Knight Industries Knight Rider KITT Kicks Off

The reboot of the kitschy ’80s action show “Knight Rider” (premiering Wednesday night at 8 on WHDH, Ch. 7) comes with some solid CGI work, a few pretty people and an annoying spin on the retooled vehicle.The new KITT (Knight Industries Three Thousand) is one cool car, and in this age of big-screen “Transformers,” it better be. KITT is capable of morphing into just about any vehicle. It possesses the weaponry of a jet fighter and an artificial intelligence so great it borders on psychic.The plot in the opener - no, really, I’m being generous - centers on a missing package, the villainous agents out to get it and our hero - and nominal driver - Michael’s (Justin Bruening, “All My Children”) inability to recall several years of his life, including one significant marriage proposal.

The espionage is just a front to show the car in action. After being blasted with a chemical weapon, the vehicle races down highways aflame, hitting speeds of over 330 mph.In another brazen stunt, the vehicle morphs from a truck to its natural “turbo charge” self and shifts Michael and fellow agent Sarah (Deanna Russo) from the truck’s bed to the front seats.That’s power steering.

At first, Michael and KITT’s bantering is humorous, in a Picard-Data kind of way.

“Keep your eyes peeled, KITT,” Michael says.

“Michael, I do not have eyes,” KITT replies.

There’s an hour of this, and KITT gets twice as much dialogue as anyone else. He scolds Michael about his diet, his drinking and his sex life. He embarrasses him about his connection to Sarah. He corrects him about his knowledge of classified information.

Other than Michael and Sarah, the humans here have about as much to do as a car freshener. Knight Industries leader Alex Torres (Yancey Arias) might be evil. Technician Billy Morgan (Paul Campbell) is the geek you’d expect him to be. Office administrator Zoe (Smith Cho) seems to be a Valley Girl stereotype.

Kids are going to want to watch this, but parents must consider the violence. In one segment, though not explicit, a woman cuts off a man’s thumb.

Val Kilmer voices the role as if he were playing “2001: A Space Odyssey’s” HAL 9000, but it’s easy to imagine the same dialogue being handed to Doris Roberts’ overbearing mother from “Everybody Loves Raymond.”