Okay Trancer fans I know some of you are out there just waiting to taste my blood because I was the "lucky" guy who made the first Trancers film without Tim Thomerson in it. So I've got some explaining to do. Here goes.
As a series Trancers dates back several eras of, well let's say lower budget, genre entertainment. Times have changed. The first Trancers film even played in theaters and all the sequels (aside from the unreleased anthology (Pulsepounders) which included a Trancers episode) were released under Paramount Home videos label and were among the bigger straight to video releases in circulation at that time. Helen Hunt went on to become a very big star, though she'd been a child actress before Trancers, and Tim Thomerson became a well known character actor and B movie star, rather than the comedian he'd been known as before.
Full Moon itself continues, no easy feat in the market today, but has over the last few years mostly shot on video productions most of which have been largely the work of fellow former Ohio filmmaker J.R. Bookwalter's Tempe company.
The exception to this rule was an even smaller than usual budgeted video movie called Demonicus, that through a series of misadventures I directed, which was produced outside of the usual Tempe team by Johnnie Young and Dave Sterling. Demonicus was released almost a year to the day before the news Trancers, called Trancers 6 in America but it will probably have a different title overseas, will be released.
When Full Moon called, Young and I, and said they wanted us to do Trancers I wondered what that meant in terms of budget. I didn't want to shoot on video, and I didn't want to make a Trancers film without Tim Thomerson, who I know, like, and already did a film with.
The budget was much larger than most recent Full Moon releases, the major exception being the now ready for release William Shatner directed Groom Lake, and Johnnie Young's and my new production company Young Wolf Productions would be pretty much in charge of how and where the money was spent. We hoped to, and did, shoot on film with a schedule twice as long as recent Full Moon titles. We were involved with developing the script and casting, everything from the ground up this time--unlike the last minute Demonicus production experience.
Immediately, even before I had a meeting at Full Moon, I called Tim Thomerson and told him Full Moon was finally going to do another Trancer film. Full Moon a few years before that had developed a potential Trancers Television series but it fell through. Charlie Band's new concept for what is now Trancers 6 was that the lead character be a woman, but that Jack Deth be in the film and it was a passing of the torch film and that Tim Thomerson should be in it. There was some thinking, not mine, that Tim would do it for less money if he only worked for a very short time, which would make the smaller money seem bigger. I don't want to speak for Tim, but this was never his thinking. A long process ensued in which ultimately Full Moon couldn't or wouldn't meet Tim's price which in fairness
to Full Moon was depending on the day of negotiation in question, was either half or all of the films entire budget. On one level I think it's a sin that Tim Thomerson didn't end up doing this film, then again it's a sin they kept making James Bond movies without Sean Connery--but I doubt Roger Moore, etc and fans of the series now would agree.
We came up with a way to keep Jack Deth's character in the series and made the film about the Trancers themselves again and simplified the "rules" of time travel --unlike the previous two films. For the record I felt that the best sequel was part 3 and this film in some was is a direct sequel to that film. Having been involved with the efforts to bring back Battlestar Galactica--both Young and I worked Richard Hatche's trailer for a new series--it's interesting to see just how interested, and more often, not interested the people who made the original versions are in staying true to to the "rules" they themselves created! I suppose they see the work as less precious than outside fans do. At any rate I wanted to make this Trancers film "feel" as much like a Trancers
film as possible, while at the same time improve elements that I'd felt either had grown old through repetition, or never worked as well as they should have. In particular I never felt the Trancers themselves were very scary or hard enough to kill.
The way the opening credits are done is specifically a reference to Charlie Band's credits on the first two films and there is a sincere, and I hope sly, tribute to a film title of one of Charlie's recently deceased father Albert's films.
Everyone who worked on this film was either already a fan or became a fan of the Trancers films and tried hard to make this film good.
So there you go, I feel that for the most part this is as good a Trancers sequel as was going to be made under the restrictions of budget and time. I do hope that at some point my director's cut of the film can be released since some of the post productions decisions were Full Moon's, not Young Wolf's, but for now you have to judge it as it is.
I hope now that the scent of my own blood is now less enticing to you Trancer fans out there.
Now for The Zone's Eye View
By Laura Alber
Trancers 6 keeps with the tradition of the previous films. Once again, Trancers are loose, and Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson ) must find and destroy them. The time travel in which they use to go back in time and rid the world of these unwanted guests, must be done by entering in the body of an ancestor at whatever time they're traveling to. This time, Jack Deth finds himself with only one ancestor from this time, his own daughter. "Jo" (Zette Sullivan) is a bit of a "nerd", a tofu eating "plain Jane", she enjoys astrology, and meteor watching. We first see Jo looking through her telescope watching a meteor shower. She calls her friend "Doc" at the observatory to meet with him the following day to talk about their discovery. Just as she gets off the phone, Jack enters into the body of
his daughter, which is quite an odd experience for him.
Jo is no longer the nerdy girl she once was, but now a hardened, smart talking "man". Everyone notices the obvious change, but hasn't yet figured out "who" she really is. Jo is on her own, battling the Trancers and kicking some ass!
For those who aren't familiar with the previous Trancers films, Helen Hunt played the love of Jack's life, and Jo is their daughter. You do see a picture of Helen on the refridgerator, but sorry, no cameo's. The weapons are realistic and actually sound like real guns, not the cheezy sound effects that you sometimes hear in a big budget Hollywood movie! Trancers 6 was an incredibly FUN movie, you sometimes feel like you're battling the Trancers right along with "Jo"/Jack.
The cast was a good mix also. Besides Jack and Jo, other main characters included: Jennifer Capo as "Shauna", the tough as nails peson in charge of the Trancers, Robert Donavan as "Malvern", Timothy Prindle as "Mark" and Jere Jon as "Sam". Each one brings a different and energetic performance to the film. Director Jay Woelfel has successfully kept the Trancers series alive and well. For Trancer fans and Horror fans alike, this is a must see. Plenty of suspense, blood, gore, and ass kickin'!
*A note for the Trancers Fans: Tim Thomerson is only in this film for a brief period of time, and clips from previous films were used for his scenes, not actually Tim himself. But, you will see him in on the DVD since it also includes the very first Trancers film as well!
Jay Woelfel and Zette Sullivan on the last day of shooting.
