I’ll admit that I am not a big fan of the 1981 “Time Bandits” movie, so I had mixed feelings going into watching this new series. What drew me in was knowing that Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement both co-star in and are involved in bringing the 2024 “Time Bandits” to life as directors, writers and producers.

While I found it a little slow to take off, it really does build momentum in the middle episodes, starting to dive into some of the things that were just hinted at in the early episodes.

Kal-El Tuck is charming as the protagonist, Kevin, a kid who knows way too much about history and is ostracized by his family, his classmates and his fellow time bandits about it. While his ostracization is heightened in the film, I still found him immensely relatable as somewhat of a misfit nerdy kid myself.

Kevin is spending another night in his room exploring his own interests when a ragtag group called the Time Bandits come crashing through his armoire door with a map that allows them to move through time and space via portals. He winds up joining them on their adventures.

Lisa Kudrow frankly seems a little bored playing their non-committal leader, Penelope, while the rest of the cast playing the Time Bandits seem up to the task, giving their characters personality and depth throughout their escapades in the first season’s 10 episodes.

While I enjoyed the show marginally better than Terry Gilliam’s film, I’m somehow giving them the same rating. If you are into time travel tales or are a history nerd like Kevin, I recommend giving the show a shot.

Rating: 3.5/5