Bill & Ted Marathon: Intro

There are some movies that I know by heart. While I've never actually tried to think of nothing but the movie for 90-120 minutes, I could probably play back the entire thing if I wanted to. The movie that stands out particularly well in this category for me is Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

I wish I could remember the exact date that I went to see Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey in the theaters. I know it was in October. According to Wikipedia the film was released in July that year, which means this must have been at the time when we were still seeing movies at the dollar show. See kids, before the internet was fast enough to allow you to download movies before they're even released in theaters, there was a much greater window from the time a movie was in theaters until it was out on VHS. During this longer time the movies would make it to theaters that only showed older movies at a greatly reduced price. I miss those theaters, though I have to admit being able to watch movies at home sooner is a nice trade off.

For whatever reason I didn't see Excellent Adventure in theaters nor had I seen it on video at that point but I still had an interest in seeing Bogus Journey. I emerged from the theater in love with a 17 yrs-my-senior man whose name I didn't even know how to pronounce. That very weekend we rented Excellent Adventure, and not too much later they played it on TV and I taped it. I then proceeded to watch it every single day until the release of the Bogus Journey VHS, and numerous times afterward. I remember having to watch in my parents' bedroom because that was where the second VCR was and my brother and mom were sick and tired of me watching the movie on the living room TV. I remember my brother once saying "I know this movie so well I know their facial expressions as well as the words." That's very true for me as well. I also know the soundtrack and score, and lots of bits of trivia that I've picked up along the way. This is all also true for Bogus Journey. My B&T obsession (and Keanu obsession) took up one full year of my life. It was eclipsed by the X-men after the cartoon series premiered, but that doesn't mean it was forgotten. I went to the comic book store looking for X-men and Batman books, but somehow ended up finding out about the Bill & Ted series as well. I also watched the cartoon series and the live action series (though the severe lack of Keanu in that one was disappointing to me at the time).

With the recent release of the animated series on Netflix streaming, I thought it might be fun to take a look at the movies, TV shows, comics, and a few other Bill & Ted related items. It seems like everyone remembers and loves Back to the Future (hey, I do too) but I think the other time traveling movie from the 80s deserves a little more love. I hope you enjoy it.

First up: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure the movie, with a nod to its soundtrack.