Trancers (film series)

American action-science fiction film series

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Trancers is an American action-science fiction film series started in 1984 by Empire Pictures, and continued by Full Moon Features. All but the most recent film star Tim Thomerson as Jack Deth, with the latest using stock footage from previous films.

The series consists of six feature films, one short film and two comic book miniseries.

## Plot

[edit]

Jack Deth is a cop in the 23rd century who travels back in time to 1985 to attempt to stop the creation of Trancers, an army of zombie-like humans for the first three movies. In films 4 and 5, an accident in the time machine causes Deth to be transported to a parallel world, the Land of Orpheus, to continue the fight against Trancers.[1]

## Films

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Film | Director | Writer(s) | Producer(s)

|
|
|

Trancers (1984)  | Charles Band | Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo | Charles Band
Trancers: City of Lost Angels (segment of Pulse Pounders) (1988)
Trancers II: The Return of Jack Deth (1991)  | Charles Band (story) and Jackson Barr
Trancers III: Deth Lives (1992)  | C. Courtney Joyner | Albert Band
Trancers 4: Jack of Swords (1994)  | David Nutter | Peter David | Oana Paunescu and Vlad Paunescu
Trancers 5: Sudden Deth (1994)
Trancers 6 (2002)  | Jay Woelfel  | C. Courtney Joyner  | Johnnie J. Young

## Cast and characters

[edit]

> List indicators

>   * This table shows the principal characters and the actors who have portrayed them throughout the franchise.
>   * A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's presence in the film has not yet been announced.
>   * A C indicates a cameo appearance.
>   * A P indicates an appearance in onscreen photographs only.
>   * A A indicates an appearance in archival footage only.
>   * A U indicates an uncredited role.
>   * A V indicates a voice-only role.
>   * A Y indicates a younger version of the role.

Character  | Trancers | Pulse Pounders

* * *

Trancers:
City of Lost Angels | Trancers II:
The Return of Jack Deth | Trancers III:
Deth Lives | Trancers 4:
Jack of Swords | Trancers 5:
Sudden Deth | Trancers 6

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1984 | 1988, 2013 | 1991 | 1992 | 1994 | 2002
Jack Deth | Tim Thomerson | Tim ThomersonA

* * *

Zette Sullivan
(as Jo Deth)
Leena Deth  | Helen Hunt |  | Helen HuntP
Cmdr. Ruth "Ruthie" Raines  | Telma Hopkins | Mentioned |
Police Commissioner "Little" "Baby" McNulty I  | Alyson Croft |
Police Commissioner McNulty II  | Art LaFleur | Mentioned |
Hap Ashby  | Biff Manard |  | Biff Manard | Mentioned |
Detective "Whistler" Weisling  | Michael Stefani  |
Santa Claus | Pete Schrum |
The Warden  |  | Grace Zabriskie |
Edlin Shock  |  | Velvet Rhodes  |
E.D. Wardo  |  | Richard Lynch |
Alice Stillwell-Deth  | Mentioned |  | Megan Ward | Mentioned |
Harris  |  | Stephen Macht |
Shark  |  | R. A. Mihailoff | Mentioned |
Colonel Daddy Muthuh  |  | Andrew Robinson |
R.J.  |  | Melanie Smith |
Josephine "Jo Deth" Forrest  |  | Samantha Jordan  |  | Zette Sullivan
Lyra  |  | Stacie Randall |
Prospero  |  | Ty Miller |
Shaleen  |  | Terri Ivens |
Lucius  |  | Mark Arnold |
Lord Caliban  |  | Clabe Hartley  |
Farr  |  | Alan Oppenheimer |
Harson  |  | Jeff Moldovan  |
Tessa  |  | Rona Hartner |
Angelo  |  | Ion Haiduc  |
Shauna Wilder  |  | Jennifer Capo
Dr. Paul Malvern  |  | Robert Donavan
Mr. Castle  |  | Ben Bar

## Merchandising

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Trancers: The Adventures of Jack Deth \- A two-issue comic book limited series written by S. A. Bennett and printed by Eternity Comics in 1991, which featured the tagline "All new adventures based on two hit films!".

Full Moon Presents: Trancers \- A three-issue comic book limited series written by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, published by Action Lab Comics in 2015.

Trancers II Trading Cards \- A set of collectible cards of the characters from Trancers II

Jack Deth action figure \- A prototype action figure of Jack Deth was shown at Toy Fair 2000 but was ultimately unproduced.[2]

Dollman Kills the Full Moon Universe \- A crossover comic featuring Brick Bardo from Dollman tracking down different Full Moon monsters and villains to kill, published by Full Moon Comix in 2018. Jack Deth appears in the fifth and sixth issues.

## Future

[edit]

Despite the ending of Trancers 6 teasing a sequel, any plans for potential follow-ups were abandoned after Blockbuster passed on the film, a decision that heavily impacted its post-production and release.[3] In September 2009, Tim Thomerson revealed he was in early talks to return for one final Trancers film.[4] In November 2010, Charles Band confirmed Tim Thomerson was on board and the title for the next film would be Trancers 7: Deth in Shanghai.[5] This project never materialized.

In 2023, Charles Band stated in an interview with JoBlo.com that Full Moon had several ideas for reboots and remakes for their franchises, including Trancers, which he hoped to bring back with a TV show on a streaming service.[6] Plans were stalled because of the SAG-AFTRA strike and the status of the series is currently unknown.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Stanley, John (2000) Creature Feature: 3rd edition
2. ^ "Toy Fair 2000 – Full Moon Toys". ToyMania. Raving Toy Maniac. Retrieved June 19, 2025.
3. ^ "Trancers 6 Production Notes". 2014. Archived from the original on 3 May 2014.
4. ^ "More Trancers coming?". 2 September 2009.
5. ^ "Charles Band interview.mp4". YouTube. 24 November 2010.
6. ^ "Trancers TV series: Jack Deth may return on a major streaming service". 25 July 2023.

* v
* t
* e

Trancers

Films|

* Trancers
* Trancers II
* Trancers III
* Trancers 4: Jack of Swords
* Trancers 5: Sudden Deth
* Trancers 6
* Trancers: City of Lost Angels

Characters|

* Jack Deth

* Category

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