Primeval

[Milky Tears]

Primeval's been recommissioned (as reported on Digital Spy and ITV Teletext) and The Sun's Ally Ross finally gets off the fence after three weeks:

ITVS PRIME TIME SIGH-FI

BEWARE ITVs new Saturday night sci-fi drama, where a rip in the space/time continuum has let in creatures from the Cretinaceous period.

Bouncy rubber dinosaurs, that wont eat anyone, mainly.

Plus the odd Velococraptor. And dont even get me started on that flying lizard Godzuki thing.

Primeval. The show thats put the ass in Jurassic Park.

A lumbering, walnut-brained, double decker bus sized Dr Who rip-off.

Prime Edam, featuring Dame Hannah Spearritt, the latest gift to the nation from S Club 7.

A girl whose acting is so rigidly two-dimensional she cant even turn sideways without toppling over.

A cardboard cut-out performance thats hardly helped by dodgy monster graphics, dialogue from The Land That Time Forgot and actors shouting: For Gods sakes, someone stop him.

With my only positive suggestions for viewers, here, being?

Primeval - the drinking game.

One bottle of vodka. Drink two fingers every time someone says Anomaly. Three whenever Nick Cutter shouts HELEN.

And, trust me, youll be safely tucked up in A&E by the first ad break.

I think I might agree with Ally Ross!! Even though his drinking game seems to have been inspired by Charlie Brooker's "Anomaly!"/"HELEN!" review on BBC Four the other night.


Gets another mention near the bottom of his page:

INCIDENTALLY. Primevals full Dr Who inventory.

Scottish lead actor - check.
Former pop side-kick - check
Hole in the space/time continuum - check.
Funny script and varied storylines - errr. Get back to you on that one.

[Si Hunt]

This brings me no joy, with his nasty words about Hannah Spearitt. I wondered how long it would be before something is compared negatively with Doctor Who. And of course they loved THAT didn't they?

Si.

[Wayne]

Re. Milky's post:

That was funny because it's quite close to the truth, in a cynical, sardonic kind of way.

[Milky Tears]

This brings me no joy, with his nasty words about Hannah Spearitt. I wondered how long it would be before something is compared negatively with Doctor Who. And of course they loved THAT didn't they?

Si.

Spearritt was my fifth favourite SS Club member.

[Si Hunt]

I've no love for her particuarly, and she is fairly bad, but she's a young actress and I'd hate to think of anyone reading such spiteful comments about their performance.

Si.

[Dave Tudor]

I initially thought the girl in the swimming pool in last week's episode was Tina Barrett from S Club. Sadly, I was wrong.

[Dirk Gently]

Awwww,they've got Dodos this week.

[Si Hunt]

This weeks had more of a plot than recent ones, which was good. I enjoyed it, and the CGI Dodo's were simply SUPERB.

This was all ruined by the shameless five whole minutes of Spearitt running around in her pants and the stupid "Remember Thursdays? Battlestar Gallactica and Blakes 7?" moment, however.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

I pretty much agree with you Si. Although the Battlestar/Blake 7 bit seemed in context & didn't bother me that much.
I'd say that this was arguable the best episode yet.

[stuartdg]

Primeval continues to improve and tonights episode was more of a character piece barely relying on creatures from the past.This said the dodos were superb even getting their own comedy moments.However i'm glad one of the geeks is gone as he was an unsympathetic character in the first place.

[Jonno]

I think I'm enjoying it a little bit more with each episode, which is a good sign - often I find it can be the opposite with programmes. I'm pleased now that it's been recommissioned.

I agree that the dodos were superbly realised.

[Alex]

SPOILERS BELOW

Oddly this was the episode I liked the least. I've really liked the series so far (and loved last weeks), but this frustrated me, the way Helen Cutter escaped so easily without giving us any answers to whats going on annoyed, and after seeing all of the anamolys, for the episode to then revolve around a killer parasite (which I all found to be very similar to an X-Files monster of the week sort of episode) just frustrated.

