After Detective Michael Long is shot and
left for dead, he is saved by the eccentric billionaire,
Wilton Knight and his associate Devon Miles. He is given a
new face by plastic surgery, a new identity as Michael
Knight, and the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT for
short) – a dream car with super-spy gadgets and nearly
invulnerable armor. Wilton asks Michael to carry on his
crime-fighting crusade believing "one man can make a
difference".
Knight
of the Phoenix (Pt.2)
102
September 26, 1982
Daniel Haller
Glen A. Larson
The story continues as Michael locates his
shooter, a woman named Tanya Walker, who is stealing
technology secrets and embezzling money from a computer
company. With the help of a woman named Maggie, Michael
lures Tanya into a trap by showing off KITT's abilities as
bait.
Deadly
Maneuvers
103
October 1, 1982
Paul Stanley
William Schmidt, Bob Shayne
Michael helps a stranded Army Lieutenant
named Robin Ladd who learns her father has died in a
suspicious accident. Michael conducts his own investigation
which leads to uncovering the theft of nuclear warheads from
an Army weapons depot and evidence the top brass may be
involved.
A Good
Day at White Rock
104
October 8, 1982
Daniel Haller
Deborah Davis
Michael goes to the sleepy mountain town of
White Rock for some rock-climbing, but the place is invaded
by a troublesome biker gang. Learning another gang is on its
way for a showdown, Michael, with the help of a local woman
and her brother, must find a way to drive off the gangs
before they turn the town into a battleground.
NOTES: The title of this episode is a play on the
classic 1955 movie
Bad Day at Black Rock. An early episode of
The A-Team, "Black Day at Bad Rock" is also a
similar play on the title. Both episodes also contain
notable parallels with both stories involving a biker gang
terrorizing a small town. Sherry is played by
Anne Lockhart, better known for her role as Lt. Sheba on
the original
Battlestar Galactica series.
Slammin'
Sammy's Stunt Show Spectacular
105
October 22, 1982
Bruce Bilson
E. Paul Edwards & John Alan Schwartz
Michael investigates a dare-devil stunt show
that is plagued with accidents and sabotage. When Michael
finds out a disreputable businessman named Blake may be to
blame, he joins the show with KITT as his stunt car, hoping
to draw out the saboteur and connect him with Blake's scheme
to take over the business.
Devon assigns Michael to protect Senator
Maggie Flynn who has made enemies in her political crusade
to fight a new energy bill. After numerous attempts on her
life, Michael arranges for her to hide out with Devon, much
to Devon's chagrin, while he conducts an investigation with
Flynn's assistant Jane Adams, who suspects a rival
politician to be involved in the attacks.
Not a
Drop to Drink
107
November 5, 1982
Virgil Vogel
Hannah Louise Shearer
Michael is sent to help a group of cattle
ranchers who are battling an acquisitive landowner. Getting
in Michael's way is a troubled rancher's hot-headed
daughter-in-law Francesca, who believes they don't need an
outsider's help. After Michael and KITT stop a gang of thugs
from destroying a pipeline the landowner resorts to bombing
a dam that could flood the valley and kill dozens of people.
NOTE: Some prints of this episode contain the
opening credits narration, others do not. One may notice
that the flood scenes also contain reused footage from the
first
Superman movie. Francesca Morgan is played by
actress
Sondra Currie.
Devon is pulled over in a small town for a
minor traffic violation, but the officers add "resisting
arrest" to the charges and toss him in the slammer. Devon
then learns a fellow cellmate, Frank Reston, is an
investigative reporter about to bust the county's Judge
Paxton on a corruption scheme, but soon Reston is taken away
and eliminated. With Devon is a potential witness, Paxton
has Devon taken to a maximum security prison. Michael and
KITT then break Devon out in order to prove he is being set
up.
