BOW DOWN BEFORE THE CROC

"The Great British public" deserves absolute respect for its patience. Primeval Series 3 started in Spain last sunday and in Germany one day later. Whereas viewers in the UK had to wait March 28 to watch the premiere on ITV1, right after Harry Hill's TV Burp (patience? Let's rather say holiness). But they had to coin toss first, Robin Hood Series 3 starting 30 minutes ahead on BBC1.

CROCODILE ROCK

So, the Anomalies Research Center's finest fierce creatures hunters are back minus Stephen but with a new military minder, Captain Becker. Nick Cutter tries to cope with Stephen's death when business as usual rings at the ARC with troubles in the British Museum. There, the team meets an egyptologist named Sarah Page (who must have attented the Samantha Jane Marquez University), and the monster of the week: a giant croc - no, not Gustave - with a serious ego problem, because the pet believes it's an Egyptian God.

James Lester deals with another giant source of problems for him and the ARC: Christine Johnson, a Home Office high ranking official with intelligence connections. Johnson is the assigned supervisor of Lester's operations but has an agenda of her own: to find a mysterious artefact. But her military operative is the sole survivor of his squad after a close encounter of the unkind kind under the form of the hideous predators seen in previous seasons.

In the meantime, the Egyptian reptile plays a sick joke on a London traffic warden, goes on a shopping spree much to the disapproval of Cutter, Abby and Becker, and is kind enough to return to the museum. Then newbie Sarah, who's expert in megalo croc psychology, hints that the crocodile only needs a little respect and that they'll not be eaten if they bow down. This expertise in Egyptian gods anger management brings her aboard ARC, as Nick Cutter offers her the task to establish a "pattern" of anomalies from the bestiary of mythological creatures.

JAWS 5, PRIMEVAL 3

The first series of Primeval was a big budget pleasant surprise, a sort of fictional spin-off of the previous entries from Impossible Pictures (Walking with Dinosaurs, Prehistoric Park). The second series had a better format (introduced by the cliffhanger twist of series 1), a better construction (a 7 episode story-arc), a better characterization, and a wonderful casting addition with formidable English comedian Karl Theobald as Oliver Leek. That's why we expected a lot of the premiere of this third series.

But the script of this episode is swimming with sharks. We don't buy the magnanimity of the crocodile, the mythological stuff, or Connor as the comic relief after a road from a couple of years to maturity. And the introduction of four new cast members (Jason Flemyng arrives next week) recalls us that British television loves to kill regular characters.

Ben Miller as Lester, and Juliet Aubrey as super wacko Helen Cutter (super villainess outfit included), literally steal Series 3 Episode 1 by their astounding presence. The climax with Helen, her army of clones, and the artefact in the ruins of a modern city left on a prehistoric landscape (Planet of the Apes? London after a re-development program gone awry?) allow us to hope for interesting twists and turns. Tip to the Beeb: Juliet Aubrey would be magnificent as The Rani in Doctor Who.

See also:

http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2009/03/primeval-series-3-on-prosieben-no.html
http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2009/04/kiss-shark-primeval-3-no-spoiler.html

ADAPTATION... (LAW & ORDER UK)

Law & Order: UK, every Monday on ITV1, is the latest television series format to be adapted outside its original territory. The phenomenon is nothing new: Hollywood tries regularly to transpose British formats on film or tv. ABC's unnecessary Life on Mars is one of the recent illustration of this "care" from the US industry, whose cloning advices must come right from Michael Drucker (1).

SEND IN THE...

Sometimes, the move is reversed. Remember The Upper Hand (1990-1996), the British version of Who's the boss? And now the venerable Law & Order, monument of the franchise initiated by producer Dick Wolf on NBC in 1990. Since RCN's Yo soy Betty la fea (1999-2001), a sympathetic colombian telenovela has been succesfully sold worldwide for local remakes (like the overestimated Ugly Betty in the US, or the delicious Verliebt in Berlin, in Germany) producers seem to believe that you can sell a tv series format the same way you export Wheel of Fortune.

This is not the first time Dick Wolf manages to sell a Law & Order for local adaptation. TF1 (French television leader channel) remade through Alma, a subsidiary, Law & Order: Criminal Intent as Paris Enquêtes criminelles for a rather unimpressive result. TF1 and Alma also remade RIS Delitti Imperfetti, an Italian cop show, produced since 2004 by the Taodue company for Silvio Berlusconi’s Canale Cinque, and considered as Italy's answer to CSI.

Law & Order: UK is a joint venture between NBC Universal and Kudos, the company behind classics like Hustle or Life on Mars, or one of the most interesting British television series of 2008: The Fixer. The cast is all-star: Bradley Walsh (Coronation Street), Ben Daniels (The State within), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica), Harriet Walter (Sense and Sensibility), Bill Paterson (Sea of Souls)... and Freema Agyeman, who must have a lot of look-alike cousins in every UK tv show. And Chris Chibnall (Torchwood), as lead writer, has been given the suicidal task to transpose Law & Order for Brit audiences.

LOW ON ORDER

The problem is that Law & Order is probably the least transposable show in the world. Part police procedural, part court drama, it is one of the most instrinsicly American production ever made. From the ambiance reminiscent of Kojak or Homicide: Life in the Street to the so specific US legal procedure that impregnates occidental culture to the point that, in France, judges are often wrongly called "Your Honor". Worse, when you buy a format, you buy its elements: here, the intro (« In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups... »), the famous "Dum Dum" sound, or these so nineties on-screen captions with the place and the hour. Take these gimmicks outside the shows devised so brilliantly by Dick Wolf, add actors who try to replicate the attitudes or mannerisms of their US counterparts, and the risk is to obtain a Dead Ringers parody.

More lethal, ITV (2) should have taken care of what happened in France, as the main complain about Paris Enquêtes criminelles was the mandatory carbon copy of the original stories, seen and re-ran before the premiere of the French version. This xerox syndrom was also one of the weaknesses of the French RIS, like your humble servant pointed out in the French version of this blog, and when TF1 decided to show the excellent Italian RIS on wednesday afternoons (four years after the French adaptation) it bombed in indifference.

In December I wrote « The nomination for the "Suicide Squad Award" goes to Law & Order: UK » (http://tattard2.blogspot.com/2008/12/itv-winter-spring-season-bbc-or-bust.html). At least there's a classy "West-wingesque" (huh? I thought the main idea was to make Law & Order British) theme intro, and I read Juliet Aubrey (Primeval) guest-stars in an episode. « Sure she did it, Guv».

(1) The villain from the movie The 6th Day.
(2) By the way, I really love the ITV press kits. People at their Press office are doing a very good job (http://www.itv.com/documents/doc/L&O%20PP.doc)