Watch on Soap2day. Michael Payton, career criminal and expert driver, is injured during a heist and captured by the Metro City Police Department. MetroPol wipes Payton's memory and he is reborn as Joe Astor, MetroPol officer on the Viper Project. Astor is the only driver capable of handling the top-secret muscle car that transforms into an armored machine known as "The Defender." TV movie that preceded the 1994 TV series of the same name.