Primeval

Peter McGinn

This review is about series 1. I expect someday I will return and do an update after I rewatch the subsequent four seasons. I was not one of those kids who grew up liking all things dinosaur. I guess I was more into DC comic book heroes. But I began to appreciate dinosaurs when the Jurassic Park series of movies came along, where the stories were excellent and the dinosaurs looked and acted more real. I have also always enjoyed time travel stories, and in a way, this show combines those two sci-fi sub-genres. It seemed like a good fit for me, and indeed, I enjoyed series one overall. There are plenty of tense moments, realistic creatures, and bits of wit and humor sprinkled throughout. I especially appreciated Ben Miller’s portrayal of the sarcastic head of the secretive government department that dealt with the incursions. It would have been easy to have an authoritarian, square-headed bully in the role. The storylines were intriguing and the ensemble cast had great chemistry for the most part. If they ever do a reboot, however, there are a few changes I would suggest. I think Connor really needed a girlfriend outside of the team. His panting after Abby got old and repetitive real quick. And do we really need the Helen Cutter character throwing monkey wrenches into the plots by magically appearing and disappearing like a goddess in a Greek tragedy? She never makes a clear case to explain her position on what they should do about the anomalies. Plus she seems about as unlikeable as a gal could be expected to be after going without sex for several years. I think cutting her from the show could be the making of Nick Cutter as a man. Series one ends with a massive cliffhanger and revelation, so I assume someone had green lighted the second series by the time they filmed the final episode. So I enjoyed series one and will rewatch the next series and report back here. Good science-fiction shows, or even fair ones, can be pretty thin on the ground.