Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Trilogy: A Cult Comedy Franchise in 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

For years Keanu Reeves was saddled with the air-headed rock star wannabe character Ted he played in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure which helped close out the 1980s. A quick-paced and amusing piece of pop culture silliness that was simultaneously a rallying cry for youths and a condemnation of the American educational system, the film followed its two titular characters on wild ride through history.

Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Reeves) desperately in need of a passing grade lest they flunk high school before graduation are granted one last chance at redemption by their demanding teacher (Bernie Casey). They must put on an oral presentation about a historical figure and how he would be affected by the present day. Unlikely aid comes in the form of Rufus (George Carlin), a traveler from the future where the entire society is built around the music of Bill and Ted. Rufus’ mission is help them finish their report on time and garner a passing grade, so he sets them off on a journey in a time capsule phone booth à la Doctor Who‘s TARDIS. The two gather up the historical figures Socrates, Billy the Kid, Joan of Arc, Sigmund Freud, Genghis Kahn, Napoleon, Beethoven, and even manage to hit on a couple of cute medieval princesses along the way before heading back to California in the present. A minor hiccup sets the lot of time travelers loose on San Dimas, which makes for some funny gags.

Surprisingly enough, George Carlin’s appearances throughout the film offer the least comedic appeal. It is the silly banter between Bill and Ted that offers the most laughs. The film would spawn an unfortunate sequel in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Adventure and even a short-lived animated TV series. Mostly, however, the Ted character (or is that “caricature”) would hang around Keanu Reeves’ neck like a noose until he was finally able to break free with his role as Neo in The Matrix a decade later.

In Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) the follow-up to the unexpected success of the first film, director Pete Hewitt takes the reins in his feature film debut for this less successful, less funny, partial spoof on Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, and George Carlin reprise their roles in this romp that finds the metal obsessed, air guitar playing doofuses dying and battling The Grim Reaper (William Sadler) and evil android versions of themselves from the future. There is nothing in this entry that feels original, as funny, or as fun as the original; it is just a run-of-the-mill comedy that comes across as the obligatory sequel to a successful film. In the intervening years it has built up a bit of a cult following.

Bill & Ted Face the Music, the follow-up to the 1990’s cult-comedy classics Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, is easy comedy that never takes itself seriously, just like the two original films in this franchise. It’s fun, funny, goes down easy, and is ultimately unnecessary mindless entertainment, but it is a good distraction for these difficult days.

1990s high school musicians Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted “Theodore” Logan (Keanu Reeves) were supposed to unite the world with the greatest song ever, or so they were told by the future, but now they are middle-aged dads and their musical careers have stalled. The Great Leader (Holland Taylor) visits them to ask about the song they were supposed to compose that would unite humanity, but their esoteric tastes in music leave them unable to write a song that anyone wants to listen to and now they are facing a deadline to get it done as reality itself is beginning to fray and so are their marriages to the beautiful princesses, Joanna (Jayma Mays) and Elizabeth (Erinn Hayes) from the Middle Ages they brought with them back to their time. The two pals take off in their trusty time traveling telephone booth to try to get the song they need from their future selves.

Meanwhile, Bill and Ted’s teenage daughters, Thea (Samara Weaving) and Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine), themselves walking encyclopedias in music and pop culture thanks to their dads, witness their dads’ meetup with the time traveler from the future and make their own plan to go back through time to assemble the greatest backing band the world has ever seen to help their dads out. Their journey through history has them meeting people like Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Mozart, and others.

The direction from Dean Parisot keeps this story moving along at rapid-fire and even though one does occasionally stop to think, “why is Keanu doing this at this stage in his career?” he slides right into the role wholeheartedly. The musical journey the film provides is enjoyable and Face the Music, even as its main characters grapple with the issues of middle age, never gets bogged down in taking itself seriously or message signaling. This is pure empty calories, and it works.

