Okay, let’s deal with the elephant/panther in the room. No, I’ve no idea what the deal is with this cover. The copyright notice inside shows they used a promotional image for David Hasselhoff’s music rather than Knight Rider (with K.I.T.T. in his new season four Super Pursuit Mode copied and pasted over the top). But let’s not get hung up on that, it’s time for our fourth Knight Rider Annual from 1986. I’ve really looked forward to these every year, given how the show is My Favourite Thing in the Universe and the books have been fun so far. It’s the usual 64-page hardback from Grandreams with two comic strips and what first appears to be three text stories.

On further inspection these are actually three parts of the same tale. So, a meatier prose story this time around? Let’s find out. World Stealers begins with Michael Knight and K.I.T.T. surveilling a hi-tech computer lab. As a huge Knight Rider geek I spotted a mention of K.I.T.T. having two monitors on his dashboard. As fellow fans will know the two small screens were replaced with one large display in the third season. The characters’ usual witty back-and-forth that had developed over the course of the series is certainly there, especially when Michael asks K.I.T.T. to scan the building and tell him what’s happening inside.

However, there are things like the monitors, the limited abilities the car has and Devon Miles’ name still being spelt incorrectly that lead me to believe the writer was still working from an earlier series bible. It reads much like a season one book. Yet again. After all the research David Lloyd told me was put into those first books it’s rather disappointing.

The main guest character is Mary-Evangeline Pedroza who runs a computer security company. Her work force is mainly female, because she needed the smartest people and they just happened to end up all being women. (Can you imagine the online snowflakes today?) The codes they’re supplying to clients are instantly hacked, so Michael plans to cut off the next target from the phone lines and force the thieves to physically enter the building. Little clues laid out along the way for the younger readers are blatantly obvious to the adult one. Is this going to be yet another industrial espionage inside job?

The first strip is called KITTnapped and given how an early season four episode was called KITTnap this kind of confirms the writer wasn’t watching the show they were writing about. It’s a silly story involving a disgruntled former F.L.A.G. (Foundation for Law and Government) employee who overrides K.I.T.T.’s systems far too easily to pull off a bank heist. He ends up captured because he’s too lazy to leave his house to park the car in his garage, instead using K.I.T.T.’s unique and easily traceable radio frequency to control it remotely.

The annual contains the usual mix of puzzles and games that aren’t related to the series at all other than a small picture of a character or a title that tangentially links it to the premise. For example, ‘Bonnie’s American States of USA’ and ‘Bonnie’s US Presidents’ word games. At least in the middle of the book the clichéd board game actually relates to the subject, complete with more art by Jim Eldridge who illustrates the whole book.

In part two of World Stealers, Michael and K.I.T.T. find where the thieves’ jet landed and are told by workers at the airport it was flown by women who then took off in a helicopter. It’s not subtle, is it? The best part happens while the pair are tracking the helicopter. They find themselves on a narrow road in a small village, trapped between two lorries. The one in front is a large articulated lorry with a ramp leading up inside it. (Gee, I wonder if that’s important?) It’s when the lorry behind them starts pushing K.I.T.T. towards the ramp that the really fun moment occurs.

Michael quickly asks K.I.T.T. about the composition of the metal in the truck they’re being pushed towards, as well as the dimensions of the trailer and cab. He then takes a big risk, speeding forward and hitting turbo boost just as they go up the ramp, crashing through the front part of the trailer and over the cab. I’m not sure how the show could’ve done this other than with models so it’s a perfect little action scene for a book to fire the imaginations of the young readers.

After being arrested and then freed by K.I.T.T. in a copycat scene from the original pilot movie they hide out under thick trees all night to spot the helicopter, which leads them to a jungle. The text tells of the struggles of trying to get the Trans-Am through the undergrowth but there’s no dialogue! We all know K.I.T.T. would’ve been hilarious throughout this. In the end they do something else the show just couldn’t have afforded. They find a river that’s just a little deeper than the car is tall and they drive down under the surface (unforgivably not illustrated) to a James Bond villain-esque hideout and find Mary beckoning Michael to a table outside the complex where she’s poured him a drink. Again, very Bond-like.

