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Primeval: New World 1.12 “The Sound Of Thunder (Part One)” TV REVIEW
Episode 1.12
Writer: Peter Hume
Director: Martin Wood
THE ONE WHERE To save Toby, Evan and Dylan must retrieve the venom from the Brontoscorpio that stung and poisoned her by chasing after it through the Anomaly, where they discover an Anomaly junction.
VERDICT If you get stung by a giant prehistoric scorpion, don’t panic! No wait… you should definitely panic because you've been poisoned. This is the first part of the two-part series finale and although it wasn’t the most exciting episode of the 13-part series, it does leave you on the edge of your seat for next week’s conclusion.
It starts off with a flirtatious game of volleyball played by some ridiculously hot athletes in slow-motion (thank you!), then quickly beomes more serious once an Abercrombie & Fitch hunk gets stung in the chest by what is obviously a giant scorpion hiding up in a tree. Wha… no dinosaurs?! Darnn. Did giant scorpions the size of cars even actually exist on Earth at some point in history? Scientific research suggests... no.
The CGI for the Brontoscorpio wasn’t anything special and creature was dull; all it did was strike with its stinger or cower in its lair. If it wasn’t for the Anomaly junction to spice things up, the episode would have flatlined. Turns out that time jumping through an Anomaly junction is as fun as it sounds. The special effects for the junction were beautiful, and for those who are familiar with the original Primeval series this is the same “Spaghetti Junction” that Helen Cutter used as a “hub” on her travels through the Anomalies. A cool concept in the original series so it’s no surprise that the team in Primeval: New World would find the junction and use it as their highway to different points in time. Will they also travel to the future like Helen Cutter? What will happen when Colonel Henderson Hall discovers the junction? There’s only one episode (sob) to get some answers.
Even with all this excitement, Evan still manages to find the time to sulk, knowing that he could change the past and save his wife from the Albertosaurus but it would result in a tear in the fabric of space time, etc. Luckily he doesn't mope around in his past timeline for too long and is there in the nick of time to rescue Dylan from the scorpion sand trap. Lots of close calls for the team members: Toby is slowly dying from the Brontoscorpio venom and eventually goes into cardiac arrest by the end of the episode; Dylan falls into the scorpion trap and is almost a happy meal; the cave collapses on Dylan and Evan, trapping Evan with the Brontoscorpio... suspense isn't lacking in this episode.
And that’s where we’re left, with Toby dying on the table and Mac watching in horror as the Doctor gives her chest compressions. All characters are fair game to die at this point in the series, but hopefully Toby survives to see the final episode – besides Lt Leed’s she’s one of the best-developed and likeable characters in the series. It’s going to be sad to see Primeval: New World reach its conclusion especially now that’s it’s gotten so good , and let’s hope it doesn’t end on a major cliffhanger.
CREATURE OF THE WEEK Brontoscorpio.
DID YOU KNOW? Brontoscorpio (“English Thunder Scorpion”) was a 1-meter long aquatic scorpion that lived during the Silurian period, that could leave the water and go to land when it needed to evade predators or to search for prey. With a stinger roughly the size of a light bulb, the size of the Brontoscorpio was exaggerated just a wee bit for this episode.
IT’S WOSSERNAME! Actress Lexa Doig plays Dr Fridkin on the show, but you might also recognize her from Stargate SG-1, Eureka, Andromeda and most recently, Continuum.
NITPICK How is Dylan able to immediately identify the creatures? Does every animal control officer need to have a working knowledge of all extinct creatures? The show gives an inaccurate portrayal of the Brontoscorpio (in actuality it was only up to 90 cm long and was aquatic) so how would she be able to identify it in the first place?
TITLE TATTLE The name of the episode is borrowed from Ray Bradbury’s celebrated short story of (nearly) the same name (there’s no “part one” and it starts with "A” not "The") which involves time travel, dinosaur hunting and accidentally changing the timeline to create different futures.
GROSS Evan and Dylan find the dead beach volleyball model whose insides have been sucked out. It seems the creature tore through his rock hard abs no problem.
BEST LINE
Mac (during the blood transfusion): “That's some high-quality tiger blood you're getting there.”
Kell Harker
Primeval: New World airs in the UK on Watch, Tuesdays, 9pm.
