I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! I know I did! I went to see some awesome fireworks. I especially love the ones that are really loud, earthshaking and so bright that the ground beneath them is lit up. Now, without further ado, let's move on to our "usuals" before continuing with my overview of the British television series, Primeval, season 2.
Days till:
It is: 52 days till Labor Day
It is: 62 days till Patriot's Day
It is: days till Dolphin Tale 2's release!
In the Spotlight:
We've got a lot of new images from what's going on concerning Jurassic World (Jurassic Park IV) this week. This first update is a little late, as you might recall, the film crew for the movie is now shooting in New Orleans and this is where some photos from the set were taken. You can view them below:
This set is portraying a cold and snowy winter in Wisconsin. We can't say for sure just yet, but it appears from my sources that the house in the pictures above will be the home of Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinsons and Judy Greer's character's. Perhaps we'll be seeing some scenes of the family before they leave for Isla Nublar.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, perhaps what is some of the most exciting Jurassic World news to date . . . you know how there's been a lot of news regarding cast and the movie's plot lately? Well, perhaps a recent image leaked onto the internet actually breaks the trend. An image recently appeared on the internet and it is claimed to show how my favorite dinosaur in the series: Velociraptor, will appear in the movie! This appears to be our actual first look at a dinosaur from Jurassic World!
 |
| IS THIS THE VELOCIRAPTOR FROM JURASSIC WORLD!?! |
The image you can see above appears to be of a Velociraptor antirrhopus nublarensis, the raptors from the first and second film (it is believed that the raptors in the third Jurassic Park movie are V. a. sorensis, a different subspecies due to differences in size, head shape and behavior). The color of this dinosaur varies from the raptors in the other movies: it's a green color with black stripes. Perfect for camouflage. It makes sense if this raptor's coloration is different from the ones in the other movies if they are cloning a new batch of raptors for Chris Pratt's character to study in the upcoming movie. We don't know if both male and female Velociraptors will have this appearance in Jurassic World, but right now, who cares? It's (most likely) a dinosaur from Jurassic World and it's got a cool color scheme! What could me more exciting then that? Oh, escaping from of these beasts alive, perhaps.
Topic of the Week by Christian Ryan
Now it's time for a description of the main characters of Primeval season 2. Most of the characters are the same from season 1, but there are a few characters from season 1 that are absent and some new additions, who you'll read more about below.
 |
| (From left to right) Abby Maitland, Connor Temple, Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart will be facing deadly creatures, such as the pair of ferocious raptors seen behind them. |
Nick Cutter
- Stephen: "Are you sure you're alright?"
- Nick: "Under the circumstances I'd say I was doing very well."
- ―Stephen questions Cutter's sanity.
 |
| Stephen Hart (left) and Nick Cutter (right) are exhausted after their mission. |
Nick
Cutter, portrayed by Douglas Henshall was one of the only two main
characters that knew about the alternate time line from Season 1
(Helen Cutter is the second). He finds the change quite shocking and
nerve-racking, mostly because the woman he loved, Claudia Brown,
practically vanished from history as if she was never born. At first,
everyone thinks Nick has gotten terribly loony. This is clearly
evident when Lester sarcastically says, “Don't you think you're a
bit old for imaginary friends, Professor?” It seems as if Claudia
Brown never existed in the first place . . . that's what Nick
believes, at first anyway anyway. At the end of Episode 2.1, James
Lester introduces the ARC team to their new Public Relations manager
named Jennifer “Jenny” Lewis. When Nick first sets eyes on her,
he immediately makes the mistake of calling her Claudia Brown. During
the course of Season 2, Nick often accidentally refers to her as
“Claudia Brown”, which irritates Jenny greatly. “For the
record,” she says, “I really
hate that name.” It takes a while, but Nick finally starts to
adjust to this change in the time line as he continues to encounter
more extinct creatures that come through the anomalies and uncovers
the mystery of who on their team is sabotaging their attempts to keep
the anomaly situation under control. Nick and Stephen, who before
Season 2 had a close relationship, find their friendship strangled.
This is partly due to Stephen's new romantic relationship with Nick's
ex-wife Helen. It is unknown whether Nick still has feelings for her
or not, but Helen seems to suspect that he's jealous. (SPOILER
ALERT!!!) But at the end
of Episode 2.7, Nick and Stephen finally seem to make up in a
bitter-sweet ending in which Stephen risks his life to save the
others. Right after Stephen's funeral, Nick gets the photo of Claudia
Brown out of his pocket and tears it to shreds and scatters the
pieces over Stephen's grave, reluctantly accepting the fact that
Claudia Brown is gone forever and that he must continue with his
life. (END OF SPOILER
ALERT!!!)
Stephen Hart
"How many Valeries' are there gonna be before we start telling people what's going on?"
- — Stephen begins to question keeping the anomalies secret
 |
| Stephen Hart is often willing to sacrifice his own life for his friends. |
Stephen
Hart, portrayed by James Murray, was Nick's “right-hand man” from
the start of Episode 1.1 up until Episode 1.6, in which Nick learns
that Stephen was interested in Helen (who's now open since she's not
married to Nick anymore) and this strains their relationship, which
leads us to Season 2. He didn't change much from the original time
line; he's still the same Stephen who is committed to wildlife
conservation and is a rather athletic individual. Stephen is also
brave in the face of danger, even managing to take down a ferocious
Silurian Scorpion . . . by himself in Episode 2.7. Through Episode
2.1 to 2.5, he and Nick are getting over their relationship-strain
until he gets involved with Helen again, who ends up feeding him
disinformation about who the traitor on the team is. He has a big
brother-like relationship with Connor Temple and it seems that there
is no affection felt for Abby Maitland like there was during Season 1
(probably because he know is interested in Helen). Amid Season 2, he
begins to question whether the ARC is doing the right thing
concerning keeping the anomalies and the creatures secret from the
public. During Episode 2.7, (SPOILER
ALERT!!!) Stephen and
Nick semi-makeup when Nick volunteers to be the one to close the door
that will prevent the animals from escaping Leek's building, but
Stephen refuses to let him do this. Instead, Stephen does it, knowing
that he'll be trapped with the ferocious animals and tells Nick
before his death to tell Abby and Connor to stay out of trouble. Nick
watches as Stephen sacrifices himself to save the lives of possibly
countless others and is killed by the creatures who after killing him
presumably kill each other, preventing them from escaping into the
outside world and threatening civilians. At the end of the episode,
Nick and the others attend Stephen's funeral. However, just after
Nick and the others leave, Helen places an ammonite shell on
Stephen's grave as a calling card and says, “Be patient, Stephen.
Things can change faster than you think.” Could Stephen somehow
make a comeback in later seasons . . .? (END
OF SPOILER ALERT)
Connor Temple
One
important lesson if you're considering a job at the ARC – never
under any circumstances have Connor Temple, played by Andrew-Lee
Potts, use guns! He's notorious for shooting at the wrong things. In
Episode 1.1, he accidentally shoots Abby with a tranquilizer dart
while trying to shoot a baby raptor and in Episode 1.3, he
accidentally shoots a man in a lion costume, thinking it was a
saber-toothed cat. Fortunately it was a bad shot and prevented injury
(the man inside, anyway . . .)! Later in the latter episode, Connor
asks Nick if he can have a gun but Nick responds by saying, “Take a
wild guess.” Connor guesses “no” and Nick answers, “Good
guess.” In Season 2, Connor is still “temporarily” living with
Abby and the two have a close bond. He also ends up getting a
girlfriend named Caroline Steel in Episode 2.2 who, unbeknownst to
Connor, (SPOILER ALERT!!!)
is actually a spy sent by Leek (END
OF SPOILER ALERT).
Connor's relationship with Caroline strains his relationship with
Abby however. Through much of the season, he seems unclear about
whether he's more interested in Caroline or Abby (who he had a crush
on in Season 1). Even though he denies it later, when Abby was at
risk of falling into the hands of the Mer creatures and tells him to
let her go, as there's no point in them both dying, he replies, “I
can't . . . I love you!” When Abby asks him about this later on, he
acts as if he never said it, due to his embarrassment. Also in Season
2, Connor invents a new device that will help the ARC team locate
anomalies faster than before: the Anomaly Detection Device. After
learning about (SPOILER
ALERT!!!) the real reason
why Caroline was “interested” in him, he feels betrayed but still
cared enough for her to get her out of Leek's creature prison safely.
(END OF SPOILER ALERT!!!)
Nick: "Apparently some people never change."
Connor: "Is that a bad or a good thing?"
―No change for Connor in the new timeline.
 |
| Connor (left) is one of the few people who believes that the timeline changed. |
Abby Maitland
Hannah
Spearritt portrays the reptile-loving Abby Maitland in Primeval.
Her apartment is larger and better than the one in Season 1 (another
time line change) and Connor is still “temporarily” lodging with
her. In Episode 2.2, Abby takes an immediate dislike to Caroline due
to her dislike for lizards (Rex in particular) and her relationship
with Connor. In an interview with Hannah, she reveals her character
dislikes Caroline greatly because she grows rather jealous of
Caroline's relationship with Connor, who she seems to be falling in
love with by the end of Episode 2.7. One of Abby's hobbies is boxing.
In one episode, Caroline shows her a kicking move and Abby later uses
it to save herself from an approaching Mer creature. In Episode 1.4,
Abby is taken by one of the Mer creatures and the rest of the team
worries that she's dead. This really frustrates Connor because ever
since Caroline's arrival, he and Abby had been having verbal fights
and never got the chance to make up. In Episode 2.7, she finally
(SPOILER ALERT!!!)
forgives Caroline and saves her and the others from the vicious
saber-toothed cat that was locked in with them by Leek. At the end of
Episode 2.7, she seem to be close to Connor again. She also is seen
after Stephen's funeral trying to hold Connor's hand, but she pulls
back at the last minute. (END
OF SPOILER ALERT!!!)
- Abby: "Just let me go."
- Connor: "I can't. I love you."
- ―Connor tells Abby his feelings for her in the face of death.
 |
| In this image, Abby makes friends with a Columbian mammoth. |
Helen Cutter
(This whole character bio is a spoiler)
"Be patient, Stephen. Things can change... More than you'll ever know."
—Helen Cutter
 |
| Helen Cutter is a rather mysterious person. |
The
mischievous Helen Cutter, portrayed by Juliet Aubrey, is back in
Primeval Season 2 with
a new plot. It is revealed over the course of the series that she's
working with Oliver Leek to collect animals from the past and future
using the anomalies to keep them in Lester's creature prison. But
that's where the similarities in their plan disappear. Helen's plot
is to use the animals to “play with” the future; she wants to see
what would happen in the future if she “alters” the present using
the animals they've collected (actually, the Cleaner and Leek's other
soldiers are doing the collecting). In Episode 2.2, she appears to
Stephen once again and asks him to let her stay overnight because she
was supposedly injured by a Cretaceous pterosaur while trying to
steal their eggs for breakfast. We learn in Episode 2.4, 2.6 and 2.7
that she's working with Leek, but she misinforms Stephen Hart, her
new boyfriend, that Lester might be the traitor on the ARC team
that's trying to sabotage their work. By Episode 2.6, Stephen fully
believes Helen and isn't seen working with the ARC team much from
that point on. In Episode 2.7, Helen eavesdrops on Nick's
conversation with Jenny who are trapped in one of Leek's cells and
hears Nick say things that suggest he still cares for her. Later in
the same episode, Nick reveals he meant
to say those things because he thought it was Leek's style to have a
way of listening in on what's happening in the cells. However, Helen
doesn't believe him. They don't have time to go into the matter more
because the animals soon escape their containment and rampage around
Leek's creature prison while Nick and the others try to escape. After
Stephen's death, Helen is seen once more at Stephen's grave where she
tells Stephen to be patient, as the time line can change. At this
point, we also see several copies of “the Cleaner” who died in
Episode 2.4, and Helen gives a sly grin. Something tells me we'll be
seeing more of her in the near future . . .
James Lester
- "That's not good news, good news makes people happy."
- — Lester on the current creature incursion
 | ||
| James Lester is head of the anomaly operations. |
James
Lester, played by Ben Miller, is the head of the ARC and a senior UK
government official. He appears overall unaltered by the alternate
time line and is still his ruthless and sarcastic self, especially
toward his “alternate time line assistant” Oliver Leek. It is his
job to ensure that mass panic doesn't ensue and that the team
discovers more about the anomalies. He may not look it, but Lester's
hobby is playing tennis. He can get irritated easily by Nick Cutter,
but would prefer him instead of Connor when it comes to leading the
ARC team on location. In Episode 2.5 he makes this quite clear. He
can also become irritated by Leek's obvious statements or questions.
Episode 2.6 is the first episode when Lester is in any real danger in
the series when (Spoiler
Alert!!!) Leek lets a
mind-controlled Future Predator loose in the ARC to take his revenge
out on Lester. Lester survives however by letting the ARC's Colombian
Mammoth out of its containment and the huge mammal impales the Future
Predator with its tusks. (END
OF SPOILER ALERT!!!)
Later, Lester jokingly states that he could take the mammoth home for
his kids as a pet if they can't find a home for him. During Episode
2.7, Lester is shown getting his hands “dirty” in, along with his
team, tracking Leek down.
Jennifer Lewis
- "Don't call me Claudia! And I'm fine."
- — Jenny's first incursion
 |
| Jennifer Lewis, Claudia Brown's doppelganger, is the ARC's new PR official. |
Claudia
Brown vanishes from history as if she was never born and her
doppelganger, Jennifer “Jenny” Lewis, played by Lucy Brown,
appears. She is hired to be the ARC's public relations official to
keep the anomaly-related topics “out of the press”. Jenny is a
rather stubborn and bossy individual and at first didn't believe
she'd be dealing with extinct creatures during this job. She learned
this the hard way in Episode 2.2 when she disobeyed Nick's orders to
take the stairs in an office building and instead took the elevator
and ran into a deadly carnivorous Fog Worm. Nick later stated, “Next
time I say take the stairs, you take the stairs!” After getting
over the shock of what she'd be dealing with, she quickly adapted to
her new job. She even has the ability to take on the responsibility
of leadership and is much better at handling guns than Connor. Her
“friends preferred pony riding, I preferred clay pigeon [shooting]”
she says. There doesn't seem to be much hope for the same type of
relationship Nick had at one time with Claudia to happen between him
and Jenny. In Episode 2.2, when Nick visits her house to try and
explain the Claudia Brown/alternate time line thing, he is
involuntarily interrupted by her fiancee. Even still, Nick
accidentally refers to her as Claudia Brown. But in Episode 2.4 when
Nick calls her Claudia, she replies, “. . . you saved my life. So
just for tonight, you can call me anything you like. For the record,
I really hate that
name.” (SPOILER
ALERT!!!) In the beginning of Episode 2.7 she tells Nick that she's
become disengaged with her fiancee however and at the end of the
Episode, she hangs around Nick after Stephen's
funeral and asks if they can go out for a drink. Could this mean the
two of them could develop the type of romantic relationship Nick lost
when Claudia disappeared? In Primeval,
anything's a possibility . . .
Oliver Leek
(this whole bio is a spoiler)
He may not look it, but there's much, much more to Oliver Leek,
played by Karl Theobald, than what meets the eye. Leek is Lester's
assistant in the alternate time line and is often the focus of his
Lester's sarcasms. Nick and the others don't initially believe Leek
has the capabilities to pull off anything like he plans to, which is
why he isn't immediately expected as the traitor. It is revealed in
Episode 2.3 that he hired Caroline Steel to spy on Connor by
pretending to be interested in him and in Episode 2.4 we learn he
hired the Cleaner to spy on the ARC team and capture animals for his
menagerie. Even though he's working with Helen, Leek has a very
different agenda – his plan was to use the animals from the past
and future to make him a powerful man in the future. He even went as
far as to mind-control an army of Future Predator using neural
clamps. Nick stated he didn't think before that Leek was capable of
this sort of intelligence. He is also surprised to learn of Leek's
computer hacking skills. To take revenge on Lester, he lets a Future
Predator loose in the ARC and almost succeeds in killing Lester in
Episode 2.6. In Episode 2.7 when he informs Connor about how he hired
Caroline to pick him up, he also says that they're both “uncool,
nerdy and never get the pretty girls.” But Connor disagrees, saying
he's “choosy”. When Caroline wants to find out why Leek is
interested in the creatures, he not only shows her, but is unmerciful
and places her in a cell with Abby, Connor and Jenny and they're
almost killed by a saber-toothed cat. Helen orders him to stop at
Nick's request and he replies, “You do not give me orders! No one
does!” The Jenny, Connor, Abby and Caroline soon escape and Leek
prepares to have Nick killed by the Future Predators if Lester and
his soldiers continue their search for Leek. But at the last second,
Nick destroys a neural clamp of a Future Predator he killed by
ripping the clamp off and the other clamps dismantle. Nick escapes
while Leek is left in the room with the Future Predators which turn
on him soon tear him to bits (all off-screen, thankfully!).
- "I think this is something we should consider Sir. It seems to be our first breakthrough to date"
- — Leek points the obvious to Lester
 |
| There's much more to Oliver Leek than what meets the eye. |
The Cleaner
(this whole bio is a spoiler)
The Cleaner, played by Tim Faraday, works for Leek and Helen and was
originally first seen in Episode 2.1 when he was doing what his name
suggests: he was cleaning the mall as an undercover member of Leek's
soldiers. Connor and Abby think it strange that he disappeared after
being attacked by a baby raptor and that he's soon spotted at the ARC
dressed as one of Lester's soldiers in Episode 2.2. Later, he's
spotted yet again in Episode 2.4 by Nick and Leek scolds him for
being careless. The Cleaner is a rather uncaring and heartless
individual, even willing to leave a little girl behind on the
“ancient side” of an anomaly in Episode 2.5 when she tried to
save them. One of the soldiers tried to protest but the Cleaner
answered, “We're not social workers.” Since they didn't listen,
most of the men met their demise thanks to Silurian Scorpions when
they could have been saved by listening to the girl. Later in the
same episode, the Cleaner was killed by a Silurian Scorpion as well.
However, dozens of copies of the cleaner were seen in Episode 2.7
near Stephen's grave where Helen was, suggesting they could make an
appearance in Season 3.
"I'm a professional, I never talk."
— The Cleaner.
Caroline Steel
- "Abby you look awful, you really must let me talk to you about make-up sometime."
- — Caroline wants to share her female wisdom with Abby
 |
| Caroline Steel appears to be Connor's new girlfriend. |
Connor
runs into Caroline Steel, played by Naomi Bentley, while in the video
store looking for sci-fi DVD's in Episode 2.2 and he thinks that he's
found a new girlfriend. Abby meanwhile begins a rivalry with her from
the start, because she senses that (SPOILER
ALERT!!!) Caroline's
interest in Connor is counterfeit and because she herself has
developed an interest in Connor. But what Connor doesn't know is that
Caroline was actually paid to pick up Connor to spy on them. Caroline
and Connor start dating up until Episode 2.5 when Connor feels that
their relationship isn't working out and dumps her – by text,
I might add – with two simple words: “It's Over!”. (END
OF SPOILER ALERT!!!)
Caroline's hobbies include dancing, fencing, kickboxing and
paintballing. She also has a great dislike of reptiles, including
Abby's pet Rex. In fact, she hates them so much that in Episode 2.4,
she placed Rex in Abby's freezer when Abby and Connor were on an
anomaly mission, much to Abby's horror. Abby even referred to her as
“Cruella De Vil”. Even though Caroline was working for Leek, she
had no idea what he was really up to until (SPOILER
ALERT!!!) Episode 2.7
when she was taken hostage with Jenny, Abby, Connor and Nick. Before
taken hostage, when Connor dumped her (remember, by text),
she attacked and stole Rex to revenge Abby as well and gave the
lizard to Leek. Leek's uncaring side is shown in Episode 2.7 when
Abby and Caroline begin fighting and Connor tells Leek to stop them,
but he doesn't. On the contrary, he finds it amusing! Connor
eventually gets them to stop fighting, but when Caroline thanks him,
Connor tells her, “I didn't do it for you.” Eventually, Caroline
asks and receives forgiveness from both Abby and Connor for her
money-driven deeds and even is sympathetic towards Rex – she
rescues the lizard after he is injured. Caroline's last appearance is
made at Stephen's funeral, where she reminds Connor that he has her
number.
I
hope you found the biographies of the characters of Primeval
a good read. Next week will be Joy's article, and the week after
that, you will have the opportunity to read the third part of my
review of Primeval
Season 2, when we'll look at each of the creatures that make up the
series. Catch you later!
PS 1: Have a puzzling question about
animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion
movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or
send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.
PS 2: What’s the latest scoop? Check
it out at SMILEY’S
NEWS.
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