Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

A tyrant from the future creates evil android doubles of Bill and Ted and sends them back to eliminate the originals.

Director:

Peter Hewitt (as Pete Hewitt)

Writers:

Chris Matheson (characters), Ed Solomon (characters)

Stars:

Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, William Sadler

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Keanu Reeves	...	Ted
Alex Winter	...	Bill / Granny Preston
William Sadler	...	Grim Reaper
Joss Ackland	...	De Nomolos
Pam Grier	...	Ms. Wardroe
George Carlin	...	Rufus
Amy Stoch	...	Missy (as Amy Stock-Poynton)
Jim Martin	...	Sir James Martin
Hal Landon Jr.	...	Captain Logan
Annette Azcuy	...	Elizabeth
Sarah Trigger	...	Joanna
Chelcie Ross	...	Colonel Oats
Taj Mahal	...	Gatekeeper
Robert Noble	...	Bach
Hal Landon Sr.	...	Thomas Edison

Storyline

The world of our distant future is a veritable utopia, thanks to the lyrics of two simple-minded 20th Century rock and rollers, Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan. However, a would-be conquerer threatens to throw history off-track by sending "most non-non-heinous" evil robot Bill and Teds back to kill their good counterparts. Finding themselves dead, the boys must outwit the Grim Reaper and traverse Heaven and Hell to return to the land of the living, rescue their "babes" and have a "most triumphant" concert at the all-important Battle of the Bands.

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Plot Keywords:

lucifer morningstar character | death character | albert einstein character | benjamin franklin character | the easter bunny character | 

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Taglines:

Whoa dude! Pressed hams!"

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Music | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian Russian

Release Date:

19 July 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure II

Filming Locations:

Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant - 6100 Woodley Avenue, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$38,037,513

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nelson Entertainment, Interscope Communications

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The guitar solo before KISS' "God Gave Rock And Roll To You", is performed by guitar legend Steve Vai. The footage had already been shot, and the world premiere was a week away, when he was asked to do it. He also contributed various music in the film, including "The Reaper Rap", which features on the end credits.

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Goofs

When Bill and Ted are falling to hell and upright you can clearly see the seats they are on to mimic falling. Most visible with Bill as he is wearing lighter jeans/pants. They look reminiscent of unicycle seats.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Chuck De Nomolos: It is time. They have reached the second crucial turning point in their destiny. Their message is about to reach millions. But, we will change all that. When our mission is successful, no longer will the world be dominated by the legacy of these two fools! No longer will we hear this.
[plays air guitar]
Chuck De Nomolos: We will stop them now! Brothers and sisters, are we ready?
[everybody cocks their guns]

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Crazy Credits

The Full On First Unit

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Alternate Versions

A scene in the future that was cut showed De Nomolos explaining more about his book, including who Missy was to marry in his version of history. The line in the finished movie made by Evil Bill when he knocks out Missy, "Catch ya later future wife!" is a reference to this.

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Connections

Edited into The Frollo Show: Frollo Misses his Mother (2011)

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Soundtracks

Tommy the Cat
Written, Performed & Produced by Primus
Published by Sturgeon
Courtesy of Interscope Records

User Reviews

Very underrated, and probably released in the wrong year

This movie is very underrated. It's highly imaginative, creative and clever. It's just plain fun and in my opinion this film tops the first one. But the film was forgotten when it first came out, and became even more overlooked as the years passed. "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" also bombed at the box office, whereas the first one was a pretty good hit and very popular.

I think the problem may be that this film was just released a couple years too late. In 1991, Bill and Ted already seemed "so '80s". Even though the '80s were only a couple years ago back at that time, the landscape of the music and style for kids had changed so radically with gangsta rap, hip hop, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, grunge and the Seattle sound. Bill and Ted with their Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen and Guns N' Roses music along with their '80s style seemed so out of place and very outdated in '91, and I think that's one BIG reason the film bombed at the box office. Nobody but surfers were still saying stuff like "excellent!" and "bogus!" in 1991. "Gremlins 2" which also came out in the early '90s suffered a similar fate of being a good film that bombed at the box office because it was too associated with the '80s. The transition from the '80s to the '90s was a much faster change then now with the '90s and '00s. 1991 was nothing like 1988 or 1989, whereas right now, 2002 and last year 2001 still looks/looked like 1995 or 1996.

If only "Excellent Adventure" which was made in 1988, was released THAT YEAR instead of 1989, and "Bogus Journey" was made quickly and released in 1989, then it too would have probably been just as wildly received as the first.