tvtropes.org

Primeval: New World

  • ️Fri Nov 01 2013

Primeval: New World (Series)

Primeval: New World is the Canadian Spin-Off of the original Primeval show. The series aired on Space Channel in late October of 2012, but was later aired on Syfy in 2013, as well as Hulu. Like the original series, New World centers around a group of scientists protecting the public from prehistoric beasts that were teleported into modern times via anomalies. Unlike the original series, the show takes place in Canada, there's an entirely new cast (although Connor does have a cameo), and most of the creatures the team deals with only come from the past, not the past and the future.

Due to low ratings, the series was cancelled after its first season in 2013.

This show provides examples of:

  • Alas, Poor Villain: After the female Lycaenops is accidentally killed in "Undone," the male Lycaenops has a Villainous BSoD and growls quietly as he nudges her body with his muzzle. And then Mac coldly guns him down like he were just a rabid dog.
  • Animal Nemesis: Evan and the Albertosaurus. It turns out, it was self induced.
  • Artistic License – Paleontology: Don't expect many accurate depictions of the prehistoric animals.
  • Big Bad: Colonel Henderson Hall. And, arguably, the Albertosaurus itself seeing as it causes the events of the entire series and is a recurring character.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Brontoscorpio and unnamed Jurassic beetle are both impossibly massive.
  • Cerebus Roller Coaster: While the tone of the show is usually dark, every now and then a Breather Episode will appear to keep the show from being too dark.
  • Cliffhanger: The series ends with Mac sacrificing himself to save Evan from the past, Evan killing the Albertosaurus that killed his wife, and Dylan and Evan rushing back to the present after realizing that they made a horrible mistake when all the other anomalies begin to disappear.
  • Conveniently Empty Roads: Justified in Episode 7, when Mac, Toby, and Toby's ex have a brief high-speed chase along a country road while trying to escape from an Ornitholestes. Since it's on a forested mountain in Canada, it's no surprise that they're literally the sole road traffic in the area.
  • Darker and Edgier: Alongside being Bloodier and Gorier, the series is much more serious than the original Primeval show, the monsters are more nightmarish and tend to maul their victims' corpses, and the main characters go through much more suffering. The first episode alone has a Sacrificial Lamb and multiple mutilated corpses being shown onscreen. Tellingly, in the UK, the series got a 15 rating, as where the original show never went past a 12 rating.
  • Death by Origin Story: Brooke, Evan's wife, who was devoured by an Albertosaurus.
  • Downer Ending: Some of the episodes do not end on a bright note, particularly "Undone."
  • Establishing Series Moment: The first episode has multiple dinosaurs appearing from multiple anomalies, several civilians getting killed, some of their mutilated bodies being discovered, a Death by Origin Story that would later be the center of a Wham Episode, and one of the characters who seemed like he would join the main cast getting brutally killed.
  • Evil Counterpart Organization: Project Magnet is a rare example where a corporate organization is good while a governmental organization is bad. The team based out of the Cross Photonics company and the governmental Project Magnet are both actively interested in containing Anomalies and neutralizing the creatures that come through as soon as they appear. However, the Cross team recognize the dangers of tampering with the timeline and half the team's members at least have some compassion for the creatures, trying to humanely capture them alive where possible and return them through the Anomalies to their time periods without changing anything. Whereas Project Magnet under Colonel Hall's direction actively try to capture and dissect the creatures for science, and moreso they actively want to experiment with changing the timeline through the Anomalies as much as possible, heedless of the existential cosmic risks to themselves and their world.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Ange towards the end of the series, although she had her reasons.
  • Feathered Fiend: The Titanis birds from "Angry Birds." Also Utahraptor and to a lesser extent Ornitholestes.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: While most of the victims' bodies are shown, we do not actually see the victims being killed.
  • Government Conspiracy: Colonel Hall doesn't want a private sector team to deal with the anomalies, he wants it to be a government-only operation. And he's willing to go to extreme lengths to make sure his agency's in charge.
  • Headbutting Pachy: A Pachycephalosaurus went on a rampage through the city of Vancouver, smashing storefronts with its head after mistaking its reflection for a rival.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: This is the point of Dylan’s "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Evan about his lack of empathy towards the creatures at the end of “Breakthrough”.

Now we've covered the whole damn world in razor wire, so where are… Where are the animals supposed to go?

  • Kick the Dog: Project Magnet's secret dissections and painful experiments on the animals they claimed to have returned.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: In "Angry Birds," Blake is nothing more than some pot dealer who lazes around his plants and plays video games with his partner Skeezer. But then he takes Evan and Dylan hostage and holds them at gunpoint after they accidentally discover his stash of drugs.
  • Raptor Attack: The Utahraptor from the same episode. It has some feathers, but not nearly enough.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: Drake, Evan's best friend and Dylan's partner, gets killed halfway into the first episode.
  • Shout-Out: The fourth episode is named "Angry Birds", for obvious reasons.
  • Terror-dactyl: The Pteranodon from the first episode is a hyper-aggressive man-eater that spears things with its beak and sometimes walks on two legs. It also builds a nest and abducts a child for some reason. It's especially odd since the original Primeval series featured a much more accurate and nonaggressive Pteranodon.
  • Too Dumb to Live:
    • The cameraman from "Babes in the Woods" who took a picture of the seemingly hostile Ornitholestes with the flash on.
    • Averted in the very same episode. After seeing the dinosaur, Nat, who you would expect to be a Dumb Blonde, sprints into a van, and then slams her foot on the gas pedal. She lives.
  • Urine Trouble: Deconstructed in "Undone." Shortly after the team sedates the female Lycaenops, she pees all over Mac's shirt. And as a result, Mac accidentally led the male Lycaenops back to the Cross Photonics lab when he caught the scent of his piss-drenched shirt.
  • Wham Episode:
    • "Undone": A captured Lycaenops wakes up and attacks and kills Sam, Mac's girlfriend. Dylan accidentally kills the female Lycaenops while saving Toby, and Mac kills the male one in revenge for Sam's death.
    • "Truth": Mac finds out that there's a past version of himself stored in a cryogenic freezer, and Ange, fed up with everything that's happened, decides to leave the team.