After decades in the making, Bill and Ted are finally back to face the music, both in
theaters and on streaming at home, where viewers can pause and rewind to catch the little things.
Here are a few small details that you might have missed in Bill & Ted Face the Music.
Fans first met Bill's and Ted's children at the end of Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, when
Bill and Ted returned to the Battle of the Bands after 16 months of intense guitar lessons,
plus time off for their honeymoons. Each married a princess from medieval England, and each
stepped onstage with a baby strapped to his back.
"This is Little Ted."
"Hello, Little Ted!"
"And this is Little Bill."
"Hello, Little Bill!"
As we learn in Bill & Ted Face the Music, those were actually nicknames for their daughters,
Wilhelmina "Billie" Logan, and Theodora "Thea" Preston, played respectively by Brigette Lundy-Paine,
who you may recognize from Bombshell, and Samara Weaving from Ready or Not, who happens
to be the niece of Reeves' Matrix adversary Hugo Weaving.
"I'm supposed to say, 'Hmm…that's interesting."
In Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, a representative from the future named Rufus felt duty-bound
to help the guys pass their history exam because their music would unite the universe, align
the planets, bring them into harmony, and allow meaningful contact with all forms of
life, not to mention ending war and poverty.
"And...it's excellent for dancing."
A few years later in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, the guys debuted their supergroup, Wyld Stallyns,
complete with Death, the Grim Reaper himself, on bass.
But in the opening moments of Bill & Ted Face the Music, viewers learn that he and the Stallyns
have parted ways, with a magazine touting a parting quote from Death, fittingly, "See
You In Hell!"
The headline "See You in Hell" isn't just tabloid shorthand, however. Later in the film,
Bill and Ted, along with their daughters, Ted's father, and a bunch of other people
from across space and time all actually end up in Hell, where Bill and Ted again meet
Death. Judging by the decor in his lair, including a framed Wyld Stallyns jacket and album, he's
missed his bandmates, even though at first he acts like he hasn't.
In its own loopy way, Bill & Ted Face the Music hits on the ambivalence and regrets
of middle age through our heroes, whose foretold promise hasn't yet happened, but not for lack
of trying.
Years after their band's breakup, the two scramble for gigs, playing taco nights and
even wedding receptions, such as the one for Ted's brother Deacon. In an amusing turn,
Ted's brother marries Missy, played by a returning Amy Stoch, who in the earlier films married
and divorced both Bill's father and Ted's father. It's a development that kind of makes
Deacon his own father-in-law, much to his real dad's disgust.
The reception gives Bill and Ted the chance to show off a variety of musical styles they've
learned in pursuit of the ultimate song, including the trumpet, kettle drums, bagpipes, throat
singing, and the theremin.
Unfamiliar with some of those? Billie and Thea aren't. While their dads might have called
Beethoven "Beef-oven" back in the day, the girls know their stuff, and Bill and Ted have
studied a lot, too.
While complimenting their dads on the much-maligned wedding performance, Thea and Billie drop
some deep knowledge about musical history, even exceptionally obscure music history.
Their easy dispensing of music trivia informs how the two are so easily able to go on their
own excellent adventure through time in a most casual way, assembling a band for Bill
and Ted's big show.
When Thea compliments her uncle Ted, she tells him that his playing rivaled that of Clara
Rockmore, the violin prodigy who became a virtuoso on this electronic instrument around
the 1920s.
Billie also compliments her Uncle Bill on his throat singing, calling it both a whole
new level of eloquence, and some serious "buga khoomei," a reference to one traditional style
of such vocalization.
The plot for Bill & Ted Face the Music kicks into gear when another future representative,
played by Kristen Schaal, escorts the guys to their hometown of San Dimas in the year
2720.
There, they learn that Rufus' prophecy of the future apparently left out a few things.
As the future's Great Leader describes it, "A song created by Preston and Logan at a
concert performed by everyone in the band at 7:17 p.m. at MP 46 will save reality as
we know it, uniting humanity across all time."
Without that song, time can't hold together, blipping historical figures such as George
Washington, Babe Ruth, and even rapper Kid Cudi all over the place.
But while the Great Leader scolds Bill and Ted for not producing the perfect tune yet,
her math seems to retcon the timeline of the second film.
"25 years ago, you played a concert in front of the entire world."
A newspaper story about that concert during the closing credits of Bill & Ted's Bogus
Journey places it in 1991. But Bill & Ted Face the Music is set in 2020. Twenty-five
years earlier would be 1995. Whoa!
Screenwriter Ed Solomon has said that they had to carefully arrange their plans for the
third movie to fit that ending montage, which included such titanic accomplishments as the
guys playing on Mars. This wasn't necessarily the writers' plan, though, according to Solomon,
those headlines were added in post-production without their knowledge, livening up the second
movie's ending while unwittingly stepping on the planned third movie's toes.
While much of that Bogus Journey credits material is implied to still have happened in Face
the Music, the overall result still led to Bill and Ted becoming schlubby sort-of-losers
by the time they reached full dad-hood. Bill and Ted may have won the Battle of the Bands,
but according to the writer, they ended up being more of a flash in the pan in the years
that immediately followed.
