Bill & Ted's crazy journey through time
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (Original title: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure ) is a science fiction - Comedy by Stephen Herek from the year 1989 . The film is based on the idea of time travel .
action
In 1988, Bill and Ted had a problem in San Dimas : their history teacher, Mr. Ryan, gave them a presentation in which people from world history should express their opinion about San Dimas. If they can not pass their history test and thereby fail their school leaving certificate, Ted is said to be sent by his father to a military academy in Alaska and the band "Wyld Stallyns" (dt. Wild Stallions) of the two teenagers would have to break up. A time traveler named Rufus from the future provides them with a time machine in the form of a phone booth, because later with their band and music they will change his world for the better. But that only works if the two can stay together.
In 1805 in Austria they witness the French invasion, from where they bring Napoleon with them. They deliver this at home to Ted's little brother Deacon, who is supposed to take care of him, while Bill and Ted want to get other people from history for their presentation.
In New Mexico, 1879, Bill and Ted met Billy the Kid in a bar . They save his life there in a fight and take him with them on their flight to ancient Greece in 410 BC . There they meet Socrates . With both of them, Bill and Ted travel on to medieval England . Here they meet the beautiful princesses Elizabeth and Joanna, but have to leave hastily without them, after having narrowly escaped an execution on the scaffold with the help of Billy the Kid and Socrates . Their escape leads the four to the headquarters of the time travelers who had sent Rufus to see Bill and Ted. Meanwhile Napoleon visits an ice cream parlor with Deacon and is visibly irritated by modern life.
Bill and Ted travel with Billy the Kid and Socrates to Vienna in 1901 to take Sigmund Freud with them on their further journey through time to Kassel in 1810, where they meet Ludwig van Beethoven . Together with him, the group set out for Orléans in 1429, from where they set off for Mongolia with Joan of Arc in 1209 . Together with Genghis Khan , they continue their journey to Washington in 1863, where she at the White House on Abraham Lincoln meet. Due to a defect in the antenna of their time machine, the group landed in San Dimas at the desired location, but not at the right time. It takes them to the year 1 million BC. After repairing the antenna, they return to the present, America of the 1980s.
There Bill and Ted find out that Deacon lost his protégé Napoleon at a bowling evening. You are looking for Napoleon and you find it in a leisure pool. Meanwhile, the historical figures create a huge chaos in a shopping center, whereupon they are arrested by the police, above all by Ted's father Captain Logan, and locked in the police station. Bill and Ted manage to free the historical figures. Your performance with them will be a huge success and they will pass the exam and continue to play together in their band.
Rufus visits the two and brings them the two princesses Elizabeth and Joanna from England, who join their band. Finally, the two of them realize that they must first learn to play the guitar in order to be able to win over the rock star Eddie van Halen for their band.
background
The film was shot in Phoenix , Tempe , Scottsdale , Flagstaff , Mesa and the Coconino National Forest . Further recordings were made in San Dimas , which is also where the plot of the film is located. It was also shot in Rome . Filming began on February 9, 1987, ended in May 1987. The budget of the film is about 10 million US dollars estimated. However, due to the bankruptcy of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group , the film could not be released until 1988 until the rights were acquired by Nelson Entertainment . Due to this delayed release, some dates and the synchronization in the film had to be changed afterwards. The copyright date of the film is 1988, this can also be seen on the DVD cover. On the cover of the British VHS release by BMG Entertainment International UK , which appeared in 1997, the two main actors can also be seen as the two princesses. This representation is taken from the deleted scene of the high school prom , which should have been seen towards the end of the film.
The film celebrated its world premiere in the USA on February 17, 1989. From June 15, 1989, the film was shown in Germany. In the USA almost 40.5 million US dollars could be brought in. On September 15, 2006, the film was released in Germany by Studiocanal with an FSK-6 approval.
Alex Winter originally auditioned for the role of Ted while Keanu Reeves auditioned for the role of Bill. Ultimately, they were given the other role.
In the original script, a 1969 Chevrolet van was intended as a time machine. However, due to the similarity to the 1985 film Back to the Future , this idea was discarded. Instead, a phone booth was used as a time machine, as was already the case in a similar form, as an emergency call box , in the television series Doctor Who .
The way Bill and Ted are saved from the scaffold is a referential parallel to the film The Three Musketeers , in which D'Artagnan was saved the same way. Stephen Herek directed both films .
The depiction of the fighting of Napoleon's troops is taken from the 1956 film War and Peace . Abraham Lincoln's final speech is a humorous paraphrase of his historic Gettysburg Address .
In Rufus' guitar solo at the end of the film, the hands of the musician Stevie Salas can be seen playing in a cameo . In the film, Bill and Ted talk several times about wanting to win Edward Van Halen for their band. This said with a wink that he would have joined her band if he had been asked. In the film, Ted wears the cover of the 1986 Van Halen single Why Can't This Be Love printed on the chest on a white T-shirt under a black vest.
synchronization
Various allusions to pop culture made the synchronization into German difficult. Bill and Ted's enthusiasm for Iron Maiden can be explained by the fact that they only know the English term Iron Maiden as the name of a metal band. Also the motto "All we are is Dust in the Wind " with which the duo convinced the philosopher Socrates of themselves can no longer be recognized in the German version as the title of the song by the rock group Kansas .
When Ted is asked by his history teacher about Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc) , he suspects that she could be Noah's wife, since "Arc" sounds like "ark" ( ark ) in English . This pun could not be saved in German either; the translation is content with establishing a connection between Hannibal and football . Thus, Jeanne d'Arc is not mentioned in the German version until they meet her personally in the course of the story.
