| I haven't read any of the books. I watched the first TV movie on
Monday and the movie, at least, was pretty good. I knew in advance
that Shatner had directed, which gave me a few qualms, but this is a
competently done film, all around.
The visual effects of the Tek-using cybernavigators were a nice touch.
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| I picked up what I assume is his most recent book (it's the 4th book in
the series, the title is, I think, TEK Vengeance) in the series. I was
waiting for a plane and had exhausted the reading material I brought
with me on the flight in. The first bit of the book was tough to get
through. The dialogue seemed real stiff. Once I got into it, it
became a real page turner. I don't know if I simply started accepting
the dialogue as being consistent with the characters, ignored it
because the storyline picked up, or if Shatner got better as he went
along.
re .1: Where are you located? I don't recall seeing anything about
this movie in my area (Central, MA). Was it a network movie or an
independent?
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| I rather liked the first Tek Wars movie, but, as with lots of cyberpunk,
I don't know if I'm attracted enough to persist in watching it.
Reason: the cyberpunk world is so *depressing.*
Tek Wars has a clear link to "hardboiled detective" mysteries. Not
only is the overall style gritty (with alternating passages showing
sleek luxury to play on contrast), but the hero is set the problem of
struggling with a web of delusion. Mild spoilers follow.
In a mundane hardboiled-detective story, the main form of delusion is
betrayal. The big question is "who can you trust?" This can, of course,
be augmented by false identities and occasional disguises. In cyberpunk
such as Tek Wars, there's a thick layer of technology added to the
delusion: the person you're talking to may turn out to be body-sculpted,
a hologram, or an android double (a "sim"). This illusionary theme is
underscored even by the technology that isn't meant to deceive -- the
Tek Wars future is full of images flickering from screens, dancing
ghostwise in the air, or seen in VR through the eyes of various
characters. And, of course, at the center of this is Tek, the VR "drug"
itself, which apparently sends the user into psychotic fugue-states full
of hallucinations. The big question in Tek Wars, heard in catch-phrase
traded back and forth by the hero and the tek-lord villain is
"What's real?"
Earl Wajenberg
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