The four-page K.I.T.T. Fact-file pales in comparison to the features from the previous annuals. Gone are the in-depth looks at K.I.T.T.’s developing personality, the stunt work or the interviews with producers and cast. Instead we get a selection of photos and some random pieces of information, not all of which are reliable. For example, there was never any such stunt planned. The “need to ground K.I.T.T.” was actually something they did with season three a couple of years prior, because it was felt K.I.T.T.’s powers were getting too outlandish and the human characters had taken a back seat. Season three corrected this and produced probably my favourite year of the show’s four.

Part three of our prose story reveals the plot was always to capture K.I.T.T. and hack into him. He’s hoisted up by a crane and dangled in mid-air as it’s (unsurprisingly) revealed it was all another inside job, just like in the previous books. This time, Mary’s plan involves being able to control the world’s computers via K.I.T.T.’s systems and hold governments to ransom. She believes men have screwed up the world and it’s time for women to fix everything. Fair enough, to be honest.

Still no chastising lines from K.I.T.T. while in his predicament but the story soon makes up for that. Scanning the building he tells Michael the room he’s locked in is directly below Mary’s (and even that she’s currently taking a shower) and a plan is formed. Michael will burst in on her while K.I.T.T. uses his turbo boost to free himself. Michael can’t see K.I.T.T. from his window but he can see the crane swinging back and forth as his computerised partner times his boosts to swing further and further until it all collapses and he’s freed. This is fun!

As you can see, K.I.T.T. finally finds his voice! From here on the banter back and forth between them is spot on. (Where has it been?) My favourite moment comes when Michael is literally about to kick down Mary’s door to capture the villain when he suddenly stops to ask K.I.T.T. to scan and see if she’s decent first. I did laugh at that! It ends with a physical fight scene between them, something we’d never have seen between a man and woman on TV at the time. In fact, the show does have a scene where Michael jumps out of the driver’s seat window to land on top of a runaway woman, but in the 90s when Knight Rider was repeated ITV cut the stunt out. (It’s always there in repeats today.)

Anyway, while World Stealers may have been rather predictable in its plotting, the action scenes were imaginative and well written. Also, when the writer took the time with the dialogue between man and computer it really worked. So whoever wrote this was obviously capable. (Although, they did have Michael use the word “babe” at one stage, which is not him!)  It’s also felt more like a full episode, rather than the fourth act of previous stories, so there’s definitely good and bad points. If I’d read it at the time I think I’d have been thrilled by it.

We finish off with another simple strip. In Rallying Cry the World Rally Champions are under investigation for cheating. Michael, (regular character and cyber technician) Bonnie Barstow and K.I.T.T. enter the race, with Devon telling them they’re not allowed to win (possibly a nice nod to them accidentally winning during such missions in the show). Once neck-and-neck with the lead car they’re run off the road and over a cliff. Of course the villains didn’t reckon on a Trans-Am capable of jumping back up again. Soon our heroes track them to where they’ve hidden their car and taken a helicopter to an identical car further along the race. Ridiculous, isn’t it?

Michael, Bonnie and K.I.T.T. easily catch up with the helicopter and with all the proof recorded they just need to stop the men from winning again. The strip is really just an excuse to have K.I.T.T. use his most popular physical abilities, such as ski mode to drive on two wheels to overtake someone on a tight stretch of road, and of course the turbo boost! This is used to jump over the cheaters’ before K.I.T.T. comes to a dead stop, the other car crushing up against him. As a nine-year-old I’m sure I would’ve loved this.

Finally for this year’s review, we can’t have a Knight Rider Annual without some 80s pin ups, can we?

Here we have Michael (David Hasselhoff), Bonnie (Patricia McPherson) and Devon (Edward Mulhare) posing with the new convertible version of K.I.T.T., David alongside one of the computerised design images of K.I.T.T.’s new Super Pursuit Mode and on the inside back cover the full season four cast, including new addition Peter Parros as RCIII. Because no stories were written with the newest season (or apparently anything beyond the first season) in mind, this is the only time we see RC in the whole book!

In conclusion then, if I’d collected these in the 80s when I was a child in awe of the show (let’s face it, I still am) I’d have read and read and read this until it was falling apart. Nowadays, after the first three superb annuals it’s lacking in certain areas, while in others it’s just as much fun, so I can forgive it. Get past that front cover and fans will have lots to enjoy here and, if you’re like me, reading it at this time of year will really bring out the kid in you.

I can’t believe we’ve only one more book to go. The time has Super Pursuit Mode’d in! (That really doesn’t work, does it?)

