TVSquad

(S01E01)Primeval already has a pretty rabid following across the pond where two series, or seasons as they say in the States, have already been completed. It looks like BBC America will be combining these two seasons into one thirteen episode long run. A third season has been greenlit and is set to premiere in January 2009 in the UK. Presumably, should this do well here, BBCA will pick it up shortly thereafter, to avoid an extensive gap.

I'd heard about this show, time travel and prehistoric creatures running rampant in and around London. It's one of those shows that developed such a buzz across the pond, that we heard about it stateside even before it got here. I think the only other show I can think of that did that was Billie Piper's The Secret Diary of a Call Girl. That's, of course, not counting Doctor Who and its derivatives as we've been aware of that property for years. Things start off at a gallop, literally, and keep moving pretty much for the full hour.

Starting us off with the main predator was a good idea, as it immediately established what we're going to be dealing with on the show. The special effects are a modest step up from Torchwood and Doctor Who, but still too obviously CGI for those expecting Hollywood magic. Nevertheless, if you can look past that and just immerse yourself in the fictional reality, it's a great deal of fun. The creature, dubbed a Gorgonopsid, is a huge reptilian saber-tooth tiger-looking creature that rampages all over the place, including gingerly down a school hallway at one point.

That brings up a few weaknesses in the pacing and character development. From what I could tell, other than the eight year jump we started with, the events of the episode happen rather quickly, and yet apparently these people became best friends over a matter of a few days. And they're incredibly headstrong and foolish when traipsing off through the woods to track down nasty beasties. Hell, Cutter decided to go off on his own, while he was in the past surrounded by dinosaurs, with nary a weapon to be found. And his "Gulf War veteran" handler just let him do it?

And the monsters themselves just weren't as frightening, for some reason, as they should have been. The Gorgonopsid looked positively goofy when it was crashing through the boy's bedroom window, particularly when it snapped its jaws directly at the camera in classic Jaws 3-D fashion. And then later, in that schoolroom, it just looked silly. More importantly, how was a locked wooden door able to slow down a creature that earlier was throwing cars around?

I can't help but think of Stargate in a way after watching just this first installment. The only difference, of course, being that the government investigative team has to go to the time travel anomaly rather than building it where ever they wanted to. And that they're dealing with random portals through time, rather than portals to other worlds. And they're British. And they have a pet dinosaur. And really they're not all that similar after all, are they?

Basically, this was a "done in one" installment, setting up the future of the series while establishing the basic tone, but in and of itself there was a satisfactory conclusion. Of course, this is typical of many pilots which lay the groundwork for the series to come while offering a complete tale in and of itself. I appreciated the underlying drive of protagonist Nick Cutter seeking out his wife, allowing an overarching theme to be the backdrop to whatever "monster of the week" adventures they want to throw at us next.

Unfortunately, the main reason that I will be sticking around to check out future installments of this show is because I already know some of what is to come, including how much more complex the major storyline is going to get. It's kind of the same reason that I'm still trudging through the densely bizarre Charlie Jade over on Sci Fi. That one even got shunted to a three in the morning timeslot.

Down the road in Primeval, "The Butterfly Effect" comes into play, as well as journeys to and from all sorts of varying time periods, including the future. I'm just not sure if I'd be as compelled to come back without some foreknowledge of what is to come. It wasn't a bad episode, but neither did it absolutely hook me by itself. I didn't get a chance to really connect with any of the cast members, nor was there a compelling enough hook to force me back next week.