Basically, this is more of an episode recap, but a bit of my own spin on it, so I'm just posting it here anyway. Enjoy.
The pilot episode begins with a woman named Helen Cutter running like mad from a Gorgonopsid through a deserted parking lot. What's a Gorgonopsid, you ask? Well it seems to be a very large dinosaur and judging by the way it chases after Helen, it's also a meat-eater and none too friendly. Being chased by one is equal to anyone's worst nightmare. Helen runs into the nearby Forest of Dean and the scene ends.
*SPOILER ALERT* You'll soon learn that Helen survives.
*SPOILER ALERT* You'll soon wish she hadn't.
We then jump ahead eight years and meet Professor Nick Cutter (Helen Cutter's husband) and his Lab Tech Stephen Hart. They are joined by one of Nick's students, ConnorTemple, though it appears that they have never met before. Turns out that's because Nick has never shown up for any of his own seminars. Nice.
Connor, the cute geek of the show, follows Nick into his office and watches as Nick throws Connor's (and what looks to be a lot of other students') schoolwork, unread, into the trash bin. Again, nice. Before I go further it should be noted that Nick is a great character, I'm just not totally sure how he keeps his job at the university at this point. Anyhoo, shouldn't he at least be recycling?
Connor justifiably protests and Nick removes the essay from the trash. Connor tells him that in the essay he has argued that all life comes from organisms brought to earth by alien spaceships and calls his own concept, "Pretty sexy stuff." I no longer place any blame on Nick when the paper goes right back into the bin.
Connor then holds up a newspaper with a fuzzy black and white photo and a headline about a monster. Connor figures they should all go investigate. Nick, as any good teacher would, stresses the importance of getting out and tells him to spend more time in the bar meeting girls.
However, when he hears that the creature sighting was in the Forest of Dean, the same place his wife disappeared eight years ago without a trace, he changes his mind and Nick, Connor and Stephen (who really doesn't talk much) head for the forest.
End Scene.
Now we meet Abby Maitland, a petite blonde sporting a pixie haircut. She's sitting in a large lizard cage trying to talk two iguanas (Brad and Angelina) into mating. She asks the lizards if they'd perform better if they had some soft lighting and a Frank Sinatra record and we immediately realise she's crazy (in a good way) because no one other than my parents have record players anymore.
Abby's boss then shows up and tells her that they are getting rid of the reptiles at the zoo, so her job is gone, but says he'll put in a good word for her at the Bug House. He then drops some photos and papers and Abby picks them up. Bossman says they are letters from people wanting the zoo to pick up their pets and asks, "Why do people buy exotic animals if they don't want them?" And with this question you realise that everyone needs to watch this show but wish they'd left out the word "exotic" because the same goes for normal animals like dogs and cats too.
Abby finds a picture of a young boy with an unusual looking lizard and says she'll handle the case because we know she's a Lizard Girl. Besides she happens to know the area well. Of course, said area is the Forest of Dean (where else?) and since *SPOILER ALERT* she gets lost there in a little bit, she probably doesn't know it as well as she thinks she does.
Abby then asks Bossman about the job in the Bug House and he says it's a six-month gig studying parasites in elephant dung. Yay! When Abby says it sounds unmissable and we find out later that *SPOILER ALERT* she accepts, we are confirmed in our belief that Abby is crazy (in a good way.)
And now we arrive at the Forest of Dean where a security guard informs Nick, Stephen and Connor that he caught a glimpse of something or other in a camera. They see a van with holes in it, a dead chicken, some blood, and a broken fence and start to wonder if there really is something in the forest as this would be a difficult prank to pull off.
Connor begins to offer his opinion on the subject, but then realises that they don't want it and we're left wondering what the cute genius had to say. Forget them, Connor, I'd listen to your theory!
Meanwhile, Abby pulls up (blaring rock music from a tiny navy and white car) to the house of a Mrs. Trent and her son Ben (the boy with the unique lizard from the photo). Mrs. Trent says she wasn't expecting anyone to come and then lets her kid show Abby to his room. Alone. With Abby. The stranger they didn't know was coming over. Good job, Mum.
