''Knight Rider 2010'' is a 1994 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

directed by

Sam Pillsbury Sam Pillsbury is an American film director, producer, and winemaker. Massachusetts-raised Sam Pillsbury emigrated to New Zealand at the age of 14. At age 23 he began working for the government-owned National Film Unit of New Zealand, joining a ...

and written by

John Leekley John Leekley is an American writer, director and producer. He is one of the most prolific writer/producers in television. He received a Primetime Emmy Award for his work as executive producer/writer on the HBO Original Series ''Spawn''. Leekley ...

, loosely based on the television series ''

Knight Rider ''Knight Rider'' is an American entertainment franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The core of ''Knight Rider'' is its three television series: the original ''Knight Rider'' (1982–1986) and sequel series ''Team Knight Rider'' (1997–1998) ...

''. The film stars Richard Joseph Paul, Heidi Leick,

Michael Beach Michael Anthony Beach (born October 30, 1963) is an American actor. He has appeared in films '' Lean on Me'' (1989), ''One False Move'' (1992), ''Short Cuts'' (1993), ''Waiting to Exhale'' (1995), ''A Family Thing'' (1996), ''Soul Food'' (1997), ...

, and

Don McManus Don McManus (born November 8, 1959) (sometimes credited as Don R. McManus) is an American character actor of film and television. He became better known after his performance as Duncan in the '' Seinfeld'' episode “The Race”. Born in San Die ...

. It aired in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

in the United States on February 13, 1994, as part of

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...

's Action Pack programming block.

Plot

In a ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...

'' style future, Jake McQueen is the ultimate smuggler, smuggling in Mexicans for money to survive, only for his smuggling to come to a halt when he is busted by his brother while getting his truck repaired. However, what he doesn't know is that he is under observation by Jared, the crippled head of Chrysalis Corporation, who sends one of his most valued employees, Hannah Tyree, to bring him in to work for them as part of their video games division. Jake initially is skeptical about the idea of working with Hannah, and is scared away when she admits that she accidentally downloaded herself onto PRISM, a crystalline solid-state memory unit for her computer, once, due to an unexpected side-effect. Jake is then hunted down after Jared has his data, and eventually finds his way back home, only to find his father near death. Acquiring a junked Mustang, and a special engine his father had kept in trust, he goes to find a way to stop Chrysalis. While pursuing a lead, he ends up shot, and is witness to Hannah's apparent death, only to find she was trapped in her PRISM. Going into battle against Jared, with Hannah as his car's new AI, Jake eventually destroys Jared when Jake discovers the one side effect of Jared's life support: that it is slowly killing the person it protects. Now, Jake and Hannah travel the world of the future, fighting for justice in a lawless desert that is forgotten by the world.

Cast

* Richard Joseph Paul as Jake McQueen * Heidi Leick as Hannah Tyrie *

as Marshal Will McQueen *

as Dean *

Nicky Katt Nicky Katt (born May 11, 1971) is an American actor. Katt often plays unsympathetic characters, such as an irascible motorhead in ''Dazed and Confused,'' an ill-fated white supremacist child rapist in ''A Time to Kill'', and an embittered bu ...

as Johnny *

Badja Djola Badja Medu Djola (born Bernard Bradley; April 9, 1948 – January 8, 2005) was an American actor from Brooklyn, New York who worked primarily within black film. He is best known for ''Mississippi Burning'', ''Penitentiary'', ''A Rage in Harl ...

as Zeke *

Mark Pellegrino Mark Ross Pellegrino (born April 9, 1965) is an American actor of film and television. He is best known for his work as Lucifer in ''Supernatural'', Paul Bennett in '' Dexter'', Jacob in ''Lost'', James Bishop in '' Being Human'', Clayton Haas ...

as Robert Lee *

Brion James Brion Howard James (February 20, 1945 – August 7, 1999) was an American character actor. He portrayed Leon Kowalski in ''Blade Runner'' and appeared in ''Southern Comfort'', '' 48 Hrs.'', ''Another 48 Hrs.'', '' Silverado'', ''Tango & Cash'', ' ...

as Jared

Production

Development

The early drafts of the script were far closer to the original series even including KITT (who would have been a female); however, the makers believed at that time there would be no high-tech cars. Ultimately this movie had little in common with ''Knight Riders basic concept, except the title, a talking car, and the "one man can make a difference" concept.

Vehicle

The car is a custom "

Ford Mustang The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-produced Ford car nameplate. Currently in its sixth generation, it is the fifth-best selli ...

" built on an MN12 1994

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pro ...

chassis; its grunge style is very different from the sleek

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

cars that were the two incarnations of

KITT KITT or K.I.T.T. is the short name of two fictional characters from the adventure franchise ''Knight Rider''. While having the same acronym, the KITTs are two different entities: one known as the Knight Industries Two Thousand, which appeared i ...

, whose AI would have been removed and replaced with K.D. (Hannah Tyrie).

External links