C&C - Primal - Season One Talkback

Daikun

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Acclaimed director Genndy Tartakovsky returns with a new visceral mini-series for Adult Swim, Primal! The first half of season 1 will premiere all this week at midnight.

Episode 1 - Spear and Fang (Watch now on AdultSwim.com)
Synopsis: Tragedy forces a caveman (Spear) and a dinosaur (Fang) to rely upon each other for their survival.

Episode 2 - River of Snakes (Watch now on AdultSwim.com)
Synopsis: Spear and Fang compete for catching food.

Episode 3 - A Cold Death (Watch now on AdultSwim.com)
Synopsis: Spear and Fang kill a woolly mammoth to survive in the middle of a blizzard.

Episode 4 - Terror Under the Blood Moon (Watch now on AdultSwim.com)
Synopsis: Fang must rescue Spear from a horde of deadly winged beasts.

Episode 5 - Rage of the Ape-Men (Watch now on AdultSwim.com)
Synopsis: Spear and Fang are captured by a tribe of apes to fight in an arena.
 
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Kitschensyngk

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Samurai Jack season five gave us a taste of what Genndy can do without the content restraints of family entertainment.

Let's see what he can do when it's full-on TV-MA.

...Okay, so it's TV-14 V tonight. It's episode one, for crying out loud.

Dang. Not even out of shot.

Extensive scenes of no dialogue - a Tartatovsky trademark.

I'm sensing these two will have a common enemy.

You full yet?

This look like beginning beautiful friendship.

Gotta get back, back to the past--oh wait, wrong show...

And tomorrow night, more shrieking animals!
 
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PapaGreg

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Im really surprised this was 14 with all the blood and child deaths I thought it wouldve been MA

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Yojimbo

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Revenge, redemption, survival.

A brutal world from the start. The giant croc breaking Spear's moment of tranquility only foreshadowed what happened to his family. It was interesting that Spear's choices in the beginning were more reserved, hiding from both the Croc and later the Pteranodon but anger consumes him only for him to see the tragedy repeated -- and it's survival mode time. Interesting little detail they chose to make the blood a brighter tone than everything else.

I guess the 14 rating was because they didn't outright show the death of Spear's family, rather in silhouette than something more gory. But I guess throwing a spear through one juvenile dinosaur then plunging one through the leader's head passed the muster to keep it TV-14.

I guess what jumped out to me is how Spear is a stoic warrior like Jack and Genndy is able to convey emotion in almost the same mannerisms and expressions.

Had a feeling that was Tyler Bates as the series composer. I know his work on film like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the John Wick movies, Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde, etc. but he's also worked with Genndy on past projects.

Fingers crossed this doesn't turn out to be Dino Boy reboot.
 

Fone Bone

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Genddy Tartakovsky's Primal "Spear And Fang"

That was a bit rough. That's not to say bad, but the first episode sort of hit me wrong. Witnessing the deaths of Fang's family was bad enough. But Spear's family being eaten on-screen that way felt a bit gratuitous, which is saying something, because it was probably more understated than the rest of the episode. It was still far too graphic and upsetting. I don't expect to have this problem with the later episodes when it's just Spear and Fang, but I felt really uncomfortable watching that, and trying to reconcile that on some level Genddy wanted me to enjoy that. I didn't. Not this episode at least.

One of the nice touches that shocked me was the idea that the T-Rexes that ate Spear's family were babies themselves. It surprises me Fang's babies move Spear so considering the destruction those other babies caused him. But I don't exactly blame him for weakening at that. They WERE far smaller and more helpless after all.

I have two surface complaints that cannot and will not be addressed. They are both flaws in the very fabric of the show. But there isn't a reasonable explanation why cavemen existed in this world during dinosaur times. Those were two entirely differently prehistoric eras. Yes, The Flintstones did the same thing. But The Flintstones is considered a complete joke because of it. Or maybe Samurai Jack going back and forth in time reverberated into the past and messed up the timeline a bit. I'm spitballing here because there isn't really a good explanation for it.

The other thing me is where's Spear's beard? He doesn't have access to a razor. But Genddy keeps him clean-shaven to read his expression easier, which is especially important in a show without dialogue (or at least none so far). But it's still a hole, is what I'm saying.

I have a strong suspicion I'm going to like the upcoming episodes more than I did this one. ***.
 

Lawren22

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That was very harsh, brutal and emotional and all without having a single word be said,pretty amazing. The scene were he considered suicide after losing his family and how upsetting seeing the kids get eaten in the first place was definitely hard to watch,on the other hand how it allowed him to understand and bond with the mother dinosaur was very heartwarming. I'm definitely excited for the rest of this.
 