In some cases, however, the transfer was achieved in the German language, for example, when saying " Heavy Metal (dt." Heavy metal ), express the Bill and Ted as they stumble in medieval armor. In addition, something was added: When Napoleon tried an ice cream sundae he said “ la glacée ” (French for “ice cream”) and Ted's brother Deacon replied: “Mh-hm, it's great!”. In the English original he simply replies “ Whatever. Just eat it. "(Eng." Whatever. Just eat it. ").
Some of the main characters' phrases have found their way into popular culture, especially from the German-language dubbed version of the film, as they were very unusual in contrast to the English formulations. For example “Hoschi” as a term for type, guy or as a salutation as well as the phrase “Volle Kanne, Hoschi!”. The spellings "Hoshi", "Hoschie" and "Hoshy" are also widespread. In the English-language original, the very common expression “ dude ” (colloquial age ) is used here.
One of the few phrases of the original with a unique character such as “ be excellent to each other ” was dubbed as “existence is colorful and strong as a grenade”. The "Volle Kanne, Hoschi (s)!" Is in the original only a " Party on, dudes!" ", So about" let the party rise / go on ". In general, casual formulations tend to be more amusing in the synchronization, for example “sailed out of armor while rolling the stairs” instead of “ fell out of the suit when I hit the floor ” ( fell out of my suit when I hit the floor ). Also the “Well, are we from the cockroach scare, royal nasal drain?” Was called in the original flatly “How's it going, royal ugly dudes?”.
The translation of "Bill S. Preston, Esquire" was mistakenly translated as "Bill S. Preston, Ruler of the Suck Noses" , but "Bill S. Preston, the High Born" would be more correct . Likewise, the original name of Ted "Theodore" Logan has been changed to the German "Ted, das Nashorn, Logan" without any recognizable reference .
| actor | speaker | role |
|---|---|---|
| Keanu Reeves | Andreas Fröhlich | Ted Logan |
| Robert V. Barron | Herbert Weicker | Abraham Lincoln |
| Alex Winter | Charles Rettinghaus | Bill S. Preston |
| Harry Landon Jr. | Reinhard Glemnitz | Captain Logan |
| Clifford David | Klaus Guth | Ludwig van Beethoven |
| Bernie Casey | Leon Rainer | Mr. Ryan |
| Terry Camilleri | Arne Elsholtz | Napoleon |
| George Carlin | Jochen Striebeck | Rufus |
| Rod Loomis | Christian Marshal | Sigmund Freud |
Soundtrack
Of A & M Records one was in February 1989 Soundtrack released, are included on the ten songs with a total playing time of 40:32 minutes.
| No. | title | Interpreter |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Play With Me | Extremes |
| 2. | The Boys and the Girls Are Doing It | Vital Signs |
| 3. | Not so far away | Glen Burtnick |
| 4th | Dancing With a Gypsy | Torah Torah |
| 5. | Father Time | Shark Island |
| 6th | I can't break away | Big Pig |
| 7th | Dangerous | Shark Island |
| 8th. | Walk away | Bricklin |
| 9. | In time | Robbie Robb |
| 10. | Two Heads Are Better Than One | Power tool |
The punk band The Ataris released a music track based on a presentation by Ox Robbins called San Dimas High School Football Rules! but otherwise has no relation to the film.
reception
Rotten Tomatoes evaluated 43 reviews, 34 of which were more positive ( fresh ) and 9 more negative ( rotten ). This gave a 79% tomatometer with an average rating of 6.5 out of 10 points. Metacritic evaluated seven reviews, these resulted in a Metascore of 44 out of 100 points.
According to the lexicon of international film , the film is a "stupid comedy that adopts the simple-minded understanding of history of its protagonists and is mostly annoying due to its infantile comedy."
The editorial team of Cinema judges: “Nonsense? But here you go, the sequel “Bill and Ted's crazy journey into the future” adds even more to this wonderfully carefree slapstick! [...] Conclusion: Seekers of meaning and educators switch off! "
Awards
Stephen Herek was at the 1990 International Fantasy Film Award in the category film Best nominated. Jill M. Ohanneson received a nomination for Best Costumes at the 1991 Saturn Awards , while the film was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film .
Sequels and adaptations
In 1991 the sequel appeared under the name Bill & Ted's crazy journey into the future ( Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey ).
Two television series followed under the name Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures . One was a cartoon series with the voices of Keanu Reeves , Alex Winter and George Carlin (1990-1991), the other was a series with real actors from 1992, which only lasted seven episodes. In addition, a comic series called Bill and Ted's Excellent Comic Book was published by Marvel- Verlag in the USA . A video game of the same name was also released for the Game Boy and the Atari Lynx .
A sequel for 2020 has been announced with Bill & Ted Face the Music . In the United States, Bill & Ted 3 ( Bill & Ted Face the Music ) was released as video-on-demand in late August 2020.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Internet Movie Database : Filming Locations
- ↑ a b c d Internet Movie Database : Budget and Box Office Results
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Internet Movie Database : Background information
- ↑ a b Internet Movie Database : Start Dates
- ↑ Bill & Ted's Crazy Journey through Time. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure on Rotten Tomatoes (accessed March 10, 2015)
- ↑ Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure on Meta Critic (accessed March 10, 2015)
- ↑ Bill & Ted's Crazy Journey through Time. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Cinema : Film Review , accessed June 8, 2007
- ↑ a b Internet Movie Database : Nominations and Awards
- ↑ Film starts: "Bill & Ted 3": First pictures of Keanu Reeves' return to the 80s cult. Retrieved March 16, 2020 .