Back to the near future

Primeval series 3 ended leaving me with mixed feelings. Some of the most fascinating characters (particularly Helen Cutter and Claudia/Jenny) are gone. Helen's ultimate goal turned out to be a fairly crude wipe-out-those-naughty-humans plot - I was expecting something a bit more subtle and super-intelligent, perhaps a more targetted interference in history that would account for the timeline changes between series. I was also completely wrong about the first episode - the idea of myths and legends didn't really get developed. Instead the series mainly jumped between the present and the near future so there were too few new (or old) beasties and slightly too many encounters with those bat-evolved predators, cool though they are.

Series highlights: Two stories stood out for me: as a cat lover I particularly enjoyed the sabre-toothed tiger and it's misguided guardian who should have known that you can't take the wild streak out of any cat. The parasitic fungus story was also cool. Hannah Spearitt finally got her gloves off and tried her hand at some action sequences; that annoying "intelligent" flying gecko was finally replaced by an ordinary baby dino; action in general was pretty good; and it's still near-faultless CGI with the added attraction of being palaeontologically correct. And nothing with velociraptors in it can ever be all bad.

ITV are also trying really, really hard with their ongoing interactive episodes. The concept is good and the effort that's gone into the polished and feature-packed website really shows; but I couldn't get into the online story. There was a similar problem with the one-off Doctor Who "Attack of the Graske" - these have to be accessible to quite young viewers so for anyone else they can't help but come across as a bit slow and patronizing.

I'm curious as to the future of this show - there's talk of international adaptations and a film, but ITV have confirmed that there won't be a fourth series in the UK. If I'm honest I think this is probably the right decision - this is a good point for the producers to just head for the nearest anomaly, carrying the mostly positive experience of this series with them to new projects.

[edit 23.6.09 - Lucy Brown is the actress who plays Claudia and Jenny]

Primevalgate: Series 3 opener

An ancient Egyptian artefact with misunderstood hieroglyphics, containing the key to travel through the space-time anomalies... did the new Primeval episode on Saturday remind you of anything too?


I was wondering where Primeval would go after the straightforward time-travel stories from series 1 and the alternate universe or changed timeline of series 2. Where it's going, it seems, is Stargate. It turns out the ancient Egyptians knew how to manipulate or at least anchor the anomalies, and the creatures travelling through them were worshipped as gods. A new team member arrives - Laila Rouass' archaeologist/mythologist Sarah Page, and this suggests future episodes will explore the possibility that time-travelling prehistoric creatures underlie other myths and legends. Hopefully they haven't blown the series budget on episode one where the prehistoric menace-of-the-week soundly trashes the Royal Festival Hall.

There's only one way to find out - fight!

Comparison between two TV series, both appearing in the wake of Dr. Who - one a spin-off, the other created by a competing channel.

Primeval: a bunch of misfits headed by Prof. Cutter (Douglas Henshall) investigate and fight prehistoric monsters that start travelling to and from the present day through mysterious "anomalies" (tears in the space-time continuum).

Torchwood: a bunch of misfits headed by Captain Jack (John Barrowman) investigate and fight aliens that start travelling to Cardiff from other planets and dimensions through a mysterious "rift" (guess...)

Primeval's monsters are real (with a few exceptions, one of which turns out to be from the future - fair enough) and the CGI is spot-on - this is from the studio that brought you Walking With Dinosaurs. The joy of the series, if I'm honest, is seeing a bunch of misfit actors hamming it up in episode one, but coming together as a team and producing some credible and compelling dramatic moments by the end of series one. This is not a drama that takes itself too seriously but there is a clear improvement in the quality of the show over time although it will always be a melodrama. There are flaws - particularly a variant of Jar Jar Binks in the form of an intelligent, flying and highly implausible dinosaur no doubt included for marketing purposes.

Torchwood's monsters are new, or occasionally borrowed from Dr. Who. The conceit is that this is an "adult" version of Dr. Who. Some might say that Dr. Who is already adult - it's both violent and responsible in it's attitude to violence and filming of violence; quite deep themes around love and relationships turn up from time to time; it's still dead scary and I'm now in my 30s! Sadly adult here means adolescent of course (lesbian aliens! a man in love with a cyberwoman!...) Some episodes are well-written and original but I also recognized plots borrowed from Men In Black and Species - worryingly in the first two episodes.