Purchase Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Trilogy – 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

The Video

Bill & Ted Face the Music was shot on the Arri Alexa Mini with Panavision Primo lenses and the Arri Alexa XT Plus also with Panavision Primo lenses in ARRIRAW at 2.8K and 3.4K. The film was mastered with a 4K Digital Intermediate and arrives on 4K Ultra HD with a 2.39:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement. Despite being the one film shot digitally, Face the Music is also the one that sort of lacks some character visually. It is not a true “4K” source, so it is an upscale, but that is the least of it. It looks more digital than filmic especially put up against the two 35mm sourced movies, Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey, which both come with HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision in 1.85:1 (Excellent) and 2.39:1 (Bogus) encodements respectively. The two filmed-sourced movies look excellent, with thinly layered grain and just enough added pop in the highlights to give some three-dimensionality to the visual effects. These are not great looking films with a lot of superb lighting effects and top of the line visual effects, but they have been brought back to life here. Ironically, Face the Music, which uses the latest in CGI and digital cameras looks the least appealing.

The Audio

I cannot complain about the mixes here. The two earlier films sound about what one would expect from DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes (lossless stereo mixes also available), more ambient and less discrete, but with some added low end, nothing that will bring down the roof on the low end, though. Naturally, Face the Music is the standout. It comes with an excellent lossless English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that sends lots of discrete foley effects around the room for this action-packed comedy. It has great balance, the rock-inspired music sounds open and punchy, low end is extended down into the lowest frequencies, high frequencies are natural without being fatiguing and the film’s finale sounds awesome.

The Supplements

Each film has a number of featurettes and the first two films have audio commentaries as well.

Excellent Adventure

Bonus Features:

• Commentary with Star Alex Winter and Producer Scott Kroopf
• Commentary with Writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon
• Time Flies When You Are Having Fun – A Look Back at a Most “Excellent Adventure” (1080p; 01:01:14)
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 00:01:57)

On Blu-ray Only:

• The Original Bill & Ted – In Conversation with Chris & Ed (1080i; 00:20:15)
• The Hysterical Personages of Bill & Ted (1080i; 00:15:27)

Bogus Journey

Bonus Features:

• Commentary with Star Alex Winter and Producer Scott Kroopf
• Commentary with Writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon
• Bill & Ted Go to Hell (1080p; 00:52:04)
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 00:02:01)

On Blu-ray Only:

• The Most Triumphant Making Of (1080i; 00:30:53)
• Score! Interview with Guitarist Steve Vai (1080i; 00:12:46)
• Air Guitar Tutorial with Björn Türoque & The Rockness Monster (1080i; 00:13:15)
• Vintage EPK (1080i; 00:06:39)
• The Linguistic Stylings of Bill & Ted (1080i; 00:03:41)

Face the Music

On Blu-ray Only:

• The Official Bill & Ted Face the Music Panel at Comic-Con@Home (1080p; 00:43:14)
• Be Excellent to Each Other – Behind the Scenes with Cast and Crew (1080p; 00:01:22)
• A Most Triumphant Duo (1080p; 00:01:17)
• Social Piece (Excellence) (1080p; 00:00:49)
• Death’s Crib (1080p; 00:01:13)

The Final Assessment

Fans will definitely enjoy the 4K restorations and lossless audio mixes for this less-than-serious, cult comedy franchise. Shout! Studios has not added any tchotchkes to this set, but it is still worth it for anyone who does not own the individual 4K releases.

Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Trilogy is out on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray August 6, 2024 from Shout! Studios

Purchase Bill & Ted’s Most Triumphant Trilogy – 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray

• Studios & Distributors: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group | De Laurentiis Film Partners | Giada International | Interscope Communications | Nelson Entertainment | Soisson/Murphey Productions | William F. White International | Orion Pictures | Shout! Studios
• Directors: Stephen Herek (Excellent Adventure) | Peter Hewitt (Bogus Journey) | Dean Parisot (Face the Music)
• Run Time: 276 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 | 1.85:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • Excellent Adventure:
    • MaxLL: 619 nits
    • MaxFALL: 377 nits
    • Max. Luminance: 1000 nits
    • Min. Luminance: 0.0001 nits
  • Bogus Journey:
    • MaxLL: 1069 nits
    • MaxFALL: 206 nits
    • Max. Luminance: 1000 nits
    • Min. Luminance: 0.0001 nits
  • Face the Music:
    • MaxLL: 987 nits
    • MaxFALL: 451 nits
    • Max. Luminance: 1000 nits
    • Min. Luminance: 0.0001 nits
• Primary Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Secondary Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo
• Subtitles: English SDH