Ben's room is covered with dinosaurs and he thinks they are awesome. Yeah, wait until you *SPOILER ALERT* meet the Gorgonopsid, Kid. Then Abby meets Rex, the lizard, and says she believes that Ben has discovered a unique species. She needs to know exactly where Rex was found, so she takes Ben and Rex and they go wandering off through the Forest of Dean together. Mrs. Trent is nowhere to be seen and officially loses her Mother-of-the-Year award. Note to parents, when strangers show up at your door, unexpectedly, do not let your children wander off with them into the woods. Fortunately for Ben, Abby is harmless.
Ben and Abby then find a dead cow in a tree. That's a sentence I never thought I'd type. They hear some loud noises and Ben is off and running scared while Abby does her best to keep up while carrying Rex.
Now we suddenly see Nick sitting alone in a bar (practising what he teaches, obviously). An unknown woman suddenly walks up and kisses him and then tells him not to panic. This is a necessary warning because we all know that when a pretty woman kisses a man, the man's first reaction is usually to run away scared.
The woman then explains that she'd just told some slimeball that Nick was her boyfriend. Nick, crazily enough, shows no signs of panic and introduces himself, telling her that he was, "Very glad to help." What a great guy!
The woman already knows who Nick is though, and introduces herself as Claudia Brown. This is probably a mistake though because *SPOILER ALERT* Nick is easily confused and will now call her Claudiabrown forevermore.
Claudia works at the Home Office and needs a favour from Nick, and we ask aloud with him, "Another one?" Claudia has been sent to investigate the creature sightings and wants the qualified Professor Nick Cutter to issue a statement saying that the whole creature sighting thing is nonsense so she can go home.
Nick however, says he can't do that, as there might actually be something in the forest, but he suspects it's just a wild panther or something (and we wonder when panthers starting roaming about inBritain) and asks Claudia to come along on the search for the creature and she accepts.
Meanwhile, Connor is showing Stephen the dinosaur database that he has been building and "Constantly updating" since he was fourteen. Stephen appears mildly impressed but says that it is "slightly sad." Connor then goes on to say that he knows the creature is not just a wild cat and you get the impression that he thinks it's a dinosaur. Told ya he's a genius.
Nick shows up and introduces Claudiabrown to Stephen and Connor. Connor whispers (loudly and RIGHT IN FRONT OF Claudia) to Stephen that it's a cover up and Claudia *Gasp!* overhears him and asks what he means. Nick says that Connor has never met a conspiracy theory he didn't like.
Meanwhile, Abby is still chasing Ben through the forest but can't keep up and loses him, which is not good because she doesn't know where she is. Then Rex escapes her grasp and goes flying around the forest but lands again quite quickly and almost beside her so we aren't too concerned for the little lizard.
Ben, who is now on his own, finds a strange big glowing anomaly type thing floating in mid air and decides to test it out and find out what it is by… sticking his head through it, what else? Suddenly he can see the past and there is a whole bunch of little Rex's flying around all over the place. Then he hears the loud noises behind him again so he runs for home while calling Abby.
Abby, however, is busy crawling around under a tree while trying to catch Rex. Cue the scary music and she gets her first glimpse of the Gorgonopsid as it passes by. Or, at least, of his reflection in a puddle. The Gorgonopsid seems to see her too, but fortunately he's less hungry and in a better mood than when he met Helen Cutter eight years ago so he just continues on his way. Or maybe he just doesn't like blondes.
On the other side of the forest, Claudia expresses her doubts that they will find anything and Nick and Connor reveal that Stephen is an expert animal tracker (and he's even saved a whale before! Kudos to Stephen for that one.) Nick then says that honestly, he also doubts there is anything in the forest but at that moment they stumble across the dead cow in a tree that Abby and Ben found earlier and Nick begins to "get interested."
