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Primeval (TV series)

television series

Primeval (2007 – 2011) is a British science fiction drama television programme produced by Impossible Pictures for ITV about a team of scientists who investigate prehistoric and futuristic creatures which enter the present through rips in time they call anomalies. The team of five is led by Professor Nick Cutter, an evolutionary zoologist determined to find his wife who disappeared while investigating an anomaly in the Forest of Dean eight years previously. Nick is later replaced by Danny Quin.

Series 1

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Episode 1 [1.1]

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Nick: [throws a stack of paper on his desk into a rubbish bin]
Connor: Oh... actually, that's my dissertation. Yeah.
Nick: [retrieves the stack of papers from the rubbish bin and begins paging through it]
Connor: See, I argued that all life on Earth derived from organisms carried here by alien spacecraft. It's pretty sexy stuff.
Nick: [throws stack of papers back into the rubbish bin]
Connor: ...It's a work in progress, really...
Connor: [introducing himself] Professor? Connor Temple.
Nick: Sorry, never heard of it. I think you want Archaeology.
Nick: [to Claudia] Maybe there is something here, maybe there isn't. Frankly, I doubt-
Stephen: Cutter!
Nick: [sees a dead cow lodged in a tree] Okay, now I'm getting interested.
Connor: [While playing with the magnetism of the anomaly by allowing metal objects to be sucked through] Heh heh! It's brilliant. Oh... that was my front door key...
Lester: You spend your entire career planning for just about every crisis imaginable - up to and including alien invasion - then this happens. So much for thinking outside the bloody box.
Lester: Still, at least the immediate crisis is over.
Nick: Some... force out there ripped the boundaries of space and time to shreds. Maybe it's happened before, in which case every single thing we thought we knew about the universe is wrong. Or, this is the first time, in which case what changed? What happens next? Believe me: it's very, very far from over.

Episode 2 [1.2]

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Lester: I don't like anyone to whom the term "maverick" can be applied. Cutter practically owns the copyright.
Nick: [protesting as Special Forces enter the London Underground] They don't even know what they're looking for.
Stephen: There can't be that many types of venomous monsters under the Aldridge.
Claudia: You should see the last tube home on a Friday night.
Capt. Ryan: They were like spiders, but with pincers, not fangs. Some of them over a meter long. Horrible little...
Nick: Look, how do you feel?
Capt. Ryan: Sick. My ears are ringing...
Nick: Any blurred vision?
Capt. Ryan: No. But there's something else. The gunshots were too bright, like fireworks.
Stephen: That's classic signs of excess oxygen in the atmosphere.
Nick: Richer, more heavily oxygenated air must be seeping through from another anomaly. But we're not talking about the Permian era any longer. This is much, much earlier.
Claudia: How much earlier?
Nick: Maybe the Carboniferous, about three hundred million years ago.
Abby: [confronted by Carboniferous arachnids] Does anyone have a really big slipper?
Claudia: That's the problem with heroic gestures. Succeed, and you look wonderful. Fail, and all you do is leave everybody else with a bloody mess to clear up.
Connor: [about Stephen] You really like him, don't you?
Abby: I don't know him.
Connor: When has that ever stopped people from fancying each other before?

Episode 3 [1.3]

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Claudia: The police have charged Dianne Johnson.
Lester: I know.
Claudia: We have to intervene!
Lester: We're not going to do that.
Claudia: Why not?
Lester: Because I won't allow this story to become public property. At least in prison the newspapers can't get hold of her.
Claudia: So you're just going to let them lock up an innocent and traumatized girl?
Lester: Of course it's undesirable, but it would be far worse to release her to cause panic and disorder. I'll see that the charges are dropped once the immediate crisis is under control.
Claudia: That could take months!
Lester: And would you rather tell the police that an ancient sea monster is cruising our swimming pools consuming lifeguards? I know the injustice stings, but the correct decision is often painful. That's the burden of government.
Connor: The reservoir is land-locked right? So allowing for condensation and rainfall, the depth should be pretty consistent.
Nick: Yeah.
Connor: I made this mark of water level earlier. [Dips a measuring stick into the water] The water level has fallen forty centimetres since then. This isn't a reservoir anymore—it's a tidal lake!
Nick: The water must be flowing out through the anomaly... which means it's still down there somewhere.
Nick: Why do you want me now, after so long?
Helen: I'm human. I want company. I want to share this... incredible gift, but only with you. Nick, I have seen such wonders. Things you wouldn't believe...
Nick: You're asking me to abandon my life. Leave behind everything I know. People are dying back home, and you want me to just run away with you?
Helen: Animals die, Nick. Species die. [Nick scoffs] You know I'm right. One day humanity will disappear just like the dinosaurs, and nature doesn't care; something else will take our place. Nick, just leave all the other stuff behind. Come with me.
...
Helen: I offer you the key to time. The key to time, Nick. And you turn your back on it. Call yourself a scientist?
Nick: I call myself a human being.
Lester: Who's that idiot?
Nick: Connor Temple. He looks like a half-wit, but he has a very good brain.
Lester: We may stand on the brink of Armageddon, but at least we have an irritating student on our side. How reassuring.
Claudia: Do you know what I miss? Those soul-crushingly dull Civil Service meetings which made suicide seem like an exciting career option. I used to sit there, praying that something would happen with my life.
Nick: Be careful what you wish for!

