PRIMEVAL: NEW WORLD

THE NEW WORLD

Evan Cross is a technical genius, but he lost his wife to a dinosaur attack. Now head of a company, he finances a search for the strange anomalies through which these creatures come. A park ranger gets embroiled in his crusade.

PRIMEVAL was a British family show that took the advances and lowering cost of CGI technology and used it to bring back prehistoric animals in a weekly romp. It lasted three seasons before being cancelled and then getting a reprieve through a deal with a satellite channel. Now, this Canadian version aims to keep the whole thing alive.

Unfortunately, this pilot episode of PRIMEVAL:NEW WORLD takes the fun premise of the UK show and turns it into a completely generic show that only manages to come alive when a character from the original show (Connor played by Andrew Lee Potts) pops up to explain everything and steal the entire show in a matter of minutes.

The main problem is the the dinosaur hunters are no longer a mixed bag of fun characters. Instead, we are given a group of bland pretty young things who fail to make any real impact at all. The one older, more interesting character doesn't make it to the end credits.

The dinosaur effects are fine, though the limited budget is obvious from the limited time they are on screen.

PRIMEVAL was infectious, nonsensical fun. This is, if anything, a bit dull. How can dinosaurs be dull?

SISIUTL

An oil refinery suffering some labour disputes has more to worry about when a sea creature starts to attack.

After the impressive effects of the opening episode, the giant snake monster here is poor to say the least, only ever looking convincing when it's underwater and therefore only partially invisible.

If this is the best that the new show has to offer then we'd rather watch repeats of the original.

Top

FEAR OF FLYING

A cargo plane gets lost through an anomaly and Evan and Dylan get themselves trapped by an army of carnivorous bugs.

Now this is much more like it, presenting what first appears to be a straightforward rescue story, but then throwing in some neat twists and some real tension that lift this episode way above anything that has come before it.

Perhaps there is some hope for the show yet.

Top

ANGRY BIRDS

Evan and Dylan are taken prisoner by armed goons at a drug factory only to be further threatened by prehistoric killer birds.

The Rocs here are a slightly different monster, being flightless birds, but the plot involves a good deal more wandering around deserted industrial areas waiting to be eaten.

If it wasn't for the entertainingly rubbish mobsters then there wouldn't be anything to enjoy here at all.

UNDONE

The local university campus is threatened by prehistoric wolves during Freshers' Week.

The show tries to add a gritty edge by introducing a new character for a couple of weeks in order to shockingly kill them off in this episode. It's a nice idea, but the fact that the audience has in no way bonded with anyone in the show means that the shock tactic fails completely.

It also seems unlikely that the team could operate as freely (and incompetently) as this without official sanction.

CLEAN UP ON AISLE THREE

A giant, empty garden centre warehouse is the scene of the latest incursion, but it soon becomes a question of who is hunting what as the creatures prove to be clever pack hunters.

It's a nice idea to have the dinosaurs being smart enough as predators to give the team a real run for their money, but unfortunately it is not enough to enliven what is effectively another run through an enclosed set with the occasional dinosaur sighting.

Top

BABES IN THE WOODS

A group of Toby's model friends are put at risk by a dinosaur incursion.

So, Toby is an ex-model and a lesbian. The whole point of this episode seems to be putting the world's least likely 'models' (if they're strippers then please call them that and try and make them convincing) in scanty clothing and attempting to titillate the target audience.

It's crass, it's unbecoming and it's unbelievable, undermining the very little that the show has acheived to date.

TRUTH

Evan gets a face full of dino spit and starts to hallucinate the return of the dinosaur that killed his wife, leading to a series of actions that will destroy relationships and reveal secrets best hidden.

The discovery in the freezer about halfway through this episode is a real headspinning moment and is the highlight of a story that rises above the others so far by doing something different. Playing with Evan's perception of what is real and what is not gives a new slant to the usual running around dark corridors and the human impact of what he is saying on those around him gives things a bit more depth.

