Trancers Noir

• The color version also released as Future Cop
• Directed by Charles Band
• November 7, 1984 (UK) / May 22, 1985 (US)

A cop from the 23^rd century travels to the mid-80s to finally bring his old nemesis to justice. Basically a science-fiction zombie movie-now in black and white!

The more I think about it the more I come to feel that Trancers was very nearly a masterpiece. Not perfect but certainly a great distillation of science-fiction as well as the original concept. Tim Thomerson played the Philip Marlowe-esque Jack Deth with the right mix of seriousness and humor.

I will be discussing what I noticed because of the lack of color and how the changes affected things instead of the whole movie so soon after first doing it. I was a little surprised to hear about the black-and-white conversion of the original film. “Why?” I asked myself but after viewing I do see validity to the endeavor. The black-and-white highlights some of the retro future elements as well as heightening the noir sense of the film. In other scenes it makes Trancers look like a cheap 50s era science-fiction movie.

I would say there is a need for additional FX. Something to dress up the background. Nothing film altering. Just something to liven it up. Like all Empire Pictures and the later Full Moon Entertainment this was done on the cheap and nearly 40 years ago it works in color but not nearly as well in black-and-white when it came to some of the effects.

The makeup for the Trancers was nothing spectacular but it was noticeable. In black-and-white they look like some bad zombies without any make-up. Maybe something could’ve been done to make it noticeable. Not sure. Perhaps a filter effect. Additionally some of the external shots got washed but the shadow and lighting of the interior shooting was elevated.

The lack of color allowed me to pick up on lines that indicated past relationships or offered explanations to things I thought had none though some if not all was forgotten in the following films. While Trancers films were not strong on logic (if somebody was erased from existence then how do those remaining know about them?) but this film does have a guiding mythology that if carried through the series makes so much of the later material improbable.

There is even history amongst the characters. Ruthie (Telma Hopkins) and Jack went on a date/dated and it did not end well. Missed that. There is a sense of more tension between Detective McNulty (Art LaFleur) and Deth in black-and-white than there was in color. More noticeably in Trancers Noir the romance between Jack and Leena (Helen Hunt) has a touch more passion which goes to show that even in a B-Movie presentation matters.

During the climax, it’s certainly implied that the villain Martin Whistler/Detective Weisling (Michael Stefani) could convert people into trancers with the power of his mind alone. When he has Leena hostage he looks at her trying to convert her. In the second one it’s some kind of formula using a plant. By the third it’s a super soldier serum. And then we get into them being space vampires or something and that was just awful. In the highlighting of info I gained a new appreciation of the world building by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo here.

One thing you’ll notice (or at least I did) is the heavy mention of color in this movie. As originally presented Charles Band and friends didn’t have to worry about mentioning red or blue or yellow or green or anything like that. In black-and-white those references to color and their frequency stuck out like a sore thumb.

The 40s period dialogue is no longer cheesy. It actually becomes effective with a change in color palette. I don’t know why. Maybe a superficial lack of color makes up for the inability to dress up the environment to help sell it. The music even works much better here. It gives a nice cyber punk Blade Runner feel to it all.

In Trancers Noir the lack of color helped more than it hurt. However you watch the original Trancers you should watch it. It’s fun and a little silly but just a good time.