If you or your children visited Yahoo! Kids recently, you might have seen our "Primeval Creature of the Week" -- a celebration of five favorite creatures from the popular BBC America series.  With video clips and desktop wallpapers you couldn't find elsewhere, it was great fun.

 

With today's release of "Primeval's" first two seasons on DVD, I wanted to offer a counterpoint to the review by our friends at Common Sense Media (CSM).  While admirably summarizing the main plot line, that review missed two key distinctives of "Primeval:" Its interplay of relationships between characters and its sense of campy fun.

 

"Primeval" tells the story of mysterious time anomalies that permit creatures from other eras to enter the modern world -- and the attempts of a ragtag team of scholars and government bureaucrats to resolve the threat without a public panic. But while the creatures are CGI-cool and the anomalies sci-fi approved, "Primeval" is more about people than monsters.

 

The main character is Professor Nick Cutter (Doug Henshall), a renowned scientist tormented by the inexplicable disappearance of his wife, Helen (Juliet Aubrey), eight years earlier.  Investigating reports of roaming prehistoric creatures, the British Home Office recruits Cutter and his can-do assistant, Stephen Hart (James Murray). Others who stumble upon the secret and become part of the team include beautiful herpetologist Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearitt) and paleontology student Connor Temple, a nerd's nerd trying hard to be hip.  The skeptics include smarmy bureaucrat Sir James Lester (Ben Miller) and his alluring assistant Claudia Brown (Lucy Brown).

 

With a lineup like this, romance, intrigue, competition and conflict are ripe for the picking -- and we get plenty of each as the team smacks down roaming carnivores, giant creepy-crawlies and sea monsters (and coddles flying lizards and squawking dodo birds). Intermittent appearances by the missing Helen Cutter keep everyone on their toes. Ultimately, the creatures become set dressing that facilitates the interaction between characters.  

 

Series like this often bog down in a sense of self-importance, but "Primeval" doesn't take itself too seriously.  The annoying but somehow lovable Connor is the main foil to sobriety.  There's a tangy tension between Cutter and Claudia.  Lester is the consummate, self-absorbed bureaucrat that draws our disdain.  And how can anyone take seriously a series that supposes scientists can shoot down a 50-foot flying dinosaur from a skyscraper roof without the public's knowledge?

 

That's exactly my point. "Primeval" isn't meant to be taken seriously.  It's good, rollicking fun with engaging characters, scattered sci-fi chills and realistically portrayed dinosaurs roaming golf courses. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

 

My favorite creature clips:

 

• Tranquilizing a Pterosaur

 

• Unwelcome Visitor

 

• "It Can Fly?"

 

Rating: TV-PG Studio: BBC America/Warner Home Video Cast: Douglas Henshall, James Murray, Hannah Spearritt Genre: Science Fiction Release Date: 11/4/08 Running Time: 585 minutes. Bonus Features: Audio commentaries, "Making Of Primeval" and "Through the Anomaly" featurettes