Knight Rider (TV Series) Goliath: Part 1 (1983) User Reviews

David (Hasselhoff) vs. Goliath

[Fluke_Skywalker · 8/10 · 24 February 2024]

Like the "KARR" episodes, "Goliath" (and its sequel) seeks to give KITT a supervillain to come up against. I really wish that the series had continued this trend and given KITT and full rogues gallery, but the contrast between the two auto-baddies is stark. Goliath is huge, and while it lacks the sentient personality of KARR, it has something perhaps even more sinister. Garthe Knight!

David Hasselhoff plays a dual role as the evil son of former FLAG and Knight Foundation founder Wilton Knight, and he sinks his gleaming white chompers into it like it's a Big Mac. He's dreadful, but not in a bad way. But damn I love The 'Hoff as Michael Knight. To me, he's the best thing about the series. He's so unapologetically likable in the role that he's probably the easiest protagonist to root for in television history. Modern Hollywood should take note.

This is a really fun 1 hr. 37 min. Of 80's action genre TV. The kind that they just don't make anymore. Sigh.

Goliath: Part 1

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 4 May 2018]

The first of a two parter sees Rebecca Holden join as Devon's assistant, April Curtis. Bonnie is not in the title sequence but she will appear in later episodes.

This is a case of two Knights as Hasselhoff also plays Garthe, Wilton Knight's estranged evil son who was jailed in an African country.

Michael is on his way to Vegas playing Blackjack with KITT when Devon sends him on a mission to meet a lady called Rita whose brother has disappeared. Rita is astonished by Michael's resemblance to someone she knows.

However Michael's mission is cut short as Devon has been poisoned by Wilton Knight's widow Elizabeth who wants the formula for KITT's molecular structure. Devon is one of three people who knows the formula.

Garthe and his mother want the formula to Kitt's molecular bonded shell to create a super truck called Goliath. Garthe wants to destroy Michael Knight, as his father gave Michael what should rightfully be his.

The opener for the second season has shots of Las Vegas and Rio de Janeiro. Hasselhoff is suitably wooden and nasty as Garthe. Director Winrich Kolbe was always good value for his television work but he struggles to make Goliath the truck suitably Herculean.

Bring back Bonnie!

[Calicodreamin · 5/10 · 8 December 2021]

This episode gives off major soap opera vibes, an evil twin and replacing actors with no explanation whatsoever. The new girl doesn't have the same charm or chemistry with Michael. Storyline is interesting though.

oh, bring back, oh, bring back my Bonnneeeee to me...

[RavenGlamDVDCollector · 3/10 · 16 October 2020]

More speculation from The Raven. You may take all my speculations with a pinch of salt. They might well be true. This one quite most likely is exact.

Patricia McPherson's 'departure' took the producers by surprise. The script for Goliath was complete and ready for filming. Last-minute changes had to be made to replace Patricia. It's real bad form to give in to actresses whose agents demand more. A replacement was made with Rebecca Holden, a bit of a dolly-bird sort of along the lines of, well, Audrey Landers, that direction. But there wasn't any time to change the script to explain New Girl. April comes in as if the name "Bonnie" was just replaced with "April" hence no explanation given. The script Rebecca Holden was given is in all other ways exactly the same one Patricia McPherson would have had.

This first outing of Rebecca Holden in this key position falls flat miserably. There is no spark. There were friction aplenty with Bonnie, spontaneous combustion seemed imminent. A big mistake spoiled everything in that episode featuring K.A.R.R. when the two were allowed to gravitate together but sluggishly pulled apart by inept last bit of script in order to return to the obviously-needed tension that had to remain between the two.

Judging from here, it seems utterly doubtful that Rebecca could fill Patricia's shoes... er, sneakers?