Knight Rider-Season 3 (1982)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation
Rating
Year Of Production	1982
Running Time	1024:00 (Case: 1285)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (6)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Charles Bail Gil Bettman Bruce Bilson Bob Bralver
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	David Hasselhoff Edward Mulhare Patricia McPherson Rebecca Holden Peter Parros
Case	?
RPI	$49.95	Music	Laura Branigan William Broughton Glen A. Larson

    Here it is - the penultimate season of Glen A. Larson's science fiction series, with its artificially intelligent car K.I.T.T. (voiced by William Daniels) and the unstoppable Michael Knight (David “The Hoff” Hasselhoff).

    For those who want a run down of the show, my review of the first season is here and the review of the second season is here. I shall not waste your time with episode summaries – you can find good summaries at TV.com amongst other places. The following sets out how these episodes are arranged on the 6 discs of this season:

Disc 1

• 1. & 2. Knight of the Drones: Part I & II (92:18)
• 3. The Ice Bandits (46:26)
• 4. Knights of the Fast Lane (46:23)

Disc 2

• 5. Halloween Knight (46:24)
• 6. K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R. (46:28)
• 7. The Rotten Apples (46:24)
• 8. Knight in Disgrace (46:24)

Disc 3

• 9. Dead of Knight (46:25)
• 10. Lost Knight (46:31)
• 11. Knight of the Chameleon (46:25)
• 12. Custom Made Killer (45:56)

Disc 4

• 13. Knight by a Nose (46:24)
• 14. Junk Yard Dog (46:14)
• 15. Buy Out (46:23)
• 16. Knightlines (46:24)

Disc 5

• 17. The Nineteenth Hole (46:25)
• 18. Knight & Knerd (45:56)
• 19. Ten Wheel Trouble (46:20)

Disc 6

• 20. Knight in Retreat (46:24)
• 21. Knight Strike (46:23)
• 22. Circus Knights (46:27)

    Season 3 offers perhaps the best, and most consistent, season of the show, with only a couple of aberrant mediocre episodes. Although firmly entrenched in its 1980s backdrop, with all the storytelling limitations inherent thereto in a prime time TV show aimed squarely at the 8 - 15 year old male demographic, this show tries to break the envelope and tell stories that really mean something.

    There are a lot of great episodes here, including Knight Of The Drones: Parts I & II, K.I.T.T. vs K.A.R.R., and Knight In Disgrace. But in my mind the best episode here, and perhaps the best for the entire series, is Junk Yard Dog. I remember this episode vividly from the first time I watched it as a child, and it is still as affecting all these years on.

    There is no doubt that Knight Rider was an inventive series for its time. Although it has already had one abortive attempt at revitalisation, I’m not putting it past the producers to have another go sometime in the future. Definitely good value, and if you only have the cash for one season, this is the season I recommend.

Video

    Video is presented in 1.33:1, Full Frame - the original broadcast aspect ratio of the series.

    Picture quality is on par with the second season, if a touch better. There is a little graininess as a result of the film stock, but the image is sharp and there are no real faults.

    There are some slight film-to-video transfer artefacts that you can see on a CRT screen, but projected up on a 100 inch screen over an HDMI digital link, these faults were not particularly visible.

    Sadly, no subtitles on this season, which is quite the oversight by Universal. Unimpressive.

    The dual layer pauses are between the episodes, and invisible.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono in English, French and German.

    Dialogue is clear, with a few static pops and so forth, usually in outdoor scenes where post-production ADR was used.

    There is no surround or subwoofer use unless you switch the crossover ridiculously high.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menus

    All menus are in 1.33:1 Full Frame. The disc home menus have various clips from the show with a 2.0 Dolby Stereo soundtrack of the theme. All other menus are static and silent.

UK Market Only Trailer (All Discs)

    Content wise, R1 and R4 are largely identical, although R1 has subtitles, whereas the R4 release does not. We have a better laid out set here, with the episodes split on 6 discs, rather than on 3 dual sided discs as they are in R1. Without an R1 copy, I cannot do a direct video-to-video comparison for you. I'm giving this to R1 for the subtitles as I think this is a fairly important aspect of DVD technology.

    Knight Rider – Season 3 is, in my opinion, the best of the series. Consistently good, with my favourite episode of the whole series, it’s hard to pass this one up if you’re a fan.

    We have a nice, clean transfer here, a smidgen improved on the second season, but sadly no subtitles.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall