Hello and welcome to another episode of Retrospection. In the show we're sort of driving back to our roots as in episode 1 we did the American series Night Rider and now we're taking a look at the later one off TV movie Night Rider 2000 from 1991. My name's Colin and you look like crap. There were a few lines in this I wonder which we're going to go for but a Marnos Paul and Probing Surgeon completed.
Oh that sounds right for you. I've got another one. We'll choose one from the TV show this time not the last time we visited your doctor. A Marnos Paul and Forget My Body.
Where's my random access? You like that? No. I can see you.
You like that? Horrified. Yeah, that's a look. I've seen that look before.
Have you? Oh yeah. And your wife? IMDB says in the future guns are banned and criminals are frozen for the duration of their sentences.
A recent spate of killings involving handguns brings Michael Knight back to fight for justice but he insists on the help of Kit is artificially intelligent care from decades ago. The only problem is that Kit has been deactivated. I've got one question for you. Just one?
I've got a few as we're going to go on but I've got one question for you at the moment. Yeah. What's the definition man? This was before Demolition Man.
Ooh, that's interesting. Yeah. Also interesting that the night, well the kit, what's it called? Kift.
4,000 or something. Kift 4,000 actually appears in Demolition Man. It's packed outside the Taco Bell apparently. Yeah, I read that.
It also appears in a couple of other things as well, doesn't it? Okay, if you read that, Paul, how come you didn't know whether Demolition Man came out before night rider or after? No, I didn't read that bit. Oh, but how would the care appear in Demolition Man if Demolition Man was made first?
I sure you didn't think that through. No. I genuinely didn't know which one came first. I asked the question.
It was also used in chips 99, whatever that is. That's TV movie. Okay. That's...
We're sure we'll cover it at some point. Absolutely well, weren't we? And Power Rangers, Time Force. Yeah, I have no knowledge of Power Rangers whatsoever.
Me neither. I know there's a pink one and a red one. Isn't that Teletubbies? It might be confusing them actually.
Is that what they're like about to kick each other and they go, oh, ha! Did you imagine if the Teletubbies all joined together as one big Teletubbies? Yeah. By the power of Teletubbies.
Where would they connect? Those little aerial things on their head, right? What were they going to on each of them? Well, I would imagine they'd interconnect in a circle.
Oh, did that what you're going for? Yeah. Anyway, back to Night Rider 2000, which... Do we have to?
Do we have to? No, apparently. David Hasseloff is Michael Knight. Edward Mulher is Devin Miles.
Susan Norman is Officer Sean McCormick. Cameron Agaziano is Russell Maddock. Eugene Clark is Officer Kurt Miller. Megan Butler is Officer Marla Hedges.
Mitch Pellegi is Thomas J Watts. Ooh. Christine Helius, Commissioner Ruth Daniels. Lou Betty Judeo is Mer Harald Abbey and Francis Geynon is Dr.
Jeffrey Glassman. I mean, there's a couple of people in here that would go on to fame in lots of other things. Carmen O'Jenziano was in Stargate. Quite well known in Stargate.
Mitch Pellegi played Skinner in the expanse. Yeah. He's also claimed to fame. He was stalked by my wife once.
Who's that claim to fame for? That's not a claim to fame for him. Who's there? Thanks for paying for my wife.
I actually stalked him for a while. Oh, that's nice. You sure you should be legally mentioning that? Probably not.
No. I think she just used to. She was enamored with him. Oh, you know what I mean?
She was outside his house. No, but you don't see him a couple of times. She's got a picture of him somewhere in the house up on the wall. With her passing him.
Has he looked distressed? I think he's like in a supermarket somewhere. I think it was a car. I think it was a car.
I think it was a car. I thought I was a book sign. Clotchy. Oh, oh, oh, okay.
Clotchy's a frozen peas. The picture's got a picture. You can't see her because she's like grabbed his leg. She's on the floor.
But he's dragging her. He's trying to escape. It's the time that I scared the hell out of the slaiden. But we'll leave that one there.
We won't go with that one. I'll stay there. Yeah. So because Hasloff was already in Baywatch, he couldn't do a full series of this.
So they were going to do like, far movies of the week. And then NBC said, now we're just going to do one, but universal. Well, we can't make money out of one movie. Mm-hmm.
So then that kind of was the end of that, really? Yeah. I mean, the races for this were quite good, apparently, weren't they? Apparently, don't know who that's according to.
Can't find citations for that. I wonder whether, if they were good, it might have been that people tuned in just because it was the first time that I was going to be on TV for a few years. Yeah. Yeah.
I can see why he didn't get picked up as a series. Well, didn't they also like tested Susan Norman as like saying like, this is going to be the lead actor of the new series, and she didn't test very well? Yeah. I mean, I wonder why.
I mean, I guess we're about to find out. No. Boy, how are we ever? Um, the theme music.
What about that? Um, well, I listened to it outside of the show. And to me, it's like a piece of music that you'd have playing while you're doing like Buster and I used to move. You know, a puzzle game music that you'd have in the background?
Yes. Yeah. It's not horrible. No, but it's not really suiting the show.
Did you see who the composer is? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dick Dasterly. No, it's Jan Hammer. Yeah, no, no. Apparently, this was released on his 94 album in Tom Drive.
Yes. Yeah. So it was released a few years after this came out. Yeah.
I mean, you've told me people have forgotten its association with this. Yeah. I don't dislike it. I just don't find it.
If you walked into an elevator and it was playing, you wouldn't be surprised. It's just dull. And the incidental music as well is even duller. In fact, it's not duller.
It is elevated music. Yeah. And it's completely misused in the wrong places as well. But we'll talk about it.
Because we'll take the point at the end of the movie where it's really noticeable. And it sucks the energy out of the scene. Oh, dear. Yeah.
So we open with that Jan Hammer scar that Paul loves so much. And the text night rider 2000 saws across the screen. And then we get a shot of a nameless city skyline followed by an establishing shot of Quinton's state prison. Yeah.
What the hell is going on with this opening credit? I mean, if you were tuning into this, you'd want the night rider thing to start off with, yeah, or a version of. But what's with the terrible video effects as well? I mean, I was worried already.
And then we were five seconds into this, I was worried. And then it's a shot of a skyline of a city you can't recognize. Yeah. Because this whole episode is filmed in Texas.
Oh, is it Texas? I wonder whether it was Vancouver, but obviously you looked it up and I didn't. Yeah, it's Texas. Oh, okay.
Inside we find to be a massive building futuristic. You say massive. It's a nice map painting. Is it a nice map painting?
It's a well, it's not. It's a map painting. It's a map painting. That's the best you can say.
Yeah. So a guide uses a security card to open a door and he's with a scientist wearing a white lab coat. The old one, what looks like a cryogenic chamber. The card, the guide keys in a number and inserts his card into what looks like a repurposed cash machine.
I think that's what it is. It is a cash machine, right? It's a cash machine, yeah. The screen says prisoner, what's Thomas J, the old pink chamber clears and what wakes up?
You know, it always amuses me. Wrong movies and TV get the future. Especially since he's only like nine years before we're set. This episode doesn't even get the future wrong.
It gets the present wrong too. All right. We cut to a police station. An old lady is complaining about her rights.
A male prisoner is being led away when he makes a break for it. He knocks down the two guards. Suddenly a lady runs up and she jumps on his back. She's a rocky cop called McCormick.
She's knocked down. Eventually a bunch of other cops finally turn up and grab the guy. One cop called Miller helps McCormick up by complaining that he'll probably get hit by brutality complaints even though that guy's a cop killer. It's got to be a robocop feel to me.
Doesn't it? Yeah, it does. Yeah. What's going on with all the shaky cam during the falling?
It's the enhanced excitement, but it's not enhanced. Not really. No, maybe sick. But they don't do it again.
They're just doing this one scene. They don't use it again. Inferno, how many action scenes are there in this episode? Not actually.
There's one other action scene and they don't bother. They've probably forgotten that point. Yeah. Later in the locker room, one of the other cops hedges.
She reveals that they've got the cush detail. The babysitting the map. Why did Miller McCormick not know that's what they'll be doing? Why did you get your sandwich just by being passed on by your colleague?
It's not like briefing, go ha. What was it? They don't do it in the future. No.
No briefings in the future. We're in the future. Okay. Got it.
Hedges makes fun of McCormick and a rookie status. But McCormick just laughs it off. Hedges tells her, look, you've got a good partner. Just don't blow it out there and you'll be fine.
It's a great pet talking out. Yeah, there's nothing like pressure on your first day. No. Well, it's not a first day.
You don't want to. You don't want to. I hope it's not a first day considering what happens later. It might well be.
We cut to the MERS event in a restaurant at the top of a tower. Hedges and her partner are raiding the buffet. Miller has a headache. McCormick says she has some anti-inflammatory down in the unit.
Who talks like this? There's a lot of times in this episode where people use terms that you're like, really? It's a way people speak in the future. Is this going to be your answer to everything?
Yes. Yes. We're just the writers' answers to everything, isn't it? All right.
It's just going to get old fast. Bit like this episode. Yeah. But Miller goes for that other well-known headaches suppressant.
Chicken wings. Always works for me. Yeah. And that was a little call back to Hunter there.
No, no. Is it just me or already this episode moves at a snail's pace? It doesn't cut where you think it should cut. It's just like shut some people stirring at the camera or stirring off the camera.
Do you think that the page count on the script was probably at least 15, 20 pages too short? So they had time to fill? Yeah. So to push buttons on the elevator.
Let's see you push the buttons on the elevator. Let's see you wait for the elevator. Keep it rolling. Keep it rolling.
Yeah. He's got a gun in the car pack. The car makes a way downstairs. What's the button on a ski mask and enters the buffet?
He opens fire, shoots it, it kills them all. And then takes somebody as a hostage, threatening to shoot him if they don't drop their weapons. It's a bit violent. I mean, where's the single mum's being hustled by the evil landowners?
What's going on? This is supposed to be night rider. Right. Where's the rustling?
Yeah. The cat. Who's this cat is being rustled? Or the water people who are having the supply diverted by the evil corporation.
You know, where's that? That's right. Oh, I've got a point as well. What's he wearing?
What's he wearing? What's he wearing? What's he wearing? What's he wearing?
What's he wearing? A black turtleneck? Oh, and? You don't remember our previous conversation?
Oh, I don't remember any of our conversations. Is there anything not unlike? That's true. No, you don't have to.
I've remembered. You like a black turtleneck. That is correct. And as soon as I saw it, I liked this.
This is my kind of a country man. Yeah. Well, nice word. Well, that feeling aligned quickly.
Miller wants to take a shot, but Hedges reminds me of the rules. Put down your ultrasound. Ultrasound? Is he planning to check out the most pregnant?
Don't just hate when writers come up with something that they think is futuristic, but clearly didn't do any research into it whatsoever. Do you think they came up with that name and didn't actually realise that it was already a thing? I don't know if they didn't. Well, not so much.
Not a thing, but a thing that couldn't possibly hurt anybody. Yeah. So, yeah. They bugged me.
As the comic gets the pills from her car, she hears a repart about the incident back in the restaurant. She runs back and she gets the what's leaving of his hostage, the comic, opens fire with her ultrasound, hitting the hostage. She seems to hit warts, but he just gets up. Did you see the way he flailed through the air when she shot him in a very sort of frank Spencer car?
Yeah. Yeah. But he didn't do any damage, did he? He just got struck back up and ran off.
I know. The comic gives chase, but loses him. She goes back and finds a warts discarded gun. There's a lingering shot of her thinking about something.
Is she thinking about something? It's hard to tell, really, isn't it? Probably a dinner. You can work that way.
I mean, there's not a lot going on there, is there? No. So, we cut to a shot of her fake explosion and an ugly red car pulling up. It turns out this is playing on the screen in a conference room.
Devan Miles is watching. The man next to him, Madak, says, I don't know about all of you, but it presses the hell out of me. Which bit? The fake explosion or the red car just driving along?
What are they supposed to be? They call it a simulation, don't they? Of what exactly? Of the red car driving around.
But it's not a simulation. It's an actual footage of a red car driving around with an explosion superimposed over the top of it. Don't worry. We'll get more of misuse of words later.
But I know this is what it would look like if it blew up. And why would you do that? This is what it looked like if it worked. It is an ugly car, isn't it?
Oh, yeah. It's not interesting or anything. Also, why bright red? Yeah.
Yeah. It shows up the ugliness even more. It's got some awful curves on it, hasn't it? Yeah.
It's a terrible, lucky car. Again, this is another reason why, and I think we're already giving away. We're already giving away how we feel about this. Not me.
Why? I'm playing my cards close. Oh, yeah, really? Yeah.
This is how you play poker. Then I should clean up next time. Oh, could be a shamalama-lamalama twist twist. Twist.
It's a terrible car to look out for when the turn... We're in you, in part. But why? If you're going to do night-riding and going to bring it back, who made the decision to not have the transaminate?
This is one of those things I do in that where you take something and then you have to change it for the sake of changing it, they think. But it's the most recognisable part of Night Rider is the car. Yeah. Do they think it's David Hasloff?
Well, the David Hasloff is the most part of thing of Night Rider. As long as we've got him in it because it matters we've changed the car. That's possible. And I'm not only thinking that it's not like there'd been like 10 years or whatever.
It wasn't like a long time, was it? Between the show ending and this being made, was it? Did you not do any research about when the original series finished up? I know.
So I thought... Well, they're current. It's dates, Paul. I can't remember dates.
You're going to have to play some music now. Sing a song or something. You want to sing? I'll sing.
I'll sing. No. I should just ask Alexa. Oh, don't ask Alexa.
She won't know. Well, I just had a name. She didn't respond anyway. She's pretty.
She does it. She switches up when we did the podcast. That's one of those moments where she just interjects some meaningless piece of information for no reason. Probably thinks it's boring, but in so 86.
So it's five years. It's not a great amount of time, is it? No. I mean, I could understand that they were bringing it back and they thought maybe there's a whole new generation of people that probably might not know not right there.
So we can just do it with a new car. It won't make it that big a deal. Right. It's a strange, strange idea.
There's more. Okay. But one sensible man says, even that car comes to save the murs life. But Devin Miles points out that we will never know.
Although, how would a car have saved the life of a murs killed at the top of a restaurant in a tower? Well, it seems to have lots of inexplicable powers, doesn't it? Who knows? Who knows?
Could have sprouted wings quite passably. Yeah. More hell looks good in this, doesn't he? It looks better than he did the last time we saw him in the last season of actual night ride.
Yeah. Yeah. It's true. I remember when we all those years ago that we did not, I don't know, very first episode.
I remember him doing a lot of leaning. Do you? He was doing a lot of leaning on the set in the episode that we watched. Oh, he was just drunk?
I think that's what I was going for. Oh, was it? You're besmirching one of Hollywood's idols, I see. You want to go with Hollywood idols?
It's one of the, not mine, the. All right. I thought maybe you saw those great films. I don't know if he's any.
I remember him in Von Ryan's Express. Mega-fast. Is he a megaphors? Yeah.
We'll never do. We discussed it off podcast. We're never doing megaphors. No.
We have our reasons. We do. Yeah. So this guy wants to work out on skill.
Well, this guy should say this is the new mer. He's taken over and he wants the old mer. Killer found and punished. Maddox says that they have a base of operations and now vehicle that is an entire department on wheels.
Communication said to with worldwide links the latest virtual reality display technology. It doesn't. I'll talk about that when it appears. We will.
And artificial intelligence superior to the commissioner and all of the cops put together. Oops, because the commissioner is right there. She says they don't need another law enforcement department. Maddox points out that New York, Chicago and LA all have freelance law enforcement agencies.
The commissioner tries to shut him down. We're not any of those cities. Oh, no, Maddox continues. He walks to the window, looks at the tower that Mer was killed in.
That tower is an antique now and so is your way of fighting crime. Yeah. The commissioner calls the foundation. I feel anthropic dinosaur until Devin Brock, Maddox on board.
Devin protests saying that Mercarton, a great respect for the foundation. And Maddox says he can't listen to the commissioner any longer. First you ban capital punishment, then you ban handguns from everybody, even your own police. It may work in other countries, but not here.
He's got down liberals taking away our guns. Yeah. The commissioner points out that they're not the first city to implement this. It's not as if it's a terrible scene.
