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Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

1991, Comedy, 1h 38m

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Critics Consensus

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey has the same stars -- and cheerfully wacky sense of humor -- as its predecessor, but they prove a far less effective combination the second time around. Read critic reviews

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Amiable slackers Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are once again roped into a fantastical adventure when De Nomolos (Joss Ackland), a villain from the future, sends evil robot duplicates of the two lads to terminate and replace them. The robot doubles actually succeed in killing Bill and Ted, but the two are determined to escape the afterlife, challenging the Grim Reaper (William Sadler) to a series of games in order to return to the land of the living.

Genre: Comedy

Original Language: English

Director: Peter Hewitt

Producer: Scott Kroopf

Writer: Chris Matheson , Ed Solomon

Release Date (Streaming): Sep 27, 2016

Box Office (Gross USA): $38.0M

Runtime: 1h 38m

Production Co: Interscope Communications, Nelson Entertainment

Sound Mix: Surround, Stereo

View the collection: Bill & Ted

Cast & Crew

Keanu Reeves

Alex Winter

Bill, Granny Preston

William Sadler

Grim Reaper

Joss Ackland

Ms. Wardroe

George Carlin

Amy Stock-Poynton

Sir James Martin

Hal Landon Jr.

Captain Logan

Annette Azcuy

Chelcie Ross

Colonel Oats

Robert Noble

Peter Hewitt

Scott Kroopf

Chris Matheson

Screenwriter

News & Interviews for Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

Grae Drake Talks Death, Games, and Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey

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There were parts of "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" I probably didn't understand, but that's all right, because there were even more parts that Bill and Ted didn't understand. This is a movie that thrives on the dense-witted idiocy of its characters, two teenage dudes who go on amazing journeys through time and space with only the dimmest perception that they are not still playing video games. I missed the enormously popular movie that introduced these characters, "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," and felt myself blessed at the time. But now I'm not so sure. Their "Bogus Journey" is a riot of visual invention and weird humor that works on its chosen sub-moronic level, and on several others as well, including some fairly sophisticated ones. It's the kind of movie where you start out snickering in spite of yourself, and end up actually admiring the originality that went into creating this hallucinatory slapstick. The movie begins far in the future, where students at Bill & Ted's University have the opportunity to chat personally with Thomas Edison and Beethoven, and to study such artistic classics as the " Star Trek " TV series. An evil overlord of time, named De Nomolos and played by that gravel-voiced, white-haired villain Joss Ackland , vows to rewrite history by destroying Bill and Ted (played as before by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves ). He has invented robots that look and act exactly like the two heroes, and are just as dumb, and he sends them rocketing back through time in a telephone booth. Bill and Ted are meanwhile trying to win a rock band contest with their own group, the Wyld Stallyons, which includes a couple of girl musicians they picked up in the 15th century. Startled by the appearance of their robot-doubles, they commence their own journeys through time and space in a desperate attempt to destroy them, save themselves, preserve the book of history, stay cool, and meet cute chicks. The funniest thing that happens to them is their showdown with the Grim Reaper ( William Sadler ), who looks just as he does in Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal." In that film (as most of the audience for this one will probably not know), Death played chess with a medieval knight, with the knight's soul at stake. This time the dudes challenge the Reaper to a pocket video game, and beat him, even after he tries to weasel out with an offer of best of three. Death, having lost, has to accompany Bill and Ted on their journey and do what they tell him, and this leads to some of the funniest moments I have seen in any movie in a long time, including one where the Reaper does a little comparison shopping for scythes at the hardware store. One of the stops on the bogus journey is Heaven, created with great imagination and a lot of light and echoing sound effects and a most peculiar conversation with the Deity. Bill ands Ted handle this summit meeting, as they handle everything else in the film, like two dudes for whom "Pee Wee's Playhouse" would be too slow and intellectual. All of the actors (including George Carlin , who turns up in an important supporting role) have a lot of fun with this material, and it turns into more delicate fun, based on more subtle timing, than you might imagine. Many of Sadler's laughs as the Grim Reaper come from simple physical cringing, as he conveys his embarrassment and lost dignity.