Episode 4 [1.4]

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Helen: Presumably there are still laws against kidnapping?
Lester: Hmm. Though officially you're dead. We can't have kidnapped someone who doesn't actually exist, can we?
[Stephen kicks a football directly into a "No Ball Games" sign]
Connor: Fluke.
Stephen: Jealous.
[Heavily-armed soldiers arrive at a flat in response to a creature sighting]
Mrs. Davis: I didn’t expect the SAS.
Nick: The town council takes pest control very seriously, Mrs. Davis.
...
Nick: Relax, everyone. It’s only a python.
Mrs Davis: [shrieks] Only a python? What the hell were you expecting?
Connor: [holding his ear] Ow.
Lester: [about Helen] I trust her about as far as I can throw a stegosaurus.
Nick: We'd better ship this lot back before we upset Darwin. Everybody, um... grab a dodo.
Capt. Ryan: [On dead dodo] Professor, we have a dodo down.
Claudia: Oh, no.
Abby: How did that happen?
Connor: Maybe he ate one of the pies.
Tom: [on the captured dodo in their flat] What’s he got there?
[retching sounds]
Tom: Oh no! Not my Converse All Stars!
Duncan: Oh, that stinks! I think I’m gonna hurl...
Tom: No, no, no. Don’t contaminate it because we can sell dodo sick on eBay.
Tom: They tried to take me over, Con. But I fought them. I fought them.
Connor: You did a really good job.
Tom: I'm a hero. [dies]

Episode 5 [1.5]

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Connor: (answering Abby's phone) Abby Maitland's love shack, number one stud speaking.
Connor: Rex! I swear, when I catch you, you're gonna be the first animal to become extinct twice!
Nick: Have I ever let you down before? [immediately] Don't answer that. Just trust me, please.
Claudia: What are you doing?
Nick: [Shining a light in Claudia's eyes] I've absolutely no idea, but I've seen them do it on ER, so there must be something to it.
Ryan: [Stephen touches the Pteranodon dung and licks it as the other soldiers cringe] That's just not right.
Claudia: [strikes an Anurognathus with a golf club] Hole in one!
[Claudia, menaced by a swarm of pterosaurs, is intercepted by Helen]
Helen: You're going to have to trust me. Either that or a radical make-over from our friends back there.
Claudia: Maybe just this once!
[The team prepares to release the Pteranodon and guide it back through the Anomaly]
Nick: So you're absolutely confident that this creature doesn't eat mammals?
Stephen: Dung never lies. And if I'm wrong about that, at least you'll always have a special place in the history books.
Nick: I always wanted to be famous.
Connor: Abby...? Are we alive?
Abby: We're alive.
Connor: That's good then.

Episode 6 [1.6]

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Helen: [Having snuck up on Stephen] In most eras of the world's history, you'd be dead by now.
Stephen: Helen. Now what the hell are you doing here?
Helen: You know, all this urban living has made humans such lazy animals... secondary hearing, no sense of smell, no worthwhile instincts.
Stephen: Man has no predators. We have nothing to be afraid of except... each other.
Helen: Well that used to be the case; but times are changing, aren't they, Stephen?
Helen: You have a serious creature incursion. A highly-evolved ambush predator. Intelligent, adaptable, and ruthless.
Claudia: If there was a creature on the loose, we'd know about it!
Helen: At least three people have gone missing in the last 48 hours.
Lester: Missing.
Helen: Killed. The creature has a lair nearby. It's taken them for food.
Nick: And how do you know that?
Helen: Because it almost got me too. [pause]
Nick: What is it?
Helen: It has no name.
Nick: Then which era is it from?
Helen: It doesn't come from any era... at least not one that can be identified yet.
Nick: I'm sorry; I don't understand.
Helen: Yes, you do, Nick. You knew it had to happen one day. You've known it ever since you first stepped into the past.
Nick: ...The future? Are you saying we're being attacked by a creature from the future?
[After the group narrowly survive an attack from the future predator]
Nick: It was one step ahead of us all the time. It knew what we were going to do before we did it!
Helen: I warned you it was smart!
Nick: It would be more useful if you could tell us how to catch this thing.
Stephen: What we need is some kind of edge, a weakness in its defences that gives us an advantage, otherwise it's just gonna pick us off one-by-one!
Connor: Dogs. The dogs went crazy before it attacked. What would make them go off like that?
Stephen: Can't be smell. If there was a scent trail, they would have followed it.
Nick: Hearing. They heard something.
Connor: Sound. It's using sound.
Nick: That's why it was able to remain one step ahead of us! It can detect physical movement before it's within visual range!
Connor: And the dogs, they detect a higher frequency, therefore they know when it's nearby!
Ryan: Like echolocation?
Nick: High frequency sound waves, it's like a sonar system. Some animals use it to detect prey.
Stephen: Like a bat. Well, you said there was bat blood in the lion enclosure.
Connor: That's it. This thing must be some kind of...I dunno, super-bat.
Helen: He's right. Three quarters of all mammal species are bats or rats; maybe the future belongs to them.
[After escaping from the Future Predator]
Connor: I thought I was going to die then.
Nick: But you didn't.
Connor: No. Quite chuffed about that.
Nick: Maybe you should go home.
Connor: Nah, I'm gonna stay. I mean, Han Solo, he wouldn't give up before a job's done, would he?
Nick: I always thought of you more as R2-D2 myself, but I take your point.
[As Nick prepares to enter an anomaly to the Permian period]
Lester: Do you think I should make a speech; one small step for man, that sort of thing?
Claudia: Maybe another time. [kisses Nick]
Lester: That wasn't very professional.
Claudia: Oh, stuff professionalism.
[After Connor receives a phone call from the lab]
Connor: The creature's autopsy proves beyond any doubt that it was definitely a male.
Stephen: It's gotta have been female; it was nurturing its young.
Connor: Maybe in this species, that's a job for the boys?
Stephen: Better be, cos if not...it means the mother's still out there!
Helen: We don't have to go back, Nick. The future anomaly must be here somewhere, we can still find it.
Nick: [sarcastic] The future: Helen Cutter's last great frontier.
[Nick returns from the Permian to find that Claudia Brown no longer exists]
Nick: Wait, something's wrong! This isn't right... something's happened. Something's changed. We've done something. We've- something we did has changed the past, and she isn't here anymore. [Future Predator chatter is heard through the anomaly, which is starting to close] Oh, God... Oh my God!

