Knight Rider Season 1-2 & Airwolf Season 1 review

[Nomad Soul]

Nomad's DVD Review

Here is my review of Knight Rider Season 1 & 2 as Well as Airwolf Season 1 box sets. Ok I had season 1 of Knight Rider since Christmas but what the hell ill just put it in the review too. As most of you that have watched TV in the 80s are well aware of these shows(hopefully if not shame on you). As a kid I watched both Knight Rider and Airwolf religiously and I couldn't get enough of them. Now in 2005 they finally released them on DVD which is a godsend for a dork like me. First lets take a look at the boxes:



Knight Rider Season 1 & 2 Box
The Knight Rider boxes are all shiny with David Hasselhoff's mug as well as the fabled KITT. Nothing too fancy but it captures the general feel of the show. They are both really quite nice and sturdy however. No real complaints except the season 1 picture of David Hasselhoff may scare small children and hypnotize you into buying his music CDS.....that reminds me next time im out...

Airwolf Season 1 Box
Unfortunately the Airwolf box is really lacking. Why they decided to go with a muted green and orange hue is beyond me. I was disappointed that they didn't seem to put any effort into it. Airwolf itself is muted out with the crappy green with a white star-burst effect around it. Come on I could of whipped something better up in Photoshop with my eyes closed.

The DVDs & cases

Knight Rider Season 1

First Knight Rider Season 1 has this (see above) that holds all 3 double sided DVDs plus the bonus disc. Its a fold out design with various pictures when you open it up with a insert slip showing all the other box sets they are/have released and on the back a list of the episodes on the DVDs. Really cool in my book.

Knight Rider Season 2

Season 2 is a little different they came in these slim DVD cases all with the same front as well as containing 3 double sided DVDs no bonus disc with this one. Typical stuff episode listings on the back of each with some pictures. Simple but it works.

Airwolf Season 1

Airwolf's DVD cases are just 2 regular sized cases that contain 2 double sided DVDs. They have the same ugly front cover as the box. Disappointing to say the least. Give a 3 year old a piece of paper and some crayons the result would be 10X better than the cover of the Airwolf set. No lie. IT SUCKS.


Content/Extras/Menus/Etc

Knight Rider Season 1
Knight Rider Season 1 contains the first 21 episodes. Special features includes commentary on the first episode by Hasslehoff and the creator of Knight Rider, Glen Larson. I kinda wish they had more of these commentaries on the other episodes for it was neat to hear a lot of the behind the scenes stuff. There's other things too like blueprints of KITT, still gallery, etc. but the coolest thing is this option that takes you inside KITT and you get to press all the various buttons and stuff just like you are in the drivers seat. VERY awesome indeed. I spent a good while just doing this. For yes I am quite the dork. The DVD menu itself is awesome with the Knight Rider theme playing in the background and various clips of KITT jumping over and through stuff cycles. May not be the greatest menu system but I like it. The bonus Disc includes the movie Knight Rider 2000. Which IMO sucked when it first came out and it still sucks now. But a worthy extra for Knight Rider fans like myself. Total Length - 19hrs 45mins

Knight Rider Season 2
Knight Rider Season 2 contains the 21 episodes of the second season. I would like to point out there is absolutely no extras on these just the episodes. What it needs is more commentaries and stuff like that. Kinda disappointing overall but oh well. The menu is pretty much the same as Season 1 just with different clips cycling in the background. Not really up to the same standard Season 1, but Knight Rider is Knight Rider. Total Length - 19hrs 33 mins.