Of Bill and Ted, I can say that I have not seen Alex Winter much before (he was in " Rosalie Goes Shopping "), but I have seen Keanu Reeves in vastly different roles (the FBI man in the current "Point Break," for example), and am a little astonished by the range of these performances. Like Sean Penn , who immortalized the word "awesome" in a Bill & Ted-like performance in " Fast Times at Ridgemont High ," he brings more artistry to this cretinous role than might at first meet the eye. Who is the movie intended for? Your basic "Bill & Ted" audience, for starters -- upward-bound young moviegoers looking for something one notch more challenging than " Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ." But also for lovers of fantasy, whimsy, and fanciful special effects. This movie is light as a feather and thin as ice in spring, but what it does, it does very nicely.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey movie poster

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

George Carlin as Rufus

Keanu Reeves as Ted

Alex Winter as Bill

William Sadler as Grim Reaper

Joss Ackland as De Nomolos

Chris Matheson
David Newman

Directed by

Peter Hewitt

Produced by

Scott Kroopf
David Finfer

Photographed by

Oliver Wood

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Bill & ted's bogus journey.

The Grim Reaper helps the dopey dudes stop their evil robot twins.

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The popularity of the first Bill & Ted film prompted Nelson and Orion to release a sequel two years later. Chuck De Nomolos (Joss Ackland), a rebel from Rufus's utopian future, wants to replace it with a militaristic Crapsack World . He plans to accomplish this by sending Evil Robot duplicates into the past, where they will kill the boys, then deliver a disparaging speech worldwide at a "Battle of the Bands" concert contest and destroy Wyld Stallyns' reputation forever.

With a minimum amount of effort, the robots succeed in killing off the two title characters. However, their spirits refuse to go quietly into the good night and face off against the Grim Reaper ( William Sadler ). While the evil robots make time with the guys' princess babes, the ghosts of Bill and Ted need to find a way to resurrect themselves, defeat the evil robot "usses" and stop Chuck De Nomolos. To do so, they must go through Heaven and Hell (literally, plus Kirk's Rock ) to face their personal demons and gather allies to their cause.

The second movie features the following totally metal tropes:

