Saturday, 11 February 2017

Time Bandits (1981)

Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits, a wonderfully eccentric film, that's only real fault is in trying to cram too much in.  It lacks breathing space, I always thought, and would - if ever considered  - lend its self to a very nice multiple episode TV remake.  If we can have Westworld again, we could have the Time Bandits!
Anyway, from the film's finale, this very nice spaceship and suitable dressed Time Bandit.  The helmet will be recycled from somewhere but I'll need to stick the DVD on again to have a better look.
 
As a tangential observation that thrilled me at the time of first viewing, I recognised that little blue spaceship as being a replica of one of the Micronauts vehicles, a much loved toy of the late 70's which I actually owned; more specially the Mobile Exploration Lab.  Some of the relevant bits of which can be seen below.

Obviously young Kevin, the films protagonist, had one of these on his bedroom floor as well.  kind of cool I always thought.


Steve
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11 comments:

  1. was14 February 2017 at 08:12

    Time Bandits: the TV series would be wonderful
    The Map is vast, allot things to explore and this in combination of eccentric insane Mind of Terry Gilliam
    Forget Stargate, Farscape and Red Dwarf, this would be the wildes ride in Univers...

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  2. Tim Armstrong15 February 2017 at 02:46

    Excellent idea,its got a lot of potential and you could also have totally unexpected guest stars in each episode,just like sean connerys totally surprising and quite unexpected appearance in the film.
    The helmet does remind me somewhat of the ones the band Space wear
    Also what did you think of the price of the air cooling suit?,not exactly cheap sadly,oh well.

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    1. Steve15 February 2017 at 17:00

      It's a good price if you've got one to sell :) Chap called Pat got in touch asking if I knew how best to flog one but apart from internet research and auctioning its not really something I could advise on - I just post pretty pictures. It such a cool suit though (no pun intended) with such a history. - Bush, Bowie, Cybermen, Alien, Quatermass IV etc etc. I can only see the price going up and up.

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  3. Traveller2818 February 2017 at 04:37

    On a different note....have you ever seen this?

    http://s30022462842.mirtesen.ru/blog/43915417204/Fotografii-so-semok-filma-CHerez-ternii-k-zvyozdam.

    (scroll down through the images...)

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    1. Traveller2818 February 2017 at 04:39

      http://youtu.be/bRKzF1xMluQ

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    2. Steve18 February 2017 at 15:36

      Hi.
      Yes but I have it blogged as To the Stars the Hard Way, not sure if that's another title or a mistranslation. There's some nicer images in your links so I might update. thanks

      Not spoken for a bit. Hope you and yours are well

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    3. Traveller2819 February 2017 at 03:42

      Aha! Cheers :)

      All good this side and hope all is well on your side too :)

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    4. Tim Armstrong19 February 2017 at 10:57

      Actually theres a rather clever sequence at the beginning of To the stars by hard ways/Per aspera ad astra/to the stars through thorns..etc
      There is a zero g sequence filmed on a derelict alien spacecraft,they actually did this using water to simulate zero g just as you would do for training for a real eva,this to my knowledge was a film first and has never been done before or since,the effect is actually very good and looks quite different to the usual very slow movement+wire work thats typically used for this sort of thing,whats also interesting is that the spacesuits the explorers are using are actual real rebreathers not props just with modified helmets to give them a spacesuit look.This sequence is definitely worth a look in my opinion just for the uniqueness of it.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRKzF1xMluQ [the two helmets appear at 5:22]

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    5. Steve19 February 2017 at 17:02

      cheers Tim I'll look out for that

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  4. Brent Kling3 March 2019 at 18:25

    Just caught this a while back, the ending battle with Evil has larger versions of Kevin's toys including the spaceship, tank, knights and lego bricks, suggesting it's just an imagination a dream.

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  5. Steve4 March 2019 at 15:39

    ...just a dream right up to the point his parents are killed by a bit of evil left in the microwave..... mysterious!!! LOL

    have to say I love Brazil even more and the end of that is a right downer ...or not depending on you definition of escape.


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