7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A lone crimefighter battles the forces of evil with the help of an indestructible and artificially intelligent supercar.
Action | 100% |
Sci-Fi | 90% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (448 kbps)
None
Blu-ray Disc
Sixteen-disc set (16 BDs)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
The 1950s may have been television's "Golden Age," but there's something about the 1980s that seemed to redefine television watching from "fun diversion" to "experience." The 80s, in many ways, ushered in the modern medium era. Shows got bigger, bolder, and pushed boundaries in narrative and technical structures and laid the groundwork for the groundswell of entertainment that so many enjoy today, in what some are calling television's second "Golden Age." It's hard to look at the 80s without giving it serious consideration as the true second "Golden Age." TV expanded in choices and spawned any number of fond-memory classics that remain today bonafide landmarks in the industry. Star Trek: The Next Generation reinvented a favorite from the 1960s and became, arguably, the quintessential Sci-Fi show of all time. Cheers dominated the ratings and redefined the Sitcom. Action saw a boom with programs like The A-Team and Magnum, P.I. Married with Children, Family Ties, and The Wonder Years tickled the funny bone and reflected then-contemporary society. The innovative MacGyver dazzled audiences on Monday Nights (and was often more fun than the football game to follow) while Miami Vice forged the path for the modern Police Procedural and forever changed the way TV audiences look at Florida's most famous city. But Knight Rider...it's just a cool show, and remains so today.
KITT is always the center of attention.
Knight Rider rolls onto Blu-ray with a good, and oftentimes very good, 1080p transfer. The image comes framed at approximately 1.33:1
which,
as the screenshots depict, place vertical "black bars" on either side of the now-standard 1.78:1 HD frame, preserving the show's original airing
aspect
ratio from back in the 1980s. The image enjoys what is generally a very fine grain structure, preserving the texture of its filmed source. Grain can
fluctuate, particularly in darker backdrops, where it takes on a more pronounced, aggressive, almost "snowy" appearance. Brighter scenes can be
prone to the same, too, but as a general rule grain appears rather refined and pleasantly complimentary to the experience.
Color generally fares well. Some scenes appear rather diffuse and the palette often feels less full-bodied than would be ideal. Saturation could
definitely
use a boost, but there's fairly good contrast and no shortage of vibrancy, particularly to reds. Nuance and definition are another story; there's not
that
rich, seamless sense of finer transition points and lifelike definition to every hue, but the core palette, beyond the need for something of a fuller feel,
is
never much of an issue. Flesh tones gravitate, slightly, to the pasty side of the scale while black levels are probably the single biggest weakness in
the
transfer, pushing to crush in some spots and struggling to maintain depth in others, and again often punctuated by that snowy, spiky grain.
Fine detailing is by-and-large excellent, aided by that lightly grainy, filmic appearance. Environmental elements are quite well defined, whether
rough
pavement, sand at a beach, building façades, grasses, or other natural formations and manmade structures. The car looks terrific. The Blu-ray
frequently picks up finer imperfections in paint, little bits of wear and scratches in the paint, and accumulated dirt and grime from a chase. The
interior is a playground of the
brightly lit instrument clusters that, on Blu-ray, do show some of the inherent limitations of the design and some of the more cheaply made
materials,
but it's a treasure trove of textural excellence that fans will want to absorb in every close-up of KITT's various doodads and readouts. Skin textures
present with a healthy clarity and attention to fine detail, ditto clothing. This is a healthy step up from Miami Vice and, for what can only be
described as a budget release, a very pleasant surprise.
Unlike Miami Vice, which features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack, Knight Rider revs onto Blu-ray with but a Dolby Digital 2.0 offering. The track is unspectacular, but yields decent results that carry the show adequately throughout its run. Obviously surround support and low end compliments are out. Musical clarity is decent, whether the acclaimed title theme or any number of popular tunes spread throughout the series. That said, it doesn't feel especially wide, seeming to settle somewhere between the center and the furtherest reaches of the stage. Imaging isn't a strong suit, then, but dialogue does push toward the center with a fairly natural and grounded presentation and prioritization. Clarity is basic but fine, mostly, beyond a little crunchiness in a few places. Action effects, much like dialogue, are good but slightly muddled and unkempt on occasion. With so little support or oomph, there's not much to engine revs, explosions, fast movement, or other would-be exciting elements. The track certainly doesn't stretch the sound system's limits, but it serves the show well enough in a nostalgic, simplistic sort of way.
This Blu-ray release of Knight Rider: The Complete Series contains no supplemental content. The packaging presents all four seasons, in four
Blu-ray
cases, in a basic slip-box. Each season is comprised of four discs each, and they're placed in the Blu-ray case stacked two per hub, with discs one and
two on one side and three and four on the other. Of the packaging (for Miami Vice, which is fundamentally identical), Mill Creek officially had
this to say:
Based on customer feedback, we chose to package this product using standard Blu-ray cases inside a slipcase instead of packaging using
cardboard sleeves. Unfortunately, we cannot control how our resellers re-package and ship direct-to-consumer, so for any consumers receiving
damaged product from shipping, please notify the retailer directly.
Indeed, the packaging is very simplistic and a far cry from the more complex but standout-ish presentation the studio previously used for That '70s Show.
Knight Rider is a fantastic show that might look a little dated in the era of touch-screen navigation, Siri, and all of today's sleek modern technology that makes KITT's Lite-Brite-like and somewhat bulky instrument cluster appear hopelessly quaint, but fortunately that was never really the draw. It's the personalities and the friendship that develops between KITT and Michael throughout the series that makes it tick. And, hey, the car still looks rad even if it's a bit lacking in today's more streamlined digital world (and too bad they don't make the Trans-Am anymore). Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Knight Rider: The Complete Series features very good video -- it's not perfect, but it looks amazing all things considered -- and decent two-channel lossy audio. Unfortunately, no extras are included, but for the price, the fun, the nostalgia, and the picture quality, this set is hard to beat. Highly recommended.
1982-1983
1983-1984
1984-1985
1985-1986
2007
2014
1984-1987
2011
2009
1992
2018
2017
2014
2018
2013
2014
2013
2019
The Remastered Collection
1978-1980
2009
2017
2002
Theatrical & Unrated Cuts
1972
2013