TekWar: Kampf um die verlorene Vergangenheit

OK, I was expecting the worst, when I first heard about this on the Sci-Fi channel (when it first came out in 1994, I must've been hiding under a rock or something). I mean, based on the Shatner novels, it even has Shatner in it, I was expecting total barf-o-rama.

But I was pleasantly surprised.

Mind you, it's *not* a classic, nor is it destined to become one. But it's actually pretty good entertainment. Lots of action, lots of cool techno gadgets (the scene of 'jacking in' to the Net, a' la Neuromancer, made it all worthwhile), the acting is fairly good, and the premise is interesting. It managed to hold my attention. Hell, I can even tolerate Shatner's occasional guest appearance -- his character, Bascom, is a sort of enigma -- you never know if he is really "the good guy", he has a LOT of secrets and things going on behind his back, etc., an interesting change from Shatner's most famous role as the "do-gooder" Captain Kirk.

In summary, I wouldn't go out of my way to buy or rent this title, but if you happen to catch it on the Sci-Fi channel (or have a friend who has it on tape, etc.) it's pretty good way of spending the evening.

I thought this movie, and the series as well, was better than the previous reviewer gave it credit. For being made in 1994 it presaged the movie Matrix in a couple of ways; notably the term used-the "Matrix" (though it referred to different things) and the long coats worn by the stars. I thought it was technologically a pretty good production, and the sci-fi stuff was pretty cutting edge. I thought Shatner did a better job than he otherwise is given credit for. And the sets were nicely done. All in all, it held my interest, got me involved in the stories, made me like the characters, kept me wondering how things would turn out, and had me watching the entire series. And after they were all done, it made me wish they had continued the series with more episodes.

So I gave it a 7.

And I still do.

Now since this was originally released in 1994, there were no such things as "90s Clichés", D'OH, it was the 90s.

And back in 1994 my computer was running DOS 6.2 with Windows for Workgroups v3.1.1, so the technology represented in this reflected what people thought would happen in the future. We had Tek, we had Sims (mechanical reproductions of people), we had robots like Winger. We had an information super highway and police who traversed it, as well as fringe characters like Cowgirl (Stargate's Lexa Doig) and Wild Side (Richard Chevilleau). But the interesting thing is to see houses with secure entries, logins via hand print or retina scan, and we have these things today.

It was interesting that the main information highway that is shown in this series is called "The Matrix". And, the jeep that Jake Cardigan (Greg Evigan from my two dads) drives is electric.

There is a technology-based drug called "Tek", which apparently abuses virtual reality in some way to make the user unable to discern between the real world and a Tek VR.

This initial entry into this alternate universe is loosely based on the first Tech war book by William Shatner, which was ghost written by Canadian Sci Fi writer Ron Goulart- but he did in fact use William Shatner's concepts and storylines, so this is William Shatner's work as well as his. It's just that the excellent storytelling of the book was all Ron, and he has such an out rages way of telling a story. Fortunately, it did not transfer well to these TV movies.

No. When this show was produced, it wasn't produced to reflect the comedy and outrageousness of the original book. For example, Winger was made out of chrome he would always polish himself. But there are other funny things like Warbride, A woman who has married herself to war, played by the lovely Sheena Easton. I don't know if she had acted in anything but she does all right she's believable. And kind of funny.

And we are familiar with the actress who plays Beth Kittredge, if we were ever a fan of Stargate Atlantis. Tory Higginson.

Von Flores who plays Sonny Hokori was also in the Gene Roddenberry based "Earth: final conflict".

Which was another Canadian production. But this show, it was produced and distributed under Alex Beaton's "Universal Action Pack" which was responsible for shows like Vanishing Son, and it was also where the beginnings of "Hercules the legendary journeys" came from, they had about five feature-length Hercules "films"- you can't really call any of these productions "films", they were released for TV, and they are formatted 4:3, even when later released for DVD. So the "first season" of tech war was released as for feature-length movies, this is the first one, to be followed by Teklords.

But the coolest thing about this show was Warren Zevon singing the song at the end, "Are you real or not"

By standards of today, the show is rather primitive, maybe boring, maybe camp even. But in 1994, these four TV movies were extremely popular. As was the book and there was also a Marvel comics series. But it was an attempt to bring a book that was extremely popular to life, and for the most part, it worked. They got a lot of the details from the book absolutely right.

I don't know how the books are compared to this movie, because I never read them. I hope their better though.

The basic plot of the story is Jake is a former cop who supposedly killed his teammates when they were trying to stop a drug lord. As a result, he's framed and sentenced to be cryogenically frozen. The character, Bascom, grants him early parole so Jake can stop the Tek drug from becoming an epidemic.

Although that plot sounds interesting on paper, it didn't work as well as I thought when I was watching it on YouTube. It wasn't given much praise by critics anyway. Here are some problems I had with it: The book setting is supposed to be portrayed in the 22 century. The movie setting ends up being a 90's semi-futuristic B-movie.

The acting and plot are okay, but fall short and become boring after a while.

The 90's B-movie tech and special effects often become a distraction from the acting and plot.

Being that this was a TV movie, its typical that it didn't have a big budget. However, I don't know if having a bigger budget would've saved it. Maybe if Hollywood decided to make this a stand-alone feature film, they could make it well enough that it becomes an A-movie and finally saves this franchise.

In the future, "Tek" is the powerful electronic drug that junkie people use to trip. The police officer Jake Cardigan (Greg Evigan) awakes after four and something years of cryogenic detainment despite his sentence of fifteen-year punishment. Jake was accused of killing his fellow partners in a raid, but he has always claimed that he was innocent. When he arrives home, he learns that his beloved wife Kate (Sonja Smits) has divorced him and disappeared with their son Danny (Marc Marut). Soon his partner Sid Gomez (Eugene Clark) invites him to meet the powerful Walter H. Bascom (William Shatner), who owns the security corporation Cosmos, and he hires them to find the scientist Prof. Kittridge (Barry Morse), who has developed a crystal to destroy the Tek chips. Meanwhile, Insp. Winterguild (David Hemblen) and the android Lieutenant Winger are chasing Jake since they want him to go back to the ice.

"Tecwar" is an underrated sci-fi movie from 1994. The plot is well-written, showing the criminal life in 2045. I saw this film first time in the 90's but watching it again in 2023, it is interesting to see that many futuristic stuffs in the 90's is reality these days. Tek is not reality yet, but electronic cigarette (e-cigarettes / vapes) is. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Tekwar"