TEKWAR: THE ORIGINAL MOVIE {SERIES PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The premiere film of this dramatic science-fiction/fantasy series set in the year 2045, about an ex-police officer battling the Tek Lords, a group of powerful drug dealers, while working to clear his name of a terrible crime. It's the year 2045 and police officer Jake Cardigan is released from cryogenic incarceration after four years of his fifteen-year sentence. He finds that his wife Kate and son Danny have moved away in his absence, and she has been remarried to her new boss, Bennett Sands. He takes to the streets and tries to commission the aid of an underground group of hackers to infiltrate the "Cyber-Matrix" to determine the whereabouts of Kate and Danny. The hackers find someone has taken great pains to hide Kate's whereabouts. After a confrontation with the "Matrix Police" and some help from a mysterious source, Jake manages to get a brief holographic conversation with Danny. Danny doesn't wish to speak to his father since Jake was accused of murdering his partners in the police force, but Jake claims he was framed. Danny tells his father to stay away before his image fades and Jake is forced to escape. Jake purchases some Tek, a highly addictive drug-like technology peddled by the "Tek Lords." The Tek appears to allow the user to experience a virtual simulation of their greatest desire; in Jake's case he believes to have reunited with Kate. Sid Gomez, Jake's ex-partner from his police days, arrives to snap Jake out of his Tek-induced fantasy, explaining that the substance is far more potent than it used to be. Both Jake and Sid went undercover to defeat the Tek Lords, but during Jake's incarceration Sid quit the force and now works for Cosmos, a powerful personal security force run by the wealthy and enigmatic Walter Bascom. Sid explains that Bascom is responsible for Jake's early release from his incarceration. The next day, Sid brings Jake to Cosmos to meet Bascom. Bascom believes in Jake's innocence and will give him the chance to clear his name if he works for Cosmos as a private investigator. His first assignment for Jake and Sid is to meet a contact to track down a missing professor, an expert on laser optics. Jake and Sid discuss his predicament; Sid also believes that Jake was framed. Jake cannot recall his own whereabouts during the incident, possibly due to an overdose of Tek. Before they can discuss it further, their contact arrives, but is attacked by a killer robot disguised as a flower girl. Despite their best efforts, Jake and Sid cannot defeat the robot before it blows itself up, destroying their contact and seriously injuring Sid. Jake brings Sid to a hospital, who tells Jake to speak to Boscom to uncover the truth about their assignment. At the hospital, Jake is confronted by Inspector Winterguild, a police officer who believes in Jake's guilt and seems determined to incarcerate him again. Jake confronts Bascom, who reveals that the missing professor supposedly created a device that could destroy all Tek chips worldwide, making him a target for the Tek Lords. He wants Jake to determine the location of the missing professor and his daughter by contacting a militant rebel leader known only as "Warbride." Jake doesn't trust Bascom and refuses to comply. Later, as Jake is driving away, he loses control of his car, which somehow drives itself to an industrial site. There he is greeted by Sonny Hokori, a Tek Lord whom Sid suspects might have been responsible for framing Jake. Hokori claims that Jake was selling confiscated Tek and killed his partners when they found out. Enraged, Jake chases Hokori around the site, only to find that he is merely a hologram. Hokori's thugs fight with Jake, but he manages to defeat them. Hokori's hologram taunts Jake before disappearing. Jake visits Sid in the hospital, determined to uncover his lost memories. Sid believes that Bascom knows the truth. Jake discovers, much to his displeasure, that Sid knew about Kate's remarriage and didn't tell him. Jake ponders the possibility of a connection between Sands and Hokori. Sid gives Jake a cryptic warning before he departs. Commercials deleted. (This program, which ends prematurely, represents the best copy currently available at The Paley Center for Media.)
Details
- NETWORK: Syndicated
- DATE: December 31, 1993
- RUNNING TIME: 0:45:05
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:80186
- GENRE: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, fantasy/science fiction
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jamie Paul Rock … Producer
- Stephen Roloff … Producer
- Seaton McLean … Supervising Producer
- William Shatner … Director, Based on the "TekWar" novels by
- Alfonse Ruggiero Jr. … Writer
- Westbrook Claridge … Writer
- David Michael Frank … Music by
- Warren Zevon … Music by
- Greg Evigan … Cast, Jake Cardigan
- Eugene Clark … Cast, Sid Gomez
- Torri Higginson … Cast, Beth Kittridge
- Ray Jewers … Cast, Bennett Sands
- Von Flores … Cast, Sonny Hokori
- David Hemblen … Cast, Inspector Winterguild
- Marc Marut … Cast, Danny Cardigan
- Barry Morse … Cast, Professor Kittridge
- Sonja Smits … Cast, Kate Cardigan
- Sheena Easton … Cast, Warbride
- William Shatner … Cast, Walter Bascom
- Maurice Dean Wint … Cast, Lieutenant Winger
- Catherine Blythe … Cast, Centra
- Richard Chevolleau … Cast, Wild Side
- Lexa Doig … Cast, Cowgirl
- Jonathan Hartman … Cast, Tek Dealer
- Sandi Ross … Cast, Freezer Doctor
- Marie Cruz … Cast, Sands' Receptionist
- Michael Sinelnikoff … Cast, Judge
- Jacinta McDonnell … Cast, Female Computer Hologram
- Matthew Vanhart … Cast, Flower Girl