If you had a superpower, what would it be? You could read people’s thoughts – but isn’t that a bit invasive? Teleportation would be nice — fly without the TSA. And, for the really adventurous, there’s time travel. You could hang out with anyone from Vlad the Impaler to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Of course, there’s the question that haunts the invisible man as well: Do your clothes travel with you?
With “Time Bandits,” a ten-part Apple TV+ fantasy series aimed at the YA audience and the young at heart, clothes, backpacks, a magic map of the universe and loot can make it through the portals between say, the Pleistocene Era and the Harlem Renaissance. Inspired by the manic and maniacal 1981 movie of the same name from Monty Python duo Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin and starring John Cleese, Sean Connery and the late Shelley Duvall, this TV adventure covers more ground while largely avoiding the movie’s most dated aspect: the original time bandits were all little people.
Certainly, longtime collaborators Taika Waititi and Jermain Clement are made for the material. The show has the bizarre group dynamics, outrageous plot twists and deadpan attitude to magic and the occult that defines the vampires-in-Staten-Island howler “What We Do in the Shadows,” in both film and TV versions. And, with its history-nerd-on-the-verge of puberty hero, and scene-stealing villains, it also recalls Waititi’s more serious Oscar nominee “JoJo Rabbit,” in which the writer-director travels back in time to see the world of Adolph Hitler (who he also mischievously portrays) through the eyes of clever young innocent Jojo.
The guileless Kevin Haddock (a terrific Kal-El Tuck) from Bingley is the kind of brainy, bullied, good-natured lover of all things history that would have enjoyed great games of Dungeons & Dragons if he’d met Jojo. They are two peas in a global-sized pod. Young Kevin has an active imaginary life in suburban England, a younger sister Saffron (Kiera Thompson) that is a mortifying foot taller than him, and twitty couch-surfing parents who hardly look up from their phones to register their ‘odd-ball’ son’s distress.
While playing alone in his toy-filled refuge replete with a miniature model of Stonehenge, eleven-year-old Kevin suddenly hears a racket in his wardrobe. A gaggle of thieves blow into Bingley between the cardigans and slacks (shout-out to “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”). Enter the Viking Bittelig (Rune Temte), the dandy thespian Alto (Tadhg Murphy), the stolen map-keeper Widgit (Roger Jean Nsenglyumva) and the wide-eyed Judy (Charlyne Yi). Suddenly, the empty room overflows with drama and mystery. Kevin’s ordinary existence is about to change like yesterday’s underpants.
Meanwhile the band’s leader, Penelope (the delightfully deadpan Lisa Kudrow, escaping the sitcom rut), constantly denies that she’s the boss of the roving miscreants. She claims they are a collective. That is until she seizes control time and again, deciding whether Kevin can join the sticky-fingered bunch or not.
Lisa Kudrow, Rune Temte, Kal-El Tuck, Tadhg Murphy, Charlyne Yi and Roger Jean Nsengiyumva in “Time Bandits.” (Apple TV+)
A fantasy is only as good as its villains, and Clement pours on the evil. His name says everything: Wrongness. He’s deliciously devious, surrounded by his disgusting band of demons and demi-devils, as he richly enjoys his evil powers (mwahahaha). His goal is to separate the bandits from the map that will give him control of the universe. If that means he has to kidnap the dullards Mr. and Mrs. Haddock, or turn them into coal, on his way toward world domination, so much the better.
Waititi plays Wrongness’s nemesis, the Supreme Being. Often dressed in sky blue and white tie-dye, whether suit or bathrobe, he’s a drifty deity, full of hot-air pronouncements while living in his bright white heaven. As the map’s original owner, he has skin in the game, too, besides promoting rightness, which is so much less fun than wrongness. Behind the camera, Waititi also directs the two best episodes.
Taika Waititi in “Time Bandits.” (Apple TV+)
Over ten chapters, the series serpentines through a wondrous variety of settings. From Troy (where the thieves try to steal the Trojan Horse, only to discover it’s too big for their sacks), to the Mayan Temples, the Ice Age and plague-torn Medieval Europe (which has a real “bring out your dead,” Monty Python vibe), there’s no shortage of material for humorous fish-out-of-water situations.
As TV steals more and more of family time, it’s marvelous to have a series where the entire clan, young and old, can be entertained on so many levels, carried along on “Time Bandits’” kooky, adventurous spirit. As time flies past, and so many children have had to grow up too fast, Clement and Waititi reclaim the wonder that is history.
“Time Bandits” premieres Wednesday, July 24, on Apple TV+.
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