Post by burrunjor on Sept 18, 2021 13:46:12 GMT
I've been rewatching Primeval again and it is just perfect Saturday night entertainment. Definitely the best of that generation of British genre shows. Sadly it was often trashed in favour of New Who by the shills in the mainstream media, so let's look at why it was better here.
5/ Better monsters
Shallow reasoning, but still. Whilst both had good effects, Primeval never made its monsters intentionally silly, laughable or nasty mean spirited digs at fat people. It always treated them seriously and used them in a lot more creative ways and in new environments.
4/ Handled politics better
In actual fact Primeval could get very political. The series touched on themes of global warming and how sometimes the very people who think they can control and save the planet for our own sake, can end up doing greater harm and how a lot of the time these people are motivated by their own ego than anything else. In this respect unlike New Who, it was actually ahead of the time, yet in spite of this it can still be watched as just an enjoyable series in its own right without any baggage for those who can't be arsed with that debate. It also wasn't heavy handed either.
3/ It had better female characters
It's quite surprising actually that Primeval is always overlooked for this. Unlike New Who, the female characters weren't just there because they wanted the lead guy's dick like Rose, Amy, Martha, Clara etc. Cutter and Claudia had a mild flirtation that never really went anywhere, and Claudia/Jenny was there for her own reasons.
Meanwhile Helen Cutter was a far better female villain than Missy. Leaving aside the politics and way she ruined the Master, Helen was cold, calculating, at times subtle in her madness like in season 3 when she kills Nick. That was genuinely unexpected and the way she is crying as she does it, really sells the idea she has snapped. She doesn't dance around going "WEEEEEEEIIIII I'M BANANA." Also her motivation isn't just to get off with the main hero. In fact throughout the series, she mostly just manipulates and abuses the heroes for her own plans, which start out as a desire for genuine scientific discovery and later end up threatening all of humanity.
Furthermore the show had women in what sadly are not seen as traditionally feminine roles. Helen Cutter, a paleontologist, Sarah Paige, an archeologist, Abby a zoologist etc. It featured a large number of women in more scientific areas like Classic Who did, but again unlike New Who.
Also best of all they didn't draw attention to the fact that they had women being heroes. IE no gender baiting, no female characters having to smash a glass ceiling in the adverts or in the show itself. They just got on with it.
2/ It is not dated
The show was able to capture the Pertwee, Yeti on your loo in tooting bec aspect and bring monsters into everyday surroundings, yet not once did it ever directly reference celebrities, current events, fads etc that would date it in a few years. Primeval could have been shot in the 70s or the 2020s and you really wouldn't have had to change the scripts that much apart from a few technological aspects.
1/ When it killed characters. It KILLED them.
When Dougie died that was it. He was dead. Ditto Helen, Stephen etc. No magic pixie fairy dust, cop out resurrections, or happily ever after. When you died you died in this show meaning the drama wasn't undermined.
5/ Better monsters
Shallow reasoning, but still. Whilst both had good effects, Primeval never made its monsters intentionally silly, laughable or nasty mean spirited digs at fat people. It always treated them seriously and used them in a lot more creative ways and in new environments.
4/ Handled politics better
In actual fact Primeval could get very political. The series touched on themes of global warming and how sometimes the very people who think they can control and save the planet for our own sake, can end up doing greater harm and how a lot of the time these people are motivated by their own ego than anything else. In this respect unlike New Who, it was actually ahead of the time, yet in spite of this it can still be watched as just an enjoyable series in its own right without any baggage for those who can't be arsed with that debate. It also wasn't heavy handed either.
3/ It had better female characters
It's quite surprising actually that Primeval is always overlooked for this. Unlike New Who, the female characters weren't just there because they wanted the lead guy's dick like Rose, Amy, Martha, Clara etc. Cutter and Claudia had a mild flirtation that never really went anywhere, and Claudia/Jenny was there for her own reasons.
Meanwhile Helen Cutter was a far better female villain than Missy. Leaving aside the politics and way she ruined the Master, Helen was cold, calculating, at times subtle in her madness like in season 3 when she kills Nick. That was genuinely unexpected and the way she is crying as she does it, really sells the idea she has snapped. She doesn't dance around going "WEEEEEEEIIIII I'M BANANA." Also her motivation isn't just to get off with the main hero. In fact throughout the series, she mostly just manipulates and abuses the heroes for her own plans, which start out as a desire for genuine scientific discovery and later end up threatening all of humanity.
Furthermore the show had women in what sadly are not seen as traditionally feminine roles. Helen Cutter, a paleontologist, Sarah Paige, an archeologist, Abby a zoologist etc. It featured a large number of women in more scientific areas like Classic Who did, but again unlike New Who.
Also best of all they didn't draw attention to the fact that they had women being heroes. IE no gender baiting, no female characters having to smash a glass ceiling in the adverts or in the show itself. They just got on with it.
2/ It is not dated
The show was able to capture the Pertwee, Yeti on your loo in tooting bec aspect and bring monsters into everyday surroundings, yet not once did it ever directly reference celebrities, current events, fads etc that would date it in a few years. Primeval could have been shot in the 70s or the 2020s and you really wouldn't have had to change the scripts that much apart from a few technological aspects.
1/ When it killed characters. It KILLED them.
When Dougie died that was it. He was dead. Ditto Helen, Stephen etc. No magic pixie fairy dust, cop out resurrections, or happily ever after. When you died you died in this show meaning the drama wasn't undermined.
