In honor of David Tennant’s retirement from Who-ville

Here’s what’s included:

The Eclectic Gypsy by Dave Thompson which takes you through the history of Doctor Who in a very unusual way.

Next we have two Primeval novels – Shadow of the Jaguar by Steven Saville (my personal favorite) and The Lost Island by Paul Kearney.

Plus three Torchwood novels – Slow Decay by Andy Lane, Border Princes by Dan Abnett and Another Life by Peter Anghelides.

It’s a fun collection of books for Brit scifi fans from three of my favorite shows. Want to win? Leave a comment on this post preferably with the title of your favorite TV Tie-in book.

US only please.

Deadline to enter is December 11, 2009 at midnight PST.

This is a hefty lot of books so it will be sent media mail, thus I can’t promise delivery in time for the holidays in case you were planning to share.

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From the people who brought you Tin Man, this 2-night event takes Lewis Carroll’s childhood tale to a place it’s never been before. An excellent cast of character actors are on hand to send you careening down the rabbit hole toward a dark and twisted path. It’s Alice — a four-hour Syfy event airing Sunday, December 6 and Monday, December 7 @ 9:00pm.

Click here to see all of the behind the scenes videos at Syfy.com

Pictured: (l-r) Andrew-Lee Potts as The Hatter, Caterina Scorsone as Alice Hamilton — Syfy Photo: James Dittiger

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When I first heard that there would be no fourth season, I was upset. I love this show – or perhaps I should say, “loved.” While I really enjoyed the first two seasons, this season has left me bored and annoyed. I thought I could get used to the revolving door of lead characters but I never warmed up the latest round of newbies. I miss Cutter. I miss Stephen. Add to that the weekly feeling that we’ve been there and done that and I have to agree with the ITV, it’s time to say goodbye to Primeval.

Please note the episode airs at 8:00 and not 9:00 as usual.

** Edited to show it was ITV, not the BBC that decided to end production. Thanks to the commenters who pointed this out. **

Episode 3.10 Spoilers Under the Cut

Helen Cutter decides the only way to stop the destruction of life on Earth is to stop humans ever evolving. So she goes back in time to the Pliocene period, intent on poisoning the very first humans that evolved in the Rift Valley in Africa. The team is determined to go back to the future and stop her before she can hurt anyone else. Moments before they are about to head through the anomaly, however, their hand-held detectors go off. The team splits—half will battle three vicious Megopterans, which have come through another anomaly, and the rest will head to the future to take on their human nemesis, Helen. One of the team will also come face to face with the earliest humans, Hominids, in an encounter that will change their life forever. The deranged Helen succeeds in killing one Hominid family, but soon receives a very unpleasant surprise.

Photo: Impossible Pictures

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Primeval: Episode 3.9

Air Date: Saturday, July 18, 9:00 p.m. BBC America

The team tries to tame a herd of Embolotherium when it comes through an anomaly, but these seven-ton rhinoceros-type beasts from the Eocene era don’t budge easily. To make matters worse, Abby realizes someone is trapped in a tent and for some reason one of the Embolotherium seems intent on trampling it.

Abby and Sarah try to rescue the trapped civilian, while Connor tries to lure the lumbering creatures back into the anomaly without causing a stampede or being crushed in the process. Danny finally arrives, late. With him is Eve, a mysterious woman from the future. Things get out of control when the anomaly suddenly snaps shut and the herd starts to stampede.

Photo Credit: Impossible Pictures

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Saturday, July 11, 9:00 p.m. on BBCAmerica

When an anomaly opens at a racecar test-track, the team must draw on all its skills to capture a lethal Megopteran, a giant carnivorous insect from the future. As they attempt to send it back home and lock the anomaly, they are unaware that there are two creatures on the loose, and one is still at the track when they leave. Meanwhile, at Abby’s apartment, her brother Jack steals her hand-held detector and sets out to uncover the truth about Abby’s job—with the result he comes under attack at the test track from the remaining Megopteran.  In trying to escape from the creature Jack enters the anomaly and the team have to go after him in the slim chance they can rescue him.  Note: The Megopteran is the fan-generated creature.

Photo: Impossible Pictures / BBC America

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June 27, 9:00 p.m. on BBC America

An anomaly opens in the middle of a huge junkyard and a dinosaur from the Cretaceous era comes through. The Dracorex is wounded, which only makes it more aggressive. The team is trying to force it back when, suddenly, a medieval knight on horseback gallops through the anomaly, chasing what he thinks is a dragon. The knight decides the modern world must be hell and his only chance to make it to heaven is by slaying the creature—this is his quest. The team finds itself in the unusual position of dealing with, not only a dinosaur on the loose, but a deranged medieval knight who is convinced he is a latter-day St. George.

Photo: Impossible Pictures / BBC America

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BBC news is reporting that ITV cut more than 600 jobs this year, so it’s easy to see why they’re looking to cut pricey TV shows as well.

After the original announcement, there was a flurry of activity saying it was just a rumor, but that hope is gone. Total SciFi quotes their inside source saying, “Obviously we’re devastated that things should end this way with ITV. But we’re absolutely certain that although this stage of its evolution seems to be over, Primeval isn’t dead.”

Since they didn’t have any warning prior to completing Season Three, the production company was unable to wrap up the loose ends and they sympathize with frustrated viewers. Read their reaction here at Total Sci Fi.

On one hand, it’s a shame, because Primeval is one of my favorite shows on TV right now. On the other hand, there have been sweeping cast changes in the last few episodes so it just felt like the end was near.

BBC America is expected to air the remaining third season episodes throughout the summer.

