NICK NIGHT (1989; IMDb) is a movie pilot that predates the long running television series FOREVER KNIGHT. It is not a prequel because the first episodes of the TV series reprise all of the events of this movie. However it is interesting to see a slightly different and early take on the same story.
Rick Springfield is a more conventional attractive lead, but lack some of the edge that Geraint Wyn Davies later bought to the part. The filming of this fail pilot was also looser and sometimes introduced serious flaws.
For example there a pivotal scene where Knight must choose whether to save the girl or save the ancient cup that might allow him mortal again. In both version the villain holds the cup and the girl on a high walkway. In this version the cup is dropped and hits the ground before Knight acts, essentially making nonsense of the dilemma. In the Forever Knight version the villain drops the cup and Knight saves the girl before it hits the ground and shatters--making it clear that he had time to rescue one or the other.
There were really only two elements that I feel are more successful in NICK KNIGHT than in FOREVER KNIGHT. One is the gimmick of Knight rigging up camera so her could watch the sun rise on dozens of televisions. This seemed to sum up Knight's obsession with regaining mortality, on which the series hangs. The pother is that the sidekick Det. Don Schanke (played by John Kapelos in both versions) has more of a threatening side to him that is lost in the buffoonish character he became in the series (perhaps necessary to have a long running character who never works out that his partner is a vampire).
On the whole this is a movie for FOREVER KNIGHT enthusiasts only, it completes the collection but adds relatively little to it.
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