Wednesday, April 19, 2023

If dialogue is valuable to you then don't watch Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal.


Is anyone else watching (or has watched) Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal on Adult Swim? This is a weird, animated show with no dialogue at all (or virtually no dialog). It's the story of a cave man and his pet tyrannosaurus that behaves more like a dog. It obviously takes place on an "Earth-like" planet, but none of that matters. The first season ended with Spear (the barbarian who rides the T-Rex) uttering a single word: "Mira." It's (I think) the name of a bald woman who managed to connect with him before she was suddenly abducted and taken away on a ship. To clarify, it's either her name or something associated with her identity.

Season Two picked up with Spear and Fang (the T-Rex) constructing a raft made from trees and sailing the ocean. During the journey, Spear kills a huge turtle for food, sees a bunch of whales, experiences a lot of weather, and their raft is finally torn apart by a megalodon (giant prehistoric shark) which he fearlessly punches over and over and eventually stabs in the eye, wounding it enough that it leaves them alone. They then wash up on a beach in a foreign land. All this without dialogue of any kind. You just have to observe what's going on is all. Spear isn't afraid of anything (basically) and just punches (or slashes) things no matter how big they are. It's strange to see this animated character just charge at stuff without any (seeming) thought to how he is going to defeat such a foe. He just does it, and oftentimes takes the thing he's attacking by surprise.

It's an emotional and brutal world that's on display, filled with so much gore and blood, while the T-Rex and the barbarian that rides him seem to be able to endure just about anything. These two are tough with a capital "T," and even though I think that there's no way they could defeat the things that they end up triumphing over, he seems to be able to pull it off again and again. In the midst of the second season, we also got treated to a tragic love story that happened with the T-Rex and another T-Rex with a red-colored head. It surprised me, and I didn't think I'd get invested in it as much as I did. There really is nothing like this show on television right now, and I'd encourage you to watch it if you've got the time.

I'm learning that Primal is a bit of a challenge to watch, as it demands your complete attention. Its prehistoric world is ripe with reminders that every creature is either predator and/or prey. For me, I've learned that (in many ways) I don't so much as watch television as I listen to it. So, with this show, I discovered early on that I can't turn away, or I'm going to miss a whole bunch. It's not something I can watch while working on something else. But the story is compelling enough that it warrants that kind of investment of time. Whether this proves to be valuable to me as an experience is something I'm still thinking about, but my initial thoughts are that I think it has value. Sometimes devoting 100% of your attention to a thing is oddly satisfying.

2 comments:

  1. That's true you couldn't really turn away from the screen like with something with dialogue.

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  2. I'm the same--I listen to TV more than watch it. I'm glad you found something that keeps your attention.

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