Series 2

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Episode 1 [2.1]

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Nick: (voiceover) My name is Professor Nick Cutter. Eight years ago, my wife, Helen, disappeared. I discovered she had stepped into the past through ruptures in time called 'Anomalies'. Now creatures from the past threaten the future of the human race. There's only a small group of people who know the truth. My research team: Stephen Hart, Connor Temple, and Abby Maitland, and Government officials James Lester, and Claudia Brown. I returned from the past to find that something has gone terribly wrong, and Claudia Brown has vanished, as though she was never even born. I've come back to a different world, and Helen and I are the only two people who know it.
Nick: I could kiss you, Connor.
Connor: That's really sweet, but maybe not while there's people watching.
Lester: Cutter’s always been eccentric, but I’m beginning to think he’s just plain deranged.
Leek: Well, I suppose all very brilliant men are a little bit unusual, sir.
Lester: I’m brilliant, Leek, and I’m not the least bit unusual.
Lester: Is this some kind of industrial action, or did no one hear that we have a creature-sighting in a shopping mall?
Nick: [on a Velociraptor] It's beautiful. [The Raptor destroys a security camera, everyone looks at Nick in shock] I said it was beautiful, I didn't say it was friendly.
[Nick and Stephen are being chased on motorcycles by the adult Deinonychus]
Nick: [to the Deinonychus] Chase me.
Nick: I'm finished with the past. I just don't know if it's finished with me.
Connor: So, guys, let me get this straight... all we have to do is to drag two of the angriest creatures in the known universe through a hole in time back into an ancient world where we don't know what's waiting on the other side for us?
Stephen: When you put it like that, it sounds so easy.
Nick: I'm going to do this on my own.
Abby: We'll help.
Connor: Who's "we?"
Nick: [Inspecting a Deinonychus knocked unconscious with a tranquilizer gun] Look at her. She's a perfect killing machine. You know in a fair fight, mammals wouldn't stand a chance.
Stephen: Well, speaking as a mammal, I'm all in favour of cheating.
Connor: Where's my gun? Abby's got one!
Stephen: She knows how to use it.
Abby: How many animals have you tranquillized?
Connor: I've played darts! Sometimes I think you don't trust me with firearms!
Stephen: Don't know what gives you that idea.
Abby: Oi! Where are you going?
Connor: I'm going to get a slushie. Shhh.
Abby: Okay, can you move the gun out of the Abby area? Thanks.

Episode 2 [2.2]

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[Nick has just saved Jenny from a giant worm.]
Nick The next time I say take the stairs, you take the stairs!
[A giant worm attacks him, Jenny cuts off its mouth part with a sword, narrowly missing Nick's crotch.]
Nick: Watch where you're swinging that thing!
Jenny: Next time, I'll leave it to you to get yourself out of trouble!
Abby: You first.
(Connor opens the door to the server room, coughs, and promptly closes it)
Abby: Foggy?
Connor: A bit foggy, yeah.
Nick: [to Connor] Are you all right?
Connor:Yeah, never been swallowed by a giant worm before, but I suppose it's all a learning experience, isn't it?
Jenny: Let me help. I want to do something.
Nick: Okay. I want you to go and bully a few traumatized bystanders, and then I want you to come up with some spin to just smooth all this away.
Jenny: You don’t approve of me, do you?
Nick: No, I used to think you were really something, but you’re not that person.
Jenny: Am I supposed to understand that?
Nick: No, I guess not.

Episode 3 [2.3]

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Connor: (talking very fast) I'd like you to meet the Anomaly Detection Device, or A.D.D. for short... actually that's probably not the best acronym, is it?
Nick: Connor, breathe.
[Connor shoots a man in a lion costume mistaking him for a creature]
Campbell: Don't shoot me! Don't shoot me! Don't shoot!
[recognizes Connor]
Campbell: You! You! You shot me! You shot me, look!
[indicates a bullet hole directly in the center of the lion mask's forehead]
Campbell: [muffled by glove held in mouth] OH MY GOD!
Connor: [awkward pause] You alright, though?
Campbell: DO I LOOK ALRIGHT!? YOU SHOT ME! [screams in frustration]
Jenny: How long has the body been here?
Nick: I don't know. A week; a month.
Connor: If it's been that long, the anomaly could have formed before the detector came online, which would mean there's nothing wrong with it, guys.
Nick: Yeah, there's one problem. The sabretooth may well have killed the guy, but it sure as hell didn't dig a trench ten feet deep and bury his body.

Episode 4 [2.4]

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Lester: You know what, Leek? I think this area could benefit from a government redevelopment grant. We'll start off by sealing the anomaly site with a few hundred tons of concrete; that should do the job.
Leek: Shall I... speak to the contractors?
Lester: Oh, there's no need. I'll just get a shovel and a cement-mixer and do it myself. Of course you should call the contractors, you idiot!
Lester: Give me some good news!
Nick: We still haven't found the boy.
Lester: No, that's bad news. Good news makes people happy. Keep trying!
Nick: We found the shark.
Lester: Now you’re getting the hang of it. So then… problem solved!

