A favorite theme within pop culture is the exciting possibility of traveling through time. Whether you arrive in a police box, a DeLorean, or a phone booth, the results are almost always the same – everything that can go wrong, does. Toss in the danger of flunking most heinously and losing Napoleon in San Dimas, and you have one excellent adventure.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure hit theaters in 1989 and starred Alex Winter as William “Bill” S. Preston Esq. and Keanu Reeves as Theodore “Ted” Logan. The two slightly dimwitted Californian teenagers were aspiring musicians who strived to bring their band Wyld Stallyns to fame. Unbeknownst to them, in the the driving force behind a utopian society created in the future. In order to ensure that this society comes to fruition, leaders in the future send Rufus (George Carlin) back in time to assist Bill and Ted with their history report. If the duo fail to pass their test, their teacher will flunk them and Ted will be shipped off to a military academy. Rufus must make sure this doesn’t happen, so he provides Bill and Ted with a phone booth time machine and allows them to meet historical figures and learn about key historical events.
Winter and Reeves reprised their roles in a follow-up to the cult classic film, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey in 1991. In this film, Bill and Ted are killed by robot doubles who capture their fiancées. Desperate to return from the afterlife, Bill and Ted challenge the Grim Reaper to a series of games to win back their lives. Eventually, Bill and Ted return to present day, along with the Grim Reaper, just in time for the Wyld Stallyns’ performance at the Battle of the Bands. Along with the two films, Winter and Reeves reprised their roles for an animated television series in 1990.
But did you know Winter and Reeves are gearing up for one more excellent adventure as Bill and Ted? The third installment in the franchise, Bill & Ted Face the Music, will see Reeves and Winter reunite onscreen as Bill and Ted after 27 years. More information on this most excellent development can be found on Scoop.