Trust
Doesn't Rust
109
November 19, 1982
Paul Stanley
Steven E. De Souza
Two petty thieves, Tony and Rev, break into
a Foundation warehouse and unwittingly reactivate
KARR, (the Knight Automated Roving Robot), which was
sitting in storage. Responding to the break in, Michael and
KITT arrive to see the two thieves make a getaway in KITT's
twin. After Michael learns that KARR was KITT's prototype
and programmed with an unstable AI, he goes after the
vehicle which the two thieves are using to crash into bank
vaults. Things become more complicated when KARR has the
thieves kidnap Bonnie so she can repair a malfunctioning
circuit and steal a laser meant to destroy him.
NOTE: The car that jumps off the cliff at the end
of the episode is not KARR, but
The Car, which was footage from a 1977 horror film
starring
James Brolin.
Inside
Out
110
November 26, 1982
Peter Crane
Steven E. De Souza
Michael poses as a wheelman named Dugan so
he can infiltrate a criminal training camp led by a retired
General named Kincaid. Helping him is a woman on the inside
named Linda who only follows Kincaid to avoid being
blackmailed. The situation becomes dire when Michael, after
unwittingly helping Kincaid in a gold heist, faces off with
the real Dugan who shows up and points to Michael as an
impostor.
The
Final Verdict
111
December 3, 1982
Bernard L. Kowalski
E. Paul Edwards & John Alan Schwartz (Story by Tom
Greene)
Michael tries to help a friend named Cheryl
Burns who is accused of murdering her boss, and her only
alibi lies with a nerdy accountant named Marty Kean who was
with her at a bar on the night of the crime. When Michael
tries to locate Kean, he finds the man at the center of a
police investigation suspecting him of cooking the books of
his shady employer. Michael agrees to get the cops, and
Kean's employer, off his back if he helps prove Cheryl
innocent.
A Plush
Ride
112
December 10, 1982
Sidney Hayers
Gregory S. Dinallo
Michael infiltrates a bodyguard-chauffeur
driving school the Foundation suspects may be training an
assassin plotting to eliminate a group of third world
leaders meeting at a secret conference. Michael first
suspects a woman named Margo Wells until another student
named Jacobs tries to kill him. With Jacobs eliminated,
Michael goes on his way, but when Jacobs returns from the
dead, Michael realizes he's been duped and the leaders are
still in danger.
Forget
Me Not
113
December 17, 1982
Gil Bettman
Richard Christian Matheson, Thomas Szollosi
Michael works with Marie Elena, a woman
whose father is a South American leader visiting the United
State. Marie fears a rival figure, Rudy del Fuego, may have
hired an assassin to kill him. Michael infiltrates del
Fuego's private party where he meets a drunk woman named
Micki, but she lays down in a bedroom and overhears del
Fuego's assassin discussing the killing plot. When she is
caught, Michael sees her being taken away in a car, and
gives chase, but Micki escapes by jumping from the car and
injures her head. Now Michael must make the amnesiac Micki
remember who the assassin is before he strikes.
Hearts
of Stone
114
January 14, 1983
Jeffrey Hayden
Robert Foster
Michael goes to Texas to meet Father Carlos
Laguna whose family is feuding with a group of gunrunners in
possession of an advanced assault rifle called the X-19. The
situation worsens when Carlos' brother Roberto is shot with
an X-19 during a drive-by attack. With the help of a
bartender named Angie, Michael poses as a gun collector and
makes contact with the gunrunners where he offers to buy the
whole shipment of X-19s. They strike a deal, but Angie
tricks Michael and steals his suitcase full of money which
was charity funds provided by Devon.
NOTE: This is the episode where KITT gets his
three-bar LED voice display. Don Peake also takes over
composing the music for the rest of the series.
Give Me
Liberty... or Give Me Death
115
January 21, 1983
Bernard L. Kowalski
David Braff
Michael enters KITT in an alternative fuel
race where the coordinator, Dr. Kempler, believes an
oil-producing nation is conducting sabotage to see the
advanced fuel technologies fail. Michael investigates every
driver's background and zeroes in on a reporter named
Liberty Cox who has a long criminal record and a radio
detonator device in her luggage. Little does Michael know
that Liberty is being set up by the real saboteur; a
ruthless cable television sponsor Clark Sellers, who stands
to make a killing off of the filming rights of the race if
every car makes a "spectacular crash".