Episode 5 [2.5]

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Connor: (regarding Jenny) She looks amazing.
Nick: Mm. So does a Velociraptor.
[Connor pilots a robotic probe through an anomaly]
Connor: High CO2, low oxygen.
Nick: It's pre-Carboniferous. Maybe Ordovician or Silurian. There's no dinosaurs, no mammals, and no birds... wait a minute, what's that?
Connor: It's a little girl.
Jenny: What is she doing?
Nick: She's looking for her dog.
Abby: She might be injured.
Connor: There's nothing really in the Silurian to injure her. We're talking a few basic plants and some bugs.
Abby: How big are the bugs?
Connor: Bug size, I think. As far as periods go, it's a pretty safe one to get lost in.
Lester: Daphne and...Scrappy will have to take charge of the anomaly operation.
Connor: You mean us?
Lester: Unfortunately, yes. God help us.
Taylor: Would you rather die of thirst, or be eaten? I think I'd rather be eaten. At least it's quick. Two bites, done. You're like four or five bites, so it'd be worse for you.
Nick: Can you not try and be positive for five minutes? You know, hopeful?
Taylor: We're probably the best food around. Imagine you're a giant sand beast, living on nothing but millipedes. Then you get to taste people for the first time, all gooey and warm. We'd be like a delicacy. Who do you think they'll eat first?
Nick: Why don't you sing a song, or whistle, or... something, damn it, just don't talk?
Stephen: [to Connor] "A few basic plants? Some bugs?"
Lester: [after Nick knocks out an actor] Well, I'd better go soothe your caveman. Let's hope the paleolithic was short on ambulance-chasing lawyers.

Episode 6 [2.6]

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Lester: My worst nightmare in one sentence.
Jenny: [just coming off phone] Mammoth on the M25!
Nick: Columbian mammoth!
Lester: The flavour is immaterial!
Leek: Actually sir, the Columbian is a hairless species-
Lester: I don't care if it's shaved its legs and gotten a bikini wax: it's on a motorway in broad daylight!
Jenny: I've shut down the motorway on the next two junctions, kept the camera crews out, shut down the mobile network, there's a no-fly zone in place, and the eyewitnesses have been debriefed.
Nick: And all that with your skirt tucked into your tights. Well done.
Jenny: I'm not going to look.
Sir James Lester: [as Abby feeds a captured Columbian mammoth fruit from outside its enclosure] Don't get attached; you can't keep him.
Abby Maitland: Did you know that a Columbian mammoth's trunk is five times more dexterous than an elephant's?
Lester: Why is everyone telling me facts about mammoths today? Do I look like I'm interested? Still, his tusks might be worth a bit.
Abby: [disgusted] You wouldn't.
[Mammoth sneezes in Lester's direction]
Lester: Ugh. Have a chat with him about personal hygiene, would you?
Oliver Leek: [Appearing on the A.D.D's monitors] You're on your own, James. There's no one there but you.
Lester: Leek? What the hell are you doing?
Leek: Now, I want you to feel what it's like to be on the wrong end of your grand disdain. The little man looking up at the big boss.
Lester: Security! I want security in here now!
Leek: They've all gone, James. Either off on Cutter's wild goose chase, or dead. Now...
[A future predator controlled via neural implant appears before Lester]
Leek: I'm going to hunt you.
. . .
Lester: Leek, you're never going to make me beg for my life, so let's just end it now.
Leek: All right, if you insist.
[The Future Predator snarls]
Leek: Goodbye, James.
Lester: One more thing.
Leek: Yes?
Lester: You really are a tiresome little man.
[The Future Predator lunges at Lester from the ceiling, and is promptly impaled on the tusk of the mammoth released by Lester moments earlier]
Lester: Good boy. Good mammoth.
[Mammoth trumpets in its enclosure]
Lester: You know, my kids are really pestering me for a pet. [shrugs] If you can't find a home for him...
Abby: What are you doing?
Connor: Trying to track down Leek. There's got to be a clue in his personal files.
[Connor effortlessly cracks the computer's security system]
Abby: You obviously know your way around.
Connor: Mm-hmm.
Abby: Hack into them regularly, do you?
Connor: Yeah. You'd be amazed how much Lester gets paid.
Abby: What's my middle name?
Connor: Sarah. [stops typing] You... told me that once, though, right?
Abby: No.
Connor: . . .

Episode 7 [2.7]

