Primeval (Episode 3)

If Primeval does fun and adventure well then it's weak spot is emotion. Episode Three begins with a swimmer diving from a springboard and being snatched out of mid-air by a great big sea-beastie, this spectacle is later followed by a plumber being devoured in a suburban basement and a prehistoric underwater battle for Doctor Cutter. In these scenes the show is successful as usual. The monsters interact with the actors and the setting realistically; although the water Abbie and Connor were stuck in with the monster did seem a little shallow to hold a creature that big. More fun is to be gleaned from Mark Wakeling's team of Special Forces soldiers containing Prehistoric threats, this week in the style of 24.

Also as usual Spearritt and Lee Potts are having fun. Their interplay sparkles and counterbalances the rather dreary turns from the rest of the cast. Ben Miller seems to have mistaken this programme for The Chucklebrothers while Douglas Henshaw does emotionally scarred by speaking softly and looking a bit sad. It's not that he's acting badly but that the Professor seems to be the least developed character in the series. This is a flaw when he's the lead role. James Murray too is back to a one dimensional performance this week after showing some spark of personality in the previous episode.

The emotionally fraught scenes concerning Cutters realisation that his dead wife is not so much dead as living in the prehistoric age (same difference?) slow the story down and show up flaws in the script that excitement and slick editing otherwise mask. For example how does Cutter know where this temporal fault line is? Come to that why does a zoologist know so much about space/time mechanics? How has Helen Cutter survived for eight years in a prehistoric world full of carnivorous beasties with only one change of clothes? Would even the geekiest of geeks really be looking forward to watching Battlefield Earth with directors commentary? Perhaps the writers have confused geeks with Scientologists?

Next week the Home Office interrogate Helen Cutter while she threatens the country with Sabre Toothed monsters. Howsa..? Let's hope there's more tooth and less jaw.

BBC ruining Television and Hammer rises from the Crypt...

You may have heard about the BBC's new plans for the end credits of it's programmes. Starting June 4th they're going to be ruining them as completely as they can manage.

Charlie Brooker is very excited about this and quite right too. I suggest you follow the link and see what he has to say on the matter as he phrases it much more clearly than I could. What I will add though is that I will be complaining via the BBC's website every time their new policy irritates me, which is likely to be pretty regularly (about 7.45pm every Saturday evening). On each programme page there is a 'Contact Us' link designed for just this purpose. I urge you to use it as and when appropriate.

I thought it was bad when they just talked over the middle eight...

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Hammer Films are in the news as they've been taken over again. This time though we're to expect new films. We've heard all this before of course but the level of publicity is something new as is purportedly £50,000,000 behind the brand.

In my excitement I emailed them to find out if they would be soliciting original scripts but have yet to get a reply (I imagine they're pretty busy).

I was concerned to see Simon Oakes talking about 'reimaginings' of Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy but this may have been influenced by the interviewer. I hope they have something more imaginative and contemporary in mind than revisiting former glories.

Time will tell...

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It's the end of Writey week. This has been an encouraging week for me as I've produced more work this week than I probably have in the last year. I still didn't achieve all my aims for the week but I did prove to myself that I can get up every day and write for a couple of hours if I really want to. Also I found that each day I wrote more and longer so I guess it's like any physical exercise you take i that you start gentle and work up. Shouldn't be any problem me fitting in my hour a day when I'm back in work from Monday then should it?

Also this week has created 'The Island of Dreams' where we now sit. This blog has been a great help in motivating me to write this week and I hope it will continue to do so. Expect it to continue to be updated regularly with my reviews, observations and updates on my writing.

If anyone wishes to comment on anything they see here, or any subjects covered, please feel free to do so...

Primeval (Episodes 1 & 2)

Having missed it when broadcast I’ve now caught up on the first two episodes of ITV’s Primeval. What a fun show. Exactly what Saturday night entertainment should be. Filled with spectacle, action, humour, scares and a little bit of flirting.

