Bill And Ted\'s Excellent Adventure
Bill and Ted\'s Excellent Adventure is a movie that was made at some point in the 80's (19) I think. I refuse to do any research on this subject at all, since I know it so well. Also, the backslash in the word Ted\'s is intentional.
Just The Facts
- Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is maybe one of the top 100 movies ever made.
- The second one was really odd.
- No movie has handled time travel with more delicacy and precision as B&TEA
The only 5 confusing things about Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure.
5. The part where all of the historical figures are coming out of the phone booth (SPOILER ALERT)
Comic genius here. Bill, in order not to alert his mother to the fact that he has kidnapped various personages of interest from across time and space, decides to give each a pseudonym. So, Beethoven becomes 'Dave' Beeth Oven, and we get Maxine of Arc, Herman the Kid. Bob "Genghis" Khan. So-crates Johnson, and Dennis Frood (actually Sigmund Freud). Then, for some reason, Bill blanks on what to name Abraham Lincoln, and resignedly introduces him as 'Abraham Lincoln'. What the hell happened there? Bill couldn't think of any other name besides Abraham? Also, why keep their fake names so close to their real ones? Normally this movie pays close attention to the little details, so this was surprising.
4. The part with So-crates from the History Final
So-crates is describing to the students of San Dimas High's combined History classes (by the way, if all of the students in that auditorium are just from that one teacher's history classes, then what does he have, like 150 students per class?). ANYWAY, So-crates is explaining his thoughts through Ted, who is acting as his interpreter of pant-o-mime (because So-crates speaks Greek - see? Attention to detail). So-crates is saying he loves certain things, and he mimes swinging a bat, to which Ted explains "he loves...baseball" - and So-crates, who inexplicably understood what he said, reacts like Ted just kicked his child/boy/lover in the nuts (TAKE THAT, my ancient Greek readers!) Here is the problem - what the hell WAS he saying? What else could that motion have signified? Watch this video at 4:17 for the bonus fruit. www.youtube.com/watch
3. What the hell is up with Wyld Stallyns' music?
At one point in the film, as you are well aware, the Bill and the Ted go to the utopian future which their music has created. But listen www.youtube.com/watch, why do two guys whose influences are Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, and Iron Maiden make music that sounds like Tears for Fears (seriously, the song that causes the planets to align sounds a whole lot like 'Sowing the Seeds of Love', which caused nothing to align, as far as I know). We hear them wailing out when they first get the band together, so at what point did they stop and say "You know what? To hell with Slayer, let's make terrible music." Oh wait, every band did this in 2001, so I guess it was around then.
4. Did Bill and Ted's History teacher bang Bill's stepmom?
www.youtube.com/watch Watch from 3:01 to 3:14.
5. How the hell did Keanu Reeve's career take off, but not Bill's?
Not really a point from the movie, but hey, fuck you. Looky here - in certain cases, a pair of people have come up, got noticed as a pair, then gone their own way, famousness-wise. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Harold and Kumar. But this has to be the first time the less talented member of the pair became more famous - and I am not the only one who disparages Keanu Reeves. It's a pretty common thing to put down his theoretical acting ability (see every Cracked article, ever), and you can't even say he is that good-looking (better than Alex Winter [Bill], but still). What the hell is up with that? Did anyone see B&TEA and said, "That Ted kid - people will pay good money to see him play this same character (minus the charm and comedy) in his next 10 movies, " [Bonus: You see how I ended that quote with a comma? That's so the hypothetical moviegoer could potentially go on to say other things - that's giving your characters OPTIONS]
Oh Bill and Ted, I would LAUGH if they met the Doctor in the timestream.
ReplyWhy does no one ever bother to mention the time-travel in this movie is a blatant rip-off, er.... I mean loving nod to Doctor Who?
ReplySupposedly, the phone booth was a very late add, since the pedophile van they were going to use was deemed too similar to the car-as-time-travel device used in Back to the Future (a.k.a. the '80s movie that dealt with time travel in the least thoughtful way possible). ALSO: allegedly, the writers had never even heard of Dr. Who, although I find that baffling, since that British c********r with the scarf (a.k.a. the best Dr. Who EVER) was kicking it at that time. THEORY: Dr. Who and B&T are a joint project whose intellectual conceptualizations (what?) are way too advanced for normal PhD recipients such as ourselves. Theory?: PROVEN.
The Seventh Doctor didn't have a scarf... You're thinking of Tom Baker, the Fourth.
Best topic ive read in a while. What I loved about BaTEE is that it's the only time travel movie that DOES NOT make gaping plot holes (unlike a certain OTHER time travel movie in the 80's). When Ted realizes that he needs his dad's key does he go back home for it? NO! He just remembers to get it and hide it in the past. That way, he just changed the past, so he just reaches where he left it. GENIOUS!
ReplySee, I'm right on with you here. Time travel movies all seem to forget one key fact - if time travel was ever going to be possible, we would already know, since someone would have come back from the future to tell us. Since we now know time travel will never happen, let's just use it as a goofy plot device, rather than try to make sense out of something that is inherently paradoxical. THAT IS ONE HUMOROUS SENTENCE. Also, you spelled 'genius' wrong. Learn from the best I NEVER MAKE SPELLING OR TYPOGRAPHICAL MISTAKES.
Why do so many people misspell the word geneous?
I think So-crates was talking about Bob "Genghis" Kahn in the Sporting Goods store.
ReplySo what he was actually saying is "I love...ultraviolence"?