Within the late ’80s, wholeheartedly embracing his sci-fi fame, William Shatner wrote the primary high-concept guide in his personal dystopian sci-fi guide collection, TekWar. Leaping on the cyberpunk pattern of all issues, the multimedia empire expanded into TV-movies, an episodic collection, video video games, collector’s playing cards, and comics, the science fiction icon selling it on appearances on TV, positioning himself as the following William Gibson or Philip Okay. Dick.
By the 12 months 2000, the thrill had evaporated. At the moment, the present falls right into a class simply in need of misplaced media, simply accessible in grainy VHS copies however totally ignored. The thespian, albeit an keen salesman, finally could not persuade the world to purchase into his plans for a film franchise, dashing the thought earlier than any actual, natural fandom may develop. Not like Star Trek, which needed to wait a decade to correctly construct an viewers within the purgatory of syndication, TekWar burned out within the blink of a watch. The cyberpunk collection, extra bold for its breadth than narrative depth, was an arrogance mission of a star who wished to grow to be his personal media ecosystem in a single day.
TekWar
- Launch Date
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January 23, 1994
Forged
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Greg Evigan
Jake Cardigan
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Torri Higginson
Beth Kittridge
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When the Advertising Is Higher Than the Precise Manufacturing
The writing course of started within the latter half of the ’80s, with Shatner and his Star Trek crew ready out the one foe no hero can overcome: labor unions. In his spare time through the strike, he mixed his two largest roles, T.J. Hooker and Star Trek. Critically, that was his total inventive course of: future cop in house. Admittedly out of his aspect, the actor mentioned in a 1995 interview, “I discovered tips on how to write the books as I wrote them.” Shatner threw himself into the junket tour to tout his branded leisure universe, most notable for an Arsenio Corridor Present look explaining hacking, intercourse with machines, and what “cyberpunks” had been. Primarily based on his love of tacky AI-generated photos, Shatner legitimately was into radical expertise.
As obscure as it’s, TekWar blanketed the airwaves with promos, behind-the-scenes invites to the press which highlighted Bob Munroe’s laptop results like this 1995 Leisure Tonight sneak peek. Shatner’s title and face had been at all times prominently featured on the packaging and promos. Theatrical motion pictures by no means panned out, however 18 episodes from 1994-1996 did air on the USA Community.
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Greg Evigan starred as Jake Cardigan, the non-public investigator working for the Cosmos Detective Company after a jail stint, framed for a criminal offense he did not commit. His boss, Walter H. Bascom, was performed by Shatner, means too previous for the main position at this stage of his profession. Although the protagonist within the early TekWar comedian books clearly bears Shatner’s face. Primarily based on the advertising materials and interviews, it is evident that Shatner deeply desired to direct and star in his personal film collection, motivated to show himself as an actor and artist impartial of Roddenberry. Whatever the high quality of the prose or characters, you need to respect Shatner for taking of venture.
Shatner Reaches Into the Seize-Bag of Science Fiction Tropes
Shatner hoped to hit the jackpot quick, disregarding the truth that Trek‘s stature did not absolutely mature till the late ’70s sci-fi growth. These basic early Star Trek movies made him an enormous worldwide superstar, permitting him to jot down the books. There’s one little niggling situation that is by no means been resolved regarding TekWar‘s authorship. The unique guide, printed in 1989, options solely Shatner’s title, however should you have a look at the acknowledgment part, you may discover point out of the science fiction author Ron Goulart, whom Shatner describes as doing “an unlimited quantity of labor.” Goulart is mostly believed to have undertaken many of the writing, appearing on Shatner’s outlines.
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Regardless of his insistence that he was impressed by Roddenberry, TekWar does not actually resemble Star Trek, which was in all probability a wise transfer. The central premise of the universe was a VR-drug journey often called “Tek.” And as goofy because it sounds now, it foreshadowed the plot of Unusual Days. Maybe James Cameron was studying his fellow Canadian and taking notes. TekWar superficially echoes the themes and philosophical questions posed by Philip Okay. Dick, the Tek canon centering on the intersection of illicit substance-abuse and androids, with extra clichés related to California policemen and personal detectives juxtaposed with off-world colonies and house journey. These core plot factors and tropes are very harking back to the guide Do Androids Dream of Electrical Sheep.
“The Youngsters Have To Study About ‘TekWar’ Sooner or Later”
After all of the hype, what was the cultural affect? Principally nothing. Merely attempting to find the present on streaming is unattainable, although a DVD field set of the USA-aired episodes is sporadically accessible on websites like eBay and YouTube, do you have to want a lo-fi, ’90s sci-fi repair. Ask anybody at the moment who Shatner is, and so they’ll establish him as Captain Kirk. However ask about Jake Cardigan, and they’re going to reply with a clean stare. The phenomenon dissipated in lower than a decade, lowered to a punchline. The final piece of Tek media was the 1997 novel, Tek Web, launched after the present was canceled.
Regardless of some buzz of a revival a few years again, we won’t discover any hint that was ever made. And outdoors of retro PC avid gamers sarcastically enjoying (and mocking) the online game, the fandom is lifeless. The TekWar IP lies moldering, a curiosity of a less complicated time earlier than VR headsets turned available, a expertise that the common particular person nonetheless does not care about after forty straight years of consultants incessantly claiming it’ll change our lives. Falling sufferer to the pitfalls of speculative fiction, TekWar wallowed in present-day peculiarities slightly than actually predicting our future.