‘Time Bandits’ Show: A Brilliant Expansion, Not a Copy of the Film

NEW YORK, July 24 (UPI) — “Time Bandits” creator Taika Waititi says his new sci-fi comedy series ventures into realms that the 1981 Terry Gilliam film couldn’t explore due to its short runtime and the technological limitations of that era.

“The movie’s so brilliant. It’s so iconic in its own way. It would be ridiculous for us to set out to just copy that completely because it already exists,” the Oscar winner told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

Waititi, with longtime collaborator Jemaine Clement by his side, said, “It was up to us to find an angle where we could just put a bit more of ourselves into it. We’d spend more time with various characters and develop them a bit further than what you could do with the movie. So, that was quite exciting.”

Premiering Wednesday on Apple TV+, the show follows British 11-year-old history buff Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) as he joins the titular time-hoppers who magically appear in his closet, whisking him away on hilarious, death-defying adventures through the past.

The cast for the 10-episode series includes Lisa Kudrow, Tadhg Murphy, Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, Rune Temte, Charlyne Yi, Rachel House, Kiera Thompson, James Dryden, Felicity Ward, and Francesca Mills.

Clement and Waititi will also make guest appearances. The duo has previously collaborated on “What We Do in the Shadows,” “Flight of the Conchords,” and “Eagle vs. Shark.”

“We made a big list of places that we just always wanted to see someone time travel to,” Waititi said. Clement added, “When they made that movie in 1980, they couldn’t show dinosaurs, for instance. Here we can.”

Clement emphasized that their reimagining of the film comes from a place of love, as he and Waititi were fans of the original movie as kids. “We had rewatched it as adults and got to revisit it to do this. I think we just tried to remember what we liked rather than try and remake it,” he said.

Some elements from the original movie, like the time-travel map and a giant head chasing the heroes, were too good to pass up and had to be included in the new series. “Lisa’s character is the leader of the group and denies being a leader, but obviously she doesn’t leave anyone else to make any decisions. That’s one of those things that we remember and try to put in,” Clement explained.

“But we also wanted to go some places that we haven’t seen on screen before and introduce some characters we haven’t seen before,” Clement added.

One of the new faces in the series is 12-year-old Kal-El Tuck, who frequently steals the show with his portrayal of Kevin’s warmth, courage, and unbridled enthusiasm. “He’s amazing. We auditioned a lot of kids. All of the kids were great,” Waititi said. “All children in the world are great. They are wonderful. They are gifts.” Clement laughed and added, “But Kal-El just popped out.”

“We liked that he didn’t sound posh,” said Clement. “He is from the north of England.” Waititi added, “As soon as we heard his voice on tape, we heard him being this nerdy expert in history in this thick Yorkshire accent, it just felt so right.”

Waititi hopes the show appeals to multiple generations. “It’s getting more and more rare to see a show that the entire family can watch together that isn’t super-dumbed-down or basically a kids’ show that adults have to watch,” he said. Clement added, “There are so many shows, and they are so specific that there’s one person in the family who will watch it, and then Dad and Mom will watch something else. Hopefully, it’s a communal thing for the family.”

Waititi also recently starred in the Max pirate comedy, “Our Flag Means Death”; directed “Next Goal Wins” and “Thor: Love and Thunder,” and co-created the FX series, “Reservation Dogs.”

Source: UPI