Under pressure to write the perfect song within hours, Bill and Ted journey to the future
to get some help from themselves. While the wardrobe of their future selves occasionally
leaves much to be desired, the present-day duo has a dad style that's only mildly different
from what they wore in the previous films.
Bill always liked blue hues and plaid or button-down shirts, usually worn as jackets or tied around
his waist as they traveled through time and to Heaven and Hell. Here, he again ties a
plaid shirt around his waist and wears a blue Wyld Stallyns T-shirt that has the band's
name written across the back.
As for Ted, he's always liked red. In Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Ted wears a light
red denim jacket outside the Circle K early in the film when Rufus first meets the pair.
Ted takes off the jacket as they travel, but it's around his waist for much of the movie.
In the second film, he wears a red vest and hoodie combo. In this third film, Ted starts
out wearing a gray suit jacket and gray slacks, but as he and Bill trek through time, he ditches
the jacket, fully revealing a button-down shirt in his signature color.
As they visit various versions of their future selves, Bill and Ted at one point land outside
a mansion, bolstering their hopes that they've written the important song after all. The
Future Bill and Future Ted inside aren't the successful rockers they pretend to be, although
they try to dress and act the part.
While their outlandish tights, animal prints, and top hat might remind some viewers of Guns
N' Roses or Aerosmith in the 1980s, costume designer Jennifer Starzyk told Variety that
she drew from another band of that era: Van Halen. She imagined Bill and Ted imitating
the band from its early heyday when dressing them for the big time. She explained,
"That whole look of the two was about over-embellishment and how ridiculously rock star they should
look, as if they were famous."
The present-day heroes soon learn that real rockers are more low-key when the true homeowner,
Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, arrives in an understated black outfit. Real rock stars,
these days, look a little less ridiculous.
The filmmakers couldn't resist paying tribute to George Carlin, whose time-traveling Rufus
appeared in both earlier films.
The comedian, whose famous riffs included an extended bit on the dirtiest words you
can't say on television, died in 2008 at age 71.
In Bill & Ted Face the Music, Rufus returns for a few seconds as a hologram in San Dimas
2720, popping out of the time-traveling phone booth as sort of a historical kiosk.
A bigger tribute, however, is in Schaal's character. Her emissary from the future is
Rufus' daughter, and her name is Kelly, the actual name of the comedian's daughter in
real life.
Writer Ed Solomon confirmed the intentional reference on Twitter, writing,
"One of the things George was proudest of was his daughter Kelly, and, if you ask me,
I think he'd've loved that we named Rufus' daughter Kelly."
"How can we ever thank you, Rufus?"
"Well you can start by signing this for my kids."
Kelly Carlin also has a small cameo in one of the film's future scenes, gifting Bill
and Ted with Rufus' watch to keep track of time while on their journey. The inscription
inside? "Sometimes things don't make sense until the end of the story."
In Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, the boys didn't visit the library to work on their
history report but sat on the curb outside the Circle K, asking passersby about figures
such as Genghis Khan.
"Excuse me! When did the Mongols rule China?"
"I don't know, I just work here."
Then Rufus arrived in the telephone booth amid crackles of electricity, changing these
two charming California knuckleheads' lives forever.
"Strange things are afoot at the Circle K."
The convenience store doesn't appear in Bill & Ted Face the Music, but the humble origin
of the guys' time-traveling antics does get a shout-out as time and reality go haywire.
Toward the climax, while the guys, their wives, their daughters, and fellow musicians puzzle
out how and where they're meant to play the essential song, sharp-eyed viewers can spot
a red Circle K billboard in the background.
The Circle K callback isn't the only subtle touch here, however. The billboard next to
the one advertising the store says, "Music Unites", the theme of all the Bill and Ted
films, and an apt description of what our heroes desperately want to do.
Although Bill's and Ted's wardrobe choices echo their earlier films, Ted's love of smiley
faces deserves a highlight all its own. As a teen in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure,
Ted wore black shorts with a yellow smiley face patch on one leg.
The motif appeared again on the back of Ted's vest and hoodie combo in Bill & Ted's Bogus
Journey, and also on the baby carrier holding Little Bill that's strapped to Ted's back
before he and Bill play at the climactic Battle of the Bands.
In Bill & Ted Face the Music, however, Ted's smileys don't show up for a while. Sure, he's
a middle-aged guy at this point, so he might not wear them so obviously, but considering
his best buddy still knocks around in his band T-shirt, the missing smiley faces comment
on Ted's emotional state.
The film opens with the pair feeling low, after all, wondering if they've failed to
live up to their potential. But the film signals that all will work out eventually when they
meet one Future Ted who wears a comfortable purple shirt with smiley faces printed across
the front.
He's clearly at peace, and by the film's end, as present-day Bill and Ted rock out with
their wives, daughters, and the rest of the crowd, Ted plays his guitar with smiley faces
all along the strap. It's enough to leave the audience in a happy place.
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