Time Bandits

Rated PG • Apple TV+

Time Bandits on Apple TV+ puts a fresh spin on the 1981 cult-classic film of the same name, and the story definitely benefits from expanding the scope to 10 episodes.

Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) loves history. A lot. He’s always reading books or spouting off random facts about things like the Russo-Japanese War or how football got started. His family doesn’t really appreciate Kevin’s nerdiness. They certainly don’t understand why he’s not into movies and smartphones like “normal” kids. So, they don’t believe him when he says an actual viking came out of his wardrobe.

After the viking incident, five bandits emerge from Kevin’s wardrobe. Penelope (Lisa Kudrow) bosses the crew around even though she insists that they have no official leader. Widgit (Roger Jean Nsengiyumva) is in charge of deciphering a special map that allows the crew to travel to new time dimensions. Because they stole the map from the Supreme Being, they’re on the lam. Wrongness (Jermaine Clement)—a stand-in for the Devil—wants the map too for world domination. Kevin leaves with the bandits despite Penelope’s protests, and the motley crew uses the map to steal from people throughout the ages.

In the original film, the bandits race through time and have brief encounters with the likes of Robin Hood and Napoleon Bonaparte. This series expounds on the Time Bandit’s adventures and each episode focuses on a different time period like the Medieval Ages or the Roaring Twenties. Speaking of expounding, the show spends more time developing Kevin’s character than the 80s era cult classic, and his tagging along makes more sense in the series.

It’s funny that the show makes more sense than the original movie, given that Taika Waititi had a role in producing the series. His zany style brings out the best parts of the original film that was created by the Monty Python masterminds. There are several nods to the cult-classic comedy troupe (for example, blood spouting from a wound like water from a fountain). The humor is very similar too, but the show is consistently funnier and less cringey than the feature-length film. As a medieval soldier prepares to torture a few victims by setting them ablaze, he cheerily remarks, “This is going to be a lovely fire. And then it’s going to be ruined by people screaming, ‘O, help, help, help, I’m on fire.’”

Unlike the 1981 movie, the TV series includes far less innuendo. Still, the TV-PG rating doesn’t necessarily guarantee that younger viewers would be the best audience. There’s a bit of mild swearing, and one of the episodes features a prohibition-era speakeasy. Much like the film, the series veers into sacrilegious territory, depicting God as a well-meaning halfwit.

For those who feel nostalgic about the original movie, the TV show might not bring back too many memories. For others, that won’t be a problem.