BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURES
(CBS & FOX, September 15, 1990-November 16, 1991)
Hanna-Barbera Productions, DiC Entertainment, L.P. (season
2), Nelson Entertainment, Orion Television, MGM Television
MAIN CAST:
When the future is in
peril who can save it? Two dudes from San Dimas, that’s who.
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| Poster for the first movie. |
Rufus (George Carlin), a resident of the utopian year 2688, was tasked by
his leaders to travel back to 20th Century San Dimas, California, to
ensure the two Great Ones responsible for their society successfully passed
their history class. Those Great Ones? Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and
Ted “Theodore” Logan (Keanu Reeves); the slacker best friends of the garage
band Wyld Stallyons. Traveling back in a phone booth-shaped time machine,
Rufus’ offer of helping them write their paper on how historical figures would
view the present was rejected until a future Bill and Ted arrived in the phone
booth and convince them otherwise. They traveled back in time to round up
historical figures for their report, but ended up running into difficulties
when the phone booth began to go haywire.
 |
| Bill, Rufus and Ted from the Hanna-Barbera version. |
During an improv workshop in 1983, Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson came up with the
characters of Bill and Ted: two ignorant teenagers who had no clue about
anything they said. They had such fun creating and acting as the characters
that they revisited them over the next year. By 1984, they had crafted a script
and began shopping it around. Several studios expressed interest in the script
and Solomon and Matheson rewrote them to each studio’s specifications.
Ultimately, it landed at Warner Bros.,
who brought it to the attention of director Stephen Herek; but they
eventually opted out of the deal, citing the death of the teen comedy genre.
 |
| Rufus getting the royal Roman treatment in a production drawing. |
Dino De Laurentis’
De
Laurentis Entertainment Group picked up the option and partnered with Interscope
Communications, and the film was put into pre-production. Alex Winter and Keanu
Reeves were cast as Bill and Ted, respectively (although initially they were
cast in the opposite roles). With their casting, the characters were altered
from their original envisioned state as being 14-year-old skinny guys who were
despised by the popular kids as it would be hard to believe given how cool
Winter and Reeves appeared to be. The final lead role of Rufus went to comedian
George Carlin after producer Scott
Kroopf saw him at a Comic Relief
concert. Initially, they were looking at for a more serious actor in the role.
 |
| The Dudes and Bill's step-mom Missy. |
Filming ran through 1987, but De Laurentis’ company went bankrupt before
its release after a series of box office bombs. The film sat in limbo until Orion Pictures picked
up the theatrical distribution rights with De Laurentis’ Nelson Entertainment handling
home video production. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure was finally released on February 17,
1989 to negative reviews, but the movie ended up grossing over $40 million
against its $10 million budget, becoming a box office success.
Looking to bank further on that
success, Hanna-Barbera
was tasked with bringing the movie to the small screen in the form of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures
for CBS. The basic concept remained unchanged,
save for a few cosmetic differences with the characters and renaming the dudes’
favorite hangout the Kozy Korner rather than the Circle K. Traveling in the phone booth was
accompanied by a brief segment of CGI showing it propelling through the time
stream. The series was written by Paul Dini, Sharman Divono, Rowby Goren, Wayne Kaatz, Gordon Kent, John Loy, John Ludin, Mary Jo Ludin, Doug Molitor, Sean Roche and Jim Thut, with music by Chuck Loeb. It was animated by Fil-Cartoons,
Wang Film
Productions and Cuckoo’s Nest
Studios.
 |
| Like, wrong number, dude. |
The most unusual aspect of the show was that unlike other movie-to-TV
adaptations, the actual movie actors provided their voices for the main
characters. That came about at the insistence of Judy Price, the Vice President
of Children’s Programs and Daytime Specials at CBS, as a way to maintain a
degree of credibility with the project. Ralston also secured
the rights to produce a cereal
promoting the series, although different actors provided the characters’ voices
in its commercial.
After one season, CBS decided to
drop the show due to the production going over budget and delivery delays,
despite the shows always airing on time and respectable ratings. The following
year, the relatively new FOX network decided
to pick up the series with production moving to DiC Entertainment.
