Every time I watched Terry Gilliam's "Time Bandits" I thought about the map Randall's gang carried around. Every successive viewing I was enthralled by how these cosmic beings, builders of the Universe and All Creation, were using a physical document to navigate All Creation. Even better still, this map is immediately recognizable as a map yet completely unlike any other map in our dimension.
I started THINKING about making this map in the middle of 2015, shortly after I finished a copy of Henry Jones' Grail Diary.
I started researching making this map at the beginning of 2017, realizing that unlike The Grail Diary, there wasn't quite as much research that had been done on this prop, besides a couple notable replicas that have been produced previously. The story that I've read here is that there were two maps produced for the film: one is the possession of Terry Gilliam; the other is owned by the estate of George Harrison, who was a co-producer on the film. Liner notes indicate the scan included with the Criterion is the George Harrison copy.
With a copy of the Time Bandits Criterion Blu-Ray, I scanned the fold-out map at high-resolution and stitched it together as my starting point. From what I've seen discussed here and across the internet, full size is approximately 39" x 24-1/2" total, including the borders with the clocks.
Next, I wrote out a rough and slap-dash "process" list with the pieces that I could see and that I knew would need some detailed attention.
But what good is a plan if it's not flexible? I'm excited about where this project will take me... it certainly doesn't seem as simple as this list would imply.
I started THINKING about making this map in the middle of 2015, shortly after I finished a copy of Henry Jones' Grail Diary.
I started researching making this map at the beginning of 2017, realizing that unlike The Grail Diary, there wasn't quite as much research that had been done on this prop, besides a couple notable replicas that have been produced previously. The story that I've read here is that there were two maps produced for the film: one is the possession of Terry Gilliam; the other is owned by the estate of George Harrison, who was a co-producer on the film. Liner notes indicate the scan included with the Criterion is the George Harrison copy.
With a copy of the Time Bandits Criterion Blu-Ray, I scanned the fold-out map at high-resolution and stitched it together as my starting point. From what I've seen discussed here and across the internet, full size is approximately 39" x 24-1/2" total, including the borders with the clocks.
Next, I wrote out a rough and slap-dash "process" list with the pieces that I could see and that I knew would need some detailed attention.
- Borders/Frames
- Dark Blue Nebula Background
- Grid Lines
- Grid numbers
- Shapes: Circles, Triangles
- Gate Markers (~40)
- Squiggle Compass Rose, Snake Thing
- Vertical Numbers (Font?), Horizontal numbers
- Blue Time-Topography
- White Time-Topography
- Allllllll the other details
- Clocks
But what good is a plan if it's not flexible? I'm excited about where this project will take me... it certainly doesn't seem as simple as this list would imply.