Connor states that the compass is going haywire and we watch it spin around in every direction and we know that this is somehow important.
Ben makes it out of the forest just as it is getting dark. Despite being gone for all the daylit hours with a total stranger in the woods, there is no search party awaiting his arrival. Ben cuts his finger on a thorn as he climbs over a fence and heads back to the house. He then locks himself in his bedroom without a word to his mum to say he's back home. (Has she even noticed he's been gone?)
Apparently the tiny drop of blood left behind from Ben's cut on a blackberry leaf is the only blood in all England at the moment and the Gorgonopsid of course picks up the scent and attacks Ben's house trying to get him. So, apparently he is still hungry and mean and it really was that he just didn't like blondes.
Ben fights off the dangerous dino with a plastic lightsabre and a few other toys and then we hear mum yelling at him for all the noise and destruction. She doesn't believe him that it wasn't him and apparently Ben is a very destructive child if she thinks he can literally tear half the house apart in a matter of a minute.
Meanwhile, it is now very dark out and Abby is hopelessly lost in the Forest of Dean. She has managed to catch Rex again though, and she asks him for directions. Surprisingly enough, Rex isn't much help. Then she suddenly finds herself standing next to a giant dinosaur that is not the Gorgonopsid (Thank goodness!). Actually it's a Scutosaurus aka a very huge plant-eater (yay) and it gives her a little warning protest type growl but doesn't seem all that threatening. Abby drops Rex again and he scurries off.
Suddenly, she is found by Stephen, Nick, Claudia and Connor who all stare in amazement at the Scutosaurus but fail to notice Rex, which is understandable with the Scutosaurus around. Nick says the thing is some sort of tortoise (Prefessor say what?) and then scares the thing by going to walk around behind it. Abby warns for him to stay in its field of vision. Connor takes a photo on his mobile and Claudia immediately confiscates said mobile and deletes the picture saying that it's classified until she decides what to do with it.
Rex approaches and starts chirping and catches their attention. "Bloody Hell, there's two of them!" Stephen exclaims, but we know that really there are three because of the mean ol' Gorgonopsid who probably wasn't scared away for too long from the light sabre.
In the next scene, Claudia is outside the forest and talking on her mobile. She says she needs someone to come down and not the police because it's too sensitive an issue for the police. Apparently Claudia is quite junior at the job and she's having trouble convincing anyone to come down there, though listening to her I'd be convinced in an instant. Claudia's obviously a very confident person.
Back at the Trent household, Mrs. Trent is complaining to Nick that Abby has filled her son's head with all sorts of crazy ideas and says she'll issue a former complaint to the zoo. Hmmm…. Maybe next time you don't let your child wander off alone in the woods with a stranger all day if you're that concerned? Just a thought.
Nick tells Mrs. Trent that Abby got carried away and Ben's pet is really nothing special. Ben insists that a monster chased them and Abby is not happy about lying but at a look from Nick she says that she doesn't know what happened and that she just got frightened. Ben says something about seeing prehistoric times in the past, much to Nick and Abby's surprise. Mrs. Trent switches the source of her blame from Abby to the television as Ben storms out of the room.
Abby feels really bad about lying and making Ben look like a liar, but outside Claudia tells them it was necessary because the consequences of the truth getting out could be worse. She tells Abby and Nick they have to sign the Official Secrets Act and Nick questions when it became an official secret. Claudia says about ten minutes after she'd persuaded her boss not to fire her and we're thrilled because if this whole thing is now a Home Office secret we know we'll be seeing a lot more of Claudia in the future.
Nick then says that they have a much bigger problem and that's the fact that the creature they saw is not a ruthless killer that drags its prey into trees. Claudia says that Nick doesn't know that for sure and Abby says that it's true, the Scutosaurus is a herbivore and since Abby is apparently far more trustworthy than Nick, Claudia is convinced. Claudia realises that they are telling her there is another dinosaur still out there. Nick questions what Ben had said about seeing the past and says the animals must be coming from somewhere.
