Trooper Jack Deth, also known as Jo Deth, was a 23rd century trancer hunter and private detective. He spent much of his career pursuing Martin Whistler, creator of trancers, culminating in Deth inhabiting the body of his 1985 ancestor Philip Dethton.
Deth remained in Dethton's body during his pursuits of Edlin Shock as well as trancer engineers Dr. E.D. Wardo, Col. Daddy Muthuh, and Caliban. He inhabited the body of his daughter, Josephine Forrest in the year 2022 in order to save her life from Shauna Wilder.
Biography[]
In January 2247, Deth seemingly singed Martin Whistler in one of the outer rim planets. Prior to the following July, Deth was widowed after his wife, trancer hunter Alice Stillwell was killed during an assignment. Jack briefly retired from the police force for neglecting his duties, when he chose to continue depleting the many disciples of his nemesis.
Future Cop[]
Unknown to Jack, Whistler had instigated a plan to return to the year 1985 using the body of his ancestor, Detective Weisling, in order to hunt down and murder the ancestors of the three Angel City council chairmen. Jack was recruited by the council to go down the line to 1985 Los Angeles using a time drug that regressed his consciousness. This bizarre technique enabled people to inhabit the body of an ancestor before a time machine was built.
After it became apparent what Whistler's plans were, Jack was transferred by Ruthie Raines into the body of Los Angeles journalist Philip Dethton, and was sent a box containing a long second watch with a single-use generator, as well as a couple of photos of the people he was supposed to safeguard, and a revolver containing two vials of time serum. This was intended to send Whistler back to 2247 without a vessel, as Jack had destroyed Whistler's body in his own time. The other was to be used on Jack himself, so he could get back home.
Jack and Phil's girlfriend, Lena teamed up to stop Whistler, surviving two attacks at a shopping mall and tanning parlor, but were too late in saving two out of the three ancestors, leaving only Hap Ashby, a former baseball pitcher turned hobo, and ancestor of the only surviving council member, Margaret Ashe.
Jack was temporarily extracted from the mission by his boss McNulty in the body of a little girl, until Jack convinced Chairman Ashe to send him back so he could complete the mission. Shortly thereafter, Jack and Lena discovered that Whistler was monitoring hobos on skid row, because Hap was one of the hobos living out on the streets.
After escaping from Whistler's police goons and saving Ashby from Whistler, Jack lured Whistler to Chinatown using Lena and Ashby to distract Whistler. Jack managed to effectively destroy the evil Whistler using the serum. This was done so Jack could save the life of Weisling, the innocent police chief whom Whistler had possessed. Because the other vial was broken, Jack had to remain in 1985 with Lena and Ashby.
City of Lost Angels[]
By 1988, Jack had established a private detective agency, though his relationship with Lena had become strained. Lena walked out one evening after an argument, set on the pair taking an indefinite break. Jack was later visited by McNulty – again in the body of his ancestor – who informed him of the escape of Edlin Shock, an inmate Jack had arrested some years prior.
A woman came to Jack's office, in need of his services, though McNulty believed her to actually be Shock. The woman tried to seduce Jack, much to McNulty's frustration, but the real Shock dropped through the ceiling and attacked Jack. McNulty managed to get a hold of Jack's gun and sent him and Shock back up the line.
Back at the Angel City Police Department in his own time, Jack fought Shock, ultimately killing her by using his hair pomade to make her slip off of a ladder. Jack then decided to go back to Phil's body in 1988, opting to go back three hours before he had left, in order to repair his and Lena's relationship.
The Return of Jack Deth[]
Jack later married Lena. They peacefully lived in a large estate with Ashby, until they came under threat from Whistler's brother, Dr. E.D. Wardo in the year 1991. With the help of Lena, McNulty, Ashby, and Jack's resurrected future wife Alice Stillwell, Jack managed to foil a trancer conspiracy instigated by the organization known as GreenWorld, who had been mass-producing the illegal 21st-century herb, Scurbosa. With Wardo dead, Jack was supposed to go back up the line with Alice in the newly built TCL Chamber. But Jack chose to stay with Lena. Realizing Alice was on borrowed time, Jack used the TCL Chamber to send Alice forward in time, so she could live on in the far away future.
