Why you should be watching Primeval

[alexsarll]

I've only mentioned Primeval once this series, early on, when I worried that the changes to the format meant it was losing its charm. But over the past few weeks it's become increasingly clear that I should post again to say - I was wrong. I have no idea how long they can keep this up, but the past few episodes have shown a delightful determination to leave no stone of bonkersness unturned. They've not totally ditched the format - each week is still likely to feature a dinosaur or similar turning up through a hole in time or 'anomaly', rampaging around outer London eating stuff, and then being foiled by Our Heroes. But oh, such flexibility they've found in that format. The team has been shaken up - not least by having one of the main characters unexpectedly killed, in a mid-series episode where you're initially certain that there will be a way out of that - and there isn't. Jason Flemyng is not a great actor by any means, but he has the right sort of puppyish enthusiasm for a role where you get to eg bait dinosaurs with helicopters.
Two weeks ago, the plot formulated a situation whereby it made sense for Our Heroes to be running around some woods, unarmed, being chased by prehistoric killer ostriches against whom the only defence was dodging through a minefield. Last week, we got a double anomaly: a dinosaur turns up in the Middle Ages, and then the dinosaur and the knight who has of course taken it for a dragon end up in a modern wrecker's yard, which the knight not unreasonably decides is Hell. And that was all before the first ad break, it got stranger after that. Tomorrow, it looks like we're headed off to the post-apocalyptic future to which anomalies open up whenever they need a creature so outlandish that even the vast bestiaries of the past cannot supply it. And while I've never used ITV's iPlayer equivalent, it seems to have four episodes of Primeval available at a time. Give one a try.

Comments

[stu-n.livejournal.com]

Does it still have Hannah Spearritt in her pants, though?

[elethe.livejournal.com]

She usually wears enormous t-shirts that cover her up completely these days.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Regrettably, Rex the lizard now seems to have acclimatised to our climate such that she no longer needs to have the house that warm. Also, she seems to have had some work done or something, as even in the second series she was generally dressed, but still had an elfin charm which has now begun to leave her. Which is a shame, but not enough to spoil the show, whereas once it might have been.

[elethe.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the ITV Player is crap. I tried watching the ostrich one the other week and the whole last part was from the week before. And it takes forever to load and usually freezes.

They might have fixed the ostrich one since then - I lack the patience to try and see as I would almost certainly have to watch the preceeding 30 minutes before I can get to that point.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Ouch. I knew 4OD was bad, but had no direct experience of this - I still tend to use good old VHS for anything non-BBC.

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Primeeval IS kinda great. ITV player doesn't work for me though! Which one is Jason Flymeng? Is he Craig from Hollyoaks OHMYGOD? Unfortunately despite saying this the only one I've seen was the one where the day was saved by a - literally - belts and braces record player which played dinosaur noises to entreat the dinosaurs to run back into an anomaly? And then there were some guns and I didn't understand what was happening, but oh, there was double crossing and it all worked out ok in the end. Which I think is all one needs really.

So about those helicopters...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was the one with the twenties outfits and the minefield! They were giant killer ostrich things from prehistory rather than dinosaurs but, y'know, who's counting?
ITV player does sound like a bit of a dud.
Jason Flemyng is the wideboy chancer ex-cop who had a white tux in that episode, I somehow doubt he was ever in Hollyoaks. Was that maybe Captain Becker, the soldiery one? He looks symmetrical enough.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

My kid saw some of the ostrich one and has spent the two weeks since periodically shouting "Big big BIRD" and making gobble-you-up noises. Combined with his obsession with the Catbus I feel I must be raising him right.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Bravo! I forget that small children might be thought the natural constituency for Totoro, simply because I'm so used to hanging out with adults who adore it.