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Leek: [after Nick kills a future predator by pulling off its neural clamp] Clearly a design fault. We'll have to correct that in the others.
Nick: What others? [looks up to see over a dozen similarly-chipped predators in the rafters]
Leek: I wouldn't bother trying to escape; they'll rip you to pieces before you can blink! My very own Praetorian Guard...they'll make me untouchable!
Nick: [on the Future Predators] You really think you can keep them locked up for long?
Leek: Well, properly chipped, they're no more dangerous than a car or an aeroplane. A machine designed for human use.
Nick: No, that's not how it's gonna work, Oliver. Because one day they're going to escape, and then when they do, they're going to kill all of us. It's the end of the human race you're looking at.
Leek: [gasps in mock terror] I'd love to stand around and discuss your apocalyptic fantasies all day, but I've got work to do.
Lester: You've had your chance to surrender, Leek.
Leek: I still have twelve creatures out there. One command from me, and there'll be absolute chaos.
Lester: Oh, Cutter didn't tell you? That clever little virus of his sent us the contents of your hard disk. We've got names, locations, all sorts of useful stuff. We're just mopping up the last of your menagerie now. Oh, and Jenny just phoned. You have... oh, just a few minutes before we join you. Now if you don't mind, I think there's some snooker on the other channel. [Cutter and the ARC staff snigger]
Leek: [furious] Have you ever seen a man torn in half on live TV, Lester!? Call a halt to your men, or I shall order the creatures to dismantle Professor Cutter, joint by joint!
Lester: [coldly] The government does not negotiate with terrorists!
Leek: 30 seconds, then they kill him! Your choice!
Nick: James, don't do it, I'm not important!
Leek: Ten! Nine! Eight...
Lester: Unfortunately, I agree with Professor Cutter. No individual's life is worth greater than the safety of the public...
Leek: [boredly] Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two-!
[At the last moment, NIck places the neural clamp into a circuit box. The electricity short-circuits all the devices, releasing the predators from Leek's control. As Cutter escapes, the predators descend en masse and tear Leek apart, watched by Lester and his staff]
Lester: [emotionlessly] Switch that off, will you?
Stephen: [after learning Helen has lied to him] I so badly wanted to believe you. [to Nick] BUT THAT DOESN'T PUT YOU IN THE RIGHT!
Nick: Stephen, there's a whole army of predators down here! If even one of them makes it above ground level, there's gonna be no one left! Now if you want to help people, we have to do this!
Helen: They're too powerful, Nick! Nothing you can do!
Nick: Well then, you're gonna have to think of something, or else we're all gonna die! Now you brought them here, you know them! [pause]
Helen: The siren...the creatures associate the sound with food. They'll come back to the cage room whenever they hear it.
Nick: And if we can lock them in with the predators, then they'll destroy each other! Come on then!
Nick: WAIT! I can't close the door! Well otherwise they're gonna get back out!
Helen: We can only do that from in there now. The control's on the other side, but whoever does it will be locked in. [as they speak, the creatures are racing towards the room].
Nick: Then one of us has got to go back in. [resigned] I'll do it.
Stephen: You'll never make it out!
Nick: Get out of here. [whispers in Stephen's ear] Just remember Lester's not the enemy.
Helen: [pleadingly] Nick, please!
[Stephen shakes his head. As Nick turns back to face Helen, Stephen punches him in the face, knocking him to the floor. As he recovers, the sound of the door slamming is heard. Nick leaps back to his feet and looks through the door's viewport]
Nick: [horrified] STEPHEN!
Stephen: Sorry mate, I'm doing this one.
Nick: No, open the door! OPEN IT!
Stephen: [smiling sadly] Can't do it, Nick. Can't take the risk.
Nick: Stephen, open the door!
Stephen: Tell Abby and Connor...to stay out of trouble.
[As Nick watches, the creatures enter the room and surround Stephen. The pair share one last look before Stephen is ripped apart]
Leek: People like me and you...we don't get the pretty girls, Connor. We're the nerds. The losers. The uncool.
Connor: Speak for yourself. I do alright with women. What? I do! I'm just...I'm choosy.

Series 3

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Episode 1 [3.1]

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[Dr. Page is surrounded by ARC soldiers at the British Museum]
Nick: Stay where you are. Who are you?
Sarah: I'm Dr. Page.
Nick: I'm Nick Cutter.
Sarah: ...okay... I assume you're some kind of thief?
Nick: Actually, I'm a professor.
Sarah: I've never seen a professor with a gun before.
Nick: ...it's a pretty specialized field.
Jenny: James, we've got a problem.
Lester: So have I - it's called Christine Johnson. Think "Velociraptor," only better-dressed.
Jenny: James, a creature has escaped through the anomaly.
Lester: What is it?
Jenny: We don't know.
Lester: Well, can't you look its picture up in your big book of dinosaurs?
. . .
Jenny: Cutter's tracking it now. We have the anomaly site secured, but there's something else. There was an eyewitness - a young woman in the museum.
Lester: Well, you know, have her shot and dispose of her body discreetly. [exits office] Just kidding.
Connor: [after inadvertently damaging the Sun Cage] I didn't do it.
Sarah: So, it just fell off by itself?
Connor: Yep.
Sarah: The Sun Cage is cursed! Anyone who touches it is doomed for life.
Connor: Really?
Sarah: Marion was the last person to touch that.
Connor: The dead one?
Sarah: I should have told you that earlier, right? Sorry about that - bad luck.
Capt. Becker: Bad luck.
[Connor sits on a crate and immediately breaks a vase]
Sarah: Bow.
Nick: What?
Sarah: Bow down.
Nick: What are you talking about?
Sarah: This creature is used to being treated like a god - they would have bowed as a sign of respect.
Abby: If it doesn't think we're a threat, it might not attack.
Capt. Becker: I'm not bowing.
[After the Pristichampsus returns through the anomaly]
Connor: That's got to be the end of the curse now, right?
Sarah: Here's hoping.
Abby: The curse?
Sarah: [to Abby] I made it up.
Abby: [amused] Don't tell him yet.
Sarah: 'Course not.
Lester: You'll be dealing with a highly strung and and temperamental team of rank amateurs who just happen to be brilliant at what they do. Your job's to stop them getting themselves killed...Oh, by the way, Professor Cutter won't like you, and he'll go out of his way to make your job as difficult as possible. Don't take it personally.
Connor: Action man says he's coming.
Lester: [consulting Sarah Page's file] PhD in Egyptology, veteran of archaeological digs in every corner of the Middle East, and now you're giving lectures to school kids at the Museum. How'd that happen?
Sarah: Just not very good at taking orders.
Lester: Well in that case, you should fit in like a house on fire! Doctor Page, you cannot talk about anything you saw today, is that clear? Or should I have you arrested for your own safety?
Sarah: Is he always like that?
Connor: By his standards, he was being polite.

