TekWar

I heard some mediocre and even negative reviews about this show. Well, I don't agree at all. It was made during 1994-1996 (1 season only). There were 4 Made-for-TV movies before this series. Unfortunately, I didn't see those movies (maybe yet) but I really love the series - brilliant achievement for that-time television. They made a very decent cyberpunk series with great visual effects and really good acting. Too bad, the show was closed. It deserved better promotion and much wider publicity. Greg Evigan, Maria del Mar, William Shatner, Natalie Radford, Eugene Clark and others did a great job. I hope, this show (or its remake) will come back in the nearest future!

We were introduced to an array of some very interesting characters during "season one", which consisted of four feature-length "films" made for TV by Alex Beatons "action pack".

And this weekly one-hour television series followed pretty much the same format. In fact, the production value was a little bit higher than the first four entries. I am watching the first episode right now, many of the special effects are much better then in the action pack releases. To me it is about the same as watching the live action RoboCop series which was being played in syndication around the same time, some of the same people who worked on that show worked on this show. And some of them actually worked on Star Trek the next generation including Morgan Grendel who wrote the episode "the inner light" which has been considered possibly the best Star Trek episode ever.

But when they started showing this, there was only one minor change: The character of "Centra" (Catherine Blythe) who portrayed Bascom's computer hacker was replaced by a different girl, Natalie Radford as "Nika". I always liked Centra more.

For the first at least six episodes, The list of characters did not change much except for maybe swapping out the actor who portrayed Jake Cardigan's son, and I don't know if Cardigans wife, Kate, played by Sonia Smits ever appeared again. But Sid Gomez eventually was replaced by Maria Del Mar as "Sam Houston".

It was around that time in the show, people started losing interest. We had gotten used to the team of Cardigan and Gomez, and suddenly there was a brand new character that we had to get used to and the show wasn't allowed the proper amount of episodes for us to accept Sam Houston as a replacement.

I always thought she was OK in the part, and I liked the ripped up pants that she always wore.

But I never understood why the show which was being shown on Syfy channel at the time suddenly stopped being shown. They didn't even play the last four episodes at the time.

There were some other problems with this show that I just learned about, during the first "season", the actor who played the character of Bennett Sands (Ray Jewers) suddenly passed away. Which had serious repercussions to the stories from then on. I never knew this until I watched "Tek Lords" and they do an homage to Ray Jewers. The final episode of the first season dealt with his murder but never shows the actor.

And Bascom himself (William Shatner) only appears in a few episodes. Of course he was working on Star Trek Generations that year.

But this show was just one of those shows that could have done well had it been given a chance to develop, it really wasn't that bad. Especially for a show made in the 90s they started getting more interesting with their speculative fiction, and sometimes we will see a device that they had on this show... Computer gloves used for navigation, even three dimensional representations. Of course the concept of holography hasn't hit the main stream computer market yet even though there are some devices that display a 3-D screen that appears to float in the air. But the idea of interactive characters that feel as if they are there when you touch them is probably years from being something that we will see in consumer computing. But this show even introduced the concept of MP3 music players that could be worn on a wrist like a watch, MP3 was a technology opposed by the RIAA. But now it is a common streaming format. Also, touch screens which are very common today especially on hand devices. And hand devices like the iPhone were introduced in shows like this.

I believe I installed windows 95 about halfway through the first season, that was a major change for computing that year.

I have no intention of reading Shatner's books, so I will never know how well these concepts are executed in that medium. This show is oddly prescient, though. Something about the video phone interfaces feels very current and the theme of technological addiction was so far ahead of its time that it probably helped get the show axed. The cyberprep (this is not cyberpunk in the strictest sense of the term, the genre having developed beyond its punk roots by the time TekWar aired) world is an interesting place with interesting people. I wish this had been Cyberpunk 2077's DLC instead of Phantom Liberty.

This is another under the radar gem, this series was based on the "Tek War" book series by William Shatner. And surprising the series really was a hit, it had a series of TV films, which of course soon lead to this series, so yeah, this series was popular for its time. But as I said for its time, as time went on this TV series including the book series has become forgotten.

