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It's true - cheesy saving-the-world series Knight Rider is coming back to television screens, along with the star of the 1980s original, David Hasselhoff. But many will be relieved to learn that David "Don't Hassle the Hoff" won't be centre-stage in the 2008 small-screen movie version of Knight, and nor will the early-1980s Pontiac Trans Am that starred as the Knight Industries Two Thousand (Kitt) alongside him.
Instead, in the new version, the lead character will be played by Justin Bruening, as Michael Knight's long-lost son Michael Tracer.
And the car, now known as the Knight Industries Three Thousand (still Kitt), will be based on the latest Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR.
The two-hour Knight Rider movie represents product placement gone crazy. Ford refers to the project as "media sponsorship", with commercials and promotions for other Ford products scattered throughout the programme.
Ford technology, such as voice-activated vehicle functions for the latest Focus small car, will also be highlighted in the show.
In the movie version, Kitt's supercomputer is capable of hacking almost any system, and its body is capable of shifting shape and colour.
Kitt's basic shape is that of the production GT500KR, known as the Hero version, but viewers also get to see the car in two other configurations - Attack and Camouflage.
The Attack version was designed by Harold Belker, who is also responsible for the vehicles in movies such as Batman & Robin, Armageddon, Deep Blue Sea, Inspector Gadget, Battlefield Earth, Spider-Man, Minority Report, XXX, The Cat in the Hat and Superman. It features a new rear bumper cover, two-tiered spoiler, side scoops and custom rocker panels.
By the way, the "KR" initials attached to the Shelby machine are coincidence only. Ford's super-Mustang has been known as "King of the Road" since 1968 - long before the 1982-86 Knight Rider series.
