Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
1
Bill & Ted
362 Points, 13 Lists, #1 Lokii & Purple
Source: Bill & Ted Bill & Ted
362 Points, 13 Lists, #1 Lokii & Purple
Traveler-Type: Got to Make It Right (re: homework)
Method of Transport: Phone Booth
Bill S. Preston, Esquire and “Ted” Theodore Logan are two high schoolers from San Dimas, California. The two are a pair of medal heads who speak in a surfer dialect who play in a band Wyld Stallyns. Well, play is a bit strong. They aren’t particularly talents in their instruments but they have a lot of passion and drive, even if they lack in competence and common sense. Which is their problem, as their laid back attitude has cost them grades in school and is threatening to cause them to flunk school, which will result Ted being sent to military school and breaking up the band.
This would seem like small stakes to most in our time but it turns out the cost might be great. In the future, a Utopian society is built on the music of Wyld Stallyns and their hopeful messages and the future is determined to save them. It seems the duos only hope is passing a history presentation so time traveler Rufus gives them a time machine shaped like a phone booth and a phone book full of historical dates for them to visit and learn. Soon the duo begin collecting historical figures and eventually pass their presentation with flying colours. Eventually, Bill and Ted have more adventures; they are murdered by evil doppelgangers and are forced to traverse the afterlife to return and save the future. Then they finally must face their destiny after decades of failing to be the rock star messiahs they were long promised to be.
Bill & Ted feels like it could or perhaps should have flopped. I’m not talking about the quality of the film, which is pretty strong. I feel like the surfer dude voice must have been pretty played out by then, after everyone was pretty much just doing Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. So building a character around that voice, nay, TWO characters, seems like cashing in on a fad. In fact, the characters were originally created as part of a comedy bit by the two screen writers. He initially wanted them to be the outsiders at school but when Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves were cast, they had to face facts; no one would find these two uncool and unpopular. They have too much fucking rizz!
In most movies, these characters would be the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, the people kind of on the outside of the story bringing in complications or solutions or simple comic relief while the main character gets shit done and maybe mocks them or laughs with them. But they are the leads and they earn it because even though they are not the brightest, they have a kind of wisdom, accept people as they come (some outdated and unfortunate slurs aside) and generally have a good, kind nature. You see that though they are foolish, they actually can come up with great solutions to their problems. And sometimes it is amusingly silly
And I think getting back to the topic, the characters as time travelers, the film about a couple of dum dums has some clever (in a very goofy ways) situations where the characters fix things with time travel. They aren’t even that good at music, their main passion, but they seem to get how to utilize it pretty well thanks to some fun bootstrap paradoxes. And more than anything, I think that the characters are… just nice. You see so many movies about jerks learning to be less jerky but this is a film about two sweet weird dudes who may get some magical device to help them but usually solve their problems with quick thinking and just being solid bros. Also, they got a cereal!
And it’s worth noting that despite the fact that Keanu Reeves became a star quick, he and Alex Winter really seem to care about this silly little film series. They both starred in the animated series adaptation, a subgenre where the original actors rarely return! Even when they try (Ernie Hudson tried to get cast in the Real Ghostbusters) and after years of hard work, they made a final film after one of them became one of the biggest and most respected movie stars and the other, while being more obscure, was doing work focused on his own passions and doing good work. I think you just can’t not like these characters. And of all the people I trust to restore the timeline, we put them at number one! Party on, dudes!
Be excellent to each other.
Oops! Guys, we are in trouble! In an attempt to secure funding for the Princess Tomato and the Salad Kingdom movie I planned years ago, I decided to travel back in time using the one time travel device I had access to; LSD tablets with pictures of smurfs on them. It must have worked but I think I was so messed up that we ended up in a far worse timeline. I mean, look around. This is… this is real bad guys. We need a corrective and fast! And to do that, we need the experts. People with experience in such fields. People like… you? Well, yes, I asked for your help in trying to find time travelers of note who can tell us what to do and how to fix it. So we are going to roll up our sleeves and time travel… into TALKING TIME ITSELF!
See, unfortunately due to the Time Quakes (trademarked Kurt Vonnegut Jr all rights reserved) the people we called to save us are lost in time, in old posts from years ago. But don’t worry, I’ll be your guide through Talking Time, just has you have all been instrumental in finding the heroes and occasional villains and antiheroes, we will rely on to protect the time stream!
Special thanks to our team of temponauts for travelling into the time stream
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