'Time Bandits' Doesn’t Make You Want to Go Back in Time
I’ll be the first to tell you that there is an utter dearth of programming for elementary school children. There simply isn’t much to watch after you are done with Disney Junior but are not quite ready for Stranger Things. To its credit, AppleTV+ endeavors to fill that void with shows like Me, WondLa, and its newest series Time Bandits.
Based on the 1981 movie of the same name that starred Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, John Cleese, and Katherine Helmond, the ten-episode series follows 11-year-old Kevin (Kal-El Tuck), who loves history. His idea of a good time is visiting Woodhenge, the precursor to Stonehenge’s, for his birthday. He’s ignored by his well-meaning parents, who don’t quite understand him, and his sister, Saffron (Kiera Thompson), who is not amused by her nerdy brother. Kevin is picked last for the soccer team (even after the kid on crutches), eats lunch alone, and plays board games against himself.
That all changes when he goes through his closet door and finds himself face-to-face with some very unhappy Vikings. Soon a not-so-merry band of time travelling thieves are in his room looking at a map. Suddenly, Kevin finds himself jumping through time and coming face to face with things he only read about in the history books and Wikipedia. Stonehenge! A Trojan horse! The ancient Mayans!
