Entertainment
30 Years Later, This Sci-Fi Cult Classic Is Finally Ready for a Reboot
Science fiction experienced a boom in the 1990s, thanks to groundbreaking films like The Matrix and Gattaca. Television wasn’t far behind either, as Babylon 5 would reshape long-form storytelling while Stargate SG-1 launched an entire franchise that’s still going to this day. For all the sci-fi on screens, one series strangely flew under the radar, and that was TekWar. TekWar boasts one of the most impressive pedigrees among sci-fi franchises, as it was co-created by Star Trek legend William Shatner. It also managed to build quite an incredible foundation that’s ripe for a reboot.
TekWar began life as a series of novels, with Shatner creating the concept and Ron Goulart putting words to paper. It takes place in the 22nd century, where a new addiction has taken hold in the form of “tek”: a microchip that lets its users plug into a highly addictive virtual reality world. Former detective Jake Cardigan, who was placed in cryogenic prison after being framed for dealing tek, is thawed out to deal with a series of tek-based crimes. Eventually, TekWar made the jump to television with four TV movies and a series, but that was only the beginning, as Shatner attempted to launch the next big sci-fi hit.
Shatner received the Lifetime Achievement Award at The Saturn Awards.
William Shatner Turned ‘TekWar’ Into a Long-Lasting Franchise
The genesis for TekWar happened during the tumultuous production of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. When the Writers’ Guild of America went on strike in 1988, Shatner wrote the notes that served as the backbone of TekWar‘s universe. “I found out how to write the books as I wrote them,” Shatner confessed in an interview, even though it was Goulart who wrote nearly all of the TekWar novels. While he might not have had an eye for writing novels, Shatner definitely knew marketing and hit talk shows and magazines with promos, most of which featured his face plastered across the material. It’s pretty clear that Shatner envisioned himself having the same kind of creative influence as Gene Roddenberry.
Shatner’s shameless self-promotion worked, as TekWar became a multimedia franchise. Not only were there TV films and an entire television series, but also a TekWar video game (which was critically panned) and even a comic book series, TekWorld. Eventually, the TekWar franchise would fade into memory, as it was outshone by other cyberpunk media — especially as science fiction fans began to discover Ghost in the Shell and Akira. That’s not even getting into the fact that Star Trek made a major comeback with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. While most people know William Shatner as James T. Kirk or even T.J. Hooker, they probably haven’t heard of TekWorld, but that could change.
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‘TekWar’ Could Work Well In Today’s Landscape
The time is ripe for TekWorld to make a comeback, especially with the advances in technology. Given the parallels that other franchises have made between social media and addiction, it wouldn’t be hard to reimagine tek as a world where people grow addicted to parasocial bonds and commit crimes. While William Shatner has said that he’d like to return to the role of Captain Kirk, if he finds the right cast and crew, he could take a second stab at making TekWar a franchise. This time around, his name is definitely big enough to sell the idea of a sci-fi franchise.
Ironically, TekWar did attempt a return as an animated series in 2021. Shatner was meant to produce the revival, which would have featured Star Wars: The Clone Wars writer Matt Michnovetz as a showrunner. While news about the TekWar animated series has ground to a halt, Shatner should definitely revisit the project, as adult animation has taken leaps and bounds over the years. It could also help TekWar stand out in a crowded sci-fi landscape and avoid the mistakes that the first edition of the franchise made. 30 years may have passed, but TekWar is definitely ripe for a revival.
- Release Date
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January 23, 1994
Cast
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Greg Evigan
Jake Cardigan
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Torri Higginson
Beth Kittridge
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