Primeval New World: A Sound Of Thunder Part One – Wormhole Anomaly Portends Disaster!

Welcome back to the Primeval New World!

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR NON CANADIANS:

In our exclusive interview with Executive Producer, Martin Wood, we were told that the title of this two part episode was taken from a science fiction story, “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury, later termed, “The Butterfly Effect“.

The Sound Of Thunder – Part One:

Since Evan Cross (Niall Matter) has been arguing against keeping dinosaurs and not putting them back  where they came from for the past several episodes, it looks like things may be getting really interesting. Will they return to a future that has changed in unexpected ways?

The visual effects by Mark Savela in “The Sound of Thunder” are awesome! As we discussed with Mark in our recent exclusive interview, and as seen in a promotional clip below, a nasty critter is illustrated crawling around, courtesy of the great team at Omni Film Productions, the outstanding firm that produces Primeval New World!

It is an average sunny day in Vancouver and young people are playing volleyball on the beach. Sun in Vancouver? Okay, maybe it is not so average. Vancouver is not called Canada’s “wet coast” for nothing.

As I was saying, people are playing on the beach doing average things like asking for phone numbers to set up later liaisons. Except the later liaison will not happen.

The attractive young woman who has just written on the young guy’s ball, tosses it toward the woods, forcing him to chase it if he wants to have a future get together. Unfortunately, there is something else in the woods beside trees and plants.

I must admit that I love the opening shots of the city of Vancouver placed in virtually every episode of this fine series. If nothing else, it is a wonderful tourism advertisement.

As the episode opens, Col. Hall (Louis Ferreira) and Ange (Miranda Frigon) chat as they walk down the hallway. We learn that Ange has accepted the position of civilian director under Col. Hall and that her first order of business is to recruit Evan Cross (Niall Matter).

Hall has another focus. He wants Evan’s anomaly detector. That is his first order of business. Ange explains that getting that piece of equipment might not be so easy, “Evan does not respond well to threats”. Hall then asks what Evan would respond well to. Ange replies, “me”. She is definitely very sure of herself.

While Ange is taking care of business, she has asked for one more thing from Col. Hall. She arranges to get Lt. Ken Leeds (Geoff Gustafson) out of prison and onto her team. Aw, she does have a soft spot for this misfit after all.

At Cross Photonics, Evan is hard at work as Toby walks in. She has been busy while the anomaly equipment is being moved to a secret place. Evan does not know where, and, he says, he does not want to know where. Toby (Crystal Lowe) has been working on the hand held detector. The big news, she says, is that it is an anomaly timer.

Evan receives a phone call and hurries off, leaving Toby to find Dylan (Sara Canning) and Mac (Danny Rahim) who are discussing the possible uses of Algae. This information, of course, comes from the previous episode when they were snooping around a government facility to learn what Col. Hall was up to.

As Dylan studies the information, Toby indicates that she needs to talk to Mac. Both of them step away. Toby has been digging around to find out information about the ARC patch on his alternate who was frozen in the basement. “ARC”, says Toby, “stands for Anomaly Research Centre”.

Curiouser,  and curiouser. The U.K had a dinosaur problem too. Mac puts it together and states, “So I was doing the same job back there…”

We discover the reason that Evan dashed off earlier. Ange is standing at the entrance to the building waiting for him, security close by. She indicates that it is a bit weird not having access to the company she helped build. I guess that is what happens when your partner no longer trusts you.

During her discussion with Evan, Ange informs him that Lt. Leeds is now no longer in lock-up and she did not take the job she had told Evan she would accept. Instead, she is working for Project Magnet and she would like Evan to join her team. “…Hall’s team”, Evan interrupts. He then goes on to sneer at Hall’s plan to make a new form of oil. Ange defends Hall’s organization to Evan. Well, this is getting off to a great start.

Evan and Ange are still as far apart as ever. To Ange’s comment that Hall could fix global warming or feed billions of people, Evan argues that Hall could fix one thing, but then a hundred other things could go wrong. To which Ange replies, “I’m not asking you to help him, I’m asking you to help me”.

Toby picks that moment to burst in with the anomaly detector. She says they can test it. I guess an anomaly was found. Ange excuses herself and they are off to Britannia Beach to an old closed copper mine to locate the anomaly.

As Dylan examines the tracks of the creature, and pretty much identifies it as an arthropod with an exoskeleton. Mac gets a great line, “I hope it’s not a crab; didn’t bring any butter”.

Discovering movement, Mac and Dylan race for the stairs to head up to the second level, closer to the area that Mac noticed movement. Toby and Evan remain below, weapon pointed upward. Toby keeps an eye on the anomaly detector. She is pleased when she gets a stable reading of 48 minutes that the anomaly will remain open.

Just when it looks like everything is as under control as it can ever be when you are hunting dinosaurs, the detector goes a little haywire by providing unstable readings. Seconds later, the creature makes its appearance. It appears to be a giant scorpion. Since their stunners do not work on the hard outer shell, Mac grabs a plank and knocks it to the ground.

Evan then gets a great idea. He and Mac grab some old corrugated metal and use that as a shield to push the creature back toward the anomaly. Success! They can now breathe easy, except for one detail. Toby has gotten scratched by the scorpion’s tail.

Evan calls Ange. Does Hall have a good toxicologist on hand. Of course he does. Ange sends her and Leeds in a helicopter Med Evac to pick up Toby. She steps into Halls office to let him know what is going on.

While he focuses on the fact that Evan has found another anomaly, Ange rightly reminds him they are helping Toby first, then they can deal with the anomaly situation afterwards.

