Skip to content
Time Bandits (2024) is about to begin on Apple TV, and Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits is one of my all-time favourite films, which I’ve seen so many times I could practically play it in my head, so for someone to do a remake?! And for it to be orchestrated by the awful charlatan that is Taika Waititi? Ugh…
Of course, all real fans would’ve loved a sequel to the original, but this became not possible after too much time had passed, and the main bandits, like Randall and Wally, were no longer around because, sadly, David Rappaport took his own life in 1990, and then in 1991, Jack Purvis became a quadriplegic after his neck was broken in a car accident, with the man passing away six years later.
To me, the 1981 original was such an iconic movie, so if anyone was to remake it – and there could be scope to expand upon it – you need Gilliam at the helm, and not Waikiti the chancer. Then again, everyone wanted more Bill & Ted after Excellent Adventure, and both sequels were quite poor.
In this 2024 version, Kevin (Kal-El Tuck – yes, his parents must’ve been Superman fans) has a sister, Saffron (Kiera Thompson – The Salisbury Poisonings), around the same age, and starts off by the lad dragging her and his parents to Woodhenge, the precursor to Stonehenge, and yes, it actually exists.
This time round, Kevin learns what his wardrobe is capable of before the titular characters turn up, and twhey’re not all dwarves. In fact, not one of them is a dwarf, because this is the PC version.
They’re also very diverse, with a black guy and a Chinese girl, but no dwarves, of course. Not allowed… Maybe.
This time, the leader is Penelope, played by Lisa Kudrow, but basically, she’s just playing ditzy Phoebe from Friends, as usual. And yes, they still argue over whether she is an actual leader or not.
Additionally, the time portals mostly don’t feel as ‘violent’ as they used to be. For example, you might jump into a swirling vortex of water and then end up skimming along a field, as opposed to falling hard on the ground. However, the opening is similar-ish in that while we don’t get everything that encapsulated the ’80s with David Daker and Sheila Fearn (as Kevin’s parents), this time, he’s off fairly early, through the bedroom wall again, but with it falling over like dominoes, as opposed to drifting off into the void.
For one of the similarities, although while on their first encounter, they meet Madame Chung (Katlyn Wong) on her year 1200AD boat, instead of Napoleon, Kevin quickly decides this is his place to stay (same as with Sean Connery’s King Agamemnon, albeit much later in the proceedings), but while he had to be forced away from Connery’s palace, here, Kevin declares an interest in remaining, and Phoebe pushes him towards the water vortex to jump in, but he still has to do so off his own volition, and could quite easily have said no.
Other early encounters including finding Stonehenge under construction (Spinal Tap, take note of the measurements!) – the foreman on the project being Ross Noble (being frank: the chris sievey story), as well as getting into a Trojan horse in the city of Troy.
However, I just couldn’t take to Evil’s lair, either. Evil… sorry, Wrongness… well, Jemaine Clement (Avatar: The Way Of Water) is no David Warner, that’s for sure! Plus, Waititi also gives himself a particular role, but you can see that when you come across it.
There was a neat early moment, such when Phoebe speculates that there might be a magical reason for Kevin joining her crew, with music building as she looks on in speculation… only for the music to quickly be silenced when she declares, “No… no.”
But that’s about it. So far, I’ve seen the opening two episodes – the second of which treads water for the majority of its running time (and not in the style of post-encounter with Katharine Helmond and Peter Vaughan), and it’s like comparing The Last Of Us on HBO with the original 2013 videogame, since Time Bandits (2024) feels like a bad cover version. I might watch more of them, but only out of curiosity.
Time Bandits (2024) is on Apple TV+ from today. Initially, two episodes are available, and additional episodes will stream at the rate of two per week.
It isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 35-50 mins per episode (10 episodes)
Release date: July 14th 2024 (first 2 episodes, then two each week)
Studio: Apple TV+
Format: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Jeff Tomsic, Taika Waititi, Armagan Ballantyne, Yana Gorskaya, Jackie van Beek, Tim van Dammen
Producer: Akilah Green
Screenplay: Jemaine Clement, Iain Morris, Taika Waititi, Sam Bain, Akilah Green, Tyrell Williams
Music: Mark Mothersbaugh
Cast:
Kevin: Kal-El Tuck
Penelope: Lisa Kudrow
Alto: Tadhg Murphy
Widgit: Roger Jean Nsengiyumva
Bittelig: Rune Temte
Saffron: Kiera Thompson
Judy: Charlyne Yi
Fianna: Rachel House
Damon: Jonny Brugh
Mr. Haddock: James Dryden
Mrs. Haddock: Felicity Ward
Wrongness: Jemaine Clement
?: Taika Waititi
John: Ben Fransham
Headface: Mike Minogue
Stomachface: Karen O’Leary
Demon: Shane Rangi
Monica: Signy Bjorg Gudlaugsdottir
Lars: Simon Manns
Jasper 1: Roy Iro
Jasper 2: Oscar Kightley
Madame Chung: Katlyn Wong
Cassandra: Zoe Ventoura
Cherub: Dane Noonan
Lady Sak K’uk: Génesis Mancheren Ab’äj
Stonehenge Foreman: Ross Noble
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.