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As I sit down to write this review it strikes me I’ve only watched one Knight Rider this year, and that was my mum’s favourite episode (‘Ring of Fire‘) as a tribute to her memory during the spring. There’ll be one more time with Michael Knight and K.I.T.T. in my yearly viewing of the show’s one Christmas episode (‘Silent Knight’) but first it’s time to get reacquainted with the duo on paper in the third Knight Rider Annual, published in 1985.

There’s a famous (and funny) episode of Babylon 5 in which Security Chief Michael Garibaldi spends a small sub-plot looking for someone to share his “Favourite Thing In The Universe” with, which ends up being an old Daffy Duck ‘Duck Dodgers’ cartoon. Every December I get to do the same and share a book all about my own Favourite Thing In The Universe with you lot. So now that this publication knows the pressure it’s under to deliver, does it?

The first thing I notice is that the legendary David Lloyd is no longer the artist. If this is the first Knight Rider Annual review you’re reading you need to check out the first two books (and the exclusive blog interview) to see his incredible painted work in those. The new artist for this year’s volume is Jim Eldridge (Roy of the Rovers, Bunty, TV Comic) who brings a more traditional comic style. His version of K.I.T.T.’s front end may be a lot more angular than the smooth, customised Trans-Am on the show but all the other little details are correct.

Speaking of which, the dashboard gives away just how far in advance these books were created. In America season four had started in the Autumn, just a month after this book would’ve went on sale over here, while on our UK TV screens season three was still being broadcast. However, the dashboard here is clearly that from seasons one and two, before K.I.T.T. had his big makeover. Clearly, Jim’s reference material wasn’t up-to-date.

The first story is called Crash Dive and while on a stakeout Michael and K.I.T.T. end up forced off a seaside cliff by the baddies, from where they catch sight of an underwater entry point to a secret compound and the answer to how a band of thieves’ were going undetected by police. It’s a distracting piece of fun, an excuse to get our heroes underwater and taking down a small submarine instead of yet another car. Not sure why K.I.T.T.’s scanner looks like monstrous teeth though. Maybe he was dressed as Christine for Halloween.

As ever, the prose stories have a bit more depth to their characterisations and a lot more humour between our two leads. Not too far removed from the previous book’s stories, Fire-Bug is another case of industrial espionage by an unknown arsonist. Well, I say unknown but the mystery isn’t very mysterious. But then again, the show dealt with industrial espionage via a company ‘insider’ on a few occasions too. At least here after the unsurprising reveal is made there’s one more piece of misdirection just when you think it’s all over.

The other text story is Rustlers, in which a cattle ranch owner is facing intimidation tactics from a wealthy landowner who wants her out. Again, if you’re a fan this might sound a lot like season one’s brilliant ‘Not A Drop To Drink‘ or season three’s iffy ‘The Rotten Apples‘, and you wouldn’t be wrong. I’d say inspiration has definitely been taken from the former. However, the story does go off on a tangent somewhat (dead cattle mysteriously found on the sides of mountains) and involves lots of stealthy teamwork from Michael and K.I.T.T..

It also ends with a climax I’d loved to have seen on the TV. On the show K.I.T.T. could often be found using his Microwave Jammer to stall a helicopter’s engines, forcing it to land. In Rustlers, he instead uses his grappling hook and the car’s sheer strength to physically pull one out of the sky. At ten pages this is the longest story in the book and with all of these good points it’s a shame the bad guy’s M.O. is essentially the same as the one in Fire-Bug.

While the banter between Michael and K.I.T.T. is funny, especially on the long stakeout where their personalities rub off on each other, their partnership doesn’t feel as developed as last year. Elsewhere in the book Michael and “Deven”’s (Devon’s name is still spelt incorrectly) relationship is quite confrontational, like it was at the beginning of season one when these two very different people were still getting to know each other.

Through certain stories these clashes softened and by the end of the season they were firm friends. This book’s writer seems to be working from earlier series notes compared to last year, leading me to believe it’s no longer Steve Moore from the first two books. Why would he take his characters backwards after all? K.I.T.T.’s abilities in the stories are also restricted to those from the earliest episodes. There are no credits in these annuals (other than Jim’s signature) so I can’t confirm anything but it must’ve been a complete change in editorial team and they haven’t considered these points. I probably wouldn’t cared as a child to be fair, I’d have been too excited about the book in the first place.

“Beneath the ramp is an air compressor. As I hit the ramp at speed, the air pushes the car upwards and provides much more lift than I’d normally be able to achieve.”

