Diksha Sundriyal
Apple TV+’s ‘Time Bandits’ tells the story of a boy named Kevin whose path crosses with a band of thieves who travel across space and time. By a stroke of luck, Kevin gets entangled in their journey and becomes a part of their group, even if they don’t like him initially. Initially, it’s all fun and games, but things get serious when Kevin’s parents’ lives are on the line. To save them, he has to travel in time and ensure they are not killed by demons, who are sent by the Evil Genius and want what the bandits have. The plot thickens with each episode, and the danger mounts on Kevin and his friends as they jump from one place to another. But how exactly do they do that? SPOILERS AHEAD
Kevin’s Room is a Time Travelling Hotspot
In adventure stories, a hero often has to leave their home to look for adventure. However, adventure comes knocking at Kevin’s door in’ Time Bandits, and he has no idea how it arrived there. The first time he finds out about it is when his wardrobe opens to a seaside place, where he finds a Viking warrior trying to run away from a group of Saxon soldiers. A few moments later, his bedroom wall opens into another place, through which the warrior bids goodbye to Kevin. When the warrior is gone, Kevin tries to use the wardrobe and the wall to follow him, but he cannot.
When he thinks he might have dreamt of the Viking, the wardrobe opens to reveal a group of bandits, who step into his room with a map and talk about going places. Shortly after, they are followed by a three-headed Supreme Being, fearing whom Kevin, too, jumps after the bandits when they leave through Kevin’s wall. He doesn’t understand how something was behind the wardrobe and through the wall at one point and nothing at the other. More importantly, why couldn’t he access it?
It turns out that Kevin’s house stands on what happens to be a very active spot for time travel portals. As apparent from two instances, there are two ways to get in and out of the room (apart from the usual door), but that might not be the end. At one point, it is mentioned that Kevin’s room is unusually active for a time travel portal, and Penelope even tells him that it is a very dangerous place to live. It is also hinted that this might be due to Kevin’s presence, but how exactly do the portals work?
Time Bandits Use Naturally Occurring Portals to Travel in Space and Time
The universe is a huge place, and even the Supreme Being needs a map of it to navigate. The map is the only map of the entire universe, and what makes it more interesting is that it tells its reader the location of every time-traveling portal. Through the map, the bandits find ways to jump in and out of different points in history; without it, they wouldn’t be able to travel as freely as they do.
The portals marked on the map occur naturally or were created by the Supreme Being at the beginning of time and universe. These portals don’t just connect space but also time, which is why knowing only the location is not enough. One must also know when the portal will appear in a certain spot. Because the portals don’t exist in a perpetual state, one must also be aware that they have a very limited time window to cross the portal. If they don’t, it will be closed, and either they will have to find another portal or wait for that portal to open again.
This lack of knowledge prevents almost everyone in the universe, including the Supreme Being, from easily travelling from one place to another. It also helps Kevin and the Bandits when they are running from threats like demons and other beings who are after the map. Another thing of note is that the map cannot be read by just anybody. In the team of bandits, only Widgit can read the map, and even he reads it wrong sometimes. Moreover, while the bandits seem to know where the portals are, they don’t know where the portals will open.
Whenever they cross a portal, they take time to figure out where they are and how they can best use the situation. However, this could be because they are not used to reading the map and have yet to find out the tricks that make their travels better. Still, the more they travel, the more they learn, especially with Kevin by their side, who is on a mission to save his parents and must become a quick learner if he has any hope of bringing them back.
Read More: Why Doesn’t the Time Bandits TV Show Feature Actors with Dwarfism as the Bandits?
