K.A.R.R.

"Michael, K.A.R.R is like a loaded gun in the hands of a small child."

- Devon Miles

K.A.R.R. (acronym for Knight Automated Roving Robot) was the name of a another artificially intelligent vehicle featured in two episodes of the original Knight Rider television series and one episode of the 2008 Knight Rider revival series. In the season one episode of the original series, "Trust Doesn't Rust", he was voiced by Peter Cullen. When he returned in the season three episode K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R., he was voiced by Paul Frees. In the season one episode of the 2008-2009 Series, "Knight to King's Pawn", Peter Cullen returned to voice the role.

Origin and background
K.A.R.R. was the prototype version of K.I.T.T., originally designed by Wilton Knight and built by his company Knight Industries. Upon completion of the vehicle, K.A.R.R.'s CPU was installed and activated. However, a programming error made the computer unstable and potentially dangerous. The project was put on hold and the car was placed in storage until a solution could be found.

Unlike K.I.T.T., whose primary directive is to protect human life, K.A.R.R. was programmed for self-preservation, making him a ruthless and unpredictable threat. He does not appear as streetwise as K.I.T.T. He is very naive and inexperienced, with a child-like perception of the world. This occasionally allows people to take advantage of his remarkable capabilities for their own gain. Despite this, he does ultimately consider himself superior and unstoppable and due to his programming, the villains don't usually get very far. K.A.R.R. demonstrates a complete lack of respect or loyalty, going so far on one occasion as to eject its driver to save weight and increase its odds of escape.

K.A.R.R. first appeared in the season one episode "Trust Doesn't Rust", and was so popular with viewers that he was brought back again in the season three episode "K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R.". K.A.R.R. also appears as the enemy of K.I.T.T. and his driver Michael Knight in the Knight Rider video game produced by Davilex International under license.

"Trust Doesn't Rust"
Once K.I.T.T. was constructed, it was presumed that his prototype K.A.R.R. had been deactivated and dismantled. However, the latter did not occur and K.A.R.R. was placed in storage and forgotten following the death of Wilton Knight. When two thieves break into the warehouse where K.A.R.R. is "sleeping", they unwittingly reactivate him, and he escapes.

When the two thieves realize how useful the vehicle could be, they use K.A.R.R. to go on a crime spree. Michael and KITT are sent to recover K.A.R.R. before anyone becomes hurt. Fearful of being taken back to storage and certain deactivation, K.A.R.R. was unwilling to go back to the Foundation, and he flees when Michael and K.I.T.T. come looking for him.

K.A.R.R.'s only weakness was his primary directive of self-preservation, and Michael uses this to his advantage. When K.A.R.R. threatens to destroy K.I.T.T. in a head-on collision, Michael plays chicken with him, knowing K.A.R.R. will veer out of K.I.T.T.'s path in order to protect himself. Unable to stop in time, K.A.R.R. drives off a cliff and seemingly explodes in the ocean.

"K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R."
K.A.R.R. was only believed to have been destroyed. It was damaged and ended up buried in the sand on the beach below the cliffs. When the tide goes out, a young couple stumbles upon the partially buried car, digs it out, and reactivates it. This time, K.A.R.R. is furious and had only one clear motive: revenge against Michael and K.I.T.T.

K.A.R.R. forces the young couple to disguise him and then drive him around to carry out his plans. In a ravine, K.A.R.R. challenges Michael and K.I.T.T. to a final showdown. After releasing the young couple, K.A.R.R. fires a stolen laser and damages K.I.T.T. However, Michael and K.I.T.T. destroy K.A.R.R.'s laser by reflecting the beam back to the emitter. Damaged, K.A.R.R. prepares for another attack. K.I.T.T. and K.A.R.R. both turbo boost and collide in mid-air. K.A.R.R. is blown to pieces. Michael and K.I.T.T. survive the impact; however at the end of the episode, amongst the wreckage, KARR's CPU module is lying undamaged on the ground, with its LED still flickering.

Redevelopment of K.A.R.R.
In "Knight of the Living Dead" of the 2008 series of Knight Rider, it's been revealed that K.A.R.R. was salvaged and returned to development by Charles Graiman in the past. |K.I.T.T. searched for files pertaining K.A.R.R. and mentions that K.A.R.R. (now anagramed to mean the Knight Auto-Cybernetic Roving Robotic-Exoskeleton) had the ability to evolve its own programming and alter its own form. K.A.R.R. is shown in the form of a Transformer-like robot with far more destructive capabilities than its former Trans Am form. K.A.R.R.'s development lead to the deaths of 7 men and eventually the development was shut down and put away for storage. Charles dreads that someone may have reactivated K.A.R.R. for its destructive power, and also developed and auto-destruct "backdoor" program into K.I.T.T. as a final option should K.I.T.T. have shown destructive tendencies.

KARR's production changes
Originally, K.A.R.R. appeared identical to K.I.T.T., with a red light scan bar, and the only physical difference was a yellow LED voice modulator on his dash (K.A.R.R.'s voice modulator was the prototype for the one seen on K.I.T.T. in the later seasons). When K.A.R.R.returns in "K.I.T.T. vs. K.A.R.R.", K.A.R.R.'s scan bar was now a yellow hue.

K.A.R.R. later gets a two-tone paint job incorporating a silver lower body into his familiar all-black finish. K.A.R.R.'s scanner made a droning noise in his first episode, but in the later episode it sounds similar to K.I.T.T.'s with a slight reverb audio effect added to it. The sound of K.A.R.R.'s engine, originally rough and "fierce", later sounds similar to K.I.T.T.'s, again affected by a reverb. In "Trust Doesn't Rust," K.A.R.R. had no license plate. In K.A.R.R.'s later appearance, he had a California license plate that read "KARR."

K.A.R.R.'s personality was different in the later episode. His child-like perceptions are diminished into a more devious personality, completely cold, and bent on revenge. His self-preservation directive was no longer in play when K.A.R.R. is close to exploding after receiving severe damage: he willingly turbo-jumps into a mid-air collision with K.I.T.T. hoping that his own destruction would also spell his counterpart's. Even K.A.R.R.'s modus operandi was different. Serviceable enough in the first episode, he now aims to actually make use of other persons, anyone, to serve his own needs.

One explanation of this change could be as a result of the damage he received after falling over the cliff at the end of "Trust Doesn't Rust", which further disrupted his programming; Indeed, K.I.T.T. himself is seen to malfunction and suffer change of personality as a result of damage in several other episodes.

Video games
K.A.R.R. is in both Knight Rider: The Game and its sequel. In the first one he is teamed with Garthe Knight, but at the end of the game is caught in an explosion and falls into the sea. In the second he is again teamed with Garthe; however, K.I.T.T. damages his systems and drives him into a fire. In the sequel, he is once again teamed with Garthe, as he didn't abandon him like the Foundation did. Garthe outfitted K.A.R.R. with new weapons and copied his processor for an army of robotic enemies, culminating in a rocket armed with a laser that could kill thousands.