Most of the original Cartoon Network animations are on Max, including Primal. I think it's also up on Amazon, too, but it likely has to be purchased either by the episode or by the season.
Haven't gotten around to seeing any primal but i love me some Genndy. He also did story boards for iron man 2 movie including the scene where iron man and war machine fight the horde of drones.
While I liked “Plague of Madness,” my favorite in the Primal series thus far is “Terror Under the Blood Moon” (S1E4). It is a perfect callback to Robert E Howard’s Solomon Kane story “Wings in the Night” (1932) with its conquered race beset by winged beasts picking them off one by one. I loved the natural progression as Fang has to figure out a way to get into the tower and then Spear has to find a way to get out of the tower. The bookends of the initial pursuit by velociraptors and then the final chase by the winged creatures work very well. Another aspect of the horror is the use of colors that you simply don’t see in other animation, which give it an otherworldly feel almost like the “Colour out of Space” (1927) by HP Lovecraft.
"Terror Under the Blood Moon" was a fantastic episode, and I fully agree with the comparison to "Wings in the Night" which happens to be one of my top 3 Kane stories. The giant bats in that scenario do fill the same role as the harpies, but I will say the one part of that episode that held it back for me compared to those "Plague of Madness", "Rage of the Ape-Men", and "The Night Feeder" was the giant spider. It's enjoyable as a callback to Shelob, but I personally would've preferred if the focus remained on the giant bats themselves as the primary threat.
Great catch on the use of color in "Plague of Madness", too. The episode's palette really does a great deal to help emphasize not only the sad decline of the sauropod through that sickly green, but the eerie sense of unease and danger surrounding both the seen threat of the aforementioned, and the unseen one of the plague.
True, I hear you on the spider situation as that is kind of played out. However, I did find it intriguing that one set of monsters was having to serve another category of monster. I don’t see that too frequently (but I do see humans or human-like beings unleashing hordes of their own monsters like Saruman’s orcs). Throughout the Primal series, there is also a lot unexplained, which I actually appreciate. For instance, what was the arrangement of the giant bats and the spider? Were they conquered by the spider and now have to serve it, or was this some sort of mutual arrangement? How did they even communicate their aims to each other given their completely different species? The dialogue-free format of the cartoon allows our own imagination to fill in the gaps, which is refreshing when so much modern media spoon feeds the audience with lots of exposition.
Primal was so good! Tartakovsky managed to masterfully weave together many of the elements Howard became so famed for. Ancient civilization from pre-flood times, the monstrous ice age flora and fauna, and, of course, the unfathomable otherworldly.
I've been rewatching some of my favorite episodes since I started writing Claws of the N'longu, including Plague of Madness. (Rewatched it this morning, actually.) The horror of it is really sealed in by the episode's end, particularly Spear's reaction to what happens. It's really impressive how much emotion Tartakovski conveys with facial expressions and sound design. It really cements the ending of this episode as something genuinely tragic, which makes the horror elements hit that much harder.
I wish you could've already read the Mage, and the two Velin novellas... especially the bunker of death. There are many, tiny whiffs of horror which slowly turn into one long, terrified inner wail.
Tartakovsky is one of the few true auteurs in television animation. His stamp and his influence are evident over a lot of what the field has produced since he arrived.
Tartakovsky = Genius
I enjoyed Dexter's laboratory. Deedee was a blast to watch.
Samurai Jack was cool.
Powerpuff girls was okay.
i wish we had that animation style back. today's animation looks like trash.
I hadn't heard of primal. wonder where I can find it?
Most of the original Cartoon Network animations are on Max, including Primal. I think it's also up on Amazon, too, but it likely has to be purchased either by the episode or by the season.
Haven't gotten around to seeing any primal but i love me some Genndy. He also did story boards for iron man 2 movie including the scene where iron man and war machine fight the horde of drones.
While I liked “Plague of Madness,” my favorite in the Primal series thus far is “Terror Under the Blood Moon” (S1E4). It is a perfect callback to Robert E Howard’s Solomon Kane story “Wings in the Night” (1932) with its conquered race beset by winged beasts picking them off one by one. I loved the natural progression as Fang has to figure out a way to get into the tower and then Spear has to find a way to get out of the tower. The bookends of the initial pursuit by velociraptors and then the final chase by the winged creatures work very well. Another aspect of the horror is the use of colors that you simply don’t see in other animation, which give it an otherworldly feel almost like the “Colour out of Space” (1927) by HP Lovecraft.
"Terror Under the Blood Moon" was a fantastic episode, and I fully agree with the comparison to "Wings in the Night" which happens to be one of my top 3 Kane stories. The giant bats in that scenario do fill the same role as the harpies, but I will say the one part of that episode that held it back for me compared to those "Plague of Madness", "Rage of the Ape-Men", and "The Night Feeder" was the giant spider. It's enjoyable as a callback to Shelob, but I personally would've preferred if the focus remained on the giant bats themselves as the primary threat.
Great catch on the use of color in "Plague of Madness", too. The episode's palette really does a great deal to help emphasize not only the sad decline of the sauropod through that sickly green, but the eerie sense of unease and danger surrounding both the seen threat of the aforementioned, and the unseen one of the plague.
True, I hear you on the spider situation as that is kind of played out. However, I did find it intriguing that one set of monsters was having to serve another category of monster. I don’t see that too frequently (but I do see humans or human-like beings unleashing hordes of their own monsters like Saruman’s orcs). Throughout the Primal series, there is also a lot unexplained, which I actually appreciate. For instance, what was the arrangement of the giant bats and the spider? Were they conquered by the spider and now have to serve it, or was this some sort of mutual arrangement? How did they even communicate their aims to each other given their completely different species? The dialogue-free format of the cartoon allows our own imagination to fill in the gaps, which is refreshing when so much modern media spoon feeds the audience with lots of exposition.
Primal was so good! Tartakovsky managed to masterfully weave together many of the elements Howard became so famed for. Ancient civilization from pre-flood times, the monstrous ice age flora and fauna, and, of course, the unfathomable otherworldly.
I've been rewatching some of my favorite episodes since I started writing Claws of the N'longu, including Plague of Madness. (Rewatched it this morning, actually.) The horror of it is really sealed in by the episode's end, particularly Spear's reaction to what happens. It's really impressive how much emotion Tartakovski conveys with facial expressions and sound design. It really cements the ending of this episode as something genuinely tragic, which makes the horror elements hit that much harder.
I wish you could've already read the Mage, and the two Velin novellas... especially the bunker of death. There are many, tiny whiffs of horror which slowly turn into one long, terrified inner wail.
I've seen lots about this show but never really looked into it. This has gotten me interested to actually check it out though!
Tartakovsky is one of the few true auteurs in television animation. His stamp and his influence are evident over a lot of what the field has produced since he arrived.