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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1990 TV series)

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This article is about the 1990 animated television series. For the 1992 live-action comedy series, see Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1992 TV series).
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures
GenreFantasy
Sci fi
Comedy
Adventure
Created byPeter Hannan
Based onBill & Ted's Excellent Adventure by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon
Developed byGordon Kent
Directed byRay Patterson
Voices of
Theme music composer
  • Randy Petersen
  • Kevin Quinn
Opening themeBill & Ted's Excellent Adventures
Country of originUnited States
Canada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes21
Production
Executive producersDavid Kirschner (season 1)
Paul Sabella (season 1)
Andy Heyward (season 2)
Running time20–23 minutes
Production companiesHanna-Barbera Productions (season 1)
DIC Enterprises (season 2)
Orion Television Entertainment
Nelson Entertainment
Original release
NetworkCBS (season 1)
Fox (Fox Kids) (season 2)
ReleaseSeptember 15, 1990 (1990-09-15) –
November 16, 1991 (1991-11-16)
Related
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1992 TV series)

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures is a 1990 animated television series spin-off from the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It follows the titular protagonists, dimwitted teenage musicians Bill and Ted, who are visited by Rufus, a man from the future, who needs them to graduate from high school to start a rock band that inspires the people of the future. They travel to various time periods, making sure that history happens as it should, more or less.[1]

Overview

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The first season of the animated series was produced by Hanna-Barbera and aired on CBS in 1990, with Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin, and Bernie Casey reprising their film roles.[2]

For the second season in 1991, the animated series switched production companies and networks, now airing on Fox Kids,[3] and produced by DIC Animation City. As Fox was also planning on airing a new live-action version series with the same name,[4] the cast was replaced, and the leads were now voiced by Evan Richards and Christopher Kennedy, the actors who would go on to portray Bill and Ted on the short-lived 1992 live-action television series. The new episodes introduced a "Squint" phone booth that could take Bill and Ted into literature, television shows, and (after shrinking them) inside the human body. The new show had trouble catching on, and after one more season, the animated Bill & Ted series was cancelled.

Cast

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Hanna-Barbera version (1990)

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Additional voices

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DIC version (1991)

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  • Evan Richards as Bill S. Preston, Esq.
  • Christopher Kennedy as Ted "Theodore" Logan
  • Rick Overton as Rufus

Additional voices

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Episodes

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Season 1 (1990)

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No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleOriginal air date
11"One Sweet & Sour Chinese Adventure – to Go"September 15, 1990 (1990-09-15)
Bill and Ted play loud rock n' roll music and accidentally break a Chinese vase. To avoid getting in trouble, the dudes use their trusty phone booth time machine to go to ancient China to find a replacement where they also meet the famous Italian explorer Marco Polo.
22"The Birth of Rock & Roll or Too Hip for the Womb"September 22, 1990 (1990-09-22)
Bill and Ted are flunking music appreciation and are given an assignment about classical music, and end up meeting musical personalities such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Little Richard. They also get in trouble with history's greatest archer, William Tell.
33"A Most Excellent Roman Holiday"September 29, 1990 (1990-09-29)
The dudes are taking a Latin class and are given an assignment about a rare ancient Roman coin, and they end up going to Latin America in 1450 and Rome in 44 B.C. They also save Julius Caesar from being assassinated.
44"Model 'T' for Ted"October 6, 1990 (1990-10-06)
Ted is given driving lessons in his father's squad car. Later Bill and Ted borrow "Blue Betty" to drive 5 blocks to buy the new Iron Maiden CD, and he accidentally wrecks it, which leads to him and Bill going back in time to require some help. They also improve the first Thanksgiving feast, meet pirates and sea explorers like Sir Francis Drake, car pioneer Henry Ford and the inventors of the airplane, The Wright brothers.
55"The More Heinous They are, the Harder They Fall"October 20, 1990 (1990-10-20)
Bill and Ted use their phone booth to find a heinous bully to deal with a bully at Deacon's school. They try the English ruler Henry VIII of England, evil Russian czar Ivan the Terrible, cowgirl personality Calamity Jane, and American patriot Paul Revere. They even help start the American Revolution, kick off the Boston Tea Party, help Benjamin Franklin discover electricity, and sign the United States Declaration of Independence.
66"Birds of A Feather Stick to the Roof of Your Mouth"October 27, 1990 (1990-10-27)
The duo house-sit for an eccentric explorer named Mr. Stickler and a cat eats his most prized possession, a rare bird called "Prince Rupert III" which leads to finding a replacement. They also help polar explorer Richard E. Byrd fly across the South Pole, build a nose for the Sphinx, and help Mr. Henry Morton Stanley find Dr. David Livingstone.
77"A Black Night in San Dimas"November 3, 1990 (1990-11-03)
A math teacher named Ms. Spleen is fed up with Bill and Ted and threatens them with expelling them unless they can catch up with their homework. In order to get a great audience at their concert, they go back to get their old friends Joanna and Elizabeth from 15th century England, but end up in the Crusades with Muslim leader Saladin.
88"Pocket Watch Full of Miracles"November 10, 1990 (1990-11-10)
It's Mr. Preston's birthday and the dudes use their phone booth to get him a present: an antique pocket watch, but end up getting watches from Mr. Preston when he was 10 years old, folk hero John Henry, Swiss general Hannibal and the Empress of India, Queen Victoria.
99"This Babe Ruth "BABE" is A DUDE, Dude"November 24, 1990 (1990-11-24)
The dudes are faced with lunchtime detention and accidentally wash off a signature off Coach Sweatsock's baseball which leads to meeting Babe Ruth, Harriet Tubman, and the famous vampire Count Dracula.
1010"When the Going Gets Tough Bill & Ted are History"December 1, 1990 (1990-12-01)
Bill and Ted are fed up with not getting any applause after their fourth gig. They give up on the band, which disrupts time, causes Rufus to get younger and younger, and leads to Bill and Ted meeting famous inventor Thomas Edison, professional artist, thinker, scientist, and inventor Leonardo da Vinci, English chemist Joseph Priestley, and history's greatest sailor, Christopher Columbus.
1111"Never the Twain Shall Meet"December 8, 1990 (1990-12-08)
The dudes must find a person for Career Day, or "else". First they meet the greatest playwright ever, William Shakespeare, gold pioneer John Sutter, and American novelist and humorist Mark Twain.
1212"A Job, a Job – My Kingdom for a Job"December 15, 1990 (1990-12-15)
Bill and Ted must find a job, so they find jobs baking a cake for Marie Antoinette's birthday, help the Spanish explorer Juan de Oñate find the Lost City of Gold, help Lucrezia Borgia, and help write haikus with Matsuo Bashō.
1313"A Grimm Story of an Overdue Book"December 22, 1990 (1990-12-22)
Ted is on the library's "Most Wanted" list for not returning a story written by the Brothers Grimm, so he and Bill scour the past to find a copy of the book, and they meet the actual Grimm Brothers, George Washington, Davy Crockett, and Lady Godiva.