Airwolf Season 1
Airwolf...I don't know what to really say how mad I was at the lack of anything on these DVDs. The 11 episodes of season 1 with No commentaries or extras whatsoever. They could of at least thrown in a similar cockpit thing like they did in the Knight Rider box set. But nada, zip, zilch. The menus are totally bare bones and lifeless. THIS DOES NOT DO THE SHOW JUSTICE. Sure it was cheesy and later due to Jan Micheal Vincents alcohol addiction turned the show to trash in the last season or so, but dammit I still loved it. They could of at least TRIED to put some kind of effort into this. BUT at least its on DVD now which I have been waiting for the longest so I guess I cant complain too much. Another gripe is the Airwolf 2 hour pilot isn't even the full pilot. Its the condensed movie version that lacks a lot of the scenes when they showed it on TV. WTF yo? Total Length - 9hrs 52mins

Sound/Video quality

Nothing has been changed they are all in full frame and Dolby 2.0 sound. No fancy 5.1 sound or remastered video here. I was kinda hoping they would but alas it wasn't meant to be. They both about the same in terms of this stuff. Ahh well.

Conclusion & Random thoughts
Overall all of them are great to have. Even if the Airwolf box set was disappointing to say the least. I hope season 2 if its ever released will have a better showing. I haven't watched all the episodes yet. There is no way I'm going to watch 39 hours of Knight Rider and 9 hours of Airwolf in one sitting, but I will eventually..oh yes..

On a sadder note thanks to the Knight Rider DVDs the magic of KITT has been forever ruined for me. I really didn't know this till I watched the commentary and stuff but KITTs voice is William Daniels who played Mr Feeny on Boy Meets World(yes I watched it ). So now that I have a face to go with KITTs voice some of the magic was lost in viewing the episodes. Ahh Nostalgia...

Pros
+39 hours of content overall
+Knight Rider Extras on season 1 are awesome
+Knight Rider Menus are cool
+KITT kicks ***
+Airwolf kicks ***
+Lots of explosions n stuff
+relive a part of the 80s

Cons
-30+ hours of David Hasselhoff
-Crappy Airwolf box art
-No Extras on Airwolf set
-No Extras on Season 2 of Knight Rider
-Airwolf menus are lifeless
-No remastered audio/video
-reliving a part of the 80s


So that does it for my review. I just realized that I have spent the last 2 hours making this post. See thats devotion as a fan of these shows well either that or Im just insane(probably both) Either way I'm not giving them a grade or anything like that since I am extremely biased towards these two shows so it wouldn't be fair. Knight Rider and Airwolf were a big part of my childhood and its nice to have these memories relived again through these DVDs. I can look back and smile..and remember a time where One man could make a difference driving a kickass talking car and where a top secret government helicopter piloted by a renegade who's looking for his lost brother and the only way to find him is by doing covert missions for the CIA which usually results in a whole bunch of explosions and people getting killed. What more can you ask for in a tv show? What more could you ask for out of life? Not much. Enough said.

[NiRvAnA]

Knight rider > air wolf


I love knightrider, always have always will. Best show from 80's ever

[MeTaL]

I still remember the commericals for KnightRider where they said it basically kicks THe General Lee's butt I said no WAY!! THe General cannot be beat....alas i was wrong..KITT kicked butt!!

[LoPo]

OMG AIRWOLF!!!!! I will have to check that out! I was totally hardcore airwolf!

Nice reviews Nom!

[MeTaL]

Blue Thunder, the other attack chooper of the 80's Loved that one too.

[{OF}RKT]

Nomad, did Season 1 have the 2 hour pilot?

Blue Thunder was a movie wasn't it? Air Wolf was the sh1tz back in it's day....

Hey Nomad, not sure if you got into it, but I have all three Robotech series...

[MeTaL]

Both....

The TV series had James Farentino, Dana Carvey, Bubba Smith, and Dick Butcus in it.

[ARX|Frag4U]

They were the shows to watch back in the day..way back in the day. I watched every episode.

[Nomad Soul]

Originally Posted by {OF}RKT

Nomad, did Season 1 have the 2 hour pilot?

Blue Thunder was a movie wasn't it? Air Wolf was the sh1tz back in it's day....

Hey Nomad, not sure if you got into it, but I have all three Robotech series...

Hell yeah Robotech is one of my favs. Yeah the two hour pilot is on there. I didnt watch the blue thunder series all that much. I did watch the short lived Nighthawk? I think it was. About the super high-tech motorcycle. That was short lived.

[Soul]

Huge props to Nomad for having FOS up in that picutre!