Jack Gill, Stunt Co-ordinator

The features this year include a few more interviews, this time with Stunt Coordinator Jack Gill, producer Gino Grimaldi and Patricia McPherson who had returned to her role as Bonnie Barstow in season three (which makes it all the more frustrating the stories don’t acknowledge the show was in its third year). Jack not only met his wife on Knight Rider, he also walked away with multiple injuries from making K.I.T.T. look so incredible on the screen.

Jack talks at one stage about lying on the floor with a hole in front of him so he could see where he was driving at high speeds. However, this was used only sparingly a few times (in one episode we clearly see him lying on the floor). For the vast majority of the high-speed stunts a hollowed out driver’s seat and a special stunt steering wheel were hidden from view. Famously, David Hasselhoff has talked about scenes where he’d have to jump into the self-driving K.I.T.T. and take over, he and “K.I.T.T.” often jokingly wrestling for control as they sped off!

Interestingly, Jack talks about how they made K.I.T.T. swim. In the show it’s a pretty (re: very) poor model but they actually did spend a lot of money on getting the real Trans Am on a floating platform and dragging it through the water. As you watch, when the camera is inside the car with David you can clearly see he’s actually on the water and there’s spray coming in through the open window. Apparently it never looked right, so they switched to models for the exteriors and wrote in April Curtis removing the ability from K.I.T.T. at the end of the episode.

Jack and his team were instrumental to the show’s success and in any interview I’ve read with him over the years he always comes across as a very likeable and modest chap. According to interviews with others that’s exactly the kind of person he was, despite the high stresses and dangers of his job. The interview with Gino is interesting too, covering everything from the writing and rewriting of scripts to how they scored the show and selected the perfect 80s pop songs for each scene.

Unfortunately the interview with Patricia is a very brief chat rather than the full interview Rebecca Holden had last year. In fact, it’s a bit of a fluff piece, which is a shame as it could’ve been a fantastic exclusive, not just given her role on the show and her much celebrated return, but also because of her activism and environmentalism in real life, something that wasn’t as prevalent in the 80s as it is now.

What would an 80s annual be without some pin ups to fill out the contents? I never knew of anyone who went to the bother of actually pinning up pages from any of our annuals, but publishers persisted. Other space fillers here aren’t as good as in previous books, in fact some of the puzzles seem to have been knocked together in minutes. For example, a simple maze page doesn’t even have any pictures of the characters, just a few lines of text asking the reader to help K.I.T.T. escape.

The book does have a second strip that’s fun though. Wise Guys sees Michael and K.I.T.T. stumble upon two bank-robbing rednecks in a souped-up car making light work of a police chase. There’s nothing original here, it could’ve been written straight after the pilot movie, but it’s light-hearted fun with K.I.T.T. at the centre of things saving the day. For the kids who could only see such things when the show was broadcast this would’ve been great fun and that’s who these book were for, after all.

Michael catches up with the bad guys in his car and one use of the oil slick later the men have careened off the road, their car damaged beyond repair. But they take a woman hostage in a nearby house and demand a clean getaway. Of course, they want the Pontiac Trans-Am that can outrun the police, and the rest writes itself. It’s the only colour strip and despite K.I.T.T.’s boxy configuration there’s a lovely retro Christmas Annual feel about the whole thing.

The following year, Marvel UK would release a special Transformers softcover book for Christmas which reprinted stories and features from the previous year’s annual and it appears Grandreams had the same idea. The year after this annual they’d strip it of the pin ups and the awful filler material and rerelease it as the Knight Rider Special, a 52-page softback with a glossy card cover (minus the annoying ‘Knight 2000’ branding superimposed on K.I.T.T.). Keeping all the best parts and getting rid of the rest it reads better than the annual itself, although it doesn’t have that hardback, childhood Christmassy feel to it.

Back to the book and with some tweaks this could’ve been the perfect third Knight Rider Annual. As it stands the stories are great fun, there’s some interesting behind-the-scenes nuggets and at a time when we couldn’t search the internet the photography from the show was always keenly perused over and over. It’s still a great nostalgia trip and, speaking of which, here’s an old photo I found last month from around the same time with a present from Santa that was my pride and joy!

Michael and K.I.T.T. (and me) will be back next year.

(Special thanks to my friend Vicki who gave me the Super Pursuit Mode K.I.T.T. featured in the book photos in my Christmas stocking last year!)

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