Deth Lives[]
More than one year later, Jack's marital status with Lena was in jeopardy. Lena filed for divorce, due to Jack's obsession with his work. One night, on the verge of reconciling their relationship, Shark, an android, kidnapped Jack and brought him back to the future by order of the council. In the future, a stronger breed of trancers had left Angel City at a standstill. McNulty had been replaced by Harris, and Jack was instructed to go back in time to 2005 using the TCL Chamber, so he could destroy the trancers at their source.
Unbeknownst to Jack, Lena was pregnant when he disappeared, resulting in the birth of their daughter, Josephine. Lena remarried during the time Jack had been away from her, changing her's and their daughter's surname to Forrest. When Jack found her again, she had become a successful journalist, out to exploit the maniacal Col. Daddy Muthuh.
With the help of a trancer escapee named R.J. and Shark, Jack was able to stop Muthuh and his trancers, after they had been captured and held in their base of operations. However, R.J. succumbed to the trancing drugs she was inflicted with, and Jack had to kill her before she lost total control of her senses.
Following the mission, the council appointed Jack the official peacekeeper of time, and he was given a new partner: Shark. Together, they searched for anomalies in time and worked to mend them.
Jack of Swords[]
After losing his partner Shark, Jack was tasked with going to an undisclosed time period in Kansas. Unfortunately, a Solonoid interfered with the TCL Chamber, and Jack wound up trapped in the mystical world of Orpheus, which was under the reign of vampiric trancers, collectively known as Nobles. They fed on the human populace, and if their victims turned a glowy red, this meant they were in grave danger, according to observation.
Jack engaged in a fierce battle with the mighty Caliban, where his weapons had no effect. Jack eventually fulfilled a foretold prophecy, which led to Caliban being temporarily banished, with the help of a rebel group called the "Tunnel Rats" and Caliban's son Prospero, who had chosen to align himself against his Father.
Sudden Deth[]
Following their victory, Jack and Prospero journeyed to a dangerous territory called the Castle of Unrelenting Terror, where they had to search for a talisman called the Tiamond, which was a diamond-shaped jewel about the size of a fist. The Tiamond was Jack's only hope of returning to his own world, as the TCL Chamber had been destroyed when he arrived in Orpheus.
Once inside the terrible structure, Jack and Prospero overcame many challenges including an evil doppelganger of Jack. By doing so, he was presented with the Tiamond, which was almost stolen by Caliban after he was revealed to be the wolf who fought off their attacker in the woods. After being injured by Caliban, Jack used the Tiamond to send himself and Prospero back to Angel City after Prospero killed Caliban. Because of the time difference, Prospero was no longer a Noble, and he told Jack he wanted to stay for a while.
While stranded in Orpheus, Jack also had a short-lived relationship with Lyra, an alternate dimensional version of a scientist he met in his own time, but she proved to be far from the intelligent woman he knew before. Nevertheless, this union resulted in a pregnancy, unknown to Jack.
Life After Deth[]
After Dr. Jennings witnessed Jack's daughter, Josephine being attacked at knife-point, Jack was sent into Josephine's body. Jennings explained that if the girl managed to be killed by her attacker, Jack would cease to exist up the line, as Josephine was also his ancestor. While Jack's body was left in Jennings' lab, he began to fade there, indicating that Jack - taking the name Jo Deth - must act swiftly to prevent Josephine's death.
The subsequent mission was a success and Jack remained in Jo's body.
Other[]
The Malibu Comics subsidary Eternity Comics released a Special Edition comic book based on Trancers, with similarities to the first two films, that had previously been made available as two separate issues.
Tim Thomerson appears in character in the 2006 horror/comedy film Evil Bong, which features several character cameos from Full Moon Features. This is not a canonical appearance, however.
An action figure / doll of Jack Deth was planned for a limited release. But the collapse of Full Moon prevented this from happening. It can still be viewed on certain fan websites.