The geeks were too stereotyped, and so I didn't really empathise with them, despite quite proudly thinking of myself as a geek too, and I thought the death, and Connor's reaction, was all a bit weakly handled, Cutter's speech cut through his grief way too quickly, if one of my closest friends had just died in my arms, I don't think I'd be anywhere close to being as rational as Connor was.

That said, I still have no issue with the S Club woman wandering around in her underwear each week.

I did like it, but wasn't grabbed, I'm looking forward to next week's from the trailer though.

[Andrew Curnow]

The dodos were superbly done, and very cute (although weren't they only ever found on one island? In which case, how did they end up coming through an anomaly in London?).

[Jonno]

Perhaps that anomaly was a link to Mauritius?

[Si Hunt]

Perhaps it was an almighty plot device maguffin.

Si.

[Andrew Curnow]

But I thought all the anomalies were mapped onto the same place in both timezones - else how would unpleasant-wife-lady know where to find one?

[Milky Tears]

I switched over when Spearritt's scrawny arse appeared again.

[Wayne]

I thought it was better than last week for sure, & possibly the best one since the first episode. I agree with Alex that the geeks were a bit stereotyped, but i think the charcterization was a bit better tonight.
The end scene was very well done, i thought. The series has been lacking a bit of depth so far, but tonight was an improvement on that score for the ending if nothing else.

[Simon R]

How rich is Abby supposed to be? She lives in a huge penthousey thing.

They were very stupid to let Helen Cutter run off like that. That was a very stupid thing to do Doctor Who.

[Andrew Curnow]

Good riddance, we didn't like her here at all.

(The government lady is much nice I think.)

[Jonno]

But I thought all the anomalies were mapped onto the same place in both timezones - else how would unpleasant-wife-lady know where to find one?

I can't see how, Andrew - we've had one in the Forest of Dean, one in the Underground system, one in a lake/swimming pool/someone's basement, one in the kitchen area of a football stadium and I wouldn't be surprised if the next one will be in the air by the looks of the trailer.

Seems to me there's loads of anomalies, each linked to a different time/space zone - hence the "hall of mirrors" comment and the reason they wouldn't be able to follow his wife when faced with a multitude of them.

That's how I see it anyway.

[Rob McCow]

Great!

I only had to run from the room in embarrasment 3 times during last night's episode. Most notably when the geek was caught wearing only his pants in Hannah's house.

The Dodo's were absolutely fantastic though, I agree!

I'm not expecting the way the anomalies work to make any kind of sense.

[Trudi G]

I've got to say that although i find the show rubbish overall, the dodo's were quite good this week.

[Dave Tudor]

Like Alex, I personally found this one to be perhaps the weakest, least engaging episode yet, possibly because the geeks, who I simply find far too cliched and badly written, played a central role.

In addition, I wasn't as impressed with the dods as some of you were, especially when seen in close-up, although, in fairness, they were probably no worse than some CGI creations we've seen so far, in this, and other series. And they were undeniably cute.

I am also disgusted at the all-too regular appearances of Spearitt's arse/underwear, not just in the scene in her flat, but also when she was being chased by the mad geek (I'm not known as a Pervhound for nothing, you know!!).

Next week's does look better, though.

[Alex]

I liked this one more than last week's, though I missed the first 15 minutes by accident, but the tension of Cutter and government woman being stuck in the hotel was nicely built up, and the little flying teethy things were quite cool.

They didn't seem to know what to do with Sclubknickers woman or geekyannoyingbloke, but that's not such a bad thing if you ask me, and it was nice to see government woman becoming a more sympathetic and likable character.

I was intrigued by the reappearance of Helen Cutter too, by the look of next week's episode she's going to be a more central character in it too. I have the feeling that we're not going to get a solution as to where she's been all this time and what she's been doing, but I hope to be wrong. But as there's now definitely going to be a second series, I guess it doesn't matter too much anyway.