Knight Rider Character | |
Beast | |
Actor | Kerrigan Mahan |
Character | BST-1 Micro Processor |
Related Characters | K.R.O. Danté Domino Kat Plato K.A. |
Partners | Duke DePalma |
Beast, or (BST-1) is a modified Ford F-150 full-sized pickup truck with off-road capability and is driven by Duke DePalma. Beast is one of the vehicles that are part of Team knight rider.
History[]
Beast's AI has a stubborn and argumentative attitude. He talks tough and is not afraid to stand up and fight. Much to Duke's embarrassment, Beast also has a fondness for the music of Alanis Morrissette. His favorite tactic is to crash through walls and surprise the enemy. Beast does not like to take orders from Duke or anyone else, but he is fiercely loyal and gets the job done. Team member Jenny Andrews seems to be the person Beast will listen to completely, and his aggressive nature softens when she is around.
Beast's Features[]
While Beast is armored to protect his passengers, he does not share K.I.T.T.'s nearly indestructible Molecular Bonded Shell. Bullets can shatter his windows, among other things. For example, body panels can be damaged in collisions and roll-overs.
- Computer AI - The "brain" of Beast was the BST-1 Microprocessor, the center of a "self-aware" cybernetic logic module that allowed Beast to think, learn, communicate and interact with humans. Although the belief that Beast was truly sentient was never discussed on the show, Beast was fully aware of himself. Beast's future capacity is unlimited.
- Beast was programmed to obey all orders given to him by his human creators, so long as they didn't violate his prime directive of protecting human life (especially Duke's) to the best of his abilities.
- The system could drive the car better than a human operator could.
- He could provide music, video and video games via an in-dash entertainment system.
- Bonding System: Beast's self-repair system enabling him to repair minor damage. More severe impacts however, require body shop maintenance.
- Voice Synthesizer - Beast's Voice synthesizer allows Beast as well as other similar vehichles logic modules to speak and communicate. Other sounds, such as a police raid to fool criminals or a wild animal's growl, could also be simulated. The Voice Synthesizer "speaks" through the Voice Modulator in the interior of the vehicle. Beast's primary spoken language was English, however by accessing his language module, he could speak fluently in Spanish and French. The module could also be adjusted to give Beast different accents.
- Anamorphic Equalizer - The equalizer device is a fiber-optic array of electronic "eyes". The scanner could see in all visual wavelengths as well as X-Ray and infrared. It is possible to disable Beast's electronics by penetrating the equalizer with a laser making this one of his few vulnerabilities.
- Etymotic Equalizer - This system allowed Beast to hear sounds. An array of audio sensors were threaded throughout his interior and exterior.
- Olfactory Sensor - Beast could "smell" via an atmospheric sampling device mounted in his front bumper.
- Microscanners - Microscanners are tiny audio and visual sensors embedded into the grooves of Beast's body. They allow for visual tracking and display of anything around the car.
- Telephone Comlink - Duke could contact home base and communicate with F.L.A.G. and others using Beast's video display.
- Surveillance Mode - Surveillance Mode did several things:
- Beast could detect people and vehicles and track their movements and discern proximity.
- Beast could gather structural schematics of buildings, vehicles, or other devices and help Duke avoid potential danger when he was snooping.
- Beast could also monitor radio transmissions and telephone communications within a location and trace those calls.
- Beast could tap into computer systems to monitor, or upload and download information as long as he could break the access codes.
- Medical scanner - Beast has a medical scanner that includes an electrocardiograph (ECG). The medical scanner can monitor the vital signs of individuals and display them on his monitor. It could indicate such conditions as if they were injured, poisoned, undergoing stress or other emotional behavior. Beast could even monitor Duke's physical activity through sensors inside the driver seat.
- Deflatable Tires - Beast could deflate and reinflate his tires.
- Self-Tinting Windows - Beast's windows could darken to opacity for various situations.
- Voice Stress Analyzer - Beast can process spoken voices and determine if someone may be lying.
- Auto Doors and Trunklid - Beast could automatically open and close his doors. He could also lock his doors to prevent unauthorized entry into his driver compartment. He could also open his hood automatically.
- Rotating License Plate - Beast can rotate his license plate to reveal a fictitious one.
- Passive Laser Restraint System - the restraint system helped protect Duke and any passengers from the shock of sudden impacts and hard stopping, It is speculated that this is a primitive form of an inertial damping device.
- Video Display Monitor - Beast had one Cathode ray tube video display monitor on his dash for various readouts. its controlled by two systems, the Graphic Translator (which sketches likenesses from verbal input) and the Anamorphic Equalizer (which gathered visual information from Beast's front scan bar) and microscanners.
- The system could drive the car better than a human operator could.
- Beast was programmed to obey all orders given to him by his human creators, so long as they didn't violate his prime directive of protecting human life (especially Duke's) to the best of his abilities.