In the upcoming Vancouver-as-Vancouver series Primeval: New World, primeval creatures enter our city through temporal anomolies, aka time portals, and create havoc. This week a winged creature is terrorizing the University of British Columbia in and around the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Arena (venue for Vancouver 2010 Olympics hockey and Paralympics sledge hockey). Crew setting up a crime scene in the Thunderbird Parkade last Friday told me it’s some kind of flying dinosaur [Update: it’s our cheezy-lovin’ Leggy from the grow-op escaping from a government facility]. Of course I didn’t see the creature, which will be computer-generated in post-production, but I did spy Dan Payne and other military actors arriving on the west side of the Thunderbird Arena on Friday morning and evacuating student extras on the east side on Monday morning.
Like the original British series Primeval, the Vancouver spinoff has a team of smart minds and animal experts who battle these creatures. Ours is led by Niall Matter as rich Vancouver software genius Evan Cross, seen here arriving at the Thunderbird Arena with co-star Sara Canning as predatory animal attack behaviour expert Dylan Weir.
As tall Dan Payne evacuated student extras carrying hockey sticks from the arena, Niall Matter and Sara Canning filmed a scene of them getting out of their jeep, looking back at the scene and possibly up to the sky at a flying creature, grabbing their prop tranquilizer rifles out of the back and running off in the direction of the parkade. Director Amanda Tapping from Sanctuary filmed this from various angles using steadi-cam crews and tracking shots.
In between takes, episode ten director Amanda Tapping emerged from the video village tent to talk to the actors and give crew instructions.
Niall Matter and Sara Canning relaxed in their cast chairs at the corner of Westbrook and Thunderbird under some trees between long setups, chatting and checking their smart phones.
Primeval: New World will be filming in and around Thunderbird Arena all week, wrapping this Friday night, June 15th.
Update: Amanda Tapping tweeted a photo of herself, Sara Canning and the camera crews inside UBC Thunderbird arena directing her last episode this season. And Niall Matter tweeted a photo of himself, Sara Canning and the military actors inside the hockey arena, saying it reminded him how much he loves being Canadian.And Janelle Day tweeted a photo of a dinosaur cutout of [grownup Leggy] terrorizing UBC this week.
Primeval: New World’s first 13-episode season launches this fall on SPACE.