Viper

I think "Viper" is just great. Of course, some people out there might think "hey, just another high-tech car like the one of 'knight rider'". But trust me, this is different and this tv show features (in my opinion) a number of great actors. Well, especially J. Downing aka "FBI agent Sherman Catlett" does a good job.

Okay, so the morphing effect was kinda cool. But what was the point, plotwise? Was the Viper supposed to be a kind of "superhero car" complete with a secret identity?? It's been a while, but I remember at least one pursuit scene where the Viper was in "plain clothes" and then Joe had to morph it just to use the Acme Stop-That-Car Device (tm). Which btw was pretty cool too...

In the day after tomorrow, the Metrocity became the playground of the criminals. Against that threat, Engineer Julian Wilks created the ultimate police pursuit machine, a Dodge Viper which could morph into a vehicle called 'Defender'. One thing was missing...The driver which could handle Defender's enormous skills. The best driver of the bad guys, Michael Payton, had an accident. He was recovered from death by MetroCity Police, his criminal identity was erased and he became Joseph 'Joe' Astor, a policeman, expert for pursuit. Good Show! Great Effects and good character development!

The only bad thing about this is that it changed so drastically the next season. In spite of this being listed separate from the later seasons, it has the same car and characters (although Joe and Julian didn't return until season 4.) But this first one was the best and most unique. While I loved Westlake being added in later seasons, I'm sorry the show in later seasons lost the 'rogue' edge it had and that so many characters vanished. I liked the way it was developing and always felt Joe was (as Frankie put it) part of the Defender. Just as the car went from ordinary Viper to Defender, Joe was a guy from the wild side that no one would've suspected had a 'defender' mode. I liked how the team had their independence but were gradually gradually able to work with the law but not UNDER anyone's authority. I am really thrilled its finally on DVD. It had a nice mix of sci fi, mystery, action and...that rogue element that just made it unique. Shame on NBC for letting it go!

I have every reason to belive that this series was created to spotlight cars be Chrysler, namely the Dodge Viper. Every car in the series ws either a Stealth, the Viper or some other Dodge. I believe this was tried in Knight Rider, but unlike KR, the average Joe couldn't just waltz down to the local Dodge dealership, plop down 50G and drive off with a viper.

This series just didn't have the magic of KR. Viper couldn't go 200mph, do super jumps or have witty comments like KITT. Still, it beat Team Knight Rider in the ground.