Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Bill and Ted are two high school students who want nothing more than to take the world by storm with their band, the Wyld Stallyns. However, they are almost failing history, and if that happens, Ted is going to be sent to military school. Rufus, a man from the future, comes to the past to save them and give them the push they need to save reality.

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey

Back again Bill and Ted are just middling musicians and Wyld Stallyns hasn’t taken off, there’s a chance, however, as they get into Battle of the Bands. But things change again when more future people come back and Bill and Ted’s life changes most drastically. Will Bill and Ted be able to get to the battle of the bands and save the world?

Bill & Ted Face the Music

Life still hasn’t gone right for Bill and Ted. Things were going well for the Wyld Stallyns after the battle of the bands, and they had played the Grand Canyon, but that fame didn’t last and they still hadn’t figured out the song that was going to unite the world across all of space and time. And their wives and relatives are having trouble seeing the big picture. Their daughters still believe in them, but when the future begins to doubt them, will they be able to save all of reality?

Thoughts on the Films

This is an extremely silly series of films, with a lot of 80’s and early 90’s feel to it even in the film, Bill & Ted Face the Music, that came out this year. I think that makes the series work well enough. The first two are extremely entertaining, I think that it works as a series that makes little to no sense, and does some very fun things. The third one has a little bit of a different pattern to the ending, but one that works well, as well, though not really any sort of surprise to it. But they keep a similar feel to the jokes throughout all three of the films, and it works in all of them.

Bill and Ted are both very entertaining characters in these films, and the fact that they have a lot of the same talent throughout the whole thing is really interesting. They do recast a few of the characters between films, but a lot of the key players remain the same. The fact that Missy is played by the same actress throughout is a lot of fun, and kind of hilarious how they weave that story throughout the whole thing.

I do think that in order of best to worst is the order that they came out. That isn’t a knock against Bill and Ted Face the Music as much as it is a comment on how solid the first two are. They really hit the right notes for the comedy and I think that Bill and Ted Face the Music is good at hitting those notes, but can at time fall into a different type of sophomoric humor than the previous two installments. And a lot of that is just because of how much time has passed between the first two installments and the third as well, it doesn’t flow as well with the actors.

Final Thoughts

The whole of the three films are very entertaining and definitely worth checking out. They definitely need to be watched in order otherwise they won’t make any sense, so I’d skip just going for the latest and greatest. I do wonder how much I’ll rewatch Bill & Ted Face the Music, but I know that I’ll watch the other two again for sure. They definitely did a solid job, though, for taking something that has been a cult classic for a long time and giving it a fitting sequel. Definitely a trilogy of sophomoric films with a interesting twist to watch.

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So what makes those characters so Iconic and more, like Pinhead from the Hellraiser films, Pennywise from IT, etc?

I think that the starting spot is the look. Michael Myers has his mask, Voorhees his hockey mask, Freddy Krueger his gloves, and more. Each of these slashers or monsters has their very specific look to them and that’s going to make it stick out in your head more and be more memorable. And while there was something that it stick out in memories, they weren’t extremely over the top in their outfits with the exception of Hellraiser and Pinhead, but even his was more muted in tones. I think something that feels reasonable makes it stand out more with the parts that aren’t reasonable.

I think that a lot of them too hit about the right time for something like that. If you look at the iconic horror movie slashers, Halloween was made in 1978, Friday the 13th was made in 1980, A Nightmare on Elm Street was made in 1984. There was a peak time for these horror films that really made them stick out. Now, what the reason for that is, I’m not sure. But there is something about the 80’s horror icons that really stand out compared to a lot of the newer ones. It’s tough to put your finger on it, but I think the newer ones either go too light, in that they are shooting for a PG/PG-13 rating or delve too much into the R rating. The 80’s horror films definitely have horror, but there is some bit of camp to them.

And I would say that’s another thing, and might be why it works from the 80’s and less so now. But the movies having camp to them just a bit, makes it more iconic as well. It can’t be an intentionally campy movie. If it’s too obvious that the movie is trying to be campy, the slasher might get recognized for a little bit, but generally the movies don’t have as much staying power. None of the big three, or even the earlier Hellraiser films (later ones intentionally campy) are attempting to be campy, there is just something about them that allows them to blend horror and that campiness really well. I think some of it is budget, and I think some of it is technology. No matter how large budget or how much effort they put into making it feel horrific, it was never going to look like real life, so it was always going to be just a little bit off, which oddly enough, I think makes them stand the test of time and be memorable.

I think the final question to ask, and I’m not sure I know the answer to this, would it be possible for there to be a modern iconic slasher. Now, there have been good modern horror slasher films, and a lot of bad ones, and don’t think that in the 80’s there aren’t a lot of bad ones as well, but what would it take and would it be possible, to have a modern horror slasher film spawn a series the way that Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween have? And even those iconic ones as remakes really didn’t capture the same feel. The closest that I can see are the Saw films. Though, I’m not sure that I consider Jigsaw to be a slasher, but that started with a kind of absurd premise that took itself seriously, but overall couldn’t be actually taken that seriously. And even with those, I feel like Jigsaw wasn’t the iconic piece to it, like Freddy or Jason on to their franchises, but it was the traps and the puzzle horror.

