Larson said the original premise of the show was going to be much different.
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“I wanted to do The Lone Ranger with a car. If you think about him riding across the Plains and going from one town to another to help law and order, then K.I.T.T. becomes Tonto.”
In Knight Rider the “good vs. evil” inspirations from The Lone Ranger and other Western shows and movies were accompanied by Larson’s background in sci-fi.
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According to David Hasselhoff HAL 9000 from 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey was the direct inspiration for K.I.T.T.
But that wasn’t the only Sci-Fi inspiration the car had on the show.
The car’s red strobe lights were a subtle nod to the scanner lights which were the trademark of the Cylons from Larson’s Battlestar Galactica.
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