“Primal” Season 1 Offers Extreme Action & Gut-Wrenching Emotions (Blu-ray Review & Digital Code Giveaway)

From Warner Bors. Home Entertainment, the Primal Season 1 Blu-ray release contains all 10 episodes featuring a crisp visual representation that does justice to Genndy Tartakovsky’s brutal yet highly emotional story about a caveman and a female T-rex. Take note; we’re also giving away a Digital Code to the entire first season!

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free Blu-ray copy of Primal Season 1 for review. The opinions I have shared are my own.

If you haven’t watched Primal yet, you need to rectify such a mistake. It’s filled with dinosaurs, action, magic, blood, and gore, and yet, the main narrative theme is gut-wrenching as it showcases the budding friendship between a caveman called Spear and a female T-rex named Fang. I loved every second of it!  

For fans of physical media, the release of Primal: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray (which includes a Digital Copy for the U.S. only) is the best way to enjoy this show in high quality. It’s also available on DVD and Digital if that’s what you’re into. 

Genndy Tartakovsky has made a name for himself through Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, and Samurai Jack. Primal features what fans love about Tartakovsky’s take on action and cinematic visuals, but amped up to the extreme. The engrossing yet simplistic 2D style made the artist in me want to start doodling while the action enthusiast looked forward to seeing how Tartakovsky and his team were going to continue topping action sequences as the season progressed. There were numerous moments where I had to press the pause button to really look at the stylistic choices pertaining to set and character design, and camera angles.

Over the course of the ten episodes (each being approximately 20 minutes long), Spear and Fang fight dangerous beings including giant snakes, a horde of Velociraptors, witches, giant bats, and so much more. The creative team made sure to make each action sequence feel unique and exciting. Episode 7, ‘Plague of Madness’, is about a zombie Argentinosaurus chasing Spear and Fang. What more could you ask for?

Balancing out the adrenaline rush is the trauma connecting Spear and Fang. The first episode opens with Spear witnessing his family (wife and two kids) being killed by a pack of giant carnivorous dinos. And yes, the show didn’t shy away from showing Spear’s family from being devoured.

I appreciated the premiere episode taking the time to show Spear struggling to move on with his life after losing his family. Due to the lack of dialogue, there’s a lot of focus on emotions and body language. And I think the team did a great job of showcasing how defeated Spear felt after the attack and what caused him to feel determined enough to seek revenge.

After destroying what Spear held dear, the same group of dinos decided to attack Fang and her two kids. While Spear and Fang did reluctantly team up to win the battle, their efforts weren’t enough to protect Fang’s kids. With both main characters now having experienced similar trauma, a bond developed between the two. The episodes after the premiere offered Spear and Fang various opportunities to grow and figure out how to work together. I liked seeing Fang learning to respect Spear. Even though she acted as if she didn’t care, she would instantly put her life on the line to save Spear numerous times and vice versa. 

As for the overall storytelling, I think the lack of direction might be an issue for some viewers. Contrary to the type of content we’re used to watching, there’s no end goal in Primal season 1 (not until the finale, at least). Each episode made Spear and Fang travel through random areas trying to survive. They enter a new destination and encounter something terrible. Rinse and repeat.

However, don’t let such a creative decision deter you from watching this show. I say this because such an approach worked quite well for Primal. Through Spear and Fang visiting different places, the creative team was able to do a lot of worldbuilding. I was not expecting witches and supernatural beings to exist in the world of Primal, but they did, and I want more of them. As I reached the end of the series, I was expecting aliens and robots to appear. And you know what? Even though they didn’t appear, they would have fit perfectly in the story because Primal is just that awesome.

With how the first season ended, I can’t wait for Primal to return for a second outing sometime this year. And I think the second season will give Spear and Fang a particular goal (I don’t want to spoil it for you). It will be interesting to see how a (likely) goal-oriented narrative in season two will compare against the more random vibe of the first season.

As for the specifics of the Primal season one Blu-ray release, the Blu-ray’s visual 1080p presentation makes everything pop the way it’s supposed to on the screen. I encountered no audio issues.

The 10-minutes long extra content is titled ‘Behind The Scenes: Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal’. It made me appreciate the animated series even more. The team wanted to set a mood without relying on dialogue and I think they more than succeeded. They wanted the first season to touch a number of genres including horror, fantasy, etc. The featurette also covered the importance of music and sound effects in a show like Primal. It also offered a look into character design and set creation. It’s a nice little featurette I think fans will enjoy.

Primal: The Complete First Season was made available on Blu-ray ($29.98 SRP) and DVD ($24.98 SRP) today. It’s also available on Digital.

Have you watched it?

Let us know.

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Are you interested in winning a Digital Code of Primal season one? Enter the giveaway!

The rules:

1. Details: The Primal Season 1 Digital Code giveaway begins on June 2, 2021, at 12:00:01 EST and ends on June 9, 2021, at 11:59:59 EST.

2. Eligibility: The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. The Digital Code CAN ONLY be redeemed via Vudu or Movies Anywhere. You MUST be following The Geekiary Twitter account by the end of the contest. You must tweet from your personal Twitter; giveaway or contest accounts will be disqualified.

3. How to Enter the Giveaway: You MUST register your tweets and entries WITH THE RAFFLECOPTER on this page or your entries will be invalid. Following the prompts on the below Rafflecopter, there are three (3) total ways to enter, with two being mandatory. Each item on the Rafflecopter gives one (1) entry in the contest. (1) MANDATORY: Follow @TheGeekiary Twitter account using your personal Twitter account, contest or giveaway accounts will not be counted as entries. (2) MANDATORY: Tweet BOTH the link to this post and the hashtag #GeekiaryPrimalGiveaway. (This can be done once per day.) (3) OPTIONAL: Subscribe to The Geekiary’s YouTube channel.

4. Winner Selection: On or around June 10th, one (1) winner will be randomly selected from all eligible entries. Odds of winning depend on the total number of eligible entries received. We will make two (2) attempts to contact said winner via Twitter direct message or email. The potential winner must respond within two (2) business days of the initial notification, or an alternate potential winner may be selected from the remaining eligible entries.

Good luck!

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Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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