Episode 2 [3.2]

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Sarah: [sarcastically, regarding Nick] Help. I've been taken hostage by an obsessive scientist.
Connor: Welcome to our world.
[Danny Quinn questions the incarcerated Connor through the viewport of his cell]
Danny: You tell me what you were doing at that house with your pals.
Connor: I can't do that.
Danny: Look, I know you're not a property developer, and you're not Oxbridge enough to be MI5. So, what?
Connor: One phone call. I'll clear the whole thing up! ...please?
[Danny walks out of frame]
Connor: ...is that a "yeah" or a "no"?
[Danny reaches into frame and shuts the viewport]
[After Abby jumps on Connor]
Connor: That was childish!
Abby: Were you scared?
Connor: No...Little bit, yeah. Thought you were in trouble, didn't I?
Abby: And you came to rescue me. Thank you.
[Abby kisses Connor on the cheek]
Abby: You know what, I like this place. It's fun.
Captain Becker: [To Cutter] You killed his brother, and he steals your shirt.
Nick Cutter: Something unusual happens, it's a good bet Helen's behind it. Trust me, she's back.
Connor: That was Cutter. Told him he was right about the anomaly.
Jenny: What'd he say?
Connor: His exact words? Something along the lines of (in Scottish accent) 'Course I was right!

Episode 3 [3.3]

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[Nick Cutter clone aims a gun at Lester's forehead]
Lester: You are so fired.
[Talking on the phone]
Connor: We might have a problem.

[Reply not heard]

Connor: A ratty-chipmunk-beaver kind of problem.
Helen: I'm sorry, Nick, I can't let you go! [pulls out a gun]]
Nick: What the hell are you talking about-!? [sees the gun in her hand]
Helen: You see, nothing's changed! The future is still more important than either of us!
Nick: For God's sake, you really know how to pick your moments, don't you!?
Helen: [tearfully but determined] If you'd seen what I have, you'd understand! I'm sorry, Nick...I wish there was another way!
Nick: You know what, Helen? You're not as smart as I thought you were. [Helen shoots]

Episode 4 [3.4]

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Danny Quinn:[In a helicopter while being chased by a Giganotosaurus; to Jenny] Don't worry. I'm an experienced pilot.
Jenny Lewis: How experienced?
Danny: Two lessons. But they went unbelievably well.
Jenny Lewis: [exasperated] Alright, what's the plan?
Danny: Pretty much making it up as I go along!

Episode 5 [3.5]

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Lester: How did you get in?
Danny: Jumped the perimeter fence and kicked in a fire door. It was easy.
Lester: ...What the hell are you doing here?
Danny: It's my life's ambition to fight dinosaurs, save the world. Look... I just want to help, that's all.
Jenny: I warned you to stay away from this, Danny.
Danny: See? I thought you were flirting. It's so difficult to read women these days.
Lester: [to Becker] Can you pistol-whip him?
Becker: Sir?
Lester: Just a thought.
Danny: My brother was killed by a creature. Don't ask me to pretend it didn't happen! You've seen what I can do and I want in.

Episode 6 [3.6]

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Captain Becker: [Points gun at Danny] Bang!
Danny Quinn: [having found a spy camera of Johnson's] Smile boys, we're on TV!

Episode 8 [3.8]

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Abby: You still kept quiet. You did all that for me.
Connor: [Stutters] Abby - I
Abby: Connor. Shut up. [Kisses him]
Danny: [Holds up huge spike] Most fights with an ant, I'd fancy my chances; this? Its a serious ant.
Sarah: No. I really don't like bugs.
Connor: Me? Terrified of being trapped in a shopping centre, with brain eating zombies. [Makes zombie noises] Imagine.
Sarah: But that's unlikely to happen, isn't it Connor?
Connor: Hey, I'm trying to work with you here, woman.
(Danny has just barely managed to fight off a future predator that sprang out of a car at him.)
Danny: And that was just a baby, right?
Abby: Um, yeah.

Series 4 Prequel Webisodes

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Episode 1 [W1]

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Lester: [To Interrogator] I don't see Helen Cutter popping up anywhere, do you? No, you didn't know her, lucky you. Nasty woman. Wore a lot of khaki.
Interrogator: Do you feel the ARC should be allowed to continue its work?
Lester: It was a colossal mistake to suspend us in the first place - a decision I believe the minister has already had good cause to regret. A Stegosaurus in the member's bar of the House Commons... very unfortunate business.
[Reviewing video footage of aforementioned attack]
Matt Anderson: Stegosaurus. Late Jurassic.
Interrogator: That happened last week, Mr. Anderson... you don't seem particularly surprised by it.
Matt Anderson: [Shrugs] 'Been told I don't have a very expressive face.

Episode 2 [W2]

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Jess Parker: Pretty impressive CV. I mean, all the stuff this guy's done you would think he would be old and crusty, but he's not. He's young. Fit too.
Becker: [laughs]
Jess: What?
Becker: Nothing. Nothing... Is he the only candidate?
Jess: Got to the bit about Everest?
Becker: The way some people feel the need to boast about things...
Jess: Insecure, much?


