Tuesday, 14 July 2015

1984: KNIGHT RIDER 2: TRUST DOESN'T RUST Novelization (Target Books)


From 1984: The Target novelization of the legendary KNIGHT RIDER episode TRUST DOESN'T RUST.

Legendary?  It's Michael and KITT's first encounter with the infamous KARR: the first-season evil "twin" episode (there's a sequel in the following season) that's the episode that everyone (along with the Hoff's double-duty as the evil Garth Knight) remembers thanks to the playground buzz it created way-back-when.

With the distance of thirty-odd years (gosh), it's clear that it's not the greatest hour of TV ever shot... but, like much of the series, it's still a lot of fun.  

I've not read the book yet (it was cheap online... so I had to have it) but I imagine there's a heck of a lot of padding to bring a single TV script up to full book length.  The usual formula was to run two adaptations back-to-back in each book.  One clue might be on the back cover: Counter-intelligence in Vietnam.  That sounds like a bit of Michael Knight's (actually Michael Long... it's a - ahem - long story) backstory that the show didn't mention much... if at all.  Being a Vietnam vet was compulsory for Eighties action heroes... but I'm not sure if Knight/ Long was even old enough to have had fought in 'Nam considering fighting ended a decade earlier.  Maybe I'll have to just read the book...

2 comments:

  1. I thought Evil Hoff was named Garth.

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    1. Yup. You are right of course. Now corrected. Wilton was the founder of the Foundation. Thanks for the heads-up.

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