Primeval Series 2 :Episode 3
A cocky young paintballer in a holiday/adventure park finds himself stalked through the undergrowth; his screams echo through the wilderness as he is torn to shreds by a terrifying creature of which we see only glimpses.
Cutter and Connor unveil the new anomaly detector. Everything appears to be in working order but the machine apparently fails at the first time of asking when reports come in of the new creature attack. Lester is furious but Cutter is convinced there is nothing wrong with the machine.
Cutter and the team arrive at the adventure park and nervous deputy manager, Valerie, agrees that the park should be evacuated, but Jenny is having none of it - this will be the surest way of drawing more attention from the press - and she is backed up by Lester. Reluctantly the team have to accept that the holiday park will not be evacuated.
Cutter comes to believe that the attack, although horrible, could be relatively conventional. The animal to blame could be a rogue big cat. As the team go in search of the animal Connor is left to look after the safety of the holiday-makers. He disgraces himself when he shoots the furry park mascot, thinking it is a real beast... while unbeknown to him the real menace is lurking very nearby...
On his way home the unfortunate mascot is attacked and ripped apart at a railway station; Stephen, who is with Valerie, hears the attack and rushes to investigate. He sees the huge animal but is forced to let it flee as he looks after the terrified Valerie. He is convinced it is too big to be any surviving species of big cat - it must be a creature from an anomaly. But with no firm evidence and no clear sighting, the team are baffled
To Jenny's horror a train spotter caught the attack on camera and manages to upload pictures to the internet; while she deals with the media fall out, Cutter is more concerned by what he finds on the pictures - the creature is a Smilodon, or sabre-tooth cat. There can be no doubt - this is an ancient creature. But why did the anomaly detector fail to work?
While Cutter and the team prepare traps for the creature they find a mutilated body buried in a shallow grave. The man was clearly mauled by the Smilodon and equally clearly there must have been human intervention to bury him. Before Cutter can work out the implications of this the cat attacks them, drawn by the scent of the fresh meat they have put out as bait. Cutter is forced to take refuge on an adventure walkway slung between the trees, only to find the gigantic cat following him. Left clinging by his fingertips he finally manages to cut the rope bridge and send the cat tumbling to the ground - but it rights itself and lands gracefully before escaping.
Cutter now realises the answer to at least one riddle - the cat must have come through as a cub and the anomaly has long since disappeared. The sabre tooth was marooned and someone has been looking after it...
See exclusive on location gallery for this episode at Thorpe Park in Surrey.
THE FICTION
Next to the dinosaurs this is probably the most famous extinct predator. Unfortunately one pops up with no evidence of an anomaly and causing havoc at an amusement park. The hungry cat does some serious damage before Cutter realises what is on the prowl and starts setting traps.
THE FACTS
The confusion the team initially have is whether this is an extinct animal or an escaped exotic. Although no one has ever been killed by a big cat in the UK there are hundreds of sightings every year and many of these are thought to be the result of escaped pets from private zoos. The creature in this show is based on the biggest sabre toothed cat Smilodon fatalis which lived in South America up until about 100,000 years ago. The Primeval version is fairly close to the original – perhaps a little larger and bulkier. These creatures were not related to tigers in any way and therefore should not be called sabre tooth tigers. Also they were not the only sabre tooths. Among mammals this strategy of using long canines to dispatch prey evolved separately four times. There is even a marsupial sabre tooth called Thylacosmilus from the Miocene. |