Meanwhile, Stephen and Connor are guarding the Scutosaurus. Connor claims he'll win the noble prize for his discovery. Then Stephen, Abby and Claudia come rushing back and scare off the Scutosaurus and they follow it to see, "Where it thinks it's safe." They chase it all the way back to anomaly and the Scutosaurus disappears back into the past where it belongs.
The next morning they call in some soldiers to help guard the anomaly. To Connor's delight, he discovers that the anomaly is magnetic when it sucks his pen through it. This explains the haywire compass. See, it was important. Nick wonders what could cause such a strong magnetic field and Connor figures it's probably an alien spaceship. *SPOILER ALERT* It's not.
Stephen brings Abby some coffee and asks how she's feeling. She says she's confused, frightened and exhilarated. She also looks tired, but doesn't mention that. She's concerned about Rex who is now in a much too big cage guarded by the army. Stephen says they won't hurt him and we're happy about this but wonder when Stephen started receiving inside info from the government.
Nick explains to Claudia that these are creatures from the past, and we're left wondering why she hasn't figured this out yet. Wasn't it obvious? She SAW the Scutosaurus return through the anomaly and where else would dinosaurs come from? Connor is amusing himself by letting the anomaly suck objects (such as his front door key) into the past and laughing at it. We're amusing ourselves by watching him.
Then Nick and Stephen have a bit of a private chat where Nick reveals that he's thinking about Helen and how the anomaly explains everything about her disappearance. Stephen agrees but adds that it doesn't explain why she didn't come back if she went through and at this point we're thinking, "Duh, a Dinosaur ate her," but *SPOILER ALERT* we turn out to be wrong. What a shame.
Back at the Home Office, Nick and Abby are signing the Official Secrets Act (And we wonder why Stephen and Connor aren't having to sign it too at the moment). Claudia is approached by the head honcho, a man named Sir James Lester who says that Claudia shouldn't have brought them as he doesn't like civilians in these types of situations. I guess he doesn't know that the civilians discovered the dinosaur first? Claudia asks Lester how many situations like this he's had before. Lester responds with a question of his own, asking Claudia how she knows that Nick and Abby aren't the ones responsible for creating portholes through time and bringing in the dinosaurs. Claudia, oh so wisely, replies that that isn't possible and we wonder how Lester got his job.
Connor and Stephen are walking around in the forest. They've deserted the army to track the missing meat-eater alone because *SPOILER ALERT* that would be some form of back up and the anomaly research team does not DO backup. They are much too cool for that.
Connor's sinuses are driving him crazy and he reveals to Stephen that he's not really outdoorsy, which should cause HUGE problems later on when *MAJOR SPOILER ALERT* he gets stuck in the past for an entire year. Fortunately by that time (In fact, by the next episode) Connor no longer seems to have any trouble with allergies, so it's all good.
Stephen can sense that the creature is close by and Connor gets a bit nervous and asks if it wouldn't be better to wait for Nick, but Stephen ignores that and they continue on their way.
Meanwhile, Nick and Abby are still at the Home Office being debriefed by Lester. Nick states that he thinks the past is on the other side of the anomaly and all this time I thought we'd pretty much figured that out by now as dinosaurs came through it and Ben Trent saw the past. Then, just in case we didn't understand what an anomaly to the past meant, Lester asks Nick if the anomaly is a doorway in time to the world's history and Nick confirms this and we wonder how many other ways they'll have to phrase it before they both know that they both know that the past is on the other side of the anomaly.
Lester asks Nick what the risks would be of an anomaly and Nick replies, "Famine, war, pests and the end of the world." Nick informs Lester that he's going to go through the anomaly to find out what happened to his wife and the only way Lester can stop him is by shooting him.
