Claudia Brown quotes from Primeval

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.

Claudia

[strikes an Anurognathus with a golf club] Hole in one!

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.

Connor

Okay, Carboniferous, so it's probably an Arthropleura. That's an centipede on steroids, basically. It's more or less blind, and good sense of smell and touch. I mean, this thing is pretty big and scary looking, but it's more or less timid. It's the kind of bug that'd stick to the kitchen at parties.

Claudia

This one must have a personality disorder.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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?

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.