Knight Rider 2000

Knight Rider 2000
Promotional poster for Knight Rider 2000
Genre	Action Adventure Science Fiction
Written by	Rob Hedden, Glen A. Larson
Directed by	Alan J. Levi
Starring	See Cast
Theme music composer	Jan Hammer
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michele Brustin
Producer(s)	Rob Hedden Charles Sellier
Cinematography	Billy Dickson
Editor(s)	Barry B. Leirer
Running time	91 minutes
Production company(s)	Charles E. Sellier Productions River Rock Productions Universal Television
Distributor	NBC
Budget	$6,500,000
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	May 19, 1991

Knight Rider 2000 is a 1991 television sequel movie to the television series Knight Rider. It is included in the Region 1, Region 2 and Region 4 versions of the Knight Rider Season One box set. The movie served as a pilot for a proposed new series, but despite high ratings, the plan was abandoned.

In the year 2000, conventional handguns have been banned, with law enforcement carrying non-lethal "stun" pistols. Nationwide budget changes have resulted in the adoption of cryonic suspension over standard incarceration for convicted criminals. Following the assassination of a mayor in San Antonio, his replacement demands a solution, which is found in the form of the "Knight 4000", a car that will become the next generation of the Knight Industries' supercar KITT.

The theme song, "Knight Rider 2000", by Jan Hammer was released on his 1994 album Drive.

Thomas J. Watts (Mitch Pileggi) – a former cop turned psychotic killer – has been released from the prison and assassinates the mayor. Police officer Shawn McCormick (Susan Norman) confronts the masked Watts holding the next mayor hostage at gunpoint. She shoots Watts, who flees. Shawn finds the handgun used in the murder and hides it, not knowing what to do. The city's new mayor demands the gunman be found, but his fellow councilmen reprimand him for disarming the police and setting up the cryo-prison where the inmates "sleep away" their sentences and emerge the same people as before.

The Knight Foundation (created from a combination of the original series's Knight Industries and the Foundation for Law and Government) offers a possible solution – the "Knight 4000". Devon Miles (Edward Mulhare) and his partner, Russel Maddock (Carmen Argenziano), are green lighted on the idea, but the city wants to see a working prototype of the 4000 in 30 days. Devon decides to bring in Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) as the test driver.