I'm going to review this as "Season One" though at the time of writing there's no confirmation that the series is progressing, nor particularly, do I want it to. I should also say, somehow, I've never seen the original "Time Bandits" film - so do have any of that as a frame of comparison.
Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) is an eleven-year-old boy, living in leafy suburban Bingley. Whilst his parents do love him, they're very different to him, sharing no interesting in a passion for history that leaves him isolated both at home and school. One day, a group of thieves, led by Penelope (Lisa Kudrow) arrive in his bedroom as inside his cupboard is one of a number of portals in time and space that can be opened and utilised. The thieves have stolen a map to these portals from The Supreme Being (Taika Waititi) who wants it returned, but the chart is also wanted by Pure Evil (Jermaine Clement) who sends his best agent after them.
I feel largely the same way about "Time Bandits" as I did about Waititi's last television project "Our Flag Means Death" which is that the set up is right, the characters are good and technically everything is working - then they forgot to put jokes in the script. I mean, even with Sam Bain and Iain Morris involved, there doesn't appear to be even that many attempted jokes in it. It's as if everyone just thought that the 'kid out of time' premise would be enough and left it at that.
Everybody is doing OK performance wise, even if the three main comedic performers (Waititi, Clement and Kudrow) are relying on their delivery style to convey whatever humour it can find. Kal-El Tuck is fine as the lead Kevin, which is fortunate as if he was annoying the whole series would likely be unbearable. There are nice cameos from Mark Gatiss, Con O'Neil and Matt King across individual episodes.
As with "Flag" I don't feel like I hated the series - more that it doesn't feel like it fulfils the basic demand of a comedy series, that of "being funny". If there's a season two I'll watch it - my stupid brain won't let me stop a series unless it's really awful, but as of right now, I've seen enough.
