scott - Best remembered for regular appearances in US gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, which continues to enjoy a strong cult following.

For an up-to-date list of confirmed Memorabilia guests - including sports guests - and when they'll be appearing at the show, go to www.memorabilia.co.uk/birmingham.

For Memorabilia tickets, visit: www.memorabilia.co.uk/birmingham/tickets and for more about Memorabilia Birmingham, visit: www.memorabilia.co.uk.

You can discover more about MCM Expo events at www.twitter.com/mcmexpo; www.facebook.com/mcmexpo and www.youtube.com/mcmexpo

For more information about shows coming up at the NEC, visit www.thenec.co.uk

Knight Rider Car Sold on eBay

A rare version of KITT, the iconic talking black car from the American 80s TV show Knight Rider has just been sold on the internet auction site eBay.

The KITT model, built from a Pontiac Trans Ams -- and most recently used in the third and fourth series of Knight Rider as well as the TV film and also used in 2006 film The Benchwarmers which starred Rob Schneider -- eventually sold for $53,000.

Picture below the cusyom built car is one of the rare 300-mph "Super Pursuit Mode" T/As with additional aero devices, was described as one of the original vehicles from the series. It was initially used in the third season and then re-converted to simulate the 'Super Pursuit Mode' that debuted in the fourth season.

The car, pictured below, was also used in the 1984 Knight Rider made for television movie and, later, for exhibition and promotional purposes.

• KITT stands for Knight Industries Three Thousand. There have been a couple of Knight Rider spin-offs

• Knight Rider has recently been revived in the US to huge ratings on its initial airing back in February on NBC. The Hollywood Reporter recently noted Paul Campbell is set to join the ensemble cast fronted by Justin Bruening. Campbell will play the head research tech at Knight Industries. (More news about the new show can also be found on KittSite).

• The pilot for the new show will be released on Region 1 DVD in September.

• The new KITT dropped the Pontiac design in favour of a Shelby GT500KR.

Web Links

• Knight Rider Online
The oldest Knight Rider fan site

• Knight Rider NBC Official Site

• KittSite
Devoted to the new Knight Rider show

New Knight Rider set for full series

The Guardian reported earlier this week that NBC's Knight Rider remake looks likely to earn a full series commission, after the 1980s show returned to US TV on Sunday night with almost 13 million viewers.

The two-hour Knight Rider TV movie special was watched by 12.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen preliminary ratings for Sunday.

Newcomer Justin Bruening is now the star of the show, although cult favourite David Hasselhoff made a guest appearance as original Knight Rider Michael Knight.

Hasselhoff returns in new Knight Rider

David Hasselhoff may reprise his role as Knight Rider Michael Knight in the new version of the cult 1980s NBC TV series.

Various sources report David Hasselhoff is in talks to appear on NBC’s Knight Rider in his role as Knight, with The Young & the Restless’s Deanna Russo to play the female lead and fellow soap star Justin Bruening in the role of the son.

The pilot for the potential new series will be a sequel to the 1980s hit, centring on Mike Tracer (Bruening) as Michael Knight’s son, who never knew his father.

Russo will play Sarah Kamen, the daughter of Charles Kamen, described as the man who invented the talking car named KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand). (I'm not that up on the original series but I thought KITT was the creation of billionaire Wilton Knight, played briefly by Richard Basehart?).

Sarah receives word from KITT that her father is missing, and the two must find Tracer, who is wasting away in Las Vegas with gambling debt, and recruit his help.

There's a review of the pilot script (warning: spoilers!) over on a new discovery, the Televisonary blog, which is compiled by a Los Angeles-based television development and acquisitions exec

The pilot will be directed by Steve Shill (The Kill Pit).

Knight Rider returns

Variety has reported that US broadcaster NBC is bringing back Knight Rider, the show created by Glen Larson that was such a success for them between 1982 and 1986.

Taking a leaf from the recent Transformers movie, expect the show to perhaps include "evil" cars doing their best to destroy a man and his indestructible supercar.

NBC is already at work on a two-hour pilot written by Dave Andron, which may air later this US tv season, produced by director/producer Doug Liman, whose credits include films such as The Bourne Identity and The Bourne Ultimatum and TV series such as The O.C. Variety says Liman is open to the idea of directing the TV movie, assuming his feature schedule allows.

If ratings for the tv movie are good a new-model Knight Rider could be on the air as early as next autumn, with the TV Movie seen as a good drop in during a break in screenings of shows such as Heroes or The Bionic Woman on NBC this year.

The success of Transformers had a role in inspiring NBC Entertainment chief Ben Silverman's decision to revive Knight Rider, executives apparently now confident smallscreen effects have advanced to the point where it would be feasible to have a weekly series in which cars shift shapes.

While there's talk of "evil" cars to battle the heroic talking K.I.T.T. car of the original series, which starred David Hasselhoff, the new series will stay true to the original show, centring on a single man fighting for justice with the help of his super advanced car.

Expect major merchandising opportunities: NBC is already talking to car manufacturers about providing K.I.T.T. and the original show spun off plenty of product, including Look-In's Knight Rider comic strip whose creative team often included Barrie Mitchell.

Let's just hope the new Knight Rider is better than its previous spinoff Team Knight Rider which first aired in 1997. Although that wouldn't be hard...