Episode 3 [W3]

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Jess: [Mouthing] Prospero Industries, the future. [laughs] [To Anderson] Sorry, I've just seen this video with every new recruit this month. Not that you're a new recruit. You're the Boss. My Boss. Sir. [smiles]
Anderson: Matt's fine.
Jess: Lovely, Matt it is.
Gideon:What about your second in command?
Anderson: Becker? He likes guns.
Gideon:That's all you picked up about him?
Anderson: He really likes guns.

Series 4

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Episode 1 [4.1]

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Lester: [After an escaped Dracorex is contained] You know, I could have been Ambassador to Moscow by now... maybe even Cabinet Secretary. Instead, I'm watching a dinosaur trash my office…Still, no regrets.
[Captain Becker recovers from having been shot with an experimental weapon of which he was extremely sceptical]
Anderson: Are you absolutely sold on these EMD's? 'Cause, you know, I could always shoot you again.
Becker: Idiot. [rubbing his eyes] How long until this wears off?
Anderson: Burning, couple of hours. Headaches, couple of days. Humiliation... well, that depends when I get bored of it, really.
Becker: [to two witnesses of a Spinosaurus on a city street] Is that phone insured? Good. [takes it] And you - get a haircut. [drives off]

Episode 4 [4.4]

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[Abby tries to smuggle the entire menagerie out of the ARC after Burton announces his intentions to have the animals put down]
Abby: Jess, evacuate the loading bay. I'm going to start bringing the creatures out.
Jess: [having just watched a creature kill a young girl via CCTV] Sorry, Abby... these creatures are too dangerous. I've just been handed a major reality check. I'm sorry.
Abby: I'm just gonna have to do it on my own.
[Abby tries to smuggle the entire menagerie out of the ARC]
Lester: Abby, you've got to stop this now. Please don't make me call security. There's no chance whatsoever of you getting those creatures out of here.
Abby: How did you know?
Lester: Don't blame Jess. She was frightened of you getting hurt.
Abby: This is wrong. No human being in history has seen these creatures alive before us... we've been given the most amazing gift. And how do we repay that? That privilege? By killing them because they're... inconvenient. What does that say about humans? About us? Lester, after all we've done here, is this how we're going to be remembered?
[After Lester has discreetly helped Abby save the creature menagerie]
Abby: You know what, underneath it all, you're actually quite nice.
Lester: Repeat that disgusting slander again and you'll be hearing from my lawyers. [pause] You know that overfed mammoth of yours saved my life once. Be rude of me not to return the favour.

Episode 6 [4.6]

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Connor: Jenny?
Jenny: Connor?
Abby: Jenny!
Jenny: Oh no, no, no, no, no, this can't be happening.
Connor: What are you doing here?
Jenny: What am I doing here? What are you doing here? [Laughs] This is a joke, right? [Pause] But, how did you know I was getting married?
Abby: Married!
Jenny: You're here, and... oh, my God, there's an anomaly!
Matt: I'm Matt Anderson.
Jenny: What am I going to tell him?
Abby: Who?
Jenny: Michael, my fiance!
Abby: Oh.
Jenny: I'm not a demanding bride, really I'm not. Rain I can handle. Wrong flowers, fine. Dinosaurs? I draw the line.
Connor: Actually, they're more like prehistoric dogs this time. Kinda cute in a not-raptor way... I'm just gonna shut up.
Michael: So, Jenny's always been pretty mysterious about her past.
Jenny: That's because my life didn't begin until I met you.
Michael: No, really, I'm interested.
Connor: Oh, it was boring really.
Abby: Yep. Just work, 9 'til 5, you know the routine.
Michael: Not really. I'm a musician.
Connor: Wow! That's cool. Are you any good at RockBand? I've got a top score of... Emily!
Emily: I can help. If I'm going to be stuck here I can't just sit around.
Abby: Emily.
Emily: Did a creature come through the gateway?
Michael: ...Is this one of those team-building things?
Jenny: Yep!
Emily: What's team-building?
Connor: We should get married here.
Abby: Should we?
Connor: Well...uh...theoretically...if we were to...to ever...you know...ever go down the road of...you know...go down the road of complete...
Abby: I'm going to go get more champagne.
Emily: You don't seem surprised.
Jenny: What, that Lester's still grumpy? No, not really.
Emily: That I'm from the 1800's.
Jenny: Emily, when you've seen what I've seen, trust me - nothing surprises you.

Episode 7 [4.7]

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Danny: Let me introduce you to Molly.
Abby: Molly?
Connor: Hang on... you named your stick?
Danny: Listen, it was just me and the Terror birds for six months. Believe me, you start naming things.
Connor: Becker, it leads to the Victorian Era. What do you think is going to come through, an Oliver-Twist-Asaurus?
Danny: So did you two ever, you know...*whistles*

Series 5

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Episode 1 [5.1]

