Bill & Ted’s Most Excellent Collection
Picture: B-
Sound: B- Extras: B- Films: B-/C+
Somewhere in the conundrum of 1980s Pop Culture between Fast
Times At Ridgemont High and the likes of Wayne’s World, there was
Bill & Ted. I fit were not for
Keanu Reeves becoming one of the top box office stars in the world, this
brief-lived franchise might not be as remembered as it is, but MGM has seen it
fit to reissue the original hit Nelson/Orion hit and its not-as-successful,
belated sequel with a third DVD of goodies and dubbed it Bill & Ted’s
Most Excellent Collection.
Packed in a box that looks like their time-traveling
telephone booth, faster than you can say Dr. Who or TARDIS, you
can access the films and some extras fans and the also-entertained will
enjoy. Bill & Ted’s Excellent
Adventure (1989) was a huge hit and helped define the 1980s cinematic
“leave your brain at the door” film that many tried to accuse of destroying
cinema as we know it, but these films at least tried to be entertaining and
have ironic distance from the material.
It was the opposite of the geek/genius cycle represented by films like Weird
Science and Real Genius (both 1985) as the title characters (played
well by Reeves and Alex Winter) access technology they have no clue about. Intended send-up or not, it has its fun
aspects, especially when they bring real-life historical figures to the high
school they are about to flunk out to save their futures. It is a minor classic of the late 1980s and
its pop culture.
For the sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey
(1991), the budget was increased and instead of trying the history angle again,
they tried for something different.
There is a battle of the bands and killer robot duplicates of the best
friends have committed murder. Then the
grim reaper arrives and the question becomes if the duo can survive. Well, the box office did not and even with a
brief animated TV series and live action series that were just plain doomed,
the journey became more bogus than you’d think. It came to an abrupt end.
Why the sequel had to become so grim, unfunny,
overproduced and especially overtechnologized beyond all the visual effects was
the worst possible turn the franchise could have taken. Even George Carlin’s return could not help
it in a film as grim as anyone could accuse Kevin Smith’s Dogma as
being, another Carlin-graced feature.
It is sluggish, poorly directed and even Pam Grier could not save
it. Reeves and Winter look like they
are just walking through this film and it gives one a new idea why the first
one was a hit to begin with, though maybe playing dual roles was ruining the
performance of the authentic human versions of the duo.
The anamorphically enhanced image on both films looks good
for an older transfer. The first film
is a 2.35 X 1 scope film and is nicely shot, while the sequel is in 1.85 X 1
and a bit darker-looking. The early
video effects date the film at least as much as the few featured in the
original. Both have been nicely remixed
for Dolby Digital 5.1 and sound good considering neither was originally
released that way. The first film was
Dolby A-type analog surround, while the sequel was in Dolby’s improved SR
analog system, which Orion was backing at the time in all their productions.
Extras include the original theatrical trailer on both
films, plus a teaser and promotional featurette on the sequel. The bonus DVD offers a ton of interesting
items, many of which were made for the disc or appear for the first time anywhere. Besides the usual making of documentary,
there is an interview with the screenwriters, a comic piece on the historical
personalities in the film, the first episode of the animated show, a Steve Vai
featurette called Score!, a separate air guitar tutorial, From
Scribble To Script gallery, video dictionary of Bill & Ted-speak and
the original radio spots for the film.
The materials are especially interesting on the first film, which is the
main reason to get this set if you like either film, because the bonus disc is
not sold separately.
- Nicholas Sheffo
