When we think of Knight Rider we usually only thing of one thing and that's the car yet alot of people seem to have forgotten the fact that the car was in a TV show and that said TV show also spawned many reboots and sequels. Be they made for TV movies or even the 2008 reboot series of the same name yet not alot of people remember the fact that there was a sequel series in the nineties with it being the first episode of that show that i'm going to be talking to about today and so then join me as I review the episode that weirdly has talking cars that are attracted to one of the human characters in it with the episode in question being called simply just "Fallen Nation" enjoy.
The plot of this episode is when a high end politian is kidnapped and then released it's up to the operatives of a secret government division to find out just what his kidnappers wanted with him in the first place. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty OK at best. Plot wise this episodes plot was about as good as it was ever going to be given the fact that this show was made cheaply and quickly but at the same time tho the plot of the episode doesn't do the one good thing that all first episodes plots should do and that's make you interested in watching other episodes. As this episodes plot doesn't set up how this team came together in the first place as it started with them already being a well oiled machine when it would have been far more interesting if the episode did take the time to show us how they came together in the first place with the fact that that it didn't do that being because of the act that this show was made for syndication and therefor the various TV stations can air this episode and other episodes out of order should they so choose to do so. This is something that does effect this episodes plot as it does mean that the episode can't have anything set up in the main plot incase it is aired out of order and yet shows like Xena which like this show was made for syndication have great first episodes that set up the rest of the show just fine with it really feeling like that this episode was relying more on the good faith that the original show had built up over the years rather then telling a really good story in it's own right with the plot of this episode not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this episode is Brixton Karnes as Kyle Stewart , Christine Steel as Jenny Andrews and Duane Davis as Duke DePalma. Also starring in this episode is Kathy Trageser as Erica West , Nick Wechsler as Kevin 'Trek' Sanders , Conrad Bachmann as General Stephen Butler , Paul Michael as Lieutenant Mark Davis , Cheryl Carter as A Marine Sergeant , Douglas Fisher as James The Butler , Penny Griego as A Reporter , Tiiu Leek as Reporter , Jonas Morales as Davis' Driver , Andrea Hutchman as the voice of Kat , Tom Kane as the voice of Dante , John Kassir as the voice of Plato , Kerrigan Mahan as the voice of Beast , Nia Vardalos as the voice of Domino , Linda McCullough as the voice of Sky One and Don LaFontaine as the Opening Narrator.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty OK at best. Like with this episodes plot the acting in this episode isn't really anything to right home about as the episodes live action actors are all as wooden as a board with the episodes acting really shining in it's voice actors which isn't something that's not all that surprising as the show does have a really talented group of voice actors all playing he vehicles in this show and yet in each and every scene that there in they easily outshine all of the episodes live action actors. With the best actor in the whole entire episode being Kerrigan Mahan as the voice of Beast as we know from voicing Goldar in the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers that he can do a deep almost commanding voice and still give us a really good performance and that is exactly that kind of voice that does suit the character of Beast as he is this big pick up truck and therefor having a more commanding and deep voice is something that would sound right for this character with Kerry being able to find the right balance between being forceful and commanding to being light hearted and welcoming which is something that would have been tricky for that kind of character and it is something that does show off more sides as to what he could do an actors as we've seen him play an almost commanding like character on Power Rangers and yet with this episode we get to see that he can kind of do comedy as well. With the acting that's in this very episode not really being helped by the fact that this episodes script is just so bad as it gives none of this episodes absolutely anything to work with interms of what it is that there actual characters personalities are even meant to be like in the first place which is something that really does harm the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.
The episodes characters are about as well as could be expected given the fact that this is the first episode is a TV show. With all of the characters being about as one not as you'd expect them to be in the first episode of a new show however tho this episode takes it one step further as while other first episodes will give the characters a jumping off point so you can kind of work out what kind of character that they are and that kind of character that they might be this episode doesn't even do that as despite very much being an ensemble piece the one character that gets alot of focus in this episode is the character of Jenny. With her personality trait in the whole episode being the fact that she's the attractive one and that alot of the male characters including one of the cars have the hots for her which OK fair enough she is a pretty girl no ones going to ever deny that but you don't need to have alot of the characters being flirty with her and you really don't need one of the cars being flirty with her. Speaking of the cars there fine there's nothing really special about them as even they don't have much of a personality to them with them all getting a heavy dose of the nineties where they all have to be extreme and have tons of quips which is fine at first but when that's ninety percent of the cars dialog it is something that does become annoying with the only somewhat less annoying car in the whole episode being Beast as he is something that won't take orders from anyone even his own driver and while he does have a soft spot for Jenny he is also loyal to his friends but he's the only decently written character in the whole episode as none of the episodes other characters get alot of screen time when given the fact that this is the first episode all of the episodes characters be they human or vehicle should have been given the time to get across just who they are as characters.
As was mentioned near the start of this review this whole show was made to go straight into syndication a despite the original Knight Rider show being a very popular show back in the eighties and the fact that this show had Knight Rider's original creator Glen A. Larson on board as an executive producer none of the networks wanted to pick this show up. This isn't a bad thing as shows like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and it's spin off show Xena Warrior Princess have proven that you don't need to be on a network to be a good show as all you need is the basics to make any good piece of television that being good writing , acting and directing and sadly this episode is missing alot of these as while the acting is decent the writing and directing is flat. This is shame as on paper while this would always have been a really tough sell for the older fans to get behind it is a good idea as having a whole team of super cars with people driving them taking on missions to save the world does make for a good TV show with the only thing that it really needed to make it work was good writing as if the show had that while yes they still would have struggled to get the old fans back on board they would have been able to get a new set of fans who didn't grow up watching the original with this show then serving as a way for them to get into the original show, while Xena was a very cheesy show much like this episode is Xena used that to it's advantage to create something that whilst you are laughing at it you are still watching it as you want to see just what crazy adventure the characters get themselves into next where as here with this show and this episode it seems to think that its high art and if it was that then it would been picked up by a major network.
