The Case For: ‘Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal’ Deserves to Win Best Animated Series

I owe the Television Academy.

When the nominations came out for animated series, it was generally what I expected until I saw Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal on the list from Cartoon Network. I had never heard of this show and proceeded to look it up. It’s about a caveman and a Tyrannosaurus that team up after a tragedy to survive in a prehistoric world. This didn’t exactly excite me that much seeing images from the show; the animation itself didn’t really grab my attention. I saw it was created by the man who made Dexter’s Laboratory and Samurai Jack. I had liked Dexter as a child and I always heard Samurai Jack was great, but it is a blind spot for me so the talent wasn’t something I had much connection with either. But I like animation and it being an unknown made it intriguing.

By the end of watching Primal not only did I understand the nomination but I also wanted it to win!

One of the first things that separates Primal is that it is done with no dialogue. The caveman grunts and screams and the Tyrannosaurus (in notes listed as Spear and Fang respectively) roars. Any information we get is through their physical movements and facial expressions. The rest of the animals and humanoid beings that they meet communicate the same way. The first episode takes full advantage of showing us what can be done in this style, letting us see the horrible things that happen to both Spear and Fang and letting us see very early on that this world is not going to be kind or easy to live in. We are given a scene after Spear’s tragedy of him simply staring down from a cliff he has climbed, letting us know how desperate he is after his trauma, simply showing it turn to dark, letting time pass to add more levels to what this voiceless caveman is contemplating.

The tension that this show creates is also impressive. “Plague of Madness,” the episode submission for the Emmy, may have one of the darkest and most tense sequences I have seen in animation or live action. Watching a normally harmless plant eater Argentinosaurus as it is literally being eaten alive by a disease is a very visceral animation as is its mindless attacks on its fellow Argentinosaurus, including unhatched eggs. It takes the normal hunting by animal and ape creatures these two have dealt with before and takes any pretense of survival instinct of the Argentinosaurus away as it simply chases. The horror of what this crazed creature has done but also what has happened to it is pointedly expressed in the final shot.

What sells this show are these two characters in their simplistic complexity. Spear, while remembering his trauma easier, is on a very similar level with Fang so it never feels like a man and his animal companion. They are basically both looking for food and survival, with Spear still reduced to screaming when he’s mad, which can cause Fang to be uncertain what to do. As they hunt together in the second episode Fang eats everything, not realizing that Spear is also hungry. Spear then just lashes out and they are at an impasse until events give them a chance to show the other what is going on. Over time we see what they mean to each other in how they respond to others trying to separate or kill them and how they protect each other. Be it Fang simply not letting Spear go out to investigate something that by instinct Fang knows is too dangerous, or Spear cleaning wounds on Fang and setting fire to protect them at night. They are equal partners that complement each other perfectly.

If there was any worry, it was how this show could keep going. There is a formula of sorts that the two of them meet a different kind of threat and how they overcome it, then we get to the finale and things are turned on their head on several fronts. It never takes away from its simplistic format but adds new levels of the world that these two inhabit and can lead to some new ideas and concepts while still keeping the simple concept going of these two unlikely companions.

I have seen all the nominees except The Simpsons (I, like many, used to love it but have long since given up on it). Bob’s Burgers has gotten a lot like The Simpsons in that they are running out of ways to make the characters react to events that feel different or interesting. The South Park Pandemic Special had some very funny moments but isn’t one of the best South Park has done in the last few years. Big Mouth had one of its best seasons last year, and if it wins I will not be unhappy at all.

But Primal is doing something new and exciting with animation, challenging its viewers and entertaining us with just its visuals, yet still creating unforgettable characters.

This is the kind of creativity that deserves being rewarded.