TV Review - Primeval Series 5 Episode 4 (Spoiler-free)

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Created by: Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines
Directed by: Robert Quinn
Written by:  Helen Raynor
Starring: Ciaran McMenamin, Andrew-Lee Potts, Hannah Spearritt, Ben Mansfield, Ruth Kearney, Ruth Bradley, Alexander Siddig 
Genre: Sci-Fi
Air Date: 14th June 2011 (Watch), 7th July 2012 (ITV)

This episode had good potential as the idea of a swarm and a man made anomaly was something new. However it got a bit cheesy as the queen was massively over sized and really, they can dig through reinforced concrete in seconds. Philip the added threat of Philip blowing everyone and abby going to save her pet at the last minuet hummm. This made for some cheesy lines. And Gamma rays are light so move at the speed of light you stupid TV effects people not like 10 mph!!

Also half way though the episode I started thinking this whole cast is way to attractive what is up with this !! Now this hasn't detracted from the acting to much but does leave the atmosphere and feelings down a little. 

Now it did build suspense quite nicely and was possibly a scarier and darker episode, ish, which I liked although when i'm thinking to myself just die you useless model this kind of detracts from the mood.

3/10

Kieron :O

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 2 (Spoiler-free)

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Created by: Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines
Directed by: Robert Quinn
Written by: Steve Bailie
Starring: Ruth Kearney, Ciaran McMenamin, Hannah Spearritt, Andrew-Lee Potts, Ben Miller
Genre: Sci-Fi
Air Date: 31st May 2011 (Watch), 23rd June 2012 (ITV)


In this weeks episode of Primeval, the team went on board a nuclear submarine in order to close an anomaly submerged in the North Sea. While trying to complete their mission, the team pass through the anomaly and are faced with an attack from a swarm of Lipleurodon. On top of this, their is also a rogue Theropod on board that passed through the anomaly and was captured by the crew. Can the team cope with both these dangers and also return home?


This episode took on a real disaster movie look. Scenes showing the team running around the submarine with water squirting out of the walls was very reminiscent of films such as Titanic and Poseidon. Visually the episode was cleverly put together to look like one of these traditional styled films (thumbs up to Quinn).


Unfortunately, this is the only real thing that sets this episode apart from the rest of Primeval. And even the idea of recreating a disaster movie within a sci-fi seems to have been taken from Doctor Who's Voyage of the Damned. Primeval has recieved alot of criticism for ITV trying to recreate the success of Who and playing to the same audience, which it has achieved to an extent. But unlike Who, Primeval is grounded on Earth, and is almost entirely based on modern day, so isn't anywhere near as versatile. Having said this, next week's episode will include elements of Victorian England, which I'm looking forward to.


Overall, the episode maintains it's usual standard of tense moments and light humour, and the dinosaurs as always look great for a TV show, but the show is getting too samey now. Admittedly this episode was paced better than last weeks, but these changes are just mild fluctuations. Maybe we should just let a sleeping Lipleurodon lie?


5/10


You can watch this episode of Primeval on ITV Player here.


What did you make of this weeks episode of 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