Sadly there are no DVDs or Blu-Rays released for this show heck there isn't even a VHS release of the series anywhere online. Whilst this is understandable as the show did only last the single twenty two episode season it is something hat does make it look like that the makers of this show are trying to forget that it was even thing in the first place with the only copies available of the show being what might be direct copies from the first run broadcast of the show which does basically mean that we are never going to find any high quality images of the show this is something that shouldn't be the case they very easily could have done release with the original Knight Rider series as one complete collection including the original series and the reunion movies and of course this show. Heck you wouldn't even need to do alot of work on this shows episodes to get them up to scratch as all you'd need to do is bit of upscaling for the episodes and some clean up on the images and that's it and yet whoever holds the rights to this franchise now just don't seem to be willing to do that as they are more focused on giving us repackages of the original series which is fait enough as its that show that alot of people will remember but there are still collectors out there that do go in for these kind of smaller almost forgotten about shows and while it most likely won't sell that much due to the fact that this show is so little known in the first place it would still still shift copies and it would allow for the episodes to be seen in more higher quality. Whilst this is something that won't improve the quality of the show by any means it is still something that would then allow for the fans of the original show to essentially complete there collection of the original Knight Rider timelines episodes with this being something that the current rights holders would be foolish to ignore as its those fans that do keep on reminding us of Knight Rider in the first place.
This episode does try to tell a good mystery which was something that was admittedly quite surprising but what wasn't surprising was he fact that the episode doesn't give you any clues as to who the real villain is in the first place. Therefor when it is reveled not only who the villain is but also what there plan is in the first place it is something that does come out of nowhere as both the character and the episode hadn't even hinted as that even being a possibility in the first place and yet this does make it all the more surprising as the episode does take the time to make the mystery genuinely quite interesting as we the audience have to work out who did it and why there doing it but due to the fact that the episode doesn't take the time to give us ant clues it is something that does come out of nowhere. As while the episode does take the time to let us get to know this character and what there relationship is like with Jenny those are roughly the only major scenes that the character appears in outside of the episodes cold open where he gets kidnapped, it would have been nice if the makers of this show had used those scenes with Jenny to give us some clues as to who the real villain is be it by how they answer a certain question or how they act when she brings the subject of the kidnapping up as while those are small things they are also thing that would make it more clearer to us the audience that this person isn't a good guy and while there is a point to made for characters being more subtle this is the kind of show that doesn't require you to think things through and therefor going the more unsubtle approach with its clues is something that would help out the episode in the long run, as would the fact that while the character does have a good plan as he wants to become the American President with him willing to to drop a nuke on the current president knowing that the American public will vote him into office that plan is about the only good part of the villain as its just as crazy and out there as something like this show really should have been.
Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly forty four minuets and twelve seconds. This is something that is pretty much the bogstandard running time for any of the Knight Rider shows and while this episode really didn't need that amount of running time in order to tell it story as best as it could have done it is something that does work all the more better with that amount of running time as it does mean that the episode can be as crazy as it wants to be without having to rush the plot along to the next plot point which is something that it really very easily could have dine with the episode itself having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in the first place. Yet even so the episode still doesn't use its running time all that wisely due to the fact that this episode doesn't take the time to full develop its plot with the episode just jumping right into the plot right from the word go which is fine as the episode does have a lot of ground to cover when it comes to its main plot but the episode doesn't take the time to tell us why this organization was set up in the first place and why only these people are the ones that can solve this issue both of which are things that might seem like small things at first but they are also things that do make the episodes plot seem more thought out but as the episode is alot more focused on making sure then we know that Jenny is attractive none of that can that happen. This is something that does also effect the episodes character develop as while it is understandable that none of the episodes main characters get any kind of development in this episode as this is only the first episode of the show and they have twenty one other episodes to get there development there still should have been some ground work being layed for the characters to get some development in future episode as right now the characters seem more like an after thought when compared to the shows cars but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action show that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented t us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. It's clear as day that the makers of this show did put alot more thought and effort into the episodes action then they did quite literally anything else in the episode due to the fact that he rest of the episode does have pretty bland acting and writing and yet when the episode is having an action scene both of those things do get slightly better and heck you can tell that alot of the shows budget went into explosions as they use alot of them in this episode almost to the point where it's a joke. The best action scene in the whole entire episode has to be the bike chase scene on the bridge as we get to see to members of the team in this case it's Trek and Erica as they are trying to outrun several police cars on a bike that can split into two with them very quickly running out of ways to get outrun them with it only being when the bike is about halfway across the bridge and fastly approaching a police blockade that Erica then gets the bright idea to split the bikes up which she does her going one way around the blockade and Trek the other and yet all of the police cars that were chasing them end up smashing into not only it but also each other. To be frank thus is such a cool action scene as it does show us what one of the vehicles can do which to be fair to this episode is something that we don't get to see a while lot off in this episode and because of that it does make all the more impactful when we see in this action scene with the rest of the of the episodes action being just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall when people say that the 2008 Knight Rider show and pilot movie are bad they really do need to this episode and this show show as the 2008 show still tried to be as close to the original show as it could be without being a straight forward remake of it whereas this show is afraid of being the dumb show that it quite clearly is which is something that does make this episode dull to watch in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now ten i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in his very episode in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Amazon . Co . Uk and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very post being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them really being really better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images really are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.