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Primal: Created by Genndy Tartakovsky. With Aaron LaPlante, Laëtitia Eïdo, Fred Tatasciore, Imari Williams. A caveman and a dinosaur bond over shared tragedy and work together to survive in a perilous prehistoric world.
- (22K)
- 2019-10-07
- Animation, Action, Adventure
- 22
- "I wanted to explore the relationship between man and beast on the most primal level."
- Primal: Season 1 Gallery
By Jesse Schedeen
Posted: Sep 20, 2019 4:00 pm
All September long, IGN is highlighting the best TV coming your way in the 2019-2020 season. Today we're looking at Primal, the latest animated project from Samurai Jack and Dexter's Laboratory creator Genndy Tartakovsky. Primal is a major departure from Tartakovsky's previous work in more ways than one. It's a prehistoric fantasy series where a caveman and a dinosaur band together to survive. It's also completely dialogue-free. We were able to chat with Tartakovsky recently to learn more about Primal's unique brand of visceral storytelling.
As different as Primal is in terms of plot, tone and subject matter, it's also a series that should be instantly recognizable to fans of Tartakovsy's previous Cartoon Network projects. His distinctive character designs and haunting environments couldn't be mistaken for the work of any other animator.
To start, check out an exclusive new image from the series below:
Tartakovsky told us his approach to animating Primal doesn't differ wildly from that of Dexter's Laboratory or Samurai Jack. The main difference, he explained, is that the animation itself is done digitally through TV Paint rather than on actual paper, which helps speed up the overall process.
Silence is one of the real hallmarks of Samurai Jack. It's the rare animated series to place a real value on silent scenes, allowing imagery to tell a story in place of words. Tartakovsky told us that while he didn't necessarily enter into Primal with the intention of challenging himself to tell a completely dialogue-free story, that approach was just "natural."
"After the success of the last season of Samurai Jack I noticed people really responded to the silent sequences. We’ve always done them and they always stand out," Tartakovsky said. "When developing this show it was natural to not have dialogue as a caveman and dinosaur don’t naturally speak, and with the added success of Jack it came to me that could we actually make a show made of just those sequences."
When asked about his particular cinematic influences, Tartakovsky said, "My love of visual sequences stems from live-action films like Sergio Leone westerns, Kurosawa, some 70’s action films, Tex Avery, and my general love of animated movement. In some ways I don’t think of it as being dialogue-free, but we are trying to tell these stories in the most visceral way we can, and because our main characters can’t technically speak English we have to find new ways to emote."
Primal may not feature any traditional dialogue, but it does star two characters with names and clear needs and desires. The relationship they form is very much at the heart of the series. "We call the caveman SPEAR and the T-Rex FANG," Tartakovsky said. "Their bond is really a man and animal relationship in this brutal primordial world. It’s their relationship that really is the key to the show's success I think. Early in my career I realized that accessible character relationships [are] the true sign of a successful show and so for Primal I wanted to explore the relationship between man and beast on the most primal level. Even our human is almost a beast himself. A similar horrific tragedy binds these two unlikely characters and they have to learn to rely on each other to survive.
Check out the video below for a look at how Samurai Jack handled action and emotion.
Tartakovsky acknowledged that Primal doesn't exactly follow documented history, as the last dinosaurs died out tens of millions of years before early man came along. He said, "Even though we try to keep some of the creatures historically accurate, this really isn’t a realistic prehistoric land, but rather a fantastically brutal and horrific prehistoric land. The main focus was to have it feel pulpy. The fun of historic beasts fighting beasts from our imagination was the goal, and when you keep some things historically accurate, it gives more substance to the made-up things."
Set in an anachronistic and fantastical prehistoric world, the series is about the survival and bond between a Neanderthal man Spear and a female Daspletosaurus named Fang [2] as they struggle day-to-day and battle against various carnivorous dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals and other dangerous animals, along with more advanced groups of Homo sapiens that also live in their world, including ...
Oct 7, 2019 · Fang the dinosaur and Spear the caveman in Primal. Photo: Adult Swim. Genndy Tartakovsky is responsible for modern television’s boldest animation, including Dexter’s Laboratory, Star Wars ...
- Critic
- Angelica Jade Bastién
- 2 min
Sep 20, 2024 · The listener visits ancient civilisations, the Industrial Revolution, outer space and the land of the dinosaurs: encountering mediaeval farmers, silver miners, cavemen, Napoleon and Satan. Speaking on the record, the band say: “This album’s about trying to understand the world and everything in it: history, science and the way we explain it all to each other.
Jul 24, 2019 · Not having the characters speak is not just an artistic decision, however; it also fits the story. Primal is definitely a fantasy—obviously, cavemen and dinosaurs didn’t actually coexist—but ...
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