It's so buggy, isn't it? The actors are falling over the words of that conch. And not a single sentence. It's not exposition.
I'll give Edward Mulhose to you, though. He breezes through it. Oh, yeah. He's the only one who's like, seems capable of doing this.
He's got the look of a man who knows it's shit. And he's thinking about the money, isn't he? Yeah. So Maddox continues with setting the backstory for this world.
Criminals get buzzed with ultrasound, frozen, and then released 20 years later and victimized a new generation. How would that work, really? Like, if you're committed to crime, and then you're like, you get given 10 years in jail, but they're going to freeze you for 10 years, and then revive you, and then you're back out. That sounds pretty good, right?
You don't age. Apparently you don't age. You don't age. You've not learned anything.
No, you're not reformed. No. You just go back and kill some more, right? You've not even suffered because you're probably just dreaming away or it feels like you've just got to sleep for the night or something.
Yeah. It never made any sense to me. In demolition man, it didn't make any sense, did it? No.
At the end of all this arguing, the new Merc is the foundation 30 days to complete the car and show them some results or the contract will be dropped. Dervin protest, it needs more time. The mayor refuses and they leave. Manic says they'll get through it, but them decides they need help.
Ooh, who's you going to get, Pa? Oh, I don't know. Who's going to eat? Colliating?
Oh, I would. So we got to our house next to some water. Michael Knight is on a boat. He ducks it and carries fishing gear with him.
He's living alone in a rural setting. You can tell this because he's got stubble on his face. People in TV who let go of their life, they only shave enough to leave us stubble. They're not a beard.
What he should have done is right. Do you remember Oliver Reed in that Perkiton interview? The famous one. That's what Michael Knight should have been, right?
Overweight, right? He's sure open to his belly. A completely mad beard, right? A juggle of our coronarish juice.
Staggering off this boat. And you remember in that interview, he sang wild thing. Yeah. Knight should have just staggered off this boat.
He's going, that I've been looking for freedom. That I've been looking for so long. Just staggering. Mind you, if you're a bit close to home for David Hasselhoff.
David Hasselhoff. It would be a burger, I suppose, wherever the fog goes. He won't chep away from eating a burger off the floor or something. But it just made me laugh at him.
He's like, oh, he's given up on life. But he's just got enough stubble. Just like, obviously spent a long time getting that right. And the cabin and the fishing as well.
Don't forget that. That's another staple of wanting to get away from society and be alone, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.
He walks up to his house past his old Chevy that he now has and sees Devon sitting at a bench. So he didn't see Devon arrive. Yeah, and there's nothing that brought him either. Is he thinking about him?
No, he just beamed in. It's the future. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.
Devon tells him he needs Michael's help. But Michael tells him he's happy out there. Devon asks him to come back to the foundation just for 30 days until they cement the contract. And then if Michael wants to leave, he can.
But our hero is still reluctant. But he agrees under one condition. He'll be waiting for us on arrival, says Devon. Is it me?
The half of it off in this scene. The half is off? The half is off. He's off.
He's half off. It's always going to look like he looks a bit blank and a little bit like he's slurring his word. Is he drunk? No, he's a professional.
All right. No, no, no. He's just, well, you know, he's just shocked to see Devon. That's why he was acting.
Oh, he's emotional, is what you're saying. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just make it to me.
Yeah. Well, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Lisa, didn't look at Greta. Sorry. Uh gosh.
Okay. Ah. Exactly. Well I guess you look at it.
Oh, isn't that em Yeah. like you have. Yeah. Yeah.
So dissected and sold off for medical research, isn't it? You'd be emotional, wouldn't you? I didn't say did you hear it. All right.
Well, if I'd done the selling. Oh, yeah, and the dissected. Yeah. Well, I'm again, I'm getting flashes of the Huey Lewis bit in American soccer.
I could picture you doing that now. Yeah. Devon wants Maddock to buy the perts back that he sold. Michael tells him not to bother a walk away.
Devon loses his temperate Maddock, but he's unrepented. Finally, Devon tells him that while he's a control partner, Maddock will do as he says. We got to Miller, this is a McCormick's partner, dropping her off at her house. McCormick reveals that she never handed the gun that what's discarded to forensic.
