Time Bandits Review: Fun, But Too Familiar

Apple has been talking about making a TV series based on Terry Gilliam’s cult-beloved Time Bandits since at least 2018. Taika Waititi came aboard in 2019 and set the cast in 2022, and now, at long last, the show has finally arrived. Were its time-travel hijinks worth the wait? Yes… and no.

It all depends on how you feel about the many other projects involving Waititi and his frequent collaborators Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris. The trio co-created the Time Bandits series, co-writing or writing multiple episodes; Waititi also directed the first two. In addition, Waititi and Clement play key supporting roles: the former is the Supreme Being (basically, God), the latter is Pure Evil (basically, the Devil). These guys are prolific and have a signature style that’s on full display here; it’s not hard to see a tonal through line between this latest project and the likes of What We Do in the Shadows, Our Flag Means Deathand Flight of the Conchordsalbeit with a more kid-friendly focus here.

That fondness for quirkiness and especially anachronistic behavior makes total sense in the context of Time Bandits‘ adventures. Much like the movie, the TV show starts as geeky outcast Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) is alarmed but mostly delighted when misfit time-travelers portal into his bedroom. He tags along as they follow a map stolen from the Supreme Being on a quest through the centuries to steal more stuff; meanwhile, Pure Evil sends a demon after them to snag the map for his own nefarious purposes.

This means that each episode finds the gang leaping from era to era, encountering a wide range of cultures where nearly everyone is similarly wry and offbeat. This leads to moments like the builder of the Great Wall of China saying “That’s so frickin’ cool!”, or a 14th century villager dismissing the Black Plague using language that sounds lifted from a covid denier’s Facebook post.

The spirit of the Terry Gilliam movie is definitely present in the series, but with 10 episodes (each running around 30-40 minutes) there’s more time to explore different historical eras—to Kevin’s delight; as in the movie, he’s a big history nerd. The VFX are of the high quality you’d expect from an Apple production, which is a good thing because the action pinballs across ancient Troy, medieval England, the Ice Age, 1920s Harlem, and so on, as well as de facto Heaven and Hell, and the landscapes are all lush, detailed, and dynamic.

There’s also more time to develop the characters—Kevin has a sister, Saffron (Kiera Thompson), who has a cool storyline of her own, and we learn a lot more about their parents than we ever do in the movie. We also get to know the bandit ensemble as individuals, though it takes a few episodes to really settle in with them. There’s Penelope (Lisa Kudrow), who’s clearly the leader 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 quite figured out how to read the mystical map.

Other key characters, alongside Waititi’s Supreme Being and Clement’s Pure Evil (it’s a toss-up which performance is campier), include Rachel House as the demonic hunter Fianna—and of course an array of guest stars, including a fan-favorite we won’t spoil from Our Flag Means Deathand British comedy stalwart Mark Gatiss (Good Omens, Sherlock, Doctor Who, The League of Gentlemen).

Along with the repeated “where are we, and what can we steal?” narrative that drives the bumbling portal-hopping, Time Bandits works in bigger arcs involving Kevin’s increasingly urgent need to find his way back to present-day England, as well as the push-and-pull between the cosmic beings. But the stakes never feel too terribly high; this is a show aimed at kids and families, so while giant beasts and torture threats come into play, you never really feel like Kevin and his friends won’t escape whatever perilous jam they find themselves in.

The Time Bandits movie had a notoriously bleak yet liberating ending, and while the TV show takes a different path, its ending is equally notable—for different reasons. Without getting into specifics, let’s just say a second season has yet to be announced, but it’s very clear Time Bandits‘ creative team is banking on it, leaving behind plenty of unresolved material to explore in future episodes. Some might find that frustrating, though younger audiences seem less likely to be bothered by any dangling plot threads.

Time Bandits premieres on Apple TV+ today with the first two episodes; two new episodes drop every Wednesday through August 21.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.