Knight Rider: The Complete Series - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Just a tender three short years ago, I got to check out Turbine’s 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition of Knight Rider: The Complete Series. At the time, my opinion was that the adventures of David Hasselhoff and K.I.T.T. were a hoot. I still feel the same. Over the last three years, I’d go in spurts where I’d watch an episode or two of Knight Rider and then set it back down again, only to dive right back in a couple of nights later. I don’t think I’ve quite made it all the way through the series, but I’m damn close. The series is just fun. It’s uncomplicated, unassuming, action entertainment. It’s not trying to be the best series on television, just deliver some explosive, high-octane '80s vibes one episode at a time. 

Here’s what I had to say about this series three years ago:

If there’s a need to explain the plot of Knight Rider and why it’s awesome to anyone in the world… I just don’t know what to do for them. At its core, the series is essentially pre-Nick Fury David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, and he drives a powerful, fully armed, state-of-the-art talking car K.I.T.T. (an uncredited William Daniels) and goes on a variety of missions helping hapless locals along the way. Overseen by the benevolent Knight Foundation and its leader Devon Miles (Edward Mulhare), Michael and K.I.T.T. get their marching orders but are frequently distracted en route to help save the people who need it most.

Like so many shows of the era, like The A-Team, Airwolf, The Six Million Dollar Man, or even to some extent The Incredible Hulk, featuring loner heroes helping simple folk deal with whatever criminal enterprise is harassing them. While Knight Rider is very similar to those shows, it's actually much closer to the classic Lone Ranger series. You have a loner hero with his trusty steed and best friend... only in this case, the ride and the friend are one and the same! Sometimes it’s a big scheme like selling tactical nukes to bad guys. Sometimes it's a greedy land developer trying to swindle a stunt showman out of his race track. Regardless of the stakes, the show was a fun run for 84 thrilling episodes. Which is just about the right amount of time for this series. 

By mentioning those other similar series, I hoped to illustrate the point that the basic nuts and bolts of the operation are similar to numerous other shows from the late 70s and early 80s. It’s the presentation and plot that changes enough to keep Knight Rider unique, watchable, and most importantly, entertaining. There wasn’t a main throughline to follow, just Hassel-the-hoff bringing the charm and swagger with William Daniels delivering his dry ,sardonic wit that felt right at home with his tenure as John Adams in 1776. There were a few recurring characters here and there, and there was the occasional two-parter episode, but the show was relatively “new episode, new town, new mission” from one week to the next. Then it got canceled.

But that’s okay because you can actually have too much of a good thing. But after a couple of years away, the powers that be decided to give the property a new coat of wax and polish for the very entertaining made-for-TV sequel film Knight Rider 2000 which sees a retired Michael Knight called back into action to fight an escaped terrorist played by Mitch Pileggi, complete with a newly upgraded K.I.T.T. to seal the deal. The plot of this one feels like a prototype version of Demolition Man as cops have to use non-lethal sonic weapons while prisoners are frozen when they’re incarcerated. When one of the baddest bad guys busts loose, they need an old hero to come in and save the future. 

Watching Knight Rider today feels like watching the ending run of the “hero of the week” sort of action show. Even with the gunfire and explosions, there was a low-stakes innocence to the series that would be usurped by the dramatic thrills of Miami Vice, while MacGyver had an especially unique hook to the action hero beyond a talking car. As television would change and evolve, Knight Rider remains a fan favorite. It has the perfect blend of humor, action, wild car stunts, with the best opening theme music of all time.

Before I move along to the other necessities of this review, it’s worth noting that the season-opening two-hour episodes are in their syndicated two-part format with opening and closing credits and everything. The pilot episode is listed as Knight of the Phoenix Part 1 & 2, but it is in fact the actual original broadcast version of the pilot; the rest are split as single-episode experiences. I know this is one sticking point with a lot of fans, but it doesn’t bother me one way or the other, honestly. I was barely a newborn when this show came out, so my experience with it was entirely through syndication and reruns before it came to DVD and Blu-ray. I just don't have a dog in that fight. The other issue of note is the songs used for certain episodes, but I'll cover that in the relevant section shortly. 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Knight Rider: The Complete Series enters the 4K fray with all four seasons spread over 20 discs, with an additional Blu-ray disc reserved for new bonus features. The 20 4K discs are Region Free, 17 BD100 discs, 3 BD 66 discs, and the bonus features disc is a Region Free BD25. Each set of season discs is housed in an individual black multi-disc elite case with individual trays for the discs. No discs are stacked. The four-season cases are held together in a thin paper slipcase. Each disc opens to a static image main menu with basic navigation options. 

After getting new scans and given the full HDR10 treatment, Knight Rider is the latest classic series following the likes of Seinfeld and Friends to enter the 4K UHD game. Up front, I’ll talk about the positives. The HDR grade is the selling point here. Colors are more lush with more lifelike and healthy-looking skin tones. Black levels are stronger with better shadow separation, offering more depth to the image. I ran through several episodes for each season, and that stays consistent throughout.