A high-profile "skin magazine" editor named
Philip Royce is murdered and Michael helps his daughter
Lauren investigate who killed him and why. The clues may be
found in Royce's computer, but the file he was working on is
password protected under the code name "Topaz". The plot
thickens when a private investigator Royce hired calls
Lauren to reveal the story, but the man is killed by a
sniper. Lauren and Michael then follow the P.I.'s leads to
Las Vegas in hopes of uncovering the meaning behind Topaz,
but quickly come across more thugs who want them eliminated.
A Nice,
Indecent Little Town
117
February 18, 1983
Gil Betteman
Frank Telford
Michael poses as a freelance bounty hunter
looking to capture a counterfeiter named Ron Austin. He
tracks the criminal to the small town of Alpine Crest where
Devon is presenting a Foundation award for the city with the
lowest crime rate per capita. While following Austin,
Michael befriends Jobina Bruce, a local reporter looking for
a big story, but Jobina is also working for a CIA agent
named Larken, who is conducting his own investigation of a
local religious printing business, "Hallelujah Press". While
Michael tries to make a connection between Austin and the
print shop, he is arrested by Sheriff Moore, a corrupt
official who also has KITT impounded.
Chariot
of Gold
118
February 25, 1983
Bernard L. Kowalski
William Schmidt
Michael is called to investigate an
archeological dig that dug up something strange, but his
contact Dr. Litton, suddenly goes insane and slips into a
coma. Meanwhile, Devon and Bonnie speak with Dr. Graham
Deauville, (Litton's partner) and leader of the prestigious
"Helios Society" – an organization of genius minds. Michael
learns Litton had stumbled upon a secret excavation and is
just the latest member of Helios to fall victim to a
mysterious death. Deauville puts Bonnie under mind control
and has her reprogram KITT to assist in a museum gold heist
which is just one phases of a much larger scheme – to fund
the building of an underground complex that Deauville
believes will save him from the nuclear armageddon of World
War III.
White
Bird
119
March 4, 1983
Winrich Kolbe
Virginia Aldridge
Michael learns that the woman he was once
engaged to, Stephanie Mason, has been arrested for her
involvement in a money laundering scheme. Unfortunately, he
was engaged to her when he was Michael Long and Stephanie
thinks he is dead. The Justice Department has given
Stephanie the option of turning in her boss Gilbert Cole, or
face conspiracy charges if she refuses. The situation
intensifies when Cole sends thugs to eliminate her before
she can testify before a grand jury. Now Michael must
protect the woman he once loved and capture the people who
are setting her up, all the while avoiding slip ups that may
give away his secret identity.
Michael goes to New Mexico to investigate
for the Alliance of Independent Truckers (AIT) whose rigs
are getting hijacked on isolated stretches of highway. AIT
is led by Rick Calley who is the latest victim of the
attacks when gunmen stole his trailer filled with valuable
equipment. More problems arise when AIT's main client
threatens to do business with AIT's biggest rival, Prairie
Trucking, whose trucks, suspiciously enough, haven't been
hit by thieves. When Michael sticks his nose into Prairie
Trucking's business, their owner, Falker, sends his thugs to
eliminate him.
Nobody
Does it Better
121
April 29, 1983
Harvey Laidman
David Braff
A CEO of an electronics firm hires the
Foundation to help catch whoever is stealing software from
his company. Michael suspects someone on the inside – a
programmer named Julian Groves when he learns of his
involvement with a con-woman named Connie Chason. Soon an
overzealous private investigator named Flannery Roe, hired
by Groves' wife, gets into Michael's way, but things become
more complicated when Connie is found murdered in Julian's
bungalow and the programmer is on the run. Michael doesn't
believe Julian is capable of murder and he and Flannery are
forced to tolerate each other to find the real killer.