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Lester:(on the phone to Jess) Yes, I've got an anomaly for you Jess, One of the greatest anomalies known to the western world. Why they call them road works (opens windows and yells) WHEN THERE'S NEVER ANY WORK GOING ON!(closes window and sighs)
Lester: (stuck in traffic) A route Jess, any route, just find a way to get me out of here.
Jess: You might want to invest in a sat-nav.
Lester: Why bother when I've got you?
Jess: (sighs) You've had two calls from the cabinet office.
Lester: Oh, Yes? what do they want?
Jess: Something about a knighthood. They want to set up a meeting with you, something about a vetting process.
Lester: Well? What are you waiting for? Get my PA to set it up as soon as possible and find me that route out here fast. Sorry, you did say a knighthood?
Jess: Yes. Anything else you need that's not in my job description?
Lester: (hangs up and to himself thoughtfully) Sir James Lester... Hmm
Lester:[picks up phone] Lester.
Becker: Lester, its Becker. I'm afraid the EMD's won't cut it; we're going to need conventional fire power, and that means guns.
Lester: How many guns?
Becker: Well, as many as you can spare.
Lester: Oh, yeah, fine. Perhaps you'd like a tank as well.
Becker: What, a tank...
Lester: No, no. I was obviously joking.
Becker: No, really, a tank?
Lester: You can't have a tank! [Pause] Just so I know, who is it exactly that Matt intends to shoot?
Lester: What the hell is going on?
Jess: The creature took Connor!
Lester: Yes, I heard that the first time. What are you doing about it? Look, at the risk of sounding a tad self involved this better not screw up my knighthood. Matt will find him, don't worry. If you were an insect, would you want to eat Connor?
Connor: Matt, you know when you asked if there were any other creatures in here?
Matt: Connor. How many?
Connor: More than I'm entirely happy about.
Lester: I hope you got everything you need; Ms Reece.
Reece: Very much so. Frankly you've been most impressive.
Lester: With something like this, one does as much as one can to help.
Reece: He must be a dear colleague.
Lester: Sorry? Who must be? Sorry, you said a dear colleague. Who'd you mean?
Reece: Well Phillip Burton of course.I'm sure he'll be flattered to know the lengths you've gone for him today.
Lester: The knighthood's for him?
Reece: Of course who else?
Lester: He's going to be Sir Phillip Burton?
Reece: It has a ring to it dosen't it. If there were any doubts about his suitability, you have certainly put my mind at rest.
Lester: Good, good. It's all good, it's all good.[walking back to his office.] Good, good old Phillip, or should I say Sir Phillip! Sir Phillip! Good, good, good. Yep. [ He enters and closes the door]

[We hear a Lester scream loudly in frustration]

Matt: You’re a genius Connor.
Connor: So everyone keeps saying yet here I am surrounded by fifty, giant carnivorous insects. I’m not that smart.
Becker: Right, clear the area, I’ll go prep the detonators.
Connor: Blowing stuff up, aye Becker, you’re gonna love that.
Becker: [Mimes Explosion]
Connor: Oh Abby, if this doesn’t turn out so well. You’ll never so much as look at another man.
Abby: Forget it; I’ll be dating again within days.

Episode 2 [5.2]

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Abby: Tell your guys they are not to unlock the freezer under any circumstances okay?
Leonard: Yes sir... Ma'am.
Sam: That's impossible... We've gone from 150 feet of water to a depth of 120.
Matt: We've gone through the anomaly.
Connor: Could be Jurassic.
Sam: Jurassic?
Matt: Theres no power or steering.
Abby: Well unless everyone wants to get out and swim we better think of something fast.
Sam: Where in the hell are we? What just happened?
Matt: Just calm down officer okay?
Sam: The Jurassic era, that was like thousands of years ago.
Connor: Well 200, 244 million years ago if you're going to be... What I'm just telling him.
Sam: Weve just done so freaky time travel thing, thats what anomalies are, who are you people?!
Matt: Well hurry up without power we can't get back through the anomaly.
Connor: Really, oh. 'Cause there was I thinking we could all just stick our arms out the portholes and paddle our way back to the 21st century.

Episode 4 [5.4]

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Captain Becker: Here, you need to drink this. That's an order.
Jess Parker: You're mean, you know that?
Captain Becker: Yes I do know that. I'm very mean. Now drink this.
Jess Parker: I hate you.
Captain Becker: No you don't.
Jess Parker: I'm sorry, you're nice really. And you've got lovely hair and a good jaw.
Captain Becker: I'm uhm, I'm uh, I'm uh going to go and do some security stuff.
[Connor has found a file on Helen Cutter in New Dawn's computers]
Helen Cutter: [voice recording] I've seen the future, Philip, and I know our hopes rest on you. You will find a way, you must. The future is in your hands.

Episode 5 [5.5]

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Lester: So I leave you for a matter of days and in that time you [Connor], nearly destroyed the ARC and you [Matt] ,turn out to be either a visitor from the future or, in fact, and I think this is the more likely option, clinically mad.
Matt: The former, but then I would say that if I was clinically mad right?
Jess: Alpha team, what’s your status? Please respond. Alpha team respond. Okay we have another anomaly, coordinates 44 75 have we got any units available?
Soldier: Negative on response time, gridlock…
Jess: Unit 8 can you hear me? Are you able to move into position?
Lester: What are we doing?
Jess: There are too many I can’t control it. We need more medics, more locking devices more people. I just...
Lester: Jess, Look at me. Jess, you are the hub of this operation, you may not get the credit you deserve but you do a brilliant job and if anyone can pull us through this, you can.
Jess: That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.
Lester: I think it’s actually the nicest thing I’ve said to anyone, including my wife
Jess: Do you mean it?
Lester: Every word, now get back to work before we both start crying and hugging.
Jess: I don't believe it, there's another one. Its outside, the car park.
Lester: Oh my god, My new Jag's in the car park. This time it's personal.

[Lester has just come down an elevator to find an Aboreal Raptor on his car]

Lester: Oi!
[Raptor looks at him]
Lester: Have you any idea how much that thing costs?
[Lester shoots it multiple times with an EMD knocking it out]

Episode 6 [5.6]

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[Matt has encountered an injured version himself]
Other Matt: Go back. You have to go back.
Emily: Matt? [Matt turns around, when he turns back, the other Matt is gone] What's wrong?
Matt: Nothing! I'm fine.
Emily: We're ready to go.

Cast

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