Primeval

[Dirk Gently]

Oh yeah, the ending wasn't the best. It committed suicide by sticking a stool in an electrical transformer. Not exactly well thought out but I'm sure the kiddies enjoyed it.

[Dave Tudor]

I enjoyed the second episode, but have to agree with some of the points raised in the last couple of posts, particularly regarding the characters. In a show where the main foes are non-speaking, un-thinking computer-generated beasts, the main characters have to be interesting, well-drawn and well-acted, and so far, the heroes of the piece (well, most of them, anyway) are not really fulfilling the criteria. Perhaps the most cliched character, as Si said, is the geeky Connor - the shameful token throwaway Star Wars, Star Trek and Buffy references (he's a geek, so, of course, he likes ALL science fiction - please!!! ) are cringeworthy and need to dispensed with quickly. However, he's still more interesting and likeable than the macho Steve, who is just dull, dull, dull!

Despite this, as good old-fashioned family entertainment with plenty of action and scares, 'Primeval' works marvellously, and I am looking forward to the rest of the series, despite its faults.

[Jonno]

Having been out Saturday night, I watched the Sunday repeat but having not slept much the night before, found myself nodding off towards the end and missed the last 10-15 mins. If anyone can provide a brief resume of what happened at the end Id be most grateful!

[Si Hunt]

Well the young chap got trapped in the underground, and attacked by the killer centipede. While unconcious, he saw the ghostly figure of the older bloke's missing wife looming over him. She told him (oddly off screen) to tell the older bloke to go through the anomaly and meet her.

Anyway they got the younger bloke out but he'd been bitten by the centipede and the only cure was to find an antidote for the poison which meant getting a 'clean' sample of poison from the giant killer centipede. So the older bloke went down and allowed himself to be bitten by the centipede... but the canny chap had strapped a plastic bag to his arm, so in actual fact the centipede bit that and injected a sample of poison into it. The centipede then fell against an electrical unit and was fried, and the young bloke got his antidote and was saved.

The older chap later stared meaningfully at the anomaly but for some reason didn't go through to see his ghostly lost wife.

Si.

[Wayne]

I recorded Sunday's repeat & finally watched it this morning.
I echo the general concencus that it was watchable enough without being mindblowing. In fact i perhaps didn't quite enjoy it as much as the first one. I already had a sense of 'novelty wearing off'. The spiders looked great & everything, but otherwise not much depth to the story. Enjoyable enough in a disposable kind of way though.

[Jonno]

Thanks Si - didn't see any of that so that's really useful!

Well, we've had Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Planet of the Spiders. What next - giant maggots?!

[Dave Tudor]

Well, we've had Invasion of the Dinosaurs and Planet of the Spiders.

With more than a hint of 'The Web Of Fear', too.

What next - giant maggots?!

Well next week's looks like a rip-off of 'The Sea Devils'. Or perhaps not.

Incidentally, it looks like the DVD of the complete series is released on 19th March - look!

[cullsoft]

I watched most of the first episode - sadly missing too much to fully get what was happening, but still rather enjoyed it. On the downside, it did immediately scream "ITV needs to do a Torchwood rip-off"... but on the plus side, it also said "See? To make a sci-fi drama 'grown-up' you don't need to fill it with abundant amounts of swearing and sexual innuendo!", which was what pretty much killed Torchwood for me... I missed the second episode, but at least I felt like I wanted to watch more, whereas with Torchwood it was more of a duty to Doctor Who fandom (that and a little voice saying "it might get better, it might...").

Anyone else wonder, in the first episode, how on Earth the dinosaur trying to bash into the classroom managed to turn around in that particularly narrow corridor?

[Paul Monk]

He did a back flip. Didn't you know dinosaurs could do that?

Well I'm loving it so far. I love the cliched characters, Connor especially! (Sorry!) I love that I don't have to think too deeply about any of it. Ben Miller is great as the stuffy bureaucrat and Dougie Henshall is great as the lead.

I'm not even annoyed by the dodgy Cutter's wife subplot.
Only that annoyingly good looking bloke annoys me. I mean just what exactly is his job?

[Si Hunt]

He's there to be good looking. It's in his contract.

Si.

[Jon Masters]

Watched it for the first time tonight - thought it was pretty good for what it aims to be. The characters may be shallow but the broad brush strokes seem to make sense, and given what I had read on this thread about plotlines I thought tonight's seemed to offer some interesting possibilities for the future.

(Though I was very disapponted that there was no appearance of a cube shaped object made up of 6 pieces, despite the namecheck at least twice )

BTW some of you old fogies need to get your ears washed out - no problem at all understanding what Cutter was saying.