The “however” for this release is a big one. These new 4K masters are heavily compressed, and the microblocky anomalies are omnipresent throughout the series. It’s bad enough that it negatively affects details and overall clarity across the board. When I dove into this set, I naturally started at the pilot, and I didn’t feel like it was too bad there - a lot of that episode is very dark and shadowy, and I initially thought the series was looking pretty good. But then I kept picking away at the show, I moved into the later seasons, and those compression anomalies became more apparent, obvious, and worse - distracting. The blocking looks like it’s attached to the film grain, making it look chunky and unresolved.

Bitrates for each episode I watched barely averaged at 45mbps and never got much higher. When things are perfectly still, it’s not so bad. In those moments, you can start to appreciate some of the restoration work and the improved clarity in facial features, costumes, set design, and K.I.T.T., but you only get the briefest glimpses of how good this could look. The more still a character or object is, the better. Likewise, things look better in close-ups than in mid/three-quarter shots or wide shots. But this is an action-packed show about a secret agent and a talking car, things don't stay still for long.

The issue that I can see is that too many episodes were smashed onto a single disc. A BD100 is great for about three hours of content with an appreciable improved bitrate before sacrifices need to be made. But in the case of Knight Rider, five episodes are punched onto each BD100 disc for nearly 4 hours of content. It’s unfortunate because at times, you really can see the full potential of this series on 4K in HDR. But there is so much compression artifacting that it becomes unsightly and damned frustrating. 

To do right by this series, Universal needed to add just one more disc to each season to let these new 4K masters breathe. As is, the best I can say is it's watchable, it’s not a total loss, it even has moments where it looks great, but it’s also underwhelming the more I watch it. I never spent much time with the Millcreek Blu-ray set, so I have to assume this 4K edition looks better than that. When this set is at its best, it does put up a nice fight with Turbine’s masters in terms of color saturation and black levels, but image clarity overall, I'd tip it back to the Germans. It’s just not the homerun knockout it could have been or needed to be when so many great shows from the ‘70s and ‘80s deserve this kind of attention. 

On the audio side of the series, each episode is complete with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio mix. Playing these against my set from Turbine, most of the tracks are very nearly the same, or at least stand on equal footing for dialog clarity, the iconic theme music, and sound effects. Overall, each track is very good. But again, there’s a “however” for this release that wasn’t an issue for the Turbine set. The series had a number of instances of contemporary music, but because they couldn’t affordably license the real songs from the likes of John Mellencamp, they’d use a sound-alike cover. But as has been the case for past disc releases here in the States, most of those songs are now unusable. This 4K set is no different. So instead of a song with lyrics, the scene in question might be some sort of generic rock muzak track, or even more awkwardly, nothing at all. This has long been a sticking point for fans, and it remains one with this release.

On the bonus features front, a lot of the material from the old DVD sets returns. The pilot commentary is a great listen, and some of the featurettes are with the time. The highlight of this release is the new documentary Knight Rider: Behind the Wheel. In just over an hour, we get a lot of amazing interview material with a lot of the behind-the-scenes and production people who were there. Rebecca Holden drops by for her thoughts, but sadly, Hasselhoff wasn’t featured. It’s also really cool to see some of the fans who have their own KITT cars or dedicated fan channels and spaces get to chime in with their appreciation for the show.

Season One - Disc One

• Knight of the Phoenix 1&2 Audio Commentary featuring David Hasselhoff and Glen Larson 

Season One - Disc Five

• Knight Moves (SD 6:07)
• Knight Sounds (SD 6:37)
• Knight Rider: Under the Hood (SD 15:51)
• Photo Gallery
• Blueprints Gallery

Season Three Disc Five

• The Great ‘80s TV Flashback (SD 29:01)

Season Four - Disc Five

• Knight Rider 2000 (SD 1:34:44)

Bonus Disc

• Knight Rider: Behind the Wheel (HD 1:01:00)

In the annals of classic action television, there’s nothing quite like Knight Rider. Hasselhoff headlined one thrilling adventure after another with the wry wit of William Daniels as the voice of his talking car, K.I.T.T. The format might have been similar to any number of “lone hero” series, but the approach was unique and incredibly entertaining. Enough to make four seasons and 80 episodes worth tuning in for. 

After scoring an excellent Blu-ray set from Germany’s Turbine, the series gets a new upgrade to 4K UHD here in the States. I genuinely wish I had better news to report on that front. I can handle that not all of the episodes are the original broadcast versions, and the two-hour episodes are split into two. I can even deal with the original songs missing or altered due to hideously expensive rights issues. All that is understandable. My problem with this set is irritatingly distracting compression artifacts that rob the 4K HDR10 visuals in virtually every episode. We get the briefest moments where the full glory of the series can shine in 2160p, and in those moments, it’s a beautiful, 4.5/5 worthy presentation, but the compression anomalies rush in and spoil that experience. As is, it’s just okay.

This should have been a home run. It still could be if Universal decided to recall the sets and reauthor the discs to give each episode a little more breathing room, I’d support that, I’d cheer them on for the effort and shout "This is how you do it!" The best I can honestly say is this set is Worth A Look - especially when that Turbine Blu-ray set is looking at me from my shelf that has the full original broadcast versions of every episode with the full original audio and music intact and great HD masters without such unsightly compression artifacts, complete with hours of unique and interesting bonus features.

If this set isn't for you, the basic version of the Knight Rider Complete series is still available from Turbine: