Season two of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, the amazing Emmy-winning (Outstading Animated Program) Adult Swim series, is now available to own on Blu-ray and DVD. Our friends at Warner Brothers Home Entertainment sent us over a copy to review.
Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal follows the tale of a caveman at the dawn of evolution (known as Spear) as he forms an unlikely friendship with a dinosaur (Fang). Season one featured mostly self-contained episodes with a slight serialized bent to them as Spear and Fang fought threats from from the elements as well as a myriad of prehistoric creatures and monsters. At the end of season one, they meet Mira, an escaped slave (and evolved human) who is kidnapped aboard a ship that sails away.
Season two picks up immediately after those events, as Spear and Fang set off on a quest to rescue Mira from her captors. The theme of the second season is evolution, and the storytelling becomes much more serialized, as Spear and Fang encounter different groups of humans, warriors, vikings, and barbarians, each with their own versions of brutality and savagery.
On a personal taste level, I preferred the stories of season one more, BUT that isn’t to say season two is bad. It’s just different. The animation is top-notch, the stories are well told, and the music and backgrounds are stellar. There is one time jump episode (Episode 5-The Primal Theory) that takes place in 1890s London that seems out of place UNTIL you look at the season as a whole, and without spoiling anything I think that the last five minutes of the season is absolutely shocking and yet moving in the most beautiful way.
There is one bonus feature–a 14-minute featurette titled Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal:Inside the Evolution. It features Tartakovsky, Art Director Scott Wills, Head Writer Darrick Bachman, Voice of Spear Aaron LaPlante, and composers Tyler Bates and Joanne Higginbottom. They go through all aspects of production, from writing, to animating, doing the background art, voicing the character of Spear, and composing the music. It’s very well done, although I feel it all could have been much longer. You certainly could have made a 15-minute featurette on each of them instead of focusing one or two minutes on each. Everything they say is interesting–I wanted more. Tartakovsky does do a great job explaining how the theme of evolution works its way throughout the season (including that mysterious episode 5) and teases what future seasons of Primal might be.
If you’ve already seen the show and are a fan, it’s definitely worth picking up and if you’ve never seen it, you’re in for a treat. It’s truly a special show.
GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY’S PRIMAL:THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON BLU-RAY
Primal Show Quality: A-
Video Quality: A-
Audio Quality: A-
Bonus Feature: B
Overall Value: A-
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