• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Primeval Pilot (US Premiere)

Rate Primeval's Premiere

  • Excellent

    Votes: 3 16.7%

  • Above Average

    Votes: 10 55.6%

  • Average

    Votes: 2 11.1%

  • Below Average

    Votes: 3 16.7%

  • Poor

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Didn't See It!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    18
Mr Light

Mr Light

Admiral
Admiral
Sci-Fi Channel just premiered the BBC series PRIMEVAL, a sci-fi/fantasy series about a portal opening up to the time of the dinosaurs and critters coming through.

As a die hard Doctor Who fan, but someone who despises the turgid slowness and darkness of Torchwood, I was expecting this to be just another Torchwood, ie terrible.

But I was pleasantly surprised!

The show wasn't dark at all, in fact it was a little goofy at times, but usually in a good way. It was chock full of full on CGI dinos on a rampage with plenty of action. It had a large cast of characters, and an intriguing premise and mystery. I'm really looking forward to the show now.

For those Brits among us... is every episode going to have this much action and dino-CGI? Or was that just for the pilot?

I thought "Rex" the little flying dino was cute and funny. Is it in more episodes?

Also I missed the line of dialogue about his wife going missing. Did he say that the wife just went on a routine expedition or camping trip or something? Was it to the same forest that the portal was in?
 
Oh, you're going to see more than just CGI dinosaurs and you won't have to wait long to see them. :techman:
 
That reminds me of my other question. Are these all going to be actual dinosaur species, or made up ones? I'd never heard of any of the dinos that were in this episode. ... I found the ending mystery to be very intruiging. Is it a natural phenomenon? Or an evil corporation experimenting in time travel? I started assuming it was natural, but if the wifey was there with some dude it seemed like they knew it was going to be there. And since the portal was temporary that also suggests it was generated. So now I'm guess there's a secret evil corporation that's creating the portals and wifey works for them. This is why she mysteriously appeared at the end to give hubby a dino-snail and then run off, because if she openly goes to him and gives him information they'll kill her.
 
Looking at wikipedia I see that the first season is only 6 eps, the second is 7 eps, and the third is 10 eps but it just started airing in the UK. Does anyone know if Sci-Fi is going to air this entire run all at once this summer and that's why they waited two years to air it? That would be great. They better not just show six damn episodes!
 
Mr Light said:
Sci-Fi Channel just premiered the BBC series PRIMEVAL, a sci-fi/fantasy series about a portal opening up to the time of the dinosaurs and critters coming through.

As a die hard Doctor Who fan, but someone who despises the turgid slowness and darkness of Torchwood, I was expecting this to be just another Torchwood, ie terrible.

But I was pleasantly surprised!

The show wasn't dark at all, in fact it was a little goofy at times, but usually in a good way. It was chock full of full on CGI dinos on a rampage with plenty of action. It had a large cast of characters, and an intriguing premise and mystery. I'm really looking forward to the show now.

For those Brits among us... is every episode going to have this much action and dino-CGI? Or was that just for the pilot?

I thought "Rex" the little flying dino was cute and funny. Is it in more episodes?

Also I missed the line of dialogue about his wife going missing. Did he say that the wife just went on a routine expedition or camping trip or something? Was it to the same forest that the portal was in?
Click to expand...

The reason I voted above average is becuase I have seen some of the other episodes. But it is very close to excellent. I'm glad sci-fi picked up this series. Not all of the creatures that are featured in the series are real in that they depict actual prehistorical creatures (I believe REX is one of the made up creatures - but he really is lovable and realistic) but they are compelling. Rex is part robot and part computer generated. My cable company had BBC on demand specials that went behind the scenes and featured "Rex". Yes he will be back in more episodes. As far as me liking the series.... See my avatar. It was the first avatar I posted on this forum. I to like Doctor Who and watch Torchwood. IMHO however, I have to say Primevil is much better than Torchwood. You will enjoy this series as it starts to unfold.
 
That reminds me of my other question. Are these all going to be actual dinosaur species, or made up ones? I'd never heard of any of the dinos that were in this episode.
Click to expand...

thats b/c they werent dinosaurs(though everyone was calling them that) they were prehistoric reptiles(that predated the dinos.) They were real. I do wonder, if this portal can open a gateway to the past, could it open one to the future & maybe we get some yet to evolve in the present beasties?
 
Mr Light said:
Looking at wikipedia I see that the first season is only 6 eps, the second is 7 eps, and the third is 10 eps but it just started airing in the UK. Does anyone know if Sci-Fi is going to air this entire run all at once this summer and that's why they waited two years to air it? That would be great. They better not just show six damn episodes!
Click to expand...

I don't think they intended to air it, but more a plan B with Who taking a semi-break for a year and they needed to show something. My guess is that they'll show the first two seasons back to back.

As for the show itself, I find it incredibly corny and at times very silly, but enjoyable.
 
Mr Light said:
Looking at wikipedia I see that the first season is only 6 eps, the second is 7 eps, and the third is 10 eps but it just started airing in the UK. Does anyone know if Sci-Fi is going to air this entire run all at once this summer and that's why they waited two years to air it? That would be great. They better not just show six damn episodes!
Click to expand...
BBC America has US 'first run' rights-meaning they get the seasons first, then Sci Fi gets it. Seasons 1 and 2 aired on BBC-A last year, and now Sci Fi gets it's turn. S3 will air first on BBC-A this summer I believe, before Syfy gets it, so they'll probably return for s3 early next year...

Watching the 1st ep again after awhile, and it was indeed fun to get back into. It's hard to talk about the show-I don't want to spoiler things for the newcomers, but the cast is a whole lot of fun. It's Stargate back when Stargate was fun. ;) Enjoy the ride.
 
It's not a BBC show...

I really like it. It's fun, exciting and quite rewarding. There are some things it does better than Doctor Who, and some it doesn't. And a hell of a lot of things it does better than Torchwood!

Scheduling clash with Doctor Who tonight! First time that's happened. Bastards! It's Buck Rogers all over again...
 
Sorry as an ignorant Yank I assume all British shows are from the BBC :D Hmm so we should get a run of 13 episodes then? That's good enough.
 
Mr Light said:
Sorry as an ignorant Yank I assume all British shows are from the BBC :D Hmm so we should get a run of 13 episodes then? That's good enough.
Click to expand...
Primeval is an ITV show, Britain's biggest commercial network.

I enjoyed the first series of Primeval but I think there was an increase in writing quality in the second series, there's a more prominent story arc and some interesting repercussions from the first series.
 
This is another interesting US/UK difference. To me, using a plural verb with an organization noun sounds incorrect. "ITV have" Because ITV is a singular noun even though it represents a group of people. In America that would be "ITV has" I think I first noticed this on Buffy with Giles.
 
I tried watching a few episodes of it, but I could never get into it. I don't really get why, but something about the dialogue and the creatures just didn't capture me as much as Doctor Who.

But still, it wasn't truly, stupendously awful. That has to go to ITV's Demons, a bad Buffy ripoff with awful dialogue, awful effects, in fact let's just call it flat out awful. Thankfully it's not coming back as Philip Glenister watched it and realised the series is the very definition of fail and left it, preferrring to be Gene Hunt and thus putting an end to it.
 
My young daughters and I have watched both seasons on BBC-A and we all love it. They were disappointed it was on so late last night that they couldn't watch it again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top