'Primal' Clip: Genndy Tartakovsky Delivers Violent Dinosaur Action

Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky has spent the past several years making Hotel Transylvania movies: goofy, breezy films that are largely designed for kids and families. But longtime fans know that Tartakovsy's a man with varied interests – and one of those interests happens to be seeing a dinosaur rip another dinosaur's face off.

That's exactly what you'll see in this new clip for his upcoming Adult Swim series Primal, which features more visceral action than some of the films in the Jurassic Park franchise.

I've never seen a dinosaur have its knee shattered by a human with a rock before, and it's clear from the bloody violence on display here that Tartakovsky, who also created Dexter's Laboratory and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, is not pulling any punches. The environment is impressionistic, almost like a water color painting, giving the focus to the action and the emotions happening in the foreground. There's a haunted beauty amid the chaos, and you can see more of the scope of the show in this wider-ranging teaser that debuted earlier this summer.

Wondering what the heck this show is actually about? Here's the description:

Primal features a caveman at the dawn of evolution. A dinosaur on the brink of extinction. Bonded by tragedy, this unlikely friendship becomes the only hope of survival in a violent, primordial world.

From the look of it, this clip may be pointing to the budding partnership between the caveman and the dinosaur. (Possible spoilers ahead.) We know from early reports that the "tragedy" mentioned in that description is that the caveman and the dinosaur both lose their families, so I'm wondering if those baby dinos' days are numbered, or if that dinosaur mother has already lost other members of her family.

Primal was at least partially inspired by nature shows, with Tartakovsky telling Variety, "You know how when you watch a nature show and you see a polar bear and a seal. The polar bear is cute and charming, and the seal is so cute, but for one to survive it's gotta eat the other, and it's horrific. We have an episode like that. We like all the characters in the show but they have to kill each other."

But while the harsh brutality is on full display in this clip, the creator wants people to know there's more to the show than just that:

"Forget about the violence and stuff, there's plenty of that to go around. It's these serious themes. The biggest thing is that we trust the audience. It's 10 episodes, no dialogue, and some of it's pretty intense, so we are going to rely on you the audience to understand it and to pay attention."

Primal is heading to Adult Swim sometime in fall 2019.