Primeval - Series 1-3 Box Set [DVD]

Primeval is a fantastic science fiction series that has been perfect Saturday evening family viewing for three series. The premise - that there are holes in time through which prehistoric creatures can enter our modern day world, and that there are people who track and repatriate these creatures to their natural time, whilst covering it up from the public - is a simple one, but they manage to do so much with the story. Things never remain constant in Primeval - there is a great overall story arc, and it's not long before creatures from the future start appearing too. The cast is fantastic - there's some great acting, and that's crucial - because no matter how good the computer generated creatures are - and they are REALLY good - you need a believable performance from the cast in order to be able to suspend your disbelief and enjoy it - and that's exactly what you get.

This well made box set of all three series / 23 episodes of Primeval has a raised-relief front and looks really good on the DVD shelf. There are a fair few special features too. All episodes have English subtitles. Sadly, this really is the complete series, as - almost unbelievably if you didn't know that they're making severe cutbacks - ITV have now axed the show.

In recent television history, only two British science fiction shows have been of high enough quality to beat the North Americans at their own game, and those are Doctor Who and Primeval. It's so sad that ITV - a limp organisation with no ambition - have chosen not to even bother trying to replicate the international success of shows such as Stargate SG-1 (not an American series incidentally - it's produced by Canada, so why can't we do the same for the Americans with Primeval?). Despite favourable reviews from American TV critics, if it's not a gameshow format ITV are not interested in pushing it. Why the British audience should pay the price for their indifference is beyond me - if this show was taken up by a major US network it would undoubtedly be a hit. I can only hope Sky, Channel 5 or some other channel picks it up. Please, don't let Primeval become extinct!

This is what TV needed a brilliant and exciting show that involves my favourite thing in the world - dinosaurs.

After anomolies, tears in the fabric of time, begin to appear a team of scientist begin to encounter creatures and dinosaurs from the past. These creatures run riot in the modern world and it is the job these scientist to predict and contain the anomolies before anyone is injured or killed. Gigantosaurus on an airfield, veloceraptors in a shooping centre, future predators, mammoths on the A1 and mosasaurs in lakes are just a few of the situatuions which the team face. Douglass henshall, Hannah spearrit, Andrew Lee pots and Lucy Brown do a fine job as the shows protagonists and the creators of walking with dinosaurs do equally well writing and producing this ever more popular show.

The fourth series is here and just as good as ever and plans for a movie version of the show prove how popular it has become over the years. Excitin, action packed, original and unique i can highly recommend this to everybody.

This is an excellent DVD box set of all three of the first three seasons of the British Science Fiction series in one package.

At the time of writing this review there have been five seasons of the series and seasons four and five have a different feel to them than these earlier series. They are like a new beginning. But to fully understand them it is better to see the earlier three seasons.
I personally do not think that these earlier three series are as good as seasons four and five but to understand series four and five you need these earlier episodes from series one to three. Also the best way to see these stories is on DVD and this great set allows you to see each episode from all three series close together. When I saw these series on TV I had to wait a long time between episodes and even longer between seasons and this created a feeling of fragmentation that highlighted the faults with the production. It is better to see these shows close together on DVD and this set makes a complete package of the early era of Primeval.

Series one follows scientists Nick Cutter, Stephen Hart, Connor Temple (a student) and Abby Maitland (a zookeeper) as they investigate the appearance of "anomalies" that allow dangerous creatures from the distant past or future to enter our own time in the present.
James Lester, (supervisor from the Home Office) becomes involved. Nick Cutter had a wife Helen who has been missing and thought dead. We discover that she is alive and has been travelling in time through the anomalies.
Abby keeps a small dinosaur as a pet and calls it Rex. And Conner would like a relationship with Abby but she has interests elsewhere. Not much else happens in season one except that each episode has a creature enter the present and the team race around trying to catch it. The story is the same each episode its just a different creature.
Series two sees more episodes with the same sort of story where each episode has yet another creature in a different location. Sub plots are that Cutter and Helen and another character, Claudia (that Cutter had fallen in love with) have altered the time line. A new character named Jenny Lewis replaces Claudia and the ARC (Anomaly Research Centre) is set up in the new time line. Conner gains a girlfriend Caroline but still fancies Abby. Also Helen returns and frustrates Cutter by getting together with Stephen. There is also another character, Oliver Leek, who is up to no good when he tries to gather together some of the creatures to gain political power. He is later killed.
Series three gets better. Stephen has gone. Cutter continues to investigate the anomalies and his helped by Captain Becker. Helen invades the ARC and shoots Cutter who steals what appears to be a map to predict anomalies but it doesn't work. Cutter dies and Abby and Conner finally seem to be getting closer together.
. The team creates a device to lock the anomalies. But Helen has a device that can open anomalies at will. She intends to eradicate the human race by killing the first hominids by travelling back in time through an anomaly. She is killed and Abby and Conner become trapped in the Cretaceous period and Danny is trapped in the Pliocene era.

The special effects are brilliant and this factor is the best thing about this show. It is worth seeing every one of the three seasons for that fact alone.
Series one and two have the great special effects and of course a very good concept premise. These are the best things about them.
When you see these series on their own they show up the faults in the production. The script is weak. There is poor development of the basic concept and the acting is not good in many parts. The terrible dialogue does not help this. All of the main characters are adults that act like and often talk like five-year-olds. The dialogue is pathetic. Nobody in the real world talks like these characters do. Yes I know its science fiction where anything is possible but this sort of drivel just gives British Science Fiction a bad name by not even getting the basics right.
Series three is a big improvement where the scripts and dialogue get better. The cast changes and new actors and characters appear. There is better concept development and the whole series acts as a transitionary step from one format to the new beginning that appears in later series four and five.

Despite the faults of the first three seasons there are good points that make it worth while and they act as a great introduction to the better series four and five. It is worth seeing these first three seasons for the concept and special effects and this DVD set is a terrific way to collect them.
The DVD presentation is good and it is great to be able to see the episodes without the interruption of TV adverts. Also watching the episodes close together make it easier to forget the faults in the script.
The whole three seasons are good fun and escapist entertainment .