While Mac accompanies Toby for treatment, Leeds joins Evan and Dylan. They are now tasked with getting a venom sample to save Toby. As always, Leeds seems to be one step ahead of Evan. His military muscle will not allow Evan and Dylan into the building to get at the anomaly unless Leeds goes with them.

Once through the anomaly, they get a big surprise. Evan calls it a temporal junction. Leeds continues the thought, “It follows then, that anomalies are wormholes, formally known as Einstein-Rosen Bridges, more commonly called wormholes”(anyone who has watched Stargate Atlantis or Eureka in the past few years would be familiar with this concept).

Evan tells Leeds he has to return and stop the collection teams that are undoubtedly on their way. If Hall finds out about this place, says Evan, who knows what damage he could do. Now wait a minute. In the last episode, Hall had said that he had seen the future and it was not pretty. It sounds to me like he may already be aware of this anomaly hub. Leeds agrees to go back and stop the team.

Just as Evan is about to walk through the closest anomaly, it closes. I assume this is done to remind us of how much peril Dylan and Evan are in as they attempt to help their friend. Just to make things even more interesting, the next anomaly Evan chooses take them through to Cross Photonics before it was purchased by Evan.

Evan hurries toward a time clock. He realizes, as he looks at the punched time, that his wife is still alive, but will not be in six hours. He decides that he must do something. Dylan attempts to explain that he cannot do anything, or he will change things, “you think this will fix everything? You can’t know that. It could just as easily make everything worse”, Dylan explains, “we will have never even met…” Evan’s answer is a bit surprising, “maybe it would be better that way”.

Dylan tells Evan to do what he has to do; she is going after the scorpion. As that happens, Leeds pulls rank and the recent change to a civilian director to keep the collection team out. Now the team get to drive him back to their headquarters. The fun just never stops.

I am not certain about other military organizations, but in Canada, Change of Command ceremonies are popular. Everyone connected to the change is required to be on hand to witness the pomp and ceremony. I doubt that anyone, even some medical folks tasked with looking for samples, would be unaware of the change in command.

Meanwhile, Ange has arrived at the infirmary where Toby is slowly getting worse. Since the doctor (Lexa Doig) requires a blood transfusion for Toby, and the supply they want has not yet arrived, Ange recommends that they begin testing for compatible donors, starting with Mac.

This gives her the chance to talk to Toby without interference. Ange first apologizes to Toby for underestimating her, then promises to support her in finding a way to block the anomalies. Toby is loyal to Evan. She will only do what Evan tells her to do.

Ange seems determined to get Evan to play ball. She tells Toby that Evan is not cooperating with Col. Hall, and because of it, he is going to end up in prison. Toby is becoming increasingly upset and worried about Evan. She offers to tell Ange where the anomaly detection equipment is, if Evan can stay out of jail. At that moment, Mac returns from the blood compatibility test.

Dylan, in the alien landscape of a past Earth falls into a hole. She drops her weapon. This is very bad luck, since within moments, the scorpion shows up. Fortunately for Dylan, so does Evan. He tosses his rifle at Dylan who then shoots the giant bug in the mouth. Fortunately, this is enough to drive it away, giving Evan a chance to rescue Dylan.

Back at the lab, Toby is getting worse. Col. Hall drops by to see how things are going, which prompts Dr. To ask him, who she is supposed to answer to, him, or the new director. Hall replies that everyone reports to both of them. Suppose that Toby dies, then what?

Hall has a good answer, “The best we can do is to trust our gut and do our best”. This reminded me of something that Louis Ferreira would have said in another roll he had on Stargate Universe as Col. Young.

A little while later, as Ange leaves her perch overlooking the lab and heads to her office, Mac heads her off. He is furious that Ange was playing games with Toby, trying to get information from her when she is so sick. Ange has one important thing to say to Mac, “I’m not doing things Evan’s way anymore”.

Dylan and Evan have found what looks like a burrow for the scorpion. They also discover that the area they are in is unstable with regular tremors. Interestingly, there are also several round holes that open up in the area, as the two people walk after the escaping scorpion. These holes are not explained. Hopefully, they will mean something in the second part of this episode.

Heading cautiously into the burrow, they find something they were not expecting – the first victim of the scorpion, the poor volleyball player who never got his date. The poor guy will obviously be left in this bizarre environment, never to be seen again.

Back at the government facility, Ange is getting tired of waiting for Evan and Dylan. Ken Leeds tells her that he promised not to send in another team. Ange is not impressed, “the days of Evan Cross setting the agenda are over. I thought that was understood”.

So, Lt. Leeds is forced to explain why he made the promise, “it’s some sort of junction…multiple anomalies. They lead everywhere. But you can’t tell the colonel.”

Ange will not agree to that, “no, no more secrets. If we’re going to control these things, we need to know all we can about them”.  In this case, Ange is right. It looks as if Evan and Dylan are out of their depth.

As Ange keeps the scorpion busy, Evan manages to lop off the tail section with the poison. Just as they are ready to leave the burrow, there are more tremors, bringing down loose rock on top of them. This effectively traps Evan. Fortunately, Dylan has the tail tip of the scorpion, and after a few minutes of arguing, “I’m not leaving you!” “Yes you are!” Dylan hurries off to save Toby.

Things are really getting exciting. I do not know about you, but I am looking forward to the final episode in this first year of Primeval New World!

Thanks to Kenn for final staging of the audio video embeds and images in this news article and thanks to you for stopping by WormholeRiders News Agency!!

We look forward to seeing more of you here at our review site dedicated to our wonderful science fiction series Primeval New World!

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Regards,

Thank you.

ArcticGoddess1 (Patricia)