PicardMan

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This was a pretty monumental deal for Adult Swim, who is very famous for comedy and even their shows with action, like the Boondocks, seem to be considered comedies first and foremost. The drama and emotions of this episode were really strong and dinosaurs will always be cool. Even without dialogue, the main character in this show is far more interesting than the one in Gen:Lock, the last serious action cartoon aired on Adult Swim. That one was pretty disappointing and its cancellation means that it will never that fleshed out. It's been getting a lot of attention and acclaim from mainstream critics, such as Rolling Stone. Wonder how the ratings will do as it seems that most American adult action cartoons rely on nostalgic properties to get popular (Samurai Jack season 5, Netflix Castlevania, DC direct to video movies). Wonder how this will do without this crutch as I know some people who think cartoons should only be comedic and think action cartoons suck and Family Guy is what cartoons should be like. I think this stigma is starting to go away partly because of those aforementioned shows and you can argue that Genndy himself is a nostalgic brand that can help with this stigma. I guess we'll find out if an American action cartoon can be an Adult Swim ratings hit after Gen:Lock barely left an impact.
 

Kitschensyngk

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I have two surface complaints that cannot and will not be addressed. They are both flaws in the very fabric of the show. But there isn't a reasonable explanation why cavemen existed in this world during dinosaur times. Those were two entirely differently prehistoric eras. Yes, The Flintstones did the same thing. But The Flintstones is considered a complete joke because of it. Or maybe Samurai Jack going back and forth in time reverberated into the past and messed up the timeline a bit. I'm spitballing here because there isn't really a good explanation for it.
That crossed my mind, too. I almost mentioned it at one point.
The other thing me is where's Spear's beard? He doesn't have access to a razor. But Genddy keeps him clean-shaven to read his expression easier, which is especially important in a show without dialogue (or at least none so far). But it's still a hole, is what I'm saying.
I'm sure there's a reason for that. That they're not going to give us.

Anyway, now let's see how our new odd couple is faring.

Bit of competitiveness starting out.

Dino turd.

Dino-snore.

Dino shadow puppets?

I think he's just tired of you bogarting the prey.

Bambi, no!

Ahh, the title promised there'd be snakes in this episode.
And there's our river.

No non-predatory animals were harmed in the making of this episode.
Apart from a few snakes. And a deer.

Tonight we killed Bambi. Tomorrow, Dumbo gets it.
 
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PicardMan

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Good that the show didn't rush our two protagonists' development and that they would still have some animosity. Another good episode.

Does anybody know how the midnight weekday slots usually do in the ratings so we know what to compare it to? It got half the viewers of Samurai Jack in 2017, but Adult Swim in general has probably lost a huge percentage of its viewers from two years ago. I know Samurai Jack also had the power of nostalgia helping it out.
 

Yojimbo

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^lol. Yes. I was just about to ask is that number good?

EDIT: Ha, ep 2 was the 'the honeymoon is over' episode. But man did they both avoid certain death at the waterfall.
 
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PicardMan

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According to Showbuzz daily, it also charted at number 7, with Mayans MC being the only scripted program that was more watched. A great improvement from episode 1's number 18 ranking. I assume a top ten chart position is what Adult Swim is targeting.
 

Kitschensyngk

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Well, so far it seems cold. I assume there will be death later?

Like the elephants from The Jungle Book. When do they start singing?

Uh oh. Straggler. Prepare to be culled.

Hey! Fur is murder!

And you thought they smelled bad on the outside.
 
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Space Cadet

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- Finally awake enough to watch this live in person. And now we're in the frozen tundra.

- Teamwork makes the dream work.

- At least the mammoth doesn't have to suffer anymore.

- Uh oh, the rest of the wolly mammoth pack is back and they found the trail.

- They just wanted the tusk to remember their fallen friend. That's all. No need to fight it out.
 

Kitschensyngk

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I thought the wind would have blown those tracks away.

It's not as easy when you have to kill your own food, is it?

I think the food's about to bite back.

I'd have used every part of that mammoth. Left no evidence.

The purple dinosaur's about to be hugged to death. How ironic.

An elephant graveyard. Like a prehistoric Lion King.
 

PicardMan

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Definitely shows how savage the circle of life really is. In modern society, we don't think of where our food comes from. The one horned mammoth was easy to feel sorry for.

It looks like this will be an episodic show rather than serialized, but there's nothing wrong with that and the idea that every dramatic series has to have an ongoing plot in order to be any good is a pretty recent and narrow minded idea.
 

PapaGreg

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Fun fact Elephants are one of the only animals who are known to grieve when one of their own dies.

Also I take it that nobody here has heard of prehistoric fantasy.
 

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