"PRIMEVAL: VOLUME ONE"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: **** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **1/2 (out of 5 stars) STARRING Douglas Henshall as NICK CUTTER James Murray as STEPHEN HART Andrew Lee Potts as CONNOR TEMPLE Lucy Brown as CLAUDIA BROWN/JENNY LEWIS Hannah Spearritt as ABBY MAITLAND Juliet Aubrey as HELEN CUTTER Ben Miller as JAMES LESTER Studio: BBC America Created by: Tim Haines and Adrian Hodges Own it on November 4 Back to DVD Review Home |  |
I’ve never been one of those people who thinks that just because a television show originated across the lake that it is brilliant. While I was growing up, my parents didn’t have cable, so I was left watching a lot of the BBC programming on PBS. Some of it was quite good, but some was pretty lame. Even today, I’ve talked with my sister who frequently travels to London on business, and she assures me that what snobby PBS watchers refer to as quality British programming is only the best of the best that gets exported to the States.
Now that BBC America has gotten a foothold into most cable systems, we’ve got access to a wider array of British programming. Some is awesome, like the new incarnation of “Doctor Who.” Other shows, like their reality programming, is just as bad as the stuff you’ll find on American television.
Until I had a chance to watch “Primeval,” I had not found a program that holds up to “Doctor Who” in terms of scope, innovation, excitement and quality. Some have come close, like “Torchwood” (a “Doctor Who” spinoff) or “Robin Hood.”
But now, “Primeval” is on my DVR slate this season. It’s not a spinoff of the Time Lord’s show, but it brings me back to my childhood the way that “Doctor Who” does.
The story behind “Primeval” follows a group of scientists who are working with the British government to track down space-time anomalies that allow prehistoric creatures to wander into our reality. The team tries to keep the monsters classified, but they often have to do damage control with the population. What else do you expect when a Pleistocene-era mastodon plows through a busy freeway?
“Primeval” is run by the same folks who gave us “Walking with Dinosaurs,” a nature series on BBC America that presented digital dinosaurs in real-life environments. The dinos in that show look quite similar to the creatures on “Primeval,” and it makes sense that the shows are connected.
What makes this more apparent is how accessible “Primeval” is to kids. Maybe not to the Noggin-watching preschoolers, but if you have boys in grade school, they should get a real kick out of this series. My five-year-old and my seven-year-old have both gotten sucked into the show.
Unlike “Doctor Who,” which is also accessible to children, “Primeval” isn’t as dark and grim. Fewer people get killed, and there isn’t as much peril as when a column of Daleks start wiping out the people of greater London.
“Primeval” is now available on DVD as Volume One. This includes the first two seasons, which only amount to thirteen episodes. (These short seasons are par for the course when it comes to BBC-produced series.) During the break between seasons one and two, the show shifts a bit when one of the characters meddles with the timeline. I imagine this signifies the general restructuring a series undergoes when the network gets feedback from the fans.
The spirit of the show changes a tad from season one to season two. Most notably, we don’t see the young and sexy Hannah Spearritt running around her apartment in her panties as much, which does make me sad. But that’s not enough to get me to stop watching.
I still dearly love “Doctor Who” (even with the news that David Tennant is hanging up his Time Lord coat), but right now “Primeval” is running a very close second. In short, it’s one of the best BBC America series I’ve seen in a long time.
