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Primeval season one revisited, part one.
I've been rewatching Primeval. We're due a second season in the new year at some point, and it's been ages since I watched season one, so I dug out the DVD set earlier. I wasn't sure about the first episode back when it was screened. I seem to remember rambling on about not being entirely sure what to make of it. It soon became clear that it was glorious fun for a Saturday night, though, and rewatching episode one for the first time, my opinion hasn't changed. Episode one isn't brilliant, but there's necessary setting up stuff, and that's okay. Ben Miller is fabulous as the thoroughly oily James Lester. Even his body language screams "git!". I hope we see more of him in season two. Claudia seems more annoying second time around. She's the winsome type. All grins and fluttery eyelashes, and a soft voice that screams "I'm the love interest!" at you. I never was interested in her allegedly romantic subplot with Cutter, though, which might explain why I never really warmed to her. She didn't seem to have anything much going for her beyond that subplot. And Cutter and Stephen make a far better couple. Sorry, but they do. Stephen's clearly interested, and it's impossible to ignore that. I do wish ITV would jump on the bandwagon, and take a leaf out of RTD's book on that score. But anyway. Claudia's annoying. Happily she doesn't do much in episode one except flirt with Cutter, and be winsome and eyelashy-fluttery.
First time around, Connor annoyed the hell out of me for the first couple of episodes. He settled down after that, and became far less irritating, and I didn't hate him watching episode one just now. He's such a stereotypical geek, but he did at least develop a few layers later on, which helps. He got way too much screentime in season one, though. I suppose he's the young character that's supposed to be the audience's entrance point into the plot, but characters like that frequently wind up being less interesting than the others. Geeky young audience identification figure, or mostly silent lab assistant who somehow manages to be an amazing tracker and expert marksman?! And apparently fancies both Cutter and Cutter's wife? Yep, less Connor, more Stephen in season two please. Connor has an annoying hat, annoying friends, and annoying "Look at me! I'm a geek!" character quirks. Stephen has a leather jacket and a big gun. I know which one I want to see more of. Plus, Connor's supposed to be the prehistoric beastie expert (although Cutter is a professor of prehistoric beasties, so I'm not sure why he needs Connor around to tell him what's what). And yet Connor spends much of episode one insisting that anything that looks like a dinosaur is very much a dinosaur, and that these big Permian beasties must clearly be dinosaurs. Connor, if you're a prehistoric beastie expert, surely you should know that if it's from the Permian it can't be a bloody dinosaur?! Okay, so he's entitled to make a mistake when being confronted by a big scary gorgonopsid. That doesn't excuse the other times. And yes, I probably am being unfair. I just got annoyed with all the screentime he got in season one. And his bloody annoying friends got in the way, too. Less stereotypical geeks, more bisexual lab assistants with big guns. You know it makes sense.
So, yeah. Having fun with the rewatch. Big beasties and little beasties, and lots of flitting about through time. Some slightly dodgy monster FX, some rollicking good fun storylines, and more big beasties. I am really looking forward to season two. And season two of Torchwood should be starting at around the same time. Two shows at the same time featuring time rifts and beasties. And bisexual heroes whose surnames start with the letter "H". Yes, I am grasping at straws. There's books in the offing for both series, too. Puffin books for Primeval, though, which probably means pretty kiddified. Steven Savile has written a book that Amazon lists as being published by Titan, though, so with luck there might be adult books too (no, not that sort of adult books!).
Torchwood books and possibly Primeval books in the offing, then. I'm going to have to catch up on the backlog of unread stuff I've already got. And maybe go watch some more Primeval now. :)
I've been rewatching Primeval. We're due a second season in the new year at some point, and it's been ages since I watched season one, so I dug out the DVD set earlier. I wasn't sure about the first episode back when it was screened. I seem to remember rambling on about not being entirely sure what to make of it. It soon became clear that it was glorious fun for a Saturday night, though, and rewatching episode one for the first time, my opinion hasn't changed. Episode one isn't brilliant, but there's necessary setting up stuff, and that's okay. Ben Miller is fabulous as the thoroughly oily James Lester. Even his body language screams "git!". I hope we see more of him in season two. Claudia seems more annoying second time around. She's the winsome type. All grins and fluttery eyelashes, and a soft voice that screams "I'm the love interest!" at you. I never was interested in her allegedly romantic subplot with Cutter, though, which might explain why I never really warmed to her. She didn't seem to have anything much going for her beyond that subplot. And Cutter and Stephen make a far better couple. Sorry, but they do. Stephen's clearly interested, and it's impossible to ignore that. I do wish ITV would jump on the bandwagon, and take a leaf out of RTD's book on that score. But anyway. Claudia's annoying. Happily she doesn't do much in episode one except flirt with Cutter, and be winsome and eyelashy-fluttery.
First time around, Connor annoyed the hell out of me for the first couple of episodes. He settled down after that, and became far less irritating, and I didn't hate him watching episode one just now. He's such a stereotypical geek, but he did at least develop a few layers later on, which helps. He got way too much screentime in season one, though. I suppose he's the young character that's supposed to be the audience's entrance point into the plot, but characters like that frequently wind up being less interesting than the others. Geeky young audience identification figure, or mostly silent lab assistant who somehow manages to be an amazing tracker and expert marksman?! And apparently fancies both Cutter and Cutter's wife? Yep, less Connor, more Stephen in season two please. Connor has an annoying hat, annoying friends, and annoying "Look at me! I'm a geek!" character quirks. Stephen has a leather jacket and a big gun. I know which one I want to see more of. Plus, Connor's supposed to be the prehistoric beastie expert (although Cutter is a professor of prehistoric beasties, so I'm not sure why he needs Connor around to tell him what's what). And yet Connor spends much of episode one insisting that anything that looks like a dinosaur is very much a dinosaur, and that these big Permian beasties must clearly be dinosaurs. Connor, if you're a prehistoric beastie expert, surely you should know that if it's from the Permian it can't be a bloody dinosaur?! Okay, so he's entitled to make a mistake when being confronted by a big scary gorgonopsid. That doesn't excuse the other times. And yes, I probably am being unfair. I just got annoyed with all the screentime he got in season one. And his bloody annoying friends got in the way, too. Less stereotypical geeks, more bisexual lab assistants with big guns. You know it makes sense.
So, yeah. Having fun with the rewatch. Big beasties and little beasties, and lots of flitting about through time. Some slightly dodgy monster FX, some rollicking good fun storylines, and more big beasties. I am really looking forward to season two. And season two of Torchwood should be starting at around the same time. Two shows at the same time featuring time rifts and beasties. And bisexual heroes whose surnames start with the letter "H". Yes, I am grasping at straws. There's books in the offing for both series, too. Puffin books for Primeval, though, which probably means pretty kiddified. Steven Savile has written a book that Amazon lists as being published by Titan, though, so with luck there might be adult books too (no, not that sort of adult books!).
Torchwood books and possibly Primeval books in the offing, then. I'm going to have to catch up on the backlog of unread stuff I've already got. And maybe go watch some more Primeval now. :)