by Conan Simmons – December 6, 2020 – 9:07 pm
From the creator of ‘Samurai Jack’, ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ and ‘Dexter’s Laboratory’ comes a primordial action-adventure skewed towards slightly older audiences. Airing on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim nighttime animation block, ‘Primal’ aired the first half of its first season in 2019. The second half aired in late 2020 and On Genre provided weekly reviews of each of the last five episodes. Due to the popularity of our weekly reviews for ‘Primal’ we are now presenting episode reviews of the first half of the season.
There are spoilers for this episode in the review that follows.
The premiere episode of ‘Primal’ is not a happy tale. Brutal from the opening shot as we meet Spear, a caveman, fishing in a stream near his home. He soon encounters danger in the form of a giant crocodile. Using his wits and strength he manages to avoid doom and makes his way back to his family. No sooner does he arrive than they are set upon by hungry horned tyrannosaurus rex.
Unable to save his wife and children, Spear sinks into depression and climbs up a tall mountain to spend time on a cliff. Clearly contemplating suicide Spear instead resovles to live, perhaps even to get revenge on the horned t-rex.
Hunting for his revenge, Spear comes across another, non-horned tyrannosaurus rex and flies into a rage ready to attack. Before he can commence his assault he sees two little t-rex, the children of Fang. Realizing that he would be no better than the dinosaur that ate his family, Spear keeps his temper in check.
The horned tyrannosaurus rex then reappears to attack Fang and her children. Spear does what he can to help Fang defend her children. Tragedy is inevitable, and so begins the adventures of Spear and Fang as they journey together through the primordial earth.
There is no dialogue throughout this episode, much as there isn’t any for nearly the entire season. The artistry of this series is rooted firmly in the director’s decision to convey character through action. Spear and Fang are an intriguing duo as Spear is resolutely a caveman intent on asserting his dominance where need be and Fang is always an animal with a personality that shines through.
The animation is very much in the wheelhouse of Genndy Tartakovsky’s previous work only a little less flashy keeping the editing simple so as not to distract from the atmosphere of a world still in its infancy. The line work on the characters is very good contrasting thick lines emphasizing form with thin lines emphasizing detail.
The best moment of animation in this episode comes as Spear, helping Fang defend her family, tears into the horned tyrannosaurus rex face with a tooth. It’s a bloody scene, though perhaps not the bloodiest in this first episode.
It’s a downbeat start to a gritty cartoon series that may not appeal to animation fans that insist on happy buffoonary. ‘Primal’ is a series that is often grim but expert in using the animation to tell the story. As stated before, there is no dialogue but Spear does grunt and yell frequently. The only voice actor credited is Aaron LaPlante who provides Spear’s yells.
This first episode won two Emmy’s for both its storyboard art and for its art direction. ‘Primal’ won a third Emmy for character design on episode three, ‘A Cold Death’.