Season 2 (1991)

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This season featured historical characters like Giacomo Casanova, Elvis Presley, Theodoric and Martin Luther.

No.
overall		No. in
season		TitleOriginal air date
141"Now Museum, Now You Don't"September 14, 1991 (1991-09-14)
The boys break the arms off the Venus de Milo and punch a hole in the Mona Lisa.
152"The Totally Gross Anatomy of a Gym Teacher"September 21, 1991 (1991-09-21)
The boys get a new phone directory, but they forget to dial 1 and end up shrinking themselves while trying to help their gym teacher keep the weight off in the past. An Innerspace style adventure ensues.
163"The Star Strangled Banner"September 28, 1991 (1991-09-28)
Missy's rendition of the national anthem will set back the Wyld Stallyns by 14 years so they head to the past to stop her.
174"Leave it to Bill and Ted"October 5, 1991 (1991-10-05)
The boys use the new features of the phone booth to visit and meddle with the fictional world of "Leave it to Badger".
185"Goodbye, Columbus... and America"October 12, 1991 (1991-10-12)
Bill and Ted get sick of doing chores and decide that they need to go on a cruise and end up sailing to the "New World". They alter history and return to an undiscovered America.
196"It's a Bogus Day in the Neighborhood"October 26, 1991 (1991-10-26)
Deacon, Ted's brother, is sick and watching Thunder Slugs. The boys object to the content and introduce him to Mr. Radish's Condominium. They find out that Mr. Radish is planning to hang up his sweater so they set out to convince him to stay.
207"Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure in Babysitting"November 2, 1991 (1991-11-02)
Ted's guitar melts putting the future at risk. If Bill and Ted need to find a new one before the Battle of the Bands.
218"The Apple Doesn't Fall Far from the Phone Booth"November 16, 1991 (1991-11-16)
Ted's dad decides to send him to military school. The boys visit the past to learn some discipline from Ted's father so they can change his mind.

Home media

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The first episode of the first season was released as a special feature on the Bill & Ted's Most Excellent Collection DVD box set, and on the Blu-ray of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

In 2013, TGG Direct, LLC (under license from MGM Home Entertainment) released a 2 disc "Best of" DVD. Disc 1 includes eight episodes from Season 1, while Disc 2 has the complete second season. It was a Wal-Mart exclusive at first, but now it's available nationwide.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. pp. 60–61. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  2. ^ "Networks Juggle Saturday Morning TV Lineups". Los Angeles Times. United Press International. April 11, 1990. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  3. ^ "Fine-tuning cartoons for young and old". Providence Journal. September 6, 1991.
  4. ^ DuBrow, Rick (May 22, 1991). "Fox Network Goes Out on a Limb Again". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  5. ^ "Best of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures: Animated TV Series: Keanu Reeves, George Carlin, Alex Winter". Amazon.com. October 2013. Retrieved 2016-05-22.
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