The Satellite Surveillance Center or S.S.C. as it’s more commonly known, is the Knight Research & Development's center of operations and also serves as a hangar and home base for both K.I.T.T., and the main, human cast. It’s been affectionately nicknamed the "K.I.T.T. Cave" by both the show’s writers, and Billy Morgan.
Layout[]
K.I.T.T. in the SSC
The centerpiece of the S.S.C. is it’s huge, two story main chamber. From here, K.I.T.T. is maintained and launched from a revolving turntable and gyroscopic cage that takes up the room’s center. Combined, the cage and the turntable allow the chamber’s pair of diagnostic robot arms, Katie and Lisa, to scan the car from every direction. Access to the surface, for K.I.T.T. is provided by a pair of very big, very solid doors.
The remainder of the room comprises the S.S.C.’s mission and operations control center. Dominating the wall, exactly opposite the chamber doors is the main display screen. The screen usually displays a combination of telemetry from K.I.T.T., as well as real-time audio-visual feed from either his cockpit, or any remote camera patched into his system. Facing this are a set of freestanding workstations, normally occupied by Zoe Chae and Billy Morgan, with Alex Torres, Carrie Ruvai,and Charles Graiman roaming as needed. When not out in the field with Mike, Sarah Graiman can also frequently be found here.
A circular corridor runs just behind the main chamber. Interrogation 1 and the Game Room lie on it, while other corridors connect it to the Mainframe Room, the Gym, and the S.S.C’s individual living quarters. So far, Michael and Sarah are the only ones whose rooms have been shown. Interrogation 1 is a conference room style chamber, used by Agent Ruvai to confront the Zodiac member Virgo, after he was caught, breaking into a secure FBI facility. Carrie was also able to contact K.I.T.T., have him analyze a ring placed on the table, and reply both by voice, and a small holographic projector, built into the table. The Game Room is a lounge, with a computer, a billiards table, a TV, a couch and several chairs.
The S.S.C.’s location is classified.When entering the base the outside of the hangar doors it looks like it is in a air-field, and has only been breached twice. Once, an intruder broke in, from the outside, disguised as Zoe, triggering a facility wide-lockdown. [1] The second was when Nikki abused the S.S.C.’s hospitality by hacking into the mainframe.
Major Scenes and Subplots[]
Unlike Devon's office and the Semi, in the original series, the S.S.C isn't merely a place for Mike and K.I.T.T. to hang out, between missions. Already, They have faced both their share of dangers, and the problems with running a far more complex opperation than the old Foundation. Only Charles and Alex have never left the S.S.C., since the TV show started.
The First Mission[]
The S.C.C., in their role as K.I.T.T.’s dedicated support team, function as far more than a mere pit crew. They are there, for K.I.T.T., when he encounters a situation that throws even him for a loop. Such as in the first episode, when a group of people connected to Mike’s past, somehow managed to biometrically lock onto him, with an air to surface missile. Unfortunately, Charles was forced to admit, they didn’t have a solution, for that one, either.
Lucky for them, K.I.T.T. survived the initial impact, only to leave them with a new problem. His outer shell was on fire, the missile’s cargo had been a napalm-like compound that burned with the intensity of jet fuel. After it defied K.I.T.T.’s initial efforts to get it off him, Billy immediately went to work and thought he had the answer When that failed, because the problem was more complex than everyone had realized, the decision was made to bring K.I.T.T. into the entry tunnel, and exhaust all the oxygen.
That worked, but it left Mike and Sarah near death. When the chamber doors then jammed, K.I.T.T. made the decision that in order to save their lives, he’d smash though them. In his current, fragile state, it wasn’t certain that the car would survive the impact, leaving Billy frantic, and Charles close to panic. The doors unfroze, just in time, and a medical team was able to shock Mike and Sarah into breathing again. Episode 101: Knight in Shining Armor
The S.S.C and the Government[]
Bureaucratic problems started for the S.S.C. when they were ordered to go after Nikki & Max, a Bonnie-and-Clyde like pair who were on a two-person crusade against the Military-Industrial complex. Nikki turned out to be Nichole, the daughter of the congressman responsible for Knight Industries’s government funding. Believing she wasn’t helping Max of her own free will, when she was caught, she was brought directly to the S.S.C. for a reunion with her father.
She repaid their hospitality by hacking into the S.S.C. mainframe and downloaded four of the most highly classified files there: Who they were, what they were, their secret location, and their ties to the Government. Had this information ended up open, on the internet, as Nikki and Max had planned, it would have fatally compromised the S.S.C. Billy managed to block the upload, but it was a very near thing. Episode 107: I Wanna Rock & Roll All Knight
Notes[]
- Exterior shots of the S.C.C. are based on the Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, specifically an old blimp hangar.[2]
- So far, only a handfull of rooms have been seen, on camera, but the size of the S.C.C.'s facility must be huge, because Alex stated in Living Dead that “...and there’s only 1700 people working in this complex.”
- The main chamber's second floor has always been visible, but it wasn't until Knight of the Zodiac that a scene on the balcony was actually filmed. In addition that episode also featured a scene in a room, under K.I.T.T.'s turntable, first hinted at, when the cage retracted into the floor, in Knight of the Living Dead.
- One end of the Game Room was glimpsed briefly in Rock & Roll; the entire room was shown an episode later.
- The words "KITT Cave" are clearly visible in the Game Room; spray-painted on the wall, graffiti style, at the end of Zodiac.
- There are at least six levels to the S.S.C. [3]