Primeval the Complete Series Five
Primeval is one of those shows that gets no respect. Its nowhere
near as hyped as Torchwood with which it shares a concept, it’s
not been shown here in Australia or at least not the whole series and it
may have just been a cynical excuse to reuse the digital models from
Walking with Dinosaurs who’s creators also make Primeval
(yeah, seriously). Yes, it often falls into the “monster of the week”
formula. And the characters never quite have the same emotional
connection that you get on some other sci-fi shows. But it’s a shame
‘cause I thought that the first few seasons were quite watchable. On the
other hand it’s one of those shows that you don’t pay much attention too
and don’t really rate and yet it somehow manages to clock up heaps of
seasons. This is Primeval’s 5th season and watching
this I can’t help but think that part of its success is because it’s
terribly cheap to make.
The
creatures that aren’t dinosaurs that they occasionally have, don’t look
particularly good. Giant slaters in episode 1 I’m looking at you. Hannah
Spearritt who also isn’t a dinosaur but plays Abby looks like an old
Japanese man’s idea of a perfect woman come to life; giant eyes and
angular hair yet no emotions of her own. She used to be in S-club 7 you
know. And she is what is wrong with this season. The contrived drama
between the characters particularly her character and Connor who are in
a relationship now is desperately annoying. If only they could just
communicate and everything would be solved. Same thing with Matt and
Emily. The addition of Alexander Sigg from Deep Space Nine last
season seemed to be a great way to re-energise the show and give it some
much needed sci-fi cred, but his cloak and dagger “I’m totally evil and
everyone but Connor can see it” shtick gets old very quickly. Other than
that, there is this push to have dinosaurs in different environments so
that it’s just not a rehash of what has come before. And so we get
dinosaurs in submarines, dinosaurs in the late 1800’s, dinosaurs
underground, dinosaurs on the moon, ok I might have been kidding about
the moon dinosaur but its coming! Also ever notice how nothing nice or
at least benign ever comes through an anomaly?
By far
the highlight of season five is when they fire a dinosaur from a torpedo
tube in a submarine. It’s one of those “It’s just so crazy it might
work” things, although the poe faced earnestness that the actors plough
through the entire endeavour means that even this bit of genius is
nearly ruined. The worst bit is the rest of the season. This season
ends on a bit of a cliff hanger which I won’t tell you about in case
this review has inspired you to buy this package, but as there are no
current plans to keep the series running this too might be a bit of a
letdown.
Video: The video standard here is pretty high, everything looks
good except as mentioned some of the less dinosaury creatures.
Audio: Audio is simply stereo but well mixed.
Special Features: A making of Primeval documentary Part Two, which
if you don’t have Season Four’s Part One isn’t much use.
