Time Bandits‘ Whimsical Reboot Is Fun, But a Little Too Familiar

Apple has been talking astir making a TV bid based connected Terry Gilliam’s cult-beloved Time Bandits since astatine slightest 2018. Taika Waititi came aboard successful 2019 and set the formed successful 2022, and now, astatine agelong last, the amusement has yet arrived. Were its time-travel hijinks worthy the wait? Yes… and no.

It each depends connected however you consciousness astir the galore different projects involving Waititi and his predominant collaborators Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris. The trio co-created the Time Bandits series, co-writing oregon penning aggregate episodes; Waititi besides directed the archetypal two. In addition, Waititi and Clement play cardinal supporting roles: the erstwhile is the Supreme Being (basically, God), the second is Pure Evil (basically, the Devil). These guys are prolific and person a signature benignant that’s connected afloat show here; it’s not hard to spot a tonal done enactment betwixt this latest task and the likes of What We Do successful the Shadows, Our Flag Means Death, and Flight of the Conchords, albeit with a much kid-friendly absorption here.

That fondness for quirkiness and particularly anachronistic behaviour makes full consciousness successful the discourse of Time Bandits‘ adventures. Much similar the movie, the TV amusement starts arsenic geeky outcast Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) is alarmed but mostly delighted erstwhile misfit time-travelers portal into his bedroom. He tags on arsenic they travel a representation stolen from the Supreme Being connected a quest done the centuries to bargain much stuff; meanwhile, Pure Evil sends a demon aft them to snag the representation for his ain nefarious purposes.

This means that each occurrence finds the pack leaping from epoch to era, encountering a wide scope of cultures wherever astir everyone is likewise wry and offbeat. This leads to moments similar the builder of the Great Wall of China saying “That’s truthful frickin’ cool!”, oregon a 14th period villager dismissing the Black Plague utilizing connection that sounds lifted from a covid denier’s Facebook post.

Taika Waititi arsenic the Supreme Being. © Apple TV+

The tone of the Terry Gilliam movie is decidedly contiguous successful the series, but with 10 episodes (each moving astir 30-40 minutes) there’s much clip to research antithetic humanities eras—to Kevin’s delight; arsenic successful the movie, he’s a large past nerd. The VFX are of the precocious prime you’d expect from an Apple production, which is simply a bully happening due to the fact that the enactment pinballs crossed past Troy, medieval England, the Ice Age, 1920s Harlem, and truthful on, arsenic good arsenic de facto Heaven and Hell, and the landscapes are each lush, detailed, and dynamic.

There’s besides much clip to make the characters—Kevin has a sister, Saffron (Kiera Thompson), who has a chill storyline of her own, and we larn a batch much astir their parents than we ever bash successful the movie. We besides get to cognize the bandit ensemble arsenic individuals, though it takes a fewer episodes to truly settee successful with them. There’s Penelope (Lisa Kudrow), who’s intelligibly the person though she claims not to be; Alto (Tadhg Murphy), an aspiring actor; Judy (Charlyne Yi), a self-proclaimed empath; Bittelig (Rune Tempte), a hulking yet tender-hearted Viking; and Widgit (Roger Jean Nsengiyumva), the would-be navigator who hasn’t rather figured retired however to work the mystical map.

Other cardinal characters, alongside Waititi’s Supreme Being and Clement’s Pure Evil (it’s a toss-up which show is campier), see Rachel House arsenic the demonic huntsman Fianna—and of people an array of impermanent stars, including a fan-favorite we won’t spoil from Our Flag Means Death, and British drama stalwart Mark Gatiss (Good Omens, Sherlock, Doctor Who, The League of Gentlemen).

© Apple TV+

Along with the repeated “where are we, and what tin we steal?” communicative that drives the bumbling portal-hopping, Time Bandits works successful bigger arcs involving Kevin’s progressively urgent request to find his mode backmost to present-day England, arsenic good arsenic the push-and-pull betwixt the cosmic beings. But the stakes ne'er consciousness excessively terribly high; this is simply a amusement aimed astatine kids and families, truthful portion elephantine beasts and torture threats travel into play, you ne'er truly consciousness similar Kevin and his friends won’t flight immoderate perilous jam they find themselves in.

The Time Bandits movie had a notoriously bleak yet liberating ending, and portion the TV amusement takes a antithetic path, its ending is arsenic notable—for antithetic reasons. Without getting into specifics, let’s conscionable accidental a 2nd play has yet to beryllium announced, but it’s precise wide Time Bandits‘ originative squad is banking connected it, leaving down plentifulness of unresolved worldly to research successful aboriginal episodes. Some mightiness find that frustrating, though younger audiences look little apt to beryllium bothered by immoderate dangling crippled threads.

Time Bandits premieres connected Apple TV+ contiguous with the archetypal 2 episodes; 2 caller episodes driblet each Wednesday done August 21.

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