Given that the same company made Prehsitoric Park, I think we can hazard a guess what creatures may be popping up over the next few episodes (waste not want not)

[Trudi G]

I think we can hazard a guess what creatures may be popping up over the next few episodes

Craposauruses?

[Wayne]

It was ok, but i'm losing interest in it more each week. I'll probably watch it 'til the end, but i'm not really excited about it.

[stuartdg]

I thought this was the strongest episode yet as it answered questions regarding Cutter's wife as well as concentrating on the monster of the week;thus moving things on a bit.Also the acting was better from Spearitt and Potts-Conor barely irritated at all;although they could drop his two nerd pals or at least give them a painful death

Next weeks trailer also barely featured any creatures bar a fleeting glimpse of a dodo so maybe the storylines will balance out more

[Andrew Curnow]

I enjoyed tonight's, particularly the last part, with the business of going back in time, meeting the wife, and then the final sequence of her being dragged out by the special forces guys and taken away. Since it's only a run of six episodes, I'm thinking now it's been conceived of as more of a single story (akin to that Invasion:Earth thing of about 10 years back) rather than a series a la Torchwood.

Zel watched it for the first time, and enjoyed it too - she was particularly impressed by the first appearance of the monster as it leapt out and ate that guy mid-dive.

And like Jon, I was amused by the line about "I'm giving you the Key to Time". I managed not to smile the first time, but when she repeated it I had to grin - Zel rolled her eyes at me. It could only have been better if the character had said "I possess the Key To Time".

[Dave Tudor]

Another goood episode, but, again, I can't help but nit-pick: the characters are still very two-dimensional, from the unscrupulous-but-bland government officials right down to those abhorrent nerds (if the trailer is anything to go by, they may yet get a painful death! ), although Cutter occasionally shows some depth (no pun intended), thanks largely to Douglas Henshall; the clunky dialogue is largely awful and wholly un-naturalistic (e.g. "My girlfriend has been in the Amazon for two years studying tropical diseases" - yeuch!), especially everything uttered by those nerds (again!), although I did chuckle at Connor's line about 'Celebrity Love Island'; and - apologies if this has actually been explained - why do they only face one type of creature at any one time? Why, for instance, are aquatic creatures and giant insects not coming through the breach together.

However, 'Primeval' provides much simplistic fun and continues to excite in parts, in spite of its faults. If it could iron out those faults, it could be an excellent programme.

[Jonno]

Why, for instance, are aquatic creatures and giant insects not coming through the breach together.

Well, you don't tend to find spiders and centipedes in the ocean, which was where the anomaly was located tonight! Equally, you wouldn't find marine predators in the middle of the land.

This was my favourite episode so far, holding my attention throughout. Did help that I wasn't knackered as I was last weekend! I smiled at the Key to Time reference too, and liked the death of the lifeguard.

The character I have the most trouble with though is the one played by Ben Miller, who I only know as Howard in the Worst Week of my Life series, and I can't get that excellent character out of my head seeing him in this!

[Dave Tudor]

Well, you don't tend to find spiders and centipedes in the ocean, which was where the anomaly was located tonight! Equally, you wouldn't find marine predators in the middle of the land.

True! But - and excuse my dimness - have I missed some explanation as to why the anomaly moves? I know it makes dramatic sense to focus on one particular species in one episode but why haven't we got all sorts of big scary dinosaurs coming through together?

Perhaps I was distracted when they explained it - was it during that scene with Spearitt in her knickers...?

[Jonno]

AFAIK the moving anomaly was only mentioned for the first time in this episode. And I expect the reason for it is yet to be revealed...

[Milky Tears]

I forgot to watch it last night.

[Si Hunt]

This series is annoyingly becoming essential watching - simply because it offers superb special effects, great spills and thrills and a few (but not many) likeable characters.

However. HOWEVER. The plot was all over the place! The anomaly now moves, fair enough. But apparently they are able to plot a 'line' along which it will occur next but only (wait for it) "where there is water". SAY WHAT NOW. It didn't do that last week!

It's the most enjoyable load of toss for ages though!

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

The scene in the basement was good, when the plumber went in and there was that long-billed birdy thing (stop me if I'm getting too technical here). I almost expected it to say KLAKK! before it attacked.

[Simon R]

It's the characters that let this down for me. They're just non-existent. Comical nerdy guy is the best of the lot and I like his hat. Cutter, "male model", Hannah Spearmint and the rest are blander than Daniel O'Donnell in a Travel lodge in Stevenage.

[Paul Monk]

I missed this on saturday and sunday . Is it repeated any other night?

[Si Hunt]

Just watch last weeks again, it was much the same! *duck*

Si.