Photo: Impossible Pictures / BBC America

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Primeval: 3.5

Air Date: Saturday, June 13, 9:00 pm on BBC America

A transient anomaly opens and, through it, comes a  deadly flesh-eating fungus.  It’s the team’s most unusual and dangerous threat yet.  The incredibly aggressive, fast-growing fungus first invades and kills its human host before reanimating their bodies to seek out new hosts.  Once it “eats” its victims it retains a vaguely human shape, making it both sinister and frighteningly dangerous. When all attempts to destroy the creature fail, the team faces the possibility that it will spread across Britain, absorbing everyone it encounters—becoming bigger and more dangerous as it moves across the country.

Photos: Impossible Pictures / BBC America

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Air Date: Saturday, June 6, 9:00 pm on BBC America

 
The largest anomaly the team has yet encountered registers on the detector. As they race to intercept it, a journalist is also on their trail as he’s stolen one of their handheld detectors. He and his media mogul boss are already on their way. Setting up camp in a huge aircraft hangar where the anomaly has appeared, they have cameras ready to record whatever comes through. Unfortunately for the journalists, it is the gigantic Giganotosaurus, affectionately (or not) known as a G-Rex. A truly terrifying predator, bigger even than the Tyrannosaurus Rex, it smashes the journalists aside before rampaging onto a nearby airport. As the G-Rex plays cat and mouse with a 747 aircraft parked on the runway, its terrified crew are trapped inside. The team also receives assistance from Danny Quinn, who turns up unexpectedly and refuses to leave the scene.

Photo: Impossible Pictures / BBC America

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Those masks are the perfect emblem for this past week’s Primeval episode which began with a bit of slapstick comedy and ended in the ultimate tragedy.

Beware! There be spoilers ahead!

We start off this week with threats from three directions. First we have Helen and her army of Cleaner clones. Perched high on a roof top, Helen orders one of them to jump to his death. Though he hesitates for a moment he eventually follows orders showing us how really cold blooded Helen has become. (I like that about her.)

The second threat comes in the form of news reporter Mick Harper. He’s determined to find proof that dinosaurs are again walking the earth and he’s given a deadline by his editor – get the shot, or get out.

The final threat is almost a red herring in the fact that it appears to be the major issue but turns out to be more nuisance than anything else. A pack of Diictodons, waddley, beaverish creatures, are loose in a hospital and it’s up to the team to round them up. The little beasts love to burrow so they dig their way into the walls, disrupting the electricity in the hospital and scaring the bejeebus out of people when they pop up here and there.

Abby and Cutter end up trapped in the anomaly room with a pregnant woman which, of course, leads to the typical frantic delivery scene as they attempt to round up the creatures at the same time. The baby turns out to be a boy and the mother, at a loss for a name, gazes and Cutter and asks – do you think it would be alright if I named him. . . . Stanley? Well, there’s one cliché avoided!

While Cutter, Connor, Abby and Becker are playing Keystone Cops in the hospital, Helen is worming her way into the ARC using the Cutter clone she cooked up in her kitchen. Lester, Jenny and Sarah each have run-ins with the clone but none of them suspect a thing, which is stupid. Because a) they know Cutter is at the hospital and it wouldn’t be likely that he’d return without the others, b) he’s wearing different clothes and he’s talking like a zombie, and c) because they know Helen has the ability to clone people!

Still Helen and her Cleaner clones get the drop on them and they’re all herded into a storage room without a guard inside to watch them. Apparently, Helen isn’t as smart as she looks. Eventually, Cutter and the others show up and they’re all taken prisoner as well. Helen takes Cutter with her to do the usual Batman / Bond villain, let me talk your ear off before I kill you number.

Now, here’s another spot that made me go, huh? Helen tells Cutter that his work at the ARC will evolve into the creation of those scary future creatures which will eventually cause the destruction of the world as we know it. So now, she’s the big humanitarian that needs to kill Nick for the good of the world. What? If that was true, she could have shot him when she was in his house the day before. Helen’s a crazy woman and I buy that. I don’t buy her having any real interest in the welfare of the world.

What I also buy is Helen’s need to know what that tube-shaped artifact is that came from the future. There’s a quick graphic during the discussion that leads me to believe there is an anomaly inside but I’m not sure. Nick claims to know what it is, but clearly he doesn’t.

Back in the storeroom, the captives use some old audio files of Helen’s voice to construct new orders for the army of clones. After a tense fight scene or two, Connor uploads the file to the PA system and orders the clones to stand down.

Curses, says Helen. Foiled again. She instructs the Cutter clone to detonate a bomb then she runs off. Cutter and his team also escape but once outside Cutter decides to go back in to look for Helen. Oh please! I’d rather think he was really after the artifact. He and Helen go at it one last time and she shoots him in the chest.

Connor, who has gone back in to search for Cutter, finds him and with no hope of saving him, simply sits with him until Cutter dies. Yes, really. Dies.

Now, here’s where I go into denial. You see, this is one of those shows where people can come back and time can shift and all sorts of things can happen to make the dead live again. Add that to the fact that my DVR cut off the very last moments of the episode and I was pretty sure this was a fake out, until I went online and saw that it wasn’t. Douglas Henshall, who played Cutter, has moved on. He left a message on his fansite thanking the fans for their outpouring of support after the episode aired in the UK. (The UK is about six weeks ahead of the US.)

So that’s that. Or is it? I will say that I was surprised by the number of new characters that were added this season, and I guess this is why. I also wonder about a remark Cutter made to Helen, asking if she had cloned Stephen – I hope she did, as I’d love to see that character return and if he’s evil and in league with Helen, all the better.

If you’ve already seen the episodes going forward from this point, please don’t leave spoilers in the comments. Other than that, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this new season of Primeval.

Photo: BBC America

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