Who's the copycat...er Copy Car?
WHO’S THE COPYCAT…er, COPYCAR?
People often ask me if it really wasn’t from “KNIGHT RIDER” that I derived the idea of Devil Car. For those of you who weren’t around yet then, or who don’t remember anymore, ‘Knight Rider” was a weekly American action TV serial which hit it off big with televiewers, locally. The reason for the comparison between the TV show and my comics novel was obvious—Knight Rider ( or specifically the Trans Am model car known as the K.I.T.T.) was also an all-black, fast and powerful looking one-of-a-kind sportscar that had a lot of surprising gimmicks. But there the similarity ended. Whereas Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T. derived its gimmicks and powers TECHNOLOGICALLY, Devil Car derived its own from the SUPERNATURAL. And, although K.I.T.T. could also run around and do whatever deed there was without a driver at the wheel, it was able to do so only through remote control. With Devil Car however, nobody knew who or what was behind its wheel. K.I.T.T. had a driver, David Hasselhoff’s “Michael Knight” character. Hasselhoff first became popular in the Knight Rider TV series before moving on to the real biggie he made which was of course “Baywatch”. Anyway, I’ll tell you why I couldn’t have picked the idea of Devil Car from Knight Rider. Its because although I don’t remember anymore when exactly the first episode of that TV serial premiered, I’m sure about the date of my Devil Car novel was first published: December 18, 1982. And Knight Rider, to my knowledge, was released much later—of this I’m also sure.
Another material from yet another medium was also compared to Devil Car: “Christine”, a pocketbook bestseller by no less than the Amewrican master of Horror STEPHEN KING which had also been turned into a movie. “Christine” was King’s name for his own version of a similarly accursed and evil possessed car. He established the setting of his story in the 1950’s while mine was in the 1980s. King’s stage was in a small town while mine was in the city. In order to be in concert with these contrasting backgrounds, it couldn’t be helped that Devil Car came out with more intriguing characteristics than “Christine” and got exploited to the hilt in far more complex scenes. And again, if the time records were dug up, they would show that my novel was first to come out in print. Maybe the great Stephen King lifted his idea from mine? (Hey, just kidding, okey? I myself am a fan of the guy!)
People often ask me if it really wasn’t from “KNIGHT RIDER” that I derived the idea of Devil Car. For those of you who weren’t around yet then, or who don’t remember anymore, ‘Knight Rider” was a weekly American action TV serial which hit it off big with televiewers, locally. The reason for the comparison between the TV show and my comics novel was obvious—Knight Rider ( or specifically the Trans Am model car known as the K.I.T.T.) was also an all-black, fast and powerful looking one-of-a-kind sportscar that had a lot of surprising gimmicks. But there the similarity ended. Whereas Knight Rider’s K.I.T.T. derived its gimmicks and powers TECHNOLOGICALLY, Devil Car derived its own from the SUPERNATURAL. And, although K.I.T.T. could also run around and do whatever deed there was without a driver at the wheel, it was able to do so only through remote control. With Devil Car however, nobody knew who or what was behind its wheel. K.I.T.T. had a driver, David Hasselhoff’s “Michael Knight” character. Hasselhoff first became popular in the Knight Rider TV series before moving on to the real biggie he made which was of course “Baywatch”. Anyway, I’ll tell you why I couldn’t have picked the idea of Devil Car from Knight Rider. Its because although I don’t remember anymore when exactly the first episode of that TV serial premiered, I’m sure about the date of my Devil Car novel was first published: December 18, 1982. And Knight Rider, to my knowledge, was released much later—of this I’m also sure.
Another material from yet another medium was also compared to Devil Car: “Christine”, a pocketbook bestseller by no less than the Amewrican master of Horror STEPHEN KING which had also been turned into a movie. “Christine” was King’s name for his own version of a similarly accursed and evil possessed car. He established the setting of his story in the 1950’s while mine was in the 1980s. King’s stage was in a small town while mine was in the city. In order to be in concert with these contrasting backgrounds, it couldn’t be helped that Devil Car came out with more intriguing characteristics than “Christine” and got exploited to the hilt in far more complex scenes. And again, if the time records were dug up, they would show that my novel was first to come out in print. Maybe the great Stephen King lifted his idea from mine? (Hey, just kidding, okey? I myself am a fan of the guy!)
posted by Black Magic at 12:25 AM
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