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Apple Shares Trailer for Upcoming Taika Waititi Series 'Time Bandits'

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Apple today shared the first trailer for upcoming Apple TV+ series Time Bandits, which is based on the 1981 movie that has the same name. Time Bandits was created by Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, and Iain Morris, all of whom are known for popular shows.


Waititi and Clement previously teamed up for What We Do in the Shadows, and Waititi has recently worked on Reservation Dogs and Our Flag Means Death. Morris is known for creating The Inbetweeners.

Time Bandits will see an eleven-year-old history nerd teaming up with a ragtag group of thieves to journey through time and space to hunt down treasure. In the trailer, eleven-year-old Kevin finds a portal in the wardrobe in his closet, and is seen journeying through historic locations across time.

The first two episodes of the 10-episode show are set to premiere on Wednesday, July 24, with two additional episodes to follow each week.

Article Link: Apple Shares Trailer for Upcoming Taika Waititi Series 'Time Bandits'
 
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https://www.macrumors.com/2024/07/09/apple-tv-plus-time-bandits/
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Oh man, I remember seeing this as a kid.

Screen Shot 2024-07-09 at 18.50.00 PM.png
Nostalgia overload
 
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Time Bandits was an epic, insane and utterly awesome movie to me growing up and I'm totally onboard with them having another go at it! The ending of the original left me gobsmacked – it is not a Hollywood "feel good" ending at all! Also villainous "Evil One" has a great monologue about how if he were God he'd have "lasers, 8 o'clock, day one" which used to great effect in Orbital's "The Gun Is Good" – which also has samples from Zardoz – another insane and epic film starring Sean Connery (but waaaay less silly)
 
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No matter how many big names or top tier IP are involved, I just can’t get excited for any of these Apple TV+ shows. They all end up being weirdly bland and safe, regardless of how much they go out of their way to be quirky and edgy. High production values and mediocre writing, every time.
 
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I'm not sure I want to live long enough to see Gilliam movies remade, but I heard Kudrow do an hour on the Nerdist podcast a decade ago and only then realized how clever, sharp and professional she is, completely unlike the dingy characters they cast her in. She's A-ok.

But my gods man, if film execs had their way in paintings & music, it'd just be decades of repainting the most famous paintings from the great masters over and over forever, & endless covers of the billboard 100 for a century. It's like gutless accountants have run the show for 20 years.

Grumble grumble grumble, but ok, I'll check it out.
 
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Simmias said:
No matter how many big names or top tier IP are involved, I just can’t get excited for any of these Apple TV+ shows. They all end up being weirdly bland and safe, regardless of how much they go out of their way to be quirky and edgy. High production values and mediocre writing, every time.
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For All Mankind?
Ted Lasso?
Masters of the Air?

Everyone has different tastes. I’ve been really happy with quite a few of their shows. But I’m not looking for edgy.
 
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Simmias said:
No matter how many big names or top tier IP are involved, I just can’t get excited for any of these Apple TV+ shows. They all end up being weirdly bland and safe, regardless of how much they go out of their way to be quirky and edgy. High production values and mediocre writing, every time.
Click to expand...

I think you just described most of streaming shows.
 
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Wow what a steaming pile. When the main characters feel the need to call themselves by the name of the series (because the audience is assumed to be too dumb to get it otherwise I guess) and random supporting characters are constantly interjecting out-of-place wisecracks, you can tell this is going to be the typical modern drivel. Taika Waititi is no Terry Gilliam.
 
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What We Do In The Shadows is epic, will be sad to see it go but far too many shows go past their prime.
 
fatTribble said:
For All Mankind?
Ted Lasso?
Masters of the Air?

Everyone has different tastes. I’ve been really happy with quite a few of their shows. But I’m not looking for edgy.
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Maybe those are fine, but I got burned real hard by what they did with Foundation. I'd rather them focus on originals rather than trying to do adaptions or remakes.
 
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fatTribble said:
For All Mankind?
Ted Lasso?
Masters of the Air?

Everyone has different tastes. I’ve been really happy with quite a few of their shows. But I’m not looking for edgy.
Click to expand...

Even though they are certainly amongst the best of Apple TV+, you damn with faint praise - since they are still comparatively mediocre in the wider scheme of things. And while you seem to be trying to disagree with what Simmias wrote, you even say you don't want "edgy" - which kinda means, you want bland. You seem to be agreeing with them, after all.

In any event, let's take your three genres and compare them to:
  • The Expanse (SciFi Channel then Amazon, SciFi seasons were better)
  • The Young Ones or Blackadder 2/3/4 (BBC, 1980s)
  • Das Boot (1990s TV version)
...and if you want to see how far these things can be pushed, watch Threads (1984) (warning - relentlessly grim; I'm not saying you'll enjoy it, but I am saying that it's an example of a well-executed, thought-provoking film).

While ATV+ has some better rated shows as listed, it also pushes out significant quantities of very average, very safe, vanilla flavour dross. And even though Ted Lasso is well rated and quite funny, it is about as far from edgy or innovative comedy as it's possible to get. The later seasons just repeated tropes without anything new and rapidly got tiresome - which is a pattern ATV+ demonstrates often; see e.g. Loot S2, Let's Get Physical. In the case of Palm Royale, it was out of ideas and repeating itself before it was even half way through its first season. And we see that again with FAM - it isn't edgy or that clever, as it continues to meander through season after season without any particular direction.

It's just disposable content, not really valued entertainment. That is to say - I can't imagine anyone nostalgically watching Ted Lasso or For All Mankind in a few decades. They won't be regarded as important or classic or even especially memorable.
 
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