Why? Says Miller, which is quite reasonable. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, at this point, she's got no idea that any of these people are going to turn out to be dodgy. Right, right. She says it was a kind of hunch. And you're like, oh, from what?
The gun was a nine millimeter Weber. First of all, pretty sure not handing in evidences and offense. Yeah. Yeah.
Miller isn't freaked out that she didn't handle the gun. He just says, doesn't mean it was the cops gone. Bit defensive, all right. Well, McCormick says they were supposed to have all been melted down, but Miller points out that there were a lot of them on the black market.
McCormick tells him it isn't the first one that's turned up recently. She hands the gun to him and asks him to run ballistics on it. Okay, so now I'm confused. I imagine ballistics is handled by, oh, let me think, forensics.
Not Miller. He's not doing it himself. Yeah. Yeah.
So why does she handed it? Why keep it if all she's going to do is now handed in? Yeah. And she keeps it and gets all her own fingerprints all over it.
Then gives it to him. He gets his fingerprints all over it. Yeah. Yeah.
So you can check for fingerprints now. No, she's um, I'm not going to say it yet. No. We'll get there.
Miller says he'll do some quiet asking around and that she shouldn't say anything to anybody. How does that work? How does some quiet asking around get ballistics on the gun? Oh, why are we even getting ballistics to see if a cop used to on that gun?
Yeah. It's almost like the writers know what word I go in and just expect you to go along with it as well and not have to think about none of this making any sense. Susan Norman's performance, it's not like charismatic is it? No, it's not.
I mean, some of it, I mean, I don't think it's entirely her fault. It's definitely the writing. Oh, he's definitely the writing as well. But she just kind of have that dead-eyed sir going on, doesn't she?
And then they do softly weird with a character later. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Did I screw up? She asks? No, you did good.
Says Miller. No, no, no. She screwed up. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Miller says good night and the comic heads into a house. Suddenly the lights go on.
It's filled with people. It's a surprise birthday party. All of her colleagues at the Miller kept to the secret. I mean, I'm assuming Miller has a key to a place because over that they all broke in.
Also, she has a lot of friends that somebody's been on the job for just a few months or something. Yeah, I thought that as well. Technically, they tell a lot of them to be not her friends, don't they? That's yes, that's true.
Yeah. Are we supposed to be caring about all of this? Yeah, about performing and about, you know, her doubts and fears because quite frankly, I couldn't give a shit. No, yeah, neither.
Yeah. She then gives a speech. Oh, she doesn't have a family anymore. Not only until she joined the PD, an ask for you.
That's been great. I love you all. You guys. Great.
Yeah. Actually, the faces of the people in the crowd look as bored as I am at this scene. I imagine some of them nudging each other and going, it was she? I was going to remember, to be honest.
We got to Michael sitting in the giant empty warehouse, soldering parts together. Where did Michael become a electronics expert? He's an engineer now, is he? Because I'm pretty sure he's in the original series.
He didn't know about any of this stuff, did he? That was the whole point of bonding, wasn't it? Yeah. And this would have been a perfect place to put Bonnie as well, to bring her into the he'd gone to find Bonnie to help him to put Kit back together.
Would have made some more sense. Yeah. Well, I actually have a different idea for us. You could have appeared and I'll bring that up.
Oh, OK. But it's the same start to fingers, what you just said. And also, we only have 30 days. Is Michael playing to rebuild Kit himself in those 30 days?
Wouldn't you have a team of people at this point? Oh, could you imagine? We get a montage of him working, building. You never actually see the full thing.
You just see a little bit cut here and then you talk when I can sweat from his brow. The big day comes, the big reveal. He brings down and then, well, I've rebuilt Kit there. There he is.
We cut to it and it's just a client that falls apart. The wheels fall off. There's a wheel on the roof. It's like I've never made a few mistakes here, are there?
And you just see a kid's voice on the inside saying, kill me, kill me. Like the fly. Yeah. Yeah.
This is one of the, this show looks cheap. Oh, it's got that early 90s look about it, hasn't it? There was lots of shows like this, especially shows that got brought back from other things. They look so cheap.