There have been many
different releases of Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey in various forms. We don't even remotely have
a complete list of all the released video versions as well as those overseas, so if
anyone can help out with scans or information about any releases not listed,
please let us know!
Excellent Adventure was originally made available on Orion Video in 1989. Various versions were released on tape, one of
which included a 900-number contest introduction with Amy Stock-Poynton (Missy-Mom)!
Bogus Journey was released on Orion Video in 1992 and also
was released on laserdisc, although not letterboxed format for some
reason. These releases also included Slaughter's music video of Shout it
Out! I believe Excellent Adventure was also available on
laserdisc for some time.
A Japanese version of Excellent Adventure was made
available in letterbox format with Japanese subtitles. This was
distributed by DeLaurentis Group, the original producers of the movie.
Bogus Journey was re-released on video by MGM Home Entertainment in 2000 prior to both movies being made available in DVD format at the end of 2001.
Many thanks to The Fux who sent in copies of the covers for
the German releases of Excellent Adventure (known there as Bill &
Ted's verr?ckte Reise durch die Zeit which translated into English would be
Bill & Ted's Crazy Journey Through Time) and Bogus Journey (Bill
& Ted's verr?ckte Reise in die Zukunft translated into English would be
Bill & Ted's Crazy Journey Into the Future.) Many thanks for
these!!!
Our many thanks go out to Nick of London who provided us
with this scan of a videotape release of Excellent Adventure from
England. He notes this release is interesting for the following reasons:
a) It's a widescreen VHS copy, which is pretty rare indeed! b) It's
released by BMG/Canal rather than Orion or Universal (BMG/Canal handles the
release of the films for much of Europe) c) It doesn't have the usual pic
of the guys sitting on top of the booth on the cover (Napoleon looks a bit odd
and it seems like they've pasted Bill's
head onto the body) and d) There's a shot of Bill & Ted in their Prom suits
on the back.
The question about Napoleon is a valid one . . . I've
actually seen this photo on a DEG promotional flyer and noticed the actor in the
Napoleon costume is NOT Terry Camilleri! It's likely another actor was
brought in just for this particular photo shoot! And indeed you can see
Bill's head has been pasted onto his body!!! See the detail below:
Most appreciative thanks to
Nj?l of Norway for sending us these outstanding scans of the Norwegian VHS
cassette of Bogus Journey, which is known there as Bill & Ted drar
til Helvete, or rather Bill & Ted Go to Hell! (Nice to know
they've kept the original title in that part of the world!) Nj?l
also sent us the translations of the covers as well! Excellent!!!
Front cover translation:
Life have never been easy. But death haven't exactly been either ...
Back cover translation: Death
is just the beginning, dude...
From their safe existence in San Dimas,
California, where life consist of loud music, pizza, loud music, hot babes, and
even louder music, Bill & Ted are being sent on to a journey no one has ever seen the likes of. First they get
killed, and so they go to heaven, hell, and beyond. The duo must then get
their lives back, save the babes, protect coming generations, and - of course - win the
Battle of the Bands. On the way they meet formidable figures as God, The Devil, The Grim Reaper, two martians, Albert Einstein, and not least
Bill's 88-year-old Grandma Preston! Bill & Ted are hard to shock, but
this!!!!!
And thanks to Rob Babe for sending us photos of one of Bill & Ted's
Excellent Adventure on laserdiscs! While this format didn't last a
long time, many collectors sought copies of movies on laserdisc because of the
high picture quality (before DVDs became the standard format of choice.)
Rob Babe explained, "Being the massive B&T fan that I am, I snatched
these up quickly many years ago from a local video store named Heads Video
Corner. The store was going out of business after over ten years of
operation serving our small town of Napanee, Ontario." And we're
totally glad you did!
current
dvd releases from MGM/UA
MGM Home Entertainment has made both movies available on DVD for the first time!
They include trailers and the Bogus Journey release has a Behind the Scenes
segment as an extra. Most excellent!
Available for sale through most online video sellers and at your local video
store or visit https://www.mgm.com for more information!
It was with some
surprise that in July of 2013 fans started finding a DVD entitled "The Best
of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures," the animated series in the $5.00
bargain bins at Wal Mart stores in the midwest and east coast. One thinks
of the bargain bin as a place to find DVDs which have been on the store shelves
for a while and which need to be liquidated. But apparent a small company
out of Pennsylvania called TGG
Direct was able to obtain the licensing rights to a large catalogue of
classic shows, including a batch of programs from MGM Home Entertainment, and is
releasing these shows to the Wal Mart bins before they go on sale through the
store's website. So it is we now have some of the B&T cartoons on DVD
at last!
The
two-disc release includes the first eight episodes from Season 1 (Hanna-Barbera)
and all eight episodes from Season 2 (DIC.) One could argue that naming
this release "The Best of . . . " is frankly misleading, as there was
obviously no thought of putting out the "best of" the episodes from
the two series . . . unless it's a very strange coincidence that the episodes
not worth putting into that classification just happen to be the last five
episodes of the first season. This is a bare-bones release with no
whistles or bells . . . the box artwork is nice but not detailed and with the
set incomplete the fans can't really consider this a fantastic release, but it
is certainly better than just having one lone episode available on the above box
set! So we can't (and won't) complain!
Having
said all that, the quality of the transfers is very good; at least better than
many low-budget DVD releases of old TV series (and certainly better than the
bootleg copies which have been circulating from videotapes recorded off the
original broadcasts.) And the episodes are complete and uncut with opening
and closing credits included, so that's another big plus! I never attempt
to rate sound quality as it's completely out of my field of expertise, but to my
ear the sound quality is also good (the logo on the back indicates the sound is
Dolby Pro Logic II . . . the original episodes were broadcast in stereo, at
least on the Season 1 episodes on CBS.) The video format is NTSC but there
is no indication of what region release it is. We have to assume this is a
Region 1 release but will let everyone know if we learn otherwise.
Currently
the DVDs are only in about 1300 stores in certain midwest and east coast
locations, but you can pre-order it from the Wal
Mart website as well.
(Many
thanks to the most excellent Tim dude for providing information to us about this
release!)
WORLDWIDE VIDEO RELEASES
This is a breakdown of where the Bill
& Ted movies are currently available on DVD:
Region 1 (U.S. and Canada) Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey available
Region 2 (Europe, including France, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Arabia, Japan and
South Africa) Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey available
Region 4 (Australia and New Zealand,
Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America)
Excellent Adventure & Bogus Journey available
Our most excellent
compadre,
Nj?l of Norway, sent us the covers of the DVD release
of Excellent Adventure! If you have copies of the DVD from other parts of
the world you would
like to share with us, you can send them to us at this e-mail
address! Thanks, dudes!
Translation:
Bill and Ted are two young men with a big problem. If they don't succeed
in getting the best grade on a history presentation they won't graduate.
As through a miracle Rufus shows up from the future. He has an important
message . . . the world's future depends on that Bill and Ted succeed with their
history presentation. They receive a time machine in the shape of a phone
booth for help. The machine leads them through time and space, and they
meet historical persons (figures) like Napoleon, Billy the Kid, Freud and many
more. How will they, with the help from these persons manage to solve the
mission? The crazy adventure can begin . . . .