It's still the contents of the freezer that will catch you by surprise.

BREAKTHROUGH

When a Triceratops runs riot on the land of a reclusive rival genius, Evan finds himself looking into the face of his own obssession.

Colin Ferguson (of A TOWN CALLED EUREKA) pops up as the dark mirror image of Evan Cross, joining his fellow actor from that Niall Matter. His brief presence throws into sharp relief just how uninteresting the main cast of characters is as he steals every scene that he is in. True, he has a wild-eyed, compulsive character to overplay with, but when a guest star is more interesting after less than a minute than the cast you have spent several episodes with then you know that you're on dodgy ground.

The plot beyond the meeting of the two scientists is thin and not very exciting and the slight twist at the end doesn't make up for that. Dammit, dinosaurs were never meant to be dull.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

A terrorbird invades an ice rink, leading Evan and Dylan to the conclusion that their project is being taken over by military forces with murky agendas.

PRIMEVAL:NEW WORLD comes to life finally in this episode in which the bloody hunt for the trapped terrorbird is worked into the more general plot of the military taking over the hunting of dinosaurs, and not in a good way.

It means there is more running around inside enclosed industrial corridors, but there is more intrigue to get involved in and the military prove to have fewer answers than might have been thought. Leeds is shown to be out of the loop, making his superiors seem all the more shadowy and dangerous.

THE INQUISITION

Major Hall, the officer now in charge of Operation Magnet, hauls Leeds and Evan in to answer for their actions in the ice rink. Mac and Dylan break into a secret facility to find out just what Hall's bigger plans might be.

An essentially dinosaur-free episode that concentrates of the characters and the intrigue between them would be a nice change of pace were we in any way interested in the characters and the intrigue between them, which mostly we're not.

The revelation of the extent of Major Hall's plans for using the anomalies is interestingly epic in scope, but since the officer just walked in through the door in this episode, there is no context in which to place them.

It is, at least, nice to see how the officer manipulates the team into seeing things his way.

THE SOUND OF THUNDER - Part 1

Toby is stung by a giant scorpion, forcing Evan and Dylan to go into an anomaly after the creature. They find a junction of anomalies that would further Major Hall's ambitions if he were to learn of its existence.

The team finally go further beyond an anomaly than into a downed aircraft, but the interesting things that are happening are taking place in present. Leeds is back in play and already undermining his bosses, Toby and Mac are bonding (OK, so it's not really interesting, but it's better than the bug hunt) and the geek girl is spiralling down toward coma and death.

The idea of the anomaly junction point is a nice one that gives the show lots of opportunities, not least the one in which Evan could save the life of his wife, changing the last six years of history as a result (hence the Bradbury-inspired episode title).

The potential for time travel damaging the timeline is given prominence only to be dropped again for the more immediate attractions of being trapped in a cave with a giant scorpion. A shame really.

THE SOUND OF THUNDER - Part 2

Evan is faced with serious personal choices when the dinosaur that killed his wife is captured and brought to the present by Major Hall.

Andrew Lee Potts is back as Connor Temple from the original PRIMEVAL and, whilst not being in itself a bad thing, this does serve to show up once again just how bland and lifeless the characters in the current show are. He steals the whole episode without even having to try hard.

This is the big finale of the season and so we have a swift resolution of the three cliffhangers from last time around and then have a saggy midsection in which everyone repeats themselves as to incorrect tranquiliser dosage and the inadvisability of messing around with time before launching into a slow-motion mini-T Rex versus soldiers climax that builds in a sacrifice that would have been moving had we cared about the characters and a final cliffhanger that is destined to remain unresolved as the show has been cancelled after this first, lacklustre season.

The simple fact is that PRIMEVAL:NEW WORLD did not improve on the original in any way other than layering on a slick sheen and fell far short of the original in most other areas, including memorable characters, wit and charm.