Leapin' Lizards

I am NOT a dinosaur fan, but my husband is. I planned to go to bed after Dr Who was over tonight, but the commercials for this kept getting more interesting, so I thought, "Well, I'll watch the beginning and get a glimpse..." Next thing I know the hour is over and I'm looking moderately forward to the next show.

I did not want a lesson in dinosaurs, which is what a I thought I would get, or an hour long Jurassic Park impersonation. I got neither. I got an interesting introduction to different people who gelled somewhat into a team by the end of the episode, sort of without my noticing it happening.

I am cautiously optimistic. Being very disappointed that there will be so little new Dr Who and Torchwood this year, and the Sarah Jane Adventures just make me itch, the only thing I was really looking forward to watching regularly on BBC America was Top Gear. Primeval however, has caught my interest - I'll give them a tentative 7 and see what happens next week.

After Poirot I found out ITV shows are pretty cute. I was looking for Doctor Who-ish or Torchwood-ish tv serie and this is pretty near to them. Especially to Torchwood. I'm looking forward for this. Good opening. So many whoniverse vibes.

Poirot, Marple, Endeavour, Primeval... ITV is good.

Originality? None a'tall! Primeval seems like a land-based rip-off of the U.S. show "Surface", starring cutesy dinosaurs, and intended for the same young audience. Also, when the woman from the Home Office is calling for somebody beyond the police to come and take charge, of course we expect Torchwood to show up.

Originality? Nah. That young guy who "never met a conspiracy theory he didn't like" is just tiresome. It's like those guys from The X-Files. And it's suppose to give us some cheap thrills by nudge-nudging us into believing that half the conspiracy theories are really true!!!! OOOOOHH!!

Sigh. Boooring, okay?

And that flying cuteysaur; I'm pretty sure that's not based on an authentic fossil. When they have a myriad of authentic species to choose from, why the heck do they have to go and invent something of their own? It just lowers the believability factor of the show, sabotaging our suspension of disbelief. This is the sort of thing you do when you want mindless, commercial entertainment with no artistic redeeming values.

The problem with this show is that it is not new. The exact same plot and story could have been done any time inside the last forty years or so. It isn't current! It isn't cool! Still, the plot of the initial episode does raise a few questions. What happened to Helen? Who was the dead man at the Cretaceous camp site; and who took the photos of Helen? (But hey, if somebody is taking photographs in the Cretaceous, wouldn't they make *damn* sure to feature some *dinosaurs* in those photos?!?! Apparently not. Or, maybe they didn't show us all of them.) And can Helen jump in and out of different eras in time?!

Going by the "next time" preview, these and many other questions will be ignored. Apparently, every episode is just going to be a new creature feature, featuring the prehistoric creature of the week, with the main plot moving at the pace of continental drift - assuming it moves at all.

So, I'm not being kind to this show, and it doesn't deserve much kindness. But I will say that the main guy acts quite well, the accents are a real challenge for non-Brits (which is fun), and despite all shortcomings there is one eye-catching thing that will probably make me keep coming back to this show: Super-cute Hannah Spearritt... 'Nuff said! :-)

5 out of 10.