Everybody Walk the Dinosaur

There seems to be a pre-programming in young boys that states that the early years of childhood simply must be accompanied by a fascination with prehistoric beasties. Teaching elementary school children for the last three years, I have been able to show off with pride a deep knowledge of dinos acquired from hours upon end of playing with Early Learning Centre plastic figurines, avidly studying Dorling Kindersley guides and wearing out the tape on my Jurassic Park VHS.

Most people get over this pre-adolescent obsession. Unfortunately I did not.

Dinosaurs have been a major part of pretty much every period of my life; my early years collecting that plethora of plastic playthings; my childhood following Baby Sinclair’s hysterical misadventures; my tweens walking with beasts, and eventually, my early adulthood running around the Forest of Dean in search of glittering anomalies...

And so, it has been with apt anticipation that I have been awaiting the latest series of the oh-so-twee and yet utterly transfixing dino-fantasy Primeval. Playing off the success of the Kenneth Branagh narrated Walking With Dinosaurs, creators Tim Haines and Adrian Hodges had the ingenious idea of bringing prehistoric monsters into the modern world (and not in a lame last twenty minutes of The Lost World kind of a way). Put together a cast of charming characters (including, but not limited to, Hannah Spearitt’s underpants), each with a well-plotted back story, and send them on a hunt for beautifully rendered raptors and rexes and you’re in for success.  Indeed, over the last five years, Primeval has rapidly made its way to the top of my TV listings.

And then it moved to Canada.

Well, not so much moved, but took an extended vacation. Primeval: New World is billed as a sister show to its predecessor, co-existing in the same world of anomalies and awesomeness. There’s even a cameo from resident geek Connor Temple (the ever delightful Andrew Lee Potts), just to make sure we don’t forget our roots. Unfortunately, what’s lacking is the heart and humour of the original. I understand that every remake/reboot/reimagining must insist upon being “cooler and sexier”, but removing the lighter side of a show and making your cast grimace more does not automatically make something better (see my SilverScreenLining review of The Amazing Spiderman). Having watched the first episode twice now, I can honestly say there's not a single character whose name I recall, nor whose role in the company (whose name escapes me) I remember. The plot is predictable, and the script clunky. That said, the graphics are a half-notch better than last season, and they do seem to have learned the lesson of "a threat kept secret is much scarier than one shown off at every possible moment". And let’s face it; it has dinosaurs in it.

And at least it's not Terra Nova.