TV REVIEW - Primeval Series 5 Episode 3 (Spoiler-free)

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Created by: Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines
Directed by: Robert Quinn
Written by: Paul Mousley & Gabbie Asher
Starring: Ciaran McMenamin, Andrew-Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt, Ben Mansfield, Ruth Kearney, Ruth Bradley, Stephen Hogan
Genre: Sci-Fi
Air Date: 7th June 2011 (Watch), 30th June 2012 (ITV)

You may remember last week I was a bit down on Primeval. I eat my words.

In this week's episode, a raptor escaped through an anomaly into a pop-art gallery. The team forced it back through the anomaly, then realised they'd got the wrong anomaly and had sent the raptor back to Victorian England, where it turned out to be responsible for a series of murders that had thought to have been committed by Spring-heeled Jack. Matt followed the raptor through the anomaly in order to track it down, to find Emily on the other side.

This episode was alot better than the first two of the series. It was tense and kept you glued all the way through. The pacing was fast and, for once, the plot wasn't obvious and predictable, especially towards the end.

The other advantage the episode had over the last two was Emily. Ruth Bradley is one of the best actresses the franchise has seen, and the character of Emily is alot more interesting than all the others put together. It's great that she now seems to have permanently returned to the series.

Primeval also hugely benefitted from a change of scenery. Modern-day was getting very samey, using Victorian England added alot more fun and romance to the story. Typical Dickensian clichés such as the puppeteer at the beginning and the story of Jack the Ripper were too charming not to be loved.

Of course, it wasn't flawless. As with every episode of Primeval, parts were badly written, and came across as corny. But this shouldn't take away from the overall piece.

Definately better.

7/10


What did you think of this week's Primeval? Let us know in the comments.
Tom :)

TV REVIEW - Primeval Series 5 Episode 1 (Spoiler-free)

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If you don't know what Primeval is, here is trailer for this series. This trailer is from watch but we are watching it on ITV, but hey!

Ok, so Primeval is about a group of people who work for the government and their job is to find anomalies, which are basically time travel portals. Many creatures end up coming through these portals. The team's mission is to close the anomalies, and not die. Got it? Good!








Lets get started. Episode 1:
Created by: Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines
Director: Mark Everest
Writer: Chris Lang
Staring: Ben Masfield, Ruth Kearney, Ciaran McMenamin, Hannah Spearritt, Andrew-Lee Potts, Ben Miller
Genre: Sci-Fi
Air date: 24th May 2011 (Watch), 16th June 2012 (ITV)

In this episode the team must protect the public from some giant burrowing bugs that have somehow been around for ages and noone has noticed them, even though they make giant holes and eat people. Humm, someone hasn't thought this through.

Ignoring this, the episode is written alright. It has some nice plot lines and especially series plot lines. However at times the team seem to do pointless things like going down a hole just to get scared and run out of the hole. Also it was unlikely that a lawnmower would cause vibrations to summon the bug as there is bound to be bigger vibrations near by and really would a well evolved creature would go bad to where it just came from.

Suspense is built well in the episode and is effective in making it more engaging.

The CGI is really good. Sometimes the creatures in Primeval are unimaginative however these seem to be relatively unique.

Sometimes there was shakey camera work, which was horrible. With those silly, shoddy zooms and stuff.

Overall I think it is worth watching and a good series but they should get a better director and more imagination.

4/10

What creature would you like to see in Primeval? Post answers in the comments.
Kieron :O