This show along with the book series was ahead of its time, it defiantly predates "Ghost in the Shell" which was years later after this series. There really have been that many cyberpunk/tomorrows world detective shows only ones that come to mind are anime series like "Ghost in the Shell", "Psycho Pass", and the live action shows "Almost Human" and "Total Recall 2070" also under the radar gems.

Music is good, I do like the theme which really does sing out technological world. The effects and production value are actually very good up to par. Really like the look of the technological future world which by todays standards is actually very close to our present time. Action is also pretty good I wouldn't say wall to wall since this is more of a detective show, you got some good decent shoots outs and fist a cuff.

Characters are good, Jake Carrigan His character is solid has some charisma and one I honest can emphasize with as he's a person that feels like he doesn't totally belong in the world he lives in, he could be more at home in our present time, which of course makes this guy old fashioned. Despite all the technology around he doesn't let it get to his head or feel it's the singular solution to everything, yes, he does use gizmos but he most of the time uses and rely on his observations, deductive reasonings, and instincts. I really like that it sorts of goes with the old saying "sometimes the old-fashioned ways are still the best ways.

Even like his partner Sid Gomez whom is sort of the technological officer of the bunch as he utilizes technology more which really does help in their operations. But I like that he does sometimes put the toys away and acknowledge and listen to his partner. Both the characters have a good back and forth and sort of represent the relationship between both man and technology working together despite at times in conflict.

William Shatner is solid as Bascom, Will in this is pretty much Will but nothing wrong with that. He's almost like a comic relief as there are some funny moments with him as he interacts with the characters. However, he not all laughs as he's sort of their mentor figure helping them out, much as Zordon is to the "Power Rangers".

I like the look of the cyberpunk world. Personally, I always prefer the nit and gritty look in cyberpunk worlds, but I don't mind the clean look in this show because it helps make it unique. It feels like a place that is livable and I honestly wouldn't mind moving in to, it's a techno savvy world but it feels like in this world most have actually put it to good use, actually bettering society and not always for selfish purposes which unfortunately most have done with new technology on the line.

What really makes this show even more interesting is how prolific it is to what we have going on right now. Some of the technologies in the series we have right now like VR head sets which are now being sold conveniently as well as places where you can use VR machines and play games. Online shopping, I pods, you name it it's there. See this shows that the world of Tek War isn't in the far future, we're starting to life it right now.

I even like the plotlines; each episode is always a different case and thought provoking but most importantly also reveals more details about the world of the future which to me keeps things fresh and causes you to retain your attention. Really like how technology is incorporated into it slowly and suttlely without making things confusing.

And of course the technology is really cool from the handgun Jake welds which is some sort of sonic wave gun to stun enemies and disable technology, to even the stealth scanner mask which I thought was cool where you literally can disguise yourself as any face you want, the VR technology and going into the virtual world even like the look of the VR sequences which looked great the CGI animation is up to par almost like the VR sequences in the film "The Lawnmower Man". The list goes on I really don't want to reveal too much you just have to see the rest of the wonderous toys yourself.

Only bad thing is that the show at times can get a tad confusing, there is a time or two when sometimes something happens in an episode making it hard to follow, which at times make me say "huh". Though same could be said about shows like "Ghost in the Shell" with an episode or two. But like I said this only occurs on an episode or two and it's not that noticeable or long, once your get past that piece of confusion the show is back on track.

It also gets into some heady/philosophical topics like blurring the line between reality and fantasy, organic and inorganic and our perception of both things. But also, social issues that are relevant now like our consumer subculture, the dangers of technological addition and divulging yourself too much into it. But also has a good message on staying human and to continually utilize the old-fashioned ways, if they still work use them. And to not let technology run your whole life. Make it an ally and tool not the answer to life itself.

Overall this is a solid series, though I must warn you this show much like the book series isn't everyone's cup of tea. If you're a sci-fi fan and your really into the cyberpunk subgenre or even into thinking person's Sci-Fi's, then this is for you and like any new tech worth a try. If not, then this show probably isn't your thing.

I personally would love a revival to this series, with today's technology it truly can be done may 'be even better than before. And may 'be make a VR game based on this series which would be cool, let alone ironically make sense. Those are thoughts to consider anyway.

"Tek War" has enough juice to keep you wired.

Rating: 3 stars

This series is one of my all time favorites tv series even now afte more than two decades.