So, what are your thoughts, what makes in iconic slasher? Is it possible to have an iconic slasher created like we had with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers again?

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So that we’re all talking about things from the same starting point, I want to introduce a concept that I think is important in this season of Stranger Things and that isn’t there in other seasons. This is the writing concept, but also works in other creative mediums, that you don’t want to show your audience the gears, the workings behind what you are doing. To explain this further, in a good book, the story can seamlessly transition between multiple characters having their moment or finding the information that they need (for a mystery sort of story) and it feels like it’s all part of the same story. When you start to see the gears, you can tell when it’s going to be one characters turn to be hero or the focal point, because the other characters change to foil or background roles. The story lacks that smooth storytelling consistency that you expect.

If I’m introducing this concept, that clearly means that I think that Stranger Things Season 3 suffers from this. And that would be correct. I think in a few of the relationships or pairings, Joyce and Hopper and Lucas, Mike, Max, and El it is really notable. There are almost moments where it seems like the character changes from what they were before to match what they needed for this season. This might get a little bit spoilery here, but you might have seen online about them messing up Hopper in some people’s opinions. And, I can see why people say that and in some ways that I agree with it.

In this season, Hopper is much more aggressive or angry, and I think that there are several reasons for this, but I also think that they are a bit heavy handed with it. The reason that I think it can work is because Hopper has closed himself off or a long time from feeling. And now with Eleven, he is starting to feel again, but it isn’t just the happy emotions, it’s the hard emotions, and he reacts strongly to feeling those again. He isn’t able to fully process them, but, like I said, I think that it done with a heavy hand too often. It became his personality, being the angry person, instead of having more of a complex character. And sometimes, it’s so that you can see the gears working to set-up a moment for Joyce.

With both groups, Joyce and Hopper and Mike, Lucas, Max, and Eleven, their stories are taken to the extreme reaction of things. And when it’s more extreme, you start to lose the depth of character that was created to them in previous seasons. That isn’t to say that it wouldn’t be easy to bring it back in a future season, but the writing was done to give everyone their moment, but done too obviously. Compare that to Dustin, Steve, Robin, and a surprise character, and their banter and relationships are done so extremely well. The actor who plays Steve, Joe Keery, is really good, and does a good job of playing what is now a caring but also still wanting to be popular character. He went from a jerk in the first season without much depth to a character who has a ton of depth and interest now, as compared to some of the others who are working backwards from that this season.

But let’s talk some about the whole story and the monsters. I actually really liked the season as whole, even with some rough spots with various character groups. What makes it work pretty well, in my opinion, is that you get a human aspect to a larger extent as a bad guy, like you did in season one, but you still have that upside down and monster feel. The big addition of another evil organization works really well, but what is that organization. I will say that Cary Elwes as the mayor only works so well. The main issue is that he’s clearly putting on an American accent and it’s obvious. Most of the time it isn’t an issue, but it just doesn’t work as well as it could have, which is a shame, because I like Cary Elwes, especially in Psych. This season, to me, felt a bit more like highlights of 1980’s tropes, as well. While, at times it felt a bit heavy handed with that, what they started with and how it ended, it actually worked well and made sense. I also really like where they ended the season. I’m not going to go into spoilers, but they are setting it up for season four to be a story that is potentially bigger than just Hawkins, which feels like what they need to do at this point.

Overall, I really enjoyed this season. I just think, especially early in the season, there are some things that a writer can take from the story as to what not to do. But you can also take good things from it, like how to use period piece references so it’s not too heavy handed, so like the 80’s references, versus the too heavy a hand in Captain Marvel with 90’s references. I’m at the point with Stranger Things, though, I hope that they start writing seasons that they are going to be their last, they could probably run the show for a few more seasons, but, it feels like a story that should be wrapping up soon, and while still really good, a story that I don’t want to overstay it’s welcome or overstep, like it did with the book that I trashed in review before.

What did you think of season three? Were there any fun surprises in it for you, who was your favorite character from the season?

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Normally this isn’t something that I would want to do, the players are clearly going to be the hero of the game or if it’s an evil campaign the villains of the game. But they had one idea that I want to run with more, and that I think could be an interesting game that would allow the players to still be the heroes of the game, while dealing with a chosen one hero who is going to save the day in the end.

Long ago in this game world, there was a prophecy of a chosen one who would defeat the mighty Zorlack, an evil deity from another realm. The hero would be born under a blood moon when the faeries sang their mid summer song and they would be born with the sign of the lioness on their right shoulder.