Back in the forest, Connor tells Stephen that he thinks there was some heat between himself and Abby and that he has an instinct for these kind of things. Stephen says that he thought Connor had a girlfriend (something Connor had previously mentioned) and Connor replies that he really just has a pen pal in the Gambia. Stephen sarcastically replies that that's practical for a night out and seems to be making fun of Connor a bit but *SPOILER ALERT*we know that couldn't possibly be because it'll turn out later that Stephen has a girlfriend in the Amazon who he never sees (and neither do we for that matter).
Stephen urges Connor to just ask Abby if she likes him and Connor says he will and then correctly states that it's not every day one meets a potential girlfriend and finds a dinosaur. Only every other day, right?
Back at the home office, a bunch of scientists are prodding Rex with Q-Tips. Abby says they shouldn't handle him like that and when Lester tells her to "Let the experts do their job," she replies that they don't know what they're doing and since Abby is our Lizard Girl we know that she's right. Go Abby! Then she asks if the scientists even know that Rex can fly. Lester looks surprised at this and apparently neither himself, nor the half dozen scientists surrounding Rex, had the foggiest idea that Rex could fly, despite the fact that he has wings almost the size of his body. As if on cue, Rex leaps into the air and flies away as some energetic music starts playing throughout the Home Office. Conveniently for Rex, the reaction of the scientists is to run to the door and open it for him while shouting not to do so, and Rex escapes.
Claudia and Abby run after him. Lester states to Nick that Rex can indeed fly and Nick nods and agrees, "Pretty well," as Rex loop the loops throughout the Home Office creating havoc everywhere until he finally lands in a lift and starts head bopping to the music while he rides up to the top floor and we learn that Rex is about the coolest dinosaur that ever lived.
Rex flies up to the open window sill and Abby is terrified he'll leave. She offers him a piece of candy bar and promises he'll love it, but Rex takes off anyway. Of course, we know he'll be back and, sure enough, after a quick look at the city he flies back in and lands in Abby's arms. Nick then informs Lester that he has one of the risks he'd been asking about earlier running down his back and Lester glares and walks off to clean up as we learn that dino poop looks the same as pistachio pudding. Claudia and Nick grin and Nick declares it was so perfect.
In the Forest of Dean, Stephen and Connor find a dinosaur footprint and Stephen asks what it is. Connor replies that the "Scientific Term for it is Really Bad News." And I realise I am smart enough to be a scientist after all.
Lester tells Nick that he is going to allow Nick to go through the anomaly (probably just to make it look like he was in charge seeing as Nick had already stated he was going through no matter what) and Nick says he's taking Rex back with him as Rex should get to go home. Lester couldn't care less really and has no qualms about it provided Nick sign a paper saying that the Home Office accepts no responsibility for anything gone wrong and all that jazz.
From its footprint, Connor has figured out that the mystery creature is a Gorgonopsid and informs Stephen that he has to find it fast. Stephen asks why him and not Connor and Connor replies that he's more just logistics and back up, but we all know they don't use back up so that can't be entirely true. Anyway *SPOILER ALERT* in the next episode Connor takes Abby and goes looking for creatures alone, so he couldn't be quite as scared as he pretends he is and you wonder if maybe he just doesn't like Stephen.
It's now late day and Ben Trent is serving after-school detention with his teacher. Turns out the Gorgonopsid's tracking device works and he shows up at the school for revenge on Ben who is now sans light sabre. Ben informs his teacher that there is a dinosaur on the playground out the window and she somehow doesn't see it even after looking out the window because her eyes don't look quite the right direction and she has absolutely no peripheral vision whatsoever, so she tells Ben to grow up and act his own age.
The Gorgonopsid finds his way into the school and heads for Ben's classroom, pausing only a moment to look at a pretty female Gorgonopsid that the kids had drawn on the school bullentin board. Ben tells his teacher not to open the door, but of course she does and the next thing you know they are being attacked by the dinosaur but at just the right time, Stephen shows up due to his amazing animal tracker skills and convinces the beast to chase him instead. And chase him it does, right down a long steep flight of stairs, despite the fact that the classroom they were standing by was on the ground floor a second ago as evidenced by the view of the Gorgonopsid strolling past the window just a moment ago. This does not result in him being underground as he is still surrounded by windows that tell us he hasn't switched floors at all. Odd, but not important. What's important is the fact that there's a Gorgonopsid chasing down our hero.
