Review: Primeval Series 5 Ep 2

Watch May 31 2011

An undersea anomaly sends Matt, Connor and Abby back into the Jurassic era…

When Primeval began in 2006, its sources were often very obvious – to the extent that it often felt as if episodes were “Primeval does…” One area that they didn’t really ever enter was the worlds of Irwin Allen, but this episode more than makes up for it, with a great fun Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Primeval.

The on-going plotline featuring Philip and New Dawn is set aside, as Connor has to focus on the problem at hand, or else none of them is going to get home. The budgetary restrictions are quite obvious – this massive submarine is miraculously able to be run by a handful of people – but for once this adds to the charm of the story.

The drama on the submarine, with dinosaurs waking up and going on the rampage, is nicely counterpointed with Lester and Jess’s attempts to prevent a trigger-happy Admiral from sending a nuclear bomb through the anomaly in a rather stupid attempt to close it. The ending is never really in doubt but fans of Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who will recognise echoes in a number of the scenes, notably with the 1971 story The Claws of Axos.

Verdict:  A wonderful pastiche of the creature feature TV shows of the 1960s.  8/10

Paul Simpson

Click here for our review of episode 1