Tek War
Entry updated 10 March 2017. Tagged: TV.
Canadian/US tv miniseries (1994). Atlantis Films/Universal. Executive producers William Shatner and Peter Sussman; line producer John Calvert; supervising producer Seaton McLean, based on the Tek novels by Shatner. First episode written by Alfonse Ruggiero Jr and Westbrook Claridge, directed by Shatner. Cast includes Eugene Clark, Sheena Easton, Greg Evigan, Torri Higginson, Barry Morse, Shatner and Sonja Smits. Four 88-minute episodes.
Tek War was part of a syndicated package called "The Action Pack" in which it and other two-hour action/adventure miniseries were broadcast in rotation, 24 episodes in all, four being devoted to Tek War, and based with moderate fidelity on the Tek novels attributed to Shatner. Evigan plays Jake Cardigan, a framed cop doing 15 years in cryogenic sleep for murder and drug abuse, but mysteriously paroled after four. The first book was set in twenty-second century Los Angeles, but the miniseries, shot in Toronto, Canada, appears to be in a much closer future than that. The series' most intriguing aspect is its Cyberpunk elements, and an interesting attempt is made to create a visual equivalent for the experience of cruising in Cyberspace. In other respects – especially the cars and the city itself – the series is less successfully futuristic. The story is a fairly routine affair about conspiracies involving Drug lords ("tek" is a dangerous drug that enables fantasies to seem, temporarily real), android killers and so forth. One critic described it as "Miami Vice meets Neuromancer", and the latter aspect is more interesting than the former.
The miniseries found a following, and a full series began in January 1995, Tek War: The Series, 18 one-hour episodes being planned. [PN/GF]
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