Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris joined forces for Time Bandits, an Apple TV series adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 adventure film. The series follows a boy named Kevin who becomes part of a group of time-travelling thieves, leading to a series of high-stakes adventures across different eras. Between the Stone Age and the star power you'll find a host of different creatures that Wētā Workshop helped bring to life. This series showcases a richly imagined world, with each era presenting new challenges and fantastical beings.

Quetzalcoatlus 

VFX reference maquette and silicon puppet

For this tale through the eons, we made two versions of a giant pterosaur: a feathered, stately mother and her wrinkly, wide-eyed hatchling.

For the former, we created an intricate model just over a metre in scale to be used as a reference guide by VFX, experimenting with semi-translucent prints, 3D-printed wings and fur transfer of synthetic fibres to emulate feathers.

Her offspring, a pink silicone puppet with moving eyes, a gaping beak and flapping tongue, was crafted complete with an enormous egg that was slimed-up on set and designed to be magnetically resettable once it opened — a cracking idea for retakes.

Woolly rhino 

Cable-driven puppet

Time Bandits also birthed some very hairy beings, namely, a baby woolly rhino and a full-grown mammoth. The rhino, a posable puppet about the size of a Shetland pony, needed to be able to “eat” grass, lie down, tilt its head and twitch its ears, so we built it with cable-driven mouth and ears, along with a breathing apparatus that could be controlled by puppeteers.

Woolly mammoth 

Puppet and rider rig

The mammoth and its immaculate locks went one step further: as part of this big rig, two performers could walk in its shoes — or rather, its feet — and march around while harnessed in the suit, controlling its full movement, including its head and roaring trunk. For a show based on an 80s classic, it’s a fitting hark back to traditional puppetry. We also made a 1:1 buck/rider rig for the actor to ride during close-up shots.

Demons 

Creature suits and prosthetics

In addition to dinosaurs, the ragtag group of bandits also faced some demons on their peripatetic adventures. Among these, actors Mike Minogue and Karen O’Leary joined together as a three-headed demon “Stomach Face”. Inspired by medieval illustrations, we designed this clawed character and created a reusable creature suit. Not pictured: The masks, dentures, horns and ears our prosthetics team made to complete the look.

Shane Rangi, one of New Zealand’s leading creature performer and actors who has a long-standing history with Wētā Workshop, bared his claws and poses for another creature — part demon, part dog; part person, part puppet. Shane was actually standing, his legs concealed in a faux rock formation. The creature’s hind legs and tail were manually puppeteered, his tail whipping around like a cantankerous canine. Our prosthetics team complemented this with a devilish mask boasting screamer mechanism, foam horns and painted eyes, as well as long pull-on arms to gesture with dramatically.

Smilodon 

VFX reference bust

Ice-cold moving eyes and a bone-crushing maw seem like the just thing for a smilodon. We crafted this sabre-toothed VFX reference bust with a nylon-printed skull, a fake fur mane for texture, and some simple movements — think jaw motion for talking and mechanically puppeteered eyeballs for watching everything like a fearsome predator.