DiC reworked the character designs slightly and animation was handled by Big Star Enterprise and Spectrum Animation
Studio. FOX sought to improve the repetitiveness they felt the
Hanna-Barbera episodes fell into by having the phone booth able to send Bill
and Ted into literature, films and even inside the human body. Goren and
Molitor remained, but were joined by Jim Aitken, Phil Harnage, Perry Martin, Kati Rocky, Judy Rothman Rofé, Barbara Slade and Ellis Weiner on scripts, with Murray McFadden and Timothy Mulholland on music. As
FOX was also planning a live-action
show in anticipation of the sequel film, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, being as successful as the
first, they decided to tie the cartoon into it by recasting the voices with their
live-action actors: Evan Richards, Christopher Kennedy and Rick Overton.
 |
| Bill & Ted: the comic strip. |
The changes didn’t sit well with
fans and the show only lasted eight more episodes; one episode longer than its
live-action counterpart, which also flopped. When the show began airing in the
United Kingdom, episodes were adapted along with original stories in comic form
in the magazine Look In! In 2005, the first episode was released as a special feature in
the Bill and Ted’s Most Excellent Collection DVD box set. In 2013, TGG Direct, LLC released a “best
of” collection on two discs, which omits five episodes from the first
season. Originally a Wal-Mart exclusive,
it was soon made available nationwide. In 2014, both discs were released individually.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“One Sweet & Sour Chinese Adventure” (9/15/90) – The dudes go to
ancient China to replace a vase they broke and meet Marco Polo.
“The Birth of Rock ‘N Roll or Too Hip for the Womb” (9/22/90) – Bill
and Ted are flunky music appreciation and given an assignment about classical
music.
“A Most Excellent Roman Holiday” (9/29/90) – The dudes head to ancient
Rome and end up saving Julius Caesar from being assassinated.
“Model ‘T’ For Ted” (10/6/90) – Ted accidentally wrecks his father’s
car and they head back in time to help fix it.
“The More Heinous They Are, the Harder They Fall” (10/20/90) – The
dudes head back in time to find a bigger bully to deal with their bully at
school.
“Birds of A Feather Stick to the Roof Of Your Mouth” (10/27/90) – The
dudes head into time to try and find a replacement for a rare bird they allowed
a cat to eat.
“A Black Night in San Dimas” (11/3/90) – Bill and Ted face expulsion
unless they can improve their grades.
“Pocket Watch Full of Miracles” (11/10/90) – The dudes head into time
to find an antique pocket watch for Mr. Preston’s birthday.
“The Babe Ruth “BABE” is A DUDE, Dude” (11/24/90) – After accidentally
washing a signature off Coach Sweatsock’s baseball the dudes head into time to
get it resigned.
“When the Going Gets Tough, Bill & Ted Are History” (12/1/90) –
Fed up with no applause, the band breaks up causing a breach in time security.
“Never the Twain Shall Meet” (12/8/90) – The dudes search for someone
to bring to Career Day.
“A Job, a Job—My Kingdom For a Job” (12/15/90) – Bill & Ted must
find a job.
“A Grimm Story of an Overdue Book” (12/22/90) – Ted has a very overdue
library book so the dudes head back in time to try and find a copy to replace
it.
Season 2:
“Now Museum, Now You Don’t” (9/14/91) – Bill and Ted have to try and
replace the Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo.
“The Totally Gross Anatomy of a Gym Teacher” (9/21/91) – A new phone
shrinks Bill and Ted and they take a journey through their gym coach’s body.
“The Star Strangled Banner” (9/28/91) – Music is threatened when Missy
sings a horrible rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the opening of a
baseball game.
“Leave It to Bill & Ted” (10/5/91) – Bill and Ted head into TV
land in order to change the outcome of their favorite shows, Leave it to Badger.
“Goodbye Columbus…And America” (10/20/91) – Bill and Ted accidentally
discourage Columbus from discovering America.
“It’s A Bogus Day in the Neighborhood” (10/26/91) – Bill and Ted must
keep their childhood idol Mr. Radish from quitting.
“Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure in Babysitting” (11/2/91) – Bill
and Ted go back in time to find Mr. Preston’s old guitar and end up babysitting
themselves.
“The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Phone Booth” (11/16/91) – Bill
and Ted learn Mr. Logan wasn’t always as disciplined as he wants Ted to be.
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