The premise is that space/time anomalies are appearing randomly across Britain forming portals from our time to the distant past… and we do mean distant. These portals allow anyone or anything to pass back in time to a prehistoric age. The real problem though is when creatures from millennia ago come through to our time and terrorise Asda car parks.
A small team of experts in zoology drift together and find themselves working with the government to identify and contain these anomalies. There is also a subplot regarding Henshaw’s characters wife, missing some eight years, who may be tied into the anomalies in some way.

The realisation of ancient monsters running amuck in familiar modern settings is staggeringly effective, particularly when obvious CGI elements interact with the physical set. This happens so regularly that it must be deliberate showing off but why not. The glossy sheen of the program with its slick editing and contemporary music makes for very exciting family tea time telly.

The cast are enthusiastic and likeable with only Douglas Henshaw and James Murray taking a little time to warm up. By the start of the second episode though everyone has settled into their role.

Particularly noteworthy in the cast are Andrew Lee Potts whose geek computer expert provides much of the humour, and Lucy Brown as the permanently bewildered Home Office dogsbody lumbered with keeping the time/space anomalies under wraps.

One of the most fun aspects of the series is that this team of academics and civil servants are very much making this up as they go. Naturally nobody knows what to do when you have a fifteen foot centipede in the London Underground so they have to improvise. So far they don’t always get things right which means all the more fun for us.

If Hannah Spearritt is going to make a habit of running around in just her pants a suspicion may arise that she’s only there for the Dads but I’m sure the powers that be are willing to take that chance.

The only other minus points on these early episodes are the somewhat cartoonish James Lester, as played by Ben Miller; and the slightly off target geek chums of Connor who are just a little too crudely stereotyped to ring true. If Hannah Spearritt is going to make a habit of running around in just her pants a suspicion may arise that she's only there for the Dad's but the powers that be are likely to be willing to take that chance. She's is actually very engaging with her jeans on too.

The best thing about Primeval is that despite clearly being ITV’s answer to Doctor Who it wasn’t scheduled against it. In the 1980’s genre television fans often had to choose between Doctor Who and The A-Team, or Knight Rider or Robin of Sherwood. As Colin Baker (The Sixth Doctor) once pointed out in an interview these practices split the same audience straight down the middle. Hopefully the success of shows like Doctor Who, Primeval and Robin Hood can cultivate an audience, and a demand, for quality genre TV drama all year round. Perhaps then Graham Nortons’ National Lottery presents Tropical Strictly Celebrity X Factor can be cancelled before it starts.

blog it baby, yeah...

Quick update on how writey week is going. Actually finished a short story this morning. I've been writing a lot this week but not actually fiction or scripts so it's nice to say I've created something. Irritatingly it was a story I started for the Big Finish Short Story competition but was too pathetic to finish in time. D'oh. It's ok though, needs a bit of polish but I'll let it settle a while first. I'm pretty sure BF have an open submission policy away so maybe I'll submit it eventually. Seeing as they're currently working through a couple of thousand competition entries I may leave that a while too though, eh?

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On the other hand I've been blogging my blogs off. Hope the Spidey review isn't too dull, I normally try to keep reviews pretty brief but I had more to say than I expected.
I may chuck a couple of more bits on here later as I'm up to date on 24 (Quick verdict - much better but can it erase the awful memory of the middle third?), and finished The Highest Science last night (Really good fun but bizarre conclusion). Next up? Something More by Paul Cornell, or possibly The English Civil War by Diane Purkiss; depends how I feel. Emma is currently reading the Screenburn collection which basically involves her giggling like a lunatic and reading every other paragraph out to me. Not that I mind as it is debilitatingly funny.

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Enough words for now. Perhaps more later. Have to monkey about with the DVD player this afternoon as it has ceased to function. Technology eh? I used an old Betamax VCR for years and years and never had a problem with it. It had great big ker-chunk keys like an old cassette deck. You had to throw all your body weight down on the buttons to make it go. They don't build 'em like that anymore.