Historical figures (& those they're based on): King Henry VIII (a
la Charles Laughton), Ivan the Terrible, Calamity Jane, Paul Revere,
Ben Franklin
Time periods:
Medieval, England - 1534 (was actually past medieval)
Somewhere in Russia - 1534
Deadwood, South Dakota - 1870
Boston, Massachusetts - 1773
Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA - 1776
Notable Events:
Helped inspire the Revolutionary War
Cracked the Liberty Bell
Inspired Boston Tea Party by dropping tea into harbor
Helped Ben Franklin discover electricity
Rufus signed Declaration of Independence as John
Hancock to keep B&T from signing
Costumes:
Colonial costumes
In-Jokes:
In the phone booth it is shown they are using a tape recording of
their own screams while time traveling!
Bill & Ted definitions:
Henry VIII - "must be good if he's already
made eight movies"
Plot:
Ted is practicing guitar in his room when a most odious aroma
assails his noseholes. He finds his little brother, Deacon, in the
backyard turning on the water hose to wash himself off. Deacon
relates how Killer Gabron, a bully at school, threw him into a
garbage can. Ted decides to try helping Deacon deal with his bully
problem. He finds Bill playing video games at the Kozy Korner and
as they ponder the situation Rufus appears briefly (in the video
game) to tell them they need to figure out what to do themselves. They decide to go back into history and find a most heinous bully
to take care of Deacon's bully. They first visit Henry VIII, but
he cannot help them because he has a date with Ann Bolin, so he
suggests they try Ivan the Terrible. They go to Russia to seek out
Mr. Terrible, only to find that in reality he's a major dweeb (his
fierceness, he explains, is all image). They next head to South
Dakota to seek out Calamity Jane, who they find, true to her name,
makes calamities happen wherever she goes. She agrees to go with
them, but her awesome talent of destruction sabotages their booth,
so they push her out before they spiral out of control through
time. They pop up into the silver shop of Paul Revere. When Bill
accidentally knocks over the Liberty Bell, causing it to crack,
Paul Revere mistakes the dudes for British spies. Escaping from
the shop, the dudes duck onto a ship where they are put to work
unloading a shipment of British tea. They accidentally drop two
crates of tea into Boston Harbor, which inspires some
revolutionists (who just happen to be dressed like Indians for a
costume party) to stand up to their oppressors and dump all of the
tea into the harbor. Bill & Ted are heralded as the leaders of the
American Revolution. They ask if anyone can help them fix their
phone booth, and Benjamin Franklin volunteers, using a kite to
channel lightning into the booth. The revolutionists ask Bill &
Ted to stay and help them. Ted makes a speech, saying he has
learned that only if people work together can they stand up to
bullies. The dudes return to San Dimas and tell Deacon to stand up
to Killer Gabron. Deacon does this, inspiring the other kids in
his class to also stand up to the bully, who gets his just desserts
(ending up in the garbage himself). Bill and Ted ponder the fact
that they brought about the American Revolution but no one will
ever know, so they time travel to 1776 to sign the Declaration of
Independence, only to find that John Hancock has hogged all the
space (we learn it was, in fact, Rufus, singing the name big so the
dudes would not be able to sign themselves).
Bloopers:
Ivan the Terrible says he is the Czar of Russia, but didn't actually
become Czar until 1547
Safe to assume Paul Revere did not craft the Liberty Bell -
the bell is too small
Not everyone seen at the Boston Tea Party was there (Ben
Franklin, Paul Revere)
Fans in the U.S.
can now watch this complete episode thanks to Hulu.com:
First aired: 10/20/90