MJ Knight

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A nice addition to The Batman Animated Series from 2004 that offered something with a little more edge that would please the early teens as well as the pre-teens. BVD is able to have a dark and compelling story without stepping out of it's boundaries of it's target audience. The regulars from The Batman series in Rhino Romano (Batman), Kevin Michael Richardson (Joker) and Tom Kenny (Penguin) all put on fine performances. Peter Stormare, who some of you may remember as Dieter Stark from the Lost World: Jurassic Park does well as this charming take on Dracula who also goes by the alias of Dr. Alucard in the movie. Which seems fitting since Batman is Bruce's alter-ego, only makes sense for Dracula to have one to avoid suspicion. I think one of the best scenes is the first meeting between the two characters where they're seizing each other up and Bats really struggles to not only keep pace with the immortal being, but cannot match him for muscle either. And that makes for an interesting situation for Bruce, because the only other rogue that has ever bettered him in combat is Bane. The only difference is Bane does not require blood for sustenance and does not have an aversion to daylight. My recommendation as someone who enjoyed The Batman Series is to give this a look and go in open-minded, and try not to compare it to Batman The Animated Series. And that is a problem with a lot of fans, because it's not Batman TAS, most will automatically dismiss it. That's the thing, this series, tried to stand on it's own merit and not do what the previous incarnation did. Batman TAS is iconic and legendary for good reason with it's compelling stories and performers for that series. So is The Batman. It is possible to be a fan of both. That's my conviction and I'm sticking to it. The Batman Vs Dracula gets a satisfying 8/10

A very underrated Modern take on a classic Franchise. I think what people need to accept is that this is not the Knight Rider that people are familiar with from the early 1980s. It does not feature the classic Pontiac Trans Am as the Knight Industries Two Thousand nor has David Hasselhoff in the leading role. What this Pilot Episode for what some refer to as the Second Generation of Knight Rider (aka SG) does it tries to be it's own thing by not copying all the elements from the original. Yes it, has the elements of the original of heart, humour and action. The banter between Deanna Russo's Sarah, Justin Bruening's Mike Traceur and KITT voiced by Val Kilmer do provide for amusing moments in driving scenes where the characters get acquainted with each other. To make the car a Mustang was a logical choice from my perspective as the 82 Trans Am, while still looking sleek and futuristic even today, is not what the demographic of 18-34 were interested in in circa 2008. The 2008 Shelby GT500KR Mustang is a great car and it makes a great KITTstang. And with the addition of Val Kilmer as the voice of the Knight Industries Three Thousand was a good choice. It was originally going to be Will Arnett but had to drop out due to a contractual obligation to General Motors. Val was somewhat robotic with his delivery. I put this down to the voice director that he had to work with. A voice actor is only as good as the one who is directing them. That said, he did improve as the Series progressed to where the show was resembling the bickering between the original Michael & KITT from Knight Rider G1. Or another way that this could be looked at is that the KITTstang was slowly developing his personality as time went by and therefore understand the more human aspects of a personality from his human friends and allies. I was curious to incorporate elements of Transformers for this Second Generation of Knight Rider of where the KITTstang could shape-shift into cars of similar shape and mass, but then it occurred that this was a good tactical ploy of being able to hide in open sight as the car would be able to blend in. The use of Attack-Mode was very subtle as they did very little to the car; all they added was air-foils, a splitter and reasonably sized spoilers. The change from KITTPrime's Molecular Bonded Shell to a somewhat more plausible approach with nano-technology where the car could heal itself from enemy fire was more fitting as the Army is actually researching into that where Tanks could heal themselves from enemy fire, which this also plays into the means of the car being able to transform into other cars as Nano-tech allows the means to do this. Justin Bruening was an ideal choice to be a modern Knight to partner the next Generation of Young Loner on a quest to champion the cause of the innocent. He wasn't like Hasselhoff's portrayal that almost seemed perfect with knowing what to say when the moment arose. Mike Traceur was a very flawed individual who had lost his way and didn't really care too much for his well being when we first meet him at the start of the Pilot. The Antagonists are very note one note and generic and add very little to the story other than being guns for hire. It's believed that the man they were working for was Garth Knight from the original series that had miraculously survived the fall from Season 2's "Goliath Returns" but this was never explored in the Series. In reflection of this Pilot for KR SG is that there are elements that could have been improved on the in writing and not use generic antagonist stereotypes. It's not polished, but it's not as bad as people make it out to be. My opinion.