The Rise of the Dark Side

[thefourthvine]

Okay, so a few months ago I made a playlist for Best Beloved (based around the theme of heroes and saving the world, additions still gratefully accepted) featuring the song Michael (Jump in), which is actually written (Jumpin) in the version I bought, but I refuse to believe that. Anyway, what I didn't realize when I put the song on the mix is that it is, at least according to BB, a song written by a car to David Hasselhoff.

Best Beloved spent some time explaining this concept to me - apparently, the car was an artificial intelligence, and together he and Michael (played by David Hasselhoff) fought crime. And then I asked her about the line in the song that goes:

"It's not like you/To turn your back and let the dark side win"

Obviously, this gave me a mental image of the show as a kind of Star Wars crossover, where Michael was a Jedi and the car was his - trusty, um, whatever. Racer-thing, maybe. Basically, I was sort of envisioning David Hasselhoff as Anakin Skywalker, which made my brain hurt.

BB explained to me that, no, it wasn't about Michael's dark side. "Because I don't think he really had one," she said.

"But without angst, what do you write about in the third season?" I asked her.

She didn't know. Apparently her television knowledge is not that encyclopedic.

Thinking about it, though, I'm not sure I can imagine this concept. He's a lone wolf white guy out to save the world with just his car (and, I'm guessing, his fists or maybe a gun, although BB did not go into that part)! Surely he must have:

1. Angst, including a tragic back story.
   
2. A dead wife or girlfriend or kid something, or maybe just one who left him with prejudice after she found the photos of him with a puppy on his dick. (Warning for a dude with a puppy on his dick. NSFW, is what I'm saying. Also possibly not all that safe for your brain.)
   
3. A constant struggle with the dark side, whether it be his alcoholism or his desire to eat people or his evil twin or his general dickishness or whatever.

You can't have TV without those things, is my understanding. Even in Sports Night, a half-hour comedy show, Danny had a dead brother, a bad relationship with his parents, and some kind of major emotional breakdown including acting out on air. He had plenty of angst! He had a dark side! He was a news anchor on a half-hour comedy show. So I really don't see how a crimefighter with an intelligent car could get out of this. (BB does recall that the car apparently had some angst. And an evil twin.)

Except, as previously documented extensively in this space, my understanding of TV is limited and narrow. So - can you have TV without those things? I mean, are these the actual requirements, or am I just confused? And if those are the requirements, was it always that way? Can you pinpoint an era as the Rise of Main Character Angst? What about Main Character Dark Sides?

Tell me about angst and dark sides on TV, is what I'm saying!

Comments

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

There's a NEW Knight Rider? Seriously? I mean, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised - they've had to move on to rebooting '90s stuff because they bled the '80s pretty much dry. But. Surely the day of One Dude and One Car on a Mission to Save the World is gone?

Also, BB wondered if she'd perhaps missed the angst, on account of a) being young when she saw it and b) being more interested in the car. I have since learned that indeed it is so! So I was right: you can't be a lone crimefighter without angst and a dark side and a tragic back story. It just isn't done. Emily Post would never approve.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

Even better? Between old KR and new KR, there was a show about TEAM KR. They were Five or So Dudes and Five or So Cars/Trucks/Conjoined Twin Motorcycles on a Mission to Save the World (in a Giant Transport Plane). And they all had angst and issues. And the cars were all cooler than the humans.

These guys, they believe in their running themes.

[corvis-corvax.livejournal.com]

Did they all have evil twins? In the original KR the car, Devon, The mechanic chick, AND Michael -ALL- had evil twins.

[stillane.livejournal.com]

I had to look it up, I confess, but now that you mention it... they went the "be your own evil twin route" with a computer virus episode where they all tried to kill their people. There was a generic evil twin car that preceded them - and canonically convinced everyone that they'd just been stupid lucky the first time around with KITT, so they'd better decrease the awesomeness of all future models lest they decide to be baddies - but nothing so massive as a one-for-one, through-the-mirror match up.

That... is a lot more than I ever thought I'd be talking about this show. It was pretty bad, but it was on late enough at night that it could pass for the fantastic kind of bad. *g*

[corvis-corvax.livejournal.com]

I love fantastic bad.

[loriel-eris.livejournal.com]

Yeah. New Knightrider. I think they have the new main character being Michael's son? Maybe? I wanted to like it, I mean, I loved real!Knightrider. But yeah, no. I think I got thru maybe half the first ep, and decided Oh Hell No. I can't remember what tipped me over the edge, it may have been "Ok, so our audience is teenage boys, so let's write / film this show accordingly." (I think there was an element woman = window dressing, and wearing as little as possible. I could be completely misremembering, so don't take my word for it.)