Of course, the school doors are locked and Connor is trapped in a dead end so he sprays the dinosaur with a fire extinguisher and the Gorgonopsid charges Stephen and opens the door for them both, leaving an unconscious Stephen on the doorstep outside. Fortunately it does not eat him and runs off into the forest again.
Back at the anomaly, everyone except Stephen (who is passed out on the school step by himself because Connor, being back-up, is doing what back-up does in this show and staying clear away from the danger) has gathered to watch Nick go through. Claudia sends a certain Captain Ryan through to guard Nick. Abby hands Rex over to Nick and insists he take care of the lizard and then, as an afterthought, kisses his cheek and says he should take care of himself too. Claudia tells Ryan that whatever happens, his job is to bring Nick back.
Then Nick, Rex and Ryan go through the anomaly and into the past. Being the clutz that he is, Connor drops a pen and it doesn't get sucked through the anomaly and he realises that its force is weakening. No one thinks to poke a head through and warn Nick and Ryan, so they just stand outside it and fret.
Ryan, being the best bodyguard on earth, decides to let Nick wander on his own for an hour due to Nick's request, and Nick starts searching for Helen but instead all he finds is a bunch of Scutosaurus'. Then Ryan waves Nick down and shows him a deserted camp he found with a human skeleton. There is a camera there too with the initials HC which they understand to be Helen Cutter, however the skeleton is that of a man, not a woman so it can't possibly be her and they wonder who else has gone through the anomaly.
Ryan says it's time to go and Nick says he's not leaving without Helen so Ryan knocks him out with the butt of his gun and carries him back to (but not through) the anomaly. Nick wakes up just before they get there and punches Ryan, but Ryan is unaffected and punches Nick back who falls down. Ryan tells Nick not to try that again and then they realise that the anomaly is disappearing.
Nick still refuses to run through it and says he's staying there, so Captain Ryan plunks himself onto the ground and throws a, Then-I'm-not-going-either style temper tantrum that would make any three-year-old green with envy and Nick tells him he's being childish but then sees he has no choice and they both run through the anomaly just before it closes, followed by Rex who has decided that Abby is much prettier than any of the other dinosaurs. Abby of course, is the only one who notices Rex and she hides him in her scarf.
The Gorgonopsid suddenly decides to appear and they all run away, but Claudia falls down and Nick tries to help her up, but they have a lot of trouble getting her on her feet again (Cue Steve Urkel, "I've Fallen and I can't get up!") and you think they are goners until Stephen, having been issued some Insta-Heal pills off camera, shows up and runs the Gorgonopsid over with his truck.
There are big sighs of relief all around until Nick realises that it isn't quite dead when it gets up to attack them again. They try shooting it with machine guns and that works settling the score at Humans: 1 Gorgonopsids: 0. Ha! Take that you montster!
Back at Home Office, they have developed the film from the camera they found and it is all pictures of Helen in the past leaving us no doubt that she went through the anomaly. Lester is worried that the camp they found means someone else has been there first but is glad the immediate crisis is over. Nick explains that it's not over, it's just begun and, as this is a pilot episode, you just know he's gonna be right.
Back at the university, Nick is looking at pictures of Helen and when he leaves the room for a minute he comes back to find a extinct (yet alive) snail on his desk. He realises that Helen has just been there. (I'm not married so correct me if I'm wrong, but last I checked, when husband and wife are reunited after a wife's eight year vacation in distant lands (times?) the souvenir gift she brings home should be better than a snail, right?) Nick runs out to the balcony where he sees her across the street. However, she vanishes into the shadows and, while being stranded in the past forever in hopes of finding his wife was not an unfeasible idea, crossing the road after dark is, so Nick doesn't chase after her.