Disc 1: Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
The first disc contains the first film, Bill &
Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which opens with George Carlin (my favorite
comedian) as Rufus directly addressing us from the future. He tells us that
he’s traveling into the past to keep Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted
Logan (Keanu Reeves) on the right path for the sake of civilization. Yes, all
of future humanity depends on these two lovable idiots.
Mr. Ryan (Bernie Casey), their history teacher, tells
them they have to get an A+ on the following day’s report or they’ll fail the
class. And if Ted fails the class, his father will force him to go to military
school, and Bill and Ted won’t be able to get their rock band going. (This film
does act as a reminder of just how bad music was in the late 1980s.) So Rufus
arrives in a time machine in the form of a phone booth to help them with their
report. “Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.” When Napoleon
accidentally gets sucked into the time portal, Bill gets the idea of collecting
other historical personages. At one point they’re dressed as medieval knights
playing Star Wars. And I love Genghis Khan with the baseball bat, and
Beethoven at the keyboard. Plus, Joan of Arc is played by Jane Wiedlin.
Disc 1 Special Features
The first disc contains two separate audio commentaries.
The first is with Alex Winter and producer Scott Krooph, and is moderated by
Sean Clark. It’s interesting that originally it was to be a van, not a phone
booth, to function as the time machine, but that after the release of Back
To The Future, they felt they had to change it. They talk about how there
were various ideas for Rufus, including Charlie Sheen and Sean Connery.
The second audio commentary is with writers Chris
Matheson and Ed Solomon. They talk about the original title and the ideas in
the original script, as well as the origins of the characters. They too talk
about the change from a van to a phone booth because of Back To The Future.
Interestingly, they say that George Carlin wrote that opening monologue, after
early test audiences were confused.
The film’s trailer is also included.
Disc 2: Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
The second disc contains the second film, Bill &
Ted’s Bogus Journey. It is the year 2691, and an evil dude named De Nomolos
(Joss Ackland) wants to stop Bill and Ted. Seeing the fashions of the times,
you might not think it’s such a bad idea, actually. People are wearing clothes
straight out of local access programming for children. Rufus is teaching at
Bill & Ted’s University, using the phone booth to bring historical figures
to the classroom. “Remember, this Friday Ben Franklin and Aretha Franklin
will be here,” he tells the students. De Nomolos and his armed band force
their way in, and send two robot versions of Bill and Ted back in time to
dispose of our unlikely heroes. Rufus manages to follow them back in time.
Meanwhile, Bill and Ted’s band is struggling, though the
two medieval chicks seemed to have already learned their instruments. And hey,
look at that Pepsi product placement. Impossible not to see it, as the can is
dead center of frame, with four characters around it. Nothing subtle there. In
that scene, the guys propose to their babes. Things are going well until Evil
Bill and Evil Ted show up and kill our heroes, and the afterworld presents its
own problems. “Dude, there’s no way I can possibly do infinity pushups.”
To get back to the land of the living, rescue their girlfriends, stop the evil
robots and win the battle of the bands contest, Bill and Ted must first
challenge the Grim Reaper (William Sadler) to a game. No, not chess, as in The
Seventh Seal, but Battleship. I love when the Grim Reaper says to the
smoker, “See you real soon.” And I love that Primus is in the battle of
the bands.
Disc 2 Special Features
Like the first disc, this disc contains two separate
commentary tracks. The first commentary is by Alex Winter and producer Scott
Kroopf, and is again moderated by Sean Clark. They talk about getting this
sequel made, about the cast. Alex mentions that Joss Ackland hated him and
Keanu. “He just thought we were a complete waste of talent, and it drove him
crazy.” The do touch on the strange recasting of the two girlfriends, and
how the hair colors of the two characters switched in the process.
The second commentary is done by writers Chris Matheson
and Ed Solomon. They talk about the tight schedule, and about how the success
of the first film affected them. The original idea for this film,
interestingly, is that Bill and Ted would go into literature, the same way they
went into history in the first film. They also talk about the mistake they made
of switching the two girlfriends. “We might have switched them accidentally.”
The special features also include the film’s trailer.
Disc 3: Special Features
The third disc contains bonus material. Time Flies
When You Are Having Fun!: A Look Back At A Most “Excellent Adventure” is an
hour-long documentary, featuring interviews with cast members Keanu Reeves,
Alex Winter, Amy Stock-Poynton, Jane Wiedlin, Rod Loomis, Dan Shor, Terry
Camilleri, Clifford David, AL Leong, and Hal Landon, Jr., as well as with
producer Scott Kroopf, writer Chris Matheson, composer David Newman, and
special make-up and creature creator Kevin Yagher. They talk about the original
ending, in which the historical figures simply show up in Mr. Ryan’s classroom.
And interestingly, at one point the film wasn’t going to be released.
And then Bill And Ted Go To Hell: Revisiting A “Bogus
Journey” is a documentary on the second film, featuring more from some of
the same interviews, plus interviews with William Sadler, production designer
David L. Snyder, production illustrator Simon Murton. William Sadler reveals it
was his idea to have the cigarette line. They talk about some of the things
that didn’t make it to the final cut. This documentary is approximately
fifty-two minutes.
The Most Triumphant Making Of Documentary is a
documentary on both films made for the earlier DVD release. It features
interviews with director Stephen Herek, director Pete Hewitt, producer Scott
Kroopf, writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, production designer Roy Forge
Smith, as well as cast member Alex Winter. There is some discussion about the
connection with Monty Python. This is approximately thirty-one minutes.
This third disc also includes The Original Bill &
Ted: In Conversation With Chris And Ed, a twenty-minute segment with the
writers, and Score! An Interview With Guitarist Steve Vai, in which he
talks about air guitar, Frank Zappa and about scoring films. There is also a
segment just on air guitar, with interviews with two people who seem to take it
very seriously (Did you know there are air guitar competitions? Wait, no, this
has to be a joke). The Hysterical Personages Of Bill & Ted is an odd
sort of history lesson. A vintage EPK for the second film is also included, as
well a bit on the characters’ manner of speech.
Bill & Ted’s Most Excellent Collection was
released on September 27, 2016 through Shout! Factory.
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