Michael Knight (Knight Rider)
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| Michael Arthur Knight | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Knight of the Phoenix |
| Last appearance | Knight Rider (2008 film) |
| Portrayed by | David Hasselhoff (Michael Knight) Larry Anderson (Michael Long, pilot only) |
| Information | |
| Aliases | Michael Arthur Long Michael Long Michael Knight |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 33 (as Michael Long) or 58 (as Michael Knight) |
| Date of birth | January 8, 1949 |
| Date of death | August 8, 1982 (as Michael Long) still alive as Michael Knight |
| Occupation | Police Officer (1972-1982) Flag (1982-Present) |
| Family | Garthe Knight (evil twin-brother) Jennifer Knight (sister) |
| Spouse(s) | Stephanie Mason (girlfriend) |
| Children | Michael Tracer (son) |
Michael Arthur Knight better known as Michael Knight is a character fictional character in the 80's Knight Rider television series played by David Hasselhoff. The character at the opening scenes as Michael Long was played by Larry Anderson in the beginning of the pilot.
[edit] Michael Long
Originally born Michael Arthur Long on January 8, 1949 outside of Los Angeles, California, is actually the son of blue-collar people.
In 1969 at the age of 20, Long joined the Army, was part of the Green Berets, and spent three years in counter intelligence work in Vietnam. Captured once when snooping around, he fought his way out of a POW camp, incurring an injury which required brain surgery, and a metal plate that was inserted into his skull.
After those years in Vietnam as an intelligence officer, Michael was discharged from the service, and arrived back in Los Angeles in January 1972. Later that same year he joined the Los Angeles Police Department, starting as a patrolman, where he met his partner Muntzy. Michael was subsequently promoted to Detective Sergeant, and finally to Detective Lieutenant with the 11th precinct of the L.A.P.D. and his badge number was 4262. He used to reside at 1834 Shore Road.
[edit] Michael Knight
After 10 years on the force, in the night of August 8, 1982, while on special assignment from the LAPD as an undercover as Security Guard for Comtron Corporation in Las Vegas, his long-time partner, Muntzy, was killed by Security Guard Gray (Lance LeGault).
In the pilot episode, police officer Michael Arthur Long (played by Larry Anderson) was betrayed by a female informant, and nearly killed by a gunshot wound to the head by an industrial espionage expert named Tanya Walker (Phyllis Davis). A metal plate in Long's skull, the result of a head injury sustained during the Vietnam War ten years earlier, deflected the round, which still inflicted serious facial damage.
That same night Long was declared dead to the public and his medical care was taken over by the Foundation for Law And Government (FLAG). This part of the story is shown in the pilot, titled Knight of the Phoenix in syndication. The symbolism in this title is related to Michael's car, a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, the likes of which usually featured a giant decal on the hood depicting the fire bird (the Phoenix). The phoenix traditionally is symbolic of rebirth, and the scene of Long collapsing on the hood foreshadows later events.
FLAG is a private crime-fighting arm of Knight Industries, an organization founded by Wilton Knight, a billionaire philanthropist. In the context of the pilot, Wilton Knight (Richard Basehart) is dying of an undisclosed illness. Wilton picked up Michael passed out in front of his car, on a desert highway, Michael barely survived, thanks to the metal plate.
Given a new face via facial reconstructive surgery, Long is resurrected as Michael Knight (now played by David Hasselhoff). Together with a high-tech automobile called the Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT), Michael Knight agrees to carry on Wilton Knight's crusade of aiding the powerless. He usually was given mission objectives by the new director of FLAG, Wilton Knight's longtime friend and confidant, Devon Miles (Edward Mulhare). Michael was selected for his high level of self-defense training, intelligence, law enforcement experience, and his ability and preference to work alone without assistance or back-up.
Michael Knight was a special type of hero, a modern knight who avoided violence whenever possible and generally refrained from using firearms. Although most of Knight's cases were based in Southern California where FLAG was headquartered, the operation was not confined there. He could travel to whatever part of the country trouble arose in; sometimes even crossing borders into Mexico. FLAG also had facilities in Las Vegas and Chicago. The organization also owned an 18-wheeler that served as a mobile office and also offered technical support for KITT.
In early literature for the series, the aforementioned metal plate in Michael Long's forehead was also said to be used for Knight to pick up various radiowaves and signals. This was played upon in the several Knight Rider tie-in novels published, but was very seldom used in the actual series itself. One of the only questionable examples of it being utilized is in the first season episode "Trust Doesn't Rust", when Michael suddenly tells KITT to switch to the police frequency, although it is arguable that he could have just noticed local commotion, or been acting on a hunch.
In addition to playing Michael Knight, Hasselhoff also played a double role in the Season Two feature-length episodes Goliath and Goliath Returns, portraying not only Michael Knight but also Wilton's biological son Garthe Knight. At the time of Michael's surgery, Garthe was imprisoned in Africa. Believing that his son would never be seen again, Wilton had Michael's face modeled after Garthe's. In the pilot episode, both Devon Miles and Wilton stated that Michael actually resembled the face of Wilton himself as a young man. The novels written after the series aired described Michael's reconstructed face as based on images of both a young Wilton and Wilton's son. In any event, the Garthe storyline would not go beyond the second season, primarily due to Hasselhoff's request that the doppelgänger villain be ended, due to the time it took to be made up and film both the roles of Michael and Garthe.
In 1984 Michael finds out that there was a hit put out on Long by Tayna's lover Cameron Zachary, the reason why Michael was shot. (In episode #47 of the two part "Knight of the Drones" it is revealed that prior to Michael Long/Knight that FLAG had a prospective "Knight" driver who was murdered; however, this was never mentioned in any other episode).
In the 2008 Knight Rider revival television movie, Michael Knight shows up at the funeral for his son's mother. He introduces himself to his estranged son, Mike Traceur, who asks if he will see Michael again. Michael replies, "I hope so." NBC has announced that it is commissioning a continuation series for the 2008-2009 television series following on from the movie; it has yet to be seen whether the character of Michael Knight will appear.
