Bill and Ted (film): Difference between revisions

{{quote|''[[Badass Creed|Be excellent to each other and... Party on, dudes]]!''

|Credo of Bill and Ted, quoted even by [[Abraham Lincoln]]!}}

 

[[File:bill-and-ted_250_7975.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''EXCELLENT!''}}

The first film features Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan ([[Keanu Reeves]]) as two air-headed rocker kids from San Dimas, California. They're so focused on their wannabe rock band Wyld Stallyns (and so dumb) that they're in danger of failing History class and being held back. To make matters worse, Ted's authoritarian police chief father says that if that happens, Ted will be shipped off to a military academy in Alaska, breaking up the band.

 

 

The movie ended up being an unexpected comedy classic, credited with launching Keanu Reeves' career (a more snarky troper might contend that the dopey Ted is his best role ever). Because of this, as well as the contrast between this and Reeves' later roles, ''Bill and Ted'' is frequently used to mock other movies: ''[[The Matrix]]'' is quite comedic when you redub Neo with dialogue that sounds like [[Totally Radical|Ted]].

It is also noteworthy for being one of the few [[Buddy Picture|buddy comedies]] where the friends don't [[Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure|get mad at one another and split up for some amount of time]]. Also for an unexpected level of internal consistency, despite the wacky attitude.

 

[[File:Bogus-journey_549.jpg|frame]]

{{quote|''STATION!''}}

Since 1992, the Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando and Hollywood have used Bill and Ted in their annual Halloween Horror Nights event as ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure'', parodying that year's pop culture and entertainment. The 2009 event, for example, featured Twilight, Megan Fox (well, a male impersonator), ''[[Watchmen (film)|Watchmen]]'', ''X-Men Origins'', ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'', and ''[[G.I. Joe]]'', among many others.

 

[[File:everythingwillbealright_1061.png|frame]]

{{quote|''Their most excellent adventure continues...''}}

According to Winter, the movie will evoke the spirit of the originals without succumbing to "retro cynicism", and that they've found a way to continue the story beyond the apparent [[Happily Ever After]] at the end of ''Bogus Journey''. Early information suggests that the plot will revolve around the fact that Bill and Ted haven't changed the world yet and are trying to write the song that will create Rufus' utopian future.

 

 

----

 

 

* [[Air Guitar]]: '''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx8FanC70S4 Every ten seconds]''' whenever Bill and Ted think of something EXCELLENT!

** In the second film, the evil B&T develop a "stealth" version (twiddling their fingers as if strumming) after De Nomolos shoots them a [[Death Glare]] for doing the real thing. They continue to use it throughout the movie.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Bill and Ted do everything together. Including proposing to their girlfriends.

* [[Hot Mom]]: Bill (and later Ted's) stepmom, Missy. It helps that she's only three years older than Bill and Ted. Ted even asked her to the prom. It's lampshaded in the first movie, when Freud offers to psychoanalyze Bill during the history report, and he responds, "Nah, just got a minor Oedipal complex."

* [[Ink Suit Actor]]: In "The Birth Of Rock And Roll" animated episode, Little Richard voices himself.

* [[May-December Romance]]: Missy definitely seems to have a thing for men who are old enough to be her father; first marrying Bill's dad, and later Ted's dad.

* [[Myspeld Rokband]]/[[Xtreme Kool Letterz]]: WYLD STALLYNS! ''*air guitar*''

* [[Parody Sue]]: The founders of a Utopian future are ''these'' guys.

* [[Retroactive Preparation]]

** Arguably the first film did this with the absurd number of people they cram into the thing, subtly drawing attention to the fact that it is most assuredly ''not'' [[Bigger on the Inside]].

* [[Shallow Female Love Interest]]: The princesses again.

* [[Take That]]: In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Bill and Ted run into Rufus at a record store, where a Take That to then-hot teenybopper group New Kids On The Block (who had a cartoon show then as well) is delivered:

{{quote|'''Rufus:''' I was just checking out this new album by New Boys On The Corner.

* [[Utopia]]: The duo use [[The Power of Rock]] to turn the world into one.

 

'''The first movie demonstrates these non-heinous tropes:'''

* [[Accidental Hug]]

** It was also "most tranquil."

** And you'll never guess where it got the "[[Days of Our Lives|like sands from the hour glass]]" expression.

* [[Big "Shut Up!"]]:

{{quote|'''Ted''': "Now your Dad's getting it on in your own room!"