A couple of thousands of years have passed, and you are not that hero, but you know who the hero is. They are a big pain in everyone’s arse, because while they might be the way to defeat Zorlack, they’ve almost died ten times in the year from silly little problems like getting shot by a single arrow from a goblin, stepping off the edge of a cliff and falling 10 feet, because they wanted to get a better view, swallowing some bird poop from a bird flying overhead that they wanted to look at. They are not the hero that everyone was expecting.

Now, the signs for Zorlack’s return are starting to be fulfilled and you, a scrappy band of adventurers have your hands full dealing with this impending doom. But your life has become more complicated than just the monsters that you’re starting to deal with. There was more to the prophecy, and you’ve been tasked to help deal with the rest of the prophecy.

This is where the game really begins. I don’t see this is a massively long campaign, but it’s going to be a goofy campaign. To start, I think I’d have the players do a few fetch quests to get a few items that the hero is going to need to defeat Zorlack. I think that it makes sense that they are all pieces of an epic weapon that only the hero will be able to wield, somehow. With that, you can introduce Zorlack’s minions, some sort of small monster who are going to be a bother in numbers, but pretty easy to kill.

From there, I’d make the players have to fight their way to the remote monastery where the hero is being kept to keep them protected. This should be a pain in the butt for the adventuring party, dealing with wild creatures, fighting more minions of Zorlack, and probably dealing with some crazy weather. And when the players meet the hero, they are going to find that the hero is whiny, self-entitled, and basically a level 0 character that the players are now going to have to protect on the next fetch quest. But they need the hero to be able to get the weapon together. All the time they are doing this, I would have the hero almost die over and over again, if you have a cleric with revivify, definitely actually have the hero die a few times and have the party have to save them. But do it in absurd goofy ways so that the players don’t feel like you’ve added a complication to them, because it’s so absurd.

Eventually once they’ve collected all the pieces, there’s probably going to be a last part of the prophecy, where only a certain dwarf will be able to forge the weapon by heating it from the lava flows of a volcano. Again, making the players lives more annoying, but probably drop off the hero in one of the large cities at that point to keep him safe. Once the weapon is back together and delivered to the hero, now it’s time to ride into the massive storm that is the battle of the human, dwarf, and elf armies that are holding back the now massive hordes of minions to get to where Zorlack is so that the hero can destroy or banish Zorlack. Don’t have the players really take much part in the battle as the armies will clear a path for them, they’ll just have to deal with a few bands of minions, which should be easy.

Eventually they’ll finally face off against Zorlack who should be either tiny or the most over the top villain of all time, like those from 80’s cartoons. And I don’t think I’d even have the final battle be a normal battle. Borrow from something like The Devil Went Down to Georgia or Guardian’s of the Galaxy. Have it be a competition of some sort, and something that the players can help with, probably by either performing with the hero, rigging it so that Zorlack does worse, and the hero does better, whatever the rules are for the actual final battle.

In this game, I’d also be adding is something heralding with Zorlack actually shows up. Like a light in the sky that is getting closer, or something that is incredibly stupid, 80’s, and metal.

I’m definitely thinking that this game gets some of it’s styling for making everything over the top from 80’s hair metal bands, He-Man, Heavy Metal/Heavy Metal 2000. Really taking those 80’s sci-fi/future things and twisting them for a fantasy setting. Maybe Zorlack doesn’t end up being a deity, but a super powerful alien that this more primitive world would see as being almost god like powers.

Compared to some of my other ideas, this one is clearly the most silly. But sometime you want silly games with geysers of flame going off as Zorlack’s Minions are chanting the lyrics to We Will Rock You by Queen.

What do you think of this idea? Do you like to prefer in a more serious game or a sillier game?

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I didn’t talk about this last time, so I’ll mention it now — what criteria do I have for picking my favorites for a top five list? First for me is enjoyment of the thing — which is obvious; if I don’t enjoy it, why would I have it on my list? But that enjoyment can come in many different forms. For example, with Lord of the Rings, I enjoy it because of how it shaped the works of fantasy that came after it, and because it’s a great trilogy, but when I compare it to something like Dresden Files, it’s clear that I enjoy them in different ways. For example, there’s more humor with the Dresden Files, and there is a more enjoyable escapism element for me with those books. Then compare that with Swallows and Amazons, which is a children’s/young adult book that hasn’t really influenced anything — while there’s a fantasy aspects to the series, you know it’s just the kids’ imaginations. Another of my criteria is how absorbed I get into the book/show/movie/game. Is it a form of escapism for me? If it is, it’s probably going to be higher on the list because something new, exciting, and fantastical that I can escape into is always fun.

So with that out of the way, here are my top 5 TV Series:

Quickly, some honorable mentions that I hated leaving off of the list. Stargate SG1 is a fun long-running sci-fi show. Haven is a show based off of Stephen King’s work that is more supernatural-feeling than horror. South Park is an irreverent show that takes the lowest common denominator all the time and is still one of the smartest shows you’ll watch. Warehouse 13, Killjoys, Firefly, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are all a lot of fun as well.

What are your five favorite TV series?

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