After only 5 episodes,
Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal has already distinguished itself from the vast majority of animated fare. The story of friendship and survival set in an unforgiving prehistoric landscape bears the famed animator's unique aesthetic. Dynamic action, stunning visuals and a complete lack of dialogue have made
Primal one of the most exhilirating cartoons of the year.
The five episodes have since been packed into a feature called
Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal - Tales of Savagery, a contender for this year's Academy Award.
In an interview with
CartoonBrew, Tartakovsky discussed the project at great length. When asked about the show's genesis, Tartakovsky said:
"The idea is something I’ve had for a while. It actually started off as an idea about a little kid and his dinosaur — a normal kids’ tv show. But after I finished the last season of Samurai Jack [in 2017], which is for Adult Swim and for adults, it got such a positive reaction that I brought that idea back."
Considering the challenge of making a dialogue-free series, he went on to say:
"Through most of my career, the things people react to the most are the really visceral sequences — the ones with just sound effects or music. And I thought, “Could we make a whole show or movie with just those sequences put together?”
With each episode structured around a confrontation between the main characters and a different species, Tartakovsky elaborated on the challenge of developing the narrative:
"We usually [started with] a tonal idea, or a mood. It wasn’t necessarily a “creature of the week,” a Godzilla-type thing. It was more about what I wanted to feel here, and really how I wanted to progress [the two protagonists’] relationship."
Elaborating on references for the two protagonists, Tartakovsky added:
"For the caveman, who we call Spear, it was really trying to make it feel like he’d just evolved into man, but when he gets angry he becomes more ape-like. He’ll start to run on all fours… Because there’s no dialogue, there’s no gesturing. It was really more about, “How do I pose him?” The eyes, all his expressions, were very important. With everything I’ve done, there’s always a level of cartooniness, because I feel like that allows us to be more expressive, more unique to each expression, and there’s more subtlety."
"For Fang the dinosaur, it was a big challenge, because I’d never done a creature like that as a main character. So the whole library of poses and angles on her face [were difficult]. We didn’t want to make it cartoony as far as her expressions — we wanted to keep her more of a beast."
Finally, Tartakovsky discussed the importance of timing in a show with no dialogue:
"With an action sequence, I just think about music and rhythm. With any good piece of music, there’s highs and lows, fast and slow. I really try to think of it that way: “fight, fight, fight… slow… fight, fight, fight.” Everything I’ve done in the past, I always felt like I was rushing. On Dexter, it was all about things having to be quick and tight." He added that his process evolved as he worked on
Samurai Jack,
"I really wanted to get the audience to feel. Instead of just a pan of a background, I wanted you to get sucked in and really look at the environment. That’s hard when it’s just an illustration. With Primal, I’m like, “I’m going to slow it down even more.” Because I always feel like I’m not giving enough room for the music or the sound effects."
Primal will be back next year for another five-episode run on AdultSwim. Will you be tuning in? Let us know in the comments section.