* [[Eternal English]]: Averted with Beethoven, Joan of Arc, Socrates, Napoleon, and Genghis Kahn being unable to speak a word of English.

** Invoked when they visit England 1501 and meet the Royal Princess Babes, however. While both sets of characters technically spoke English, you have sixteenth century Britons speaking to modern American valley-guys. While a handful of references and words were misunderstood on either side, in reality, they would sound like they were speaking in a bizarre Stage Irish accent -- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWe1b9mjjkM see Shakespeare in original pronunciation.]

* [[Everything's Better with Princesses|Everything's Better With Royal English Babes]]:

{{quote|'''Bill:''' "We gotta go. It's a history report, not a babe report."

** Of course, there's also the booth itself. Not exactly something that could fit nine (and later ''ten'') people easily (although Ted did say they were "running out of room" when there were only nine). They eventually tilt the booth onto its back and travel through time standing up through the open door in order to fit everyone comfortably.

* [[Hidden Depths]]: Billy The Kid. When he first meets Bill and Ted, he saw them as suckers that would help him cheat at poker. Upon Bill and Ted bailing him out of a deadly bar fight, he not only says he owes them his life, but seems to like the two in general. He also gets along well with Socrates and at one point they rescue Bill and Ted from execution. He is later shown to have tremendous stage presence when introducing the two in the history report.

* [[Hollywood History]]: Consciously and unashamedly.

* [[How We Got Here]]: The most epic example. The beginning of the adventure has Bill and Ted meeting their future selves who offer them advice and wish them luck. Near the end of their adventure they end up doing the exact same thing, only this time we see what Rufus needed to talk to them about.

* [[I Owe You My Life]]: Billy the Kid, who later returns the favor.

* [[It's Been Done]]: Amusingly [[Double Subverted]] in the film's production. The time machine was originally going to be a 1969 Chevrolet van, but when they realized the similarities to [[Back to The Future|another science fiction film]], they decided to change it... to a [[Doctor Who|phone booth]].

* [[A Little Something We Call "Rock and Roll"]]

* [[Logic Bomb]]: Wyld Stallyns won't be a good band until they have Eddie Van Halen, and they won't have Eddie Van Halen until they have a triumphant music video, and they won't have a triumphant music video until they have good instruments, and they won't have good instruments until they know how to play, and they won't know how to play until they have Eddie Van Halen...

'''Bill and Ted:''' "BOGUS!" }}

* [[Odd Friendship]]: Billy the Kid and Socrates. An outlaw and a philosopher respectively seem to get along well. When Bill and Ted make eyes to the Princesses, the two historical figures are seen in the background tossing a Nerf football to each other. They work together to rescue Bill and Ted from execution. When they run amok in San Dimas Mall, Socrates is seen trying to emulate Billy's trademark shooting the ceiling with a water gun. [[Shown Their Work|It's not so odd when you realize that William Bonney has been rumored to be a well educated man and even at one point studied philosophy.]]

{{quote|'''Rufus:''' "San Dimas, California, 2688. And I'm telling you, it's great here. The air is clean, the water's clean... even the dirt, it's ''clean.'' Bowling averages are way up, mini-golf scores are way down. And we have more excellent water slides than any other planet we communicate with."}}

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: Bill lapses into one when he thinks a medieval dude killed Ted.

* [[Waxing Lyrical]]: "All we are is dust... in the wind, dude."

* [[The Wild West]]

* [[You Already Changed the Past]]: One of the signs that Bill and Ted are clever if not book smart is their recognition of this trope; they realize that to solve a problem in the present, they can use their time machine to plant helpful items in the past, and then they'll be there for their present selves to discover - and they keep reminding each other "Once this is over, we have to go back and place all that stuff!"

 

'''The second movie features the following totally metal tropes:'''

* [[All Part of the Show]]

** Though at the concert at the end of the film, Ted says it can mean anything.

* [[God]]: Appears as a bright light in a roughly anthropoid shape who says very little.

* [[Graceful Loser]]: Evil Bill and Evil Ted of all people, when the Good Robot Usses charge them in the climactic concert.

{{quote|'''Evil Bill:''' "Evil Ted, looks like we've met our match."

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Bill and Ted]]

[[Category:Science Fiction Films]]

[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]

[[Category:Films of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Film]]

[[Category:Independent Films]]