Achievements in Ignorance : It's indicated in the ending montage that Death somehow won the Indy 500. On foot. ("I didn't know I could run that fast.")
All Part of the Show : Everyone not directly involved thinks that the climactic battle is just a really elaborate stage show.
And That's Terrible : Bill and Ted have to mug some people in Heaven, and they admit it was not a good thing.
Artistic License – Space : The picture that accompanies the "Wyld Stallyns to Play Mars" has a picture of Jupiter's moon Io.
Artistic License – Sports : The aforementioned Grim Reaper winning the Indy 500 on foot .
Back from the Dead : Evil Robot Bill & Ted kill the originals, but they eventually come back to life after beating Death in a number of board games .
Badass Creed : De Nomolos and his followers have a pretty impressive villainous one: "What is the fuel?" " FEAR! " "What is the engine?" " DISCIPLINE! " "What is the ideal?" " ORDER! " "And how do we achieve it?" " DEATH TO BILL AND TED! "
Big Red Devil : The duo flag the attention of a gigantic one in Hell who sends them to live their own personal Hells.
Bound and Gagged : The princesses by the Evil Robot Bill & Ted near the end, along with Unwilling Suspension since they're goign to drop them from the rafters after the show ends.
Burger Fool : Off-screen, Bill and Ted work for "Pretzels and Cheese" in order to support the band.
Butt-Monkey : Death of all people. He is repeatedly humiliated, first when Bill and Ted wedgie him to escape. Then he undergoes a series of embarrassing defeats at board games, is forced to appear before God in drag, suffers repeated comedic injuries on Earth, and finally he can't even catch a break when he becomes part of the band that saves the world. His solo albums fail spectacularly, and was also part of a lip-sync scandal. At least he won the Indianapolis 500 .
The time machine arrives outside the Circle K, as in the first film, though without any particular reason this time (indeed, it's a different Circle K).
Bill and Ted initially assume that the robots are future versions of themselves, referencing when they crossed paths with themselves in the first film.
After Missy divorces Bill's father and marries Ted's, Bill can't think of anything to say, so he just repeats his Running Gag "Shut up, Ted" line from the first movie.
Bill calls the evil robots dickweeds for killing them, referencing when Bill called a knight a "medieval dickweed" for apparently killing Ted.
When Bill and Ted try to plead for their lives and tell the evil robots that they love them, the robots call them "fags," a callback to the first film, when Bill and Ted embrace, then call each other "fag."
The boys again quote metal lyrics when asked to say something profound.
When the camera pans down from the Builder's Emporium sign, you can see a sign further down for Oshman's Sporting Goods- the store that Genghis Khan "totally ravaged" at the mall in the first movie.
The climax is again resolved by planning to go back in time to set things up after the climax is resolved.
The Cameo : A number of musicians have cameos, including the members of Primus as themselves, "Big" Jim Martin of Faith No More playing himself Etc. referred to as "Sir James Martin of the Faith No More Spiritual and Theological centre" , and bluesman Taj Mahal as heaven's gatekeeper.
Celebrities Hang Out in Heaven : When Bill, Ted, and Death go to heaven to meet the universe's greatest inventor, they find Confucius , Benjamin Franklin , Albert Einstein , and George Washington playing charades with Station. Someone can also be heard asking " Marilyn " how she got into show business.
Chess with Death : Parodied by having Bill and Ted best Death in a number of modern party and board games until he finally admits defeat.
Confusing Multiple Negatives : When made to believe that the princesses have broken up with them, Bill describes the situation as "non-non-heinous", i.e., heinous. He later calls his personal hell "non-non-non-non-heinous" which, yes, still adds up to heinous.
Counter Zany : "How do we defeat evil robot usses?" "By building good robot usses to fight them!"
Covers Always Lie : Parodied when Bill and Ted complain that rock albums inaccurately portrayed Hell. "We got totally lied to by our album covers, man."
Creation Sequence : Station assembles the Good Robot Usses in the back of a moving van.
The credits describe the crew as "awesome", "bodacious", etc.
Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon appear as the two male members of the seance.
Director Peter Hewitt appears as the smoker at the hardware shop whom Death talks to.
Crystal Spires and Togas : Subverted, as we learn that not everyone is happy to live in a future founded by a pair of hard rockers.
Curb-Stomp Battle : The "Good Robot Usses" created by Station own the "Bad Robot Usses" created by Chuck De Nomolos. They uppercut their heads off their bodies, and a follow-up punch to the torso causes them to explode. Surprisingly the Bad Robot Usses are perfectly ok with this. Evil Ted: Dude, we may have met our match! Evil Bill: Kudos to you, good human usses!
Darker and Edgier : As is evident by the titles. Whilst Excellent Adventure is a feel-good romp, Bogus Journey has the title characters a) facing robot terrorists from the future and b) dying and going to hell , even if it is still played for laughs and they get better eventually.
Death Is Gray : After Bill and Ted are thrown off a cliff by their evil robot twins, they appear as ghosts with gray skin.
Defeat Means Friendship : After having lost every game to Bill and Ted, Death becomes their ally who also has to obey their orders.
Despite having a number of lines in the first film, Bill's dad only has a single reaction shot in which he looks forlornly at Missy.
Ted's little brother Deacon had a substantial sideplot in the first film, but never shows up in the sequel. He's acknowledged only in Ted's personal Hell, when Ted steals an Easter basket with Deacon's name on it.
Bill & Ted in between the time they die and go to Hell. At times you can tell they're just wearing grey paint and greyscale versions of their clothing.
Also with Colonel Oats in hell.
It turns out that Death is actually a pretty nice guy once you get to know him, and the climax of the movie has him joining Bill and Ted's band.
Bill and Ted also have a rather casual conversation with God just before returning to the living world.
Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu? : When Bill & Ted are cast into an underground maze of doors containing their worst fears by the Devil, Ted is unimpressed by the big guy's taunts... The Devil: Choose your eternity! (evil laugh) Dead Ted: Choose your own, you FAG !! The Devil: (angry roar) (Ted is sent flying into a wall)
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu? : "I can't believe we Melvined Death!" (high five)
Do Not Adjust Your Set : De Nomolos commandeers the world's televisions to deliver his evil speech.
Don't Fear the Reaper : Bad attitude? Yes! Evil? No! Combines with Waxing Lyrical after the two beat Death and he has to lead them to Heaven. Dead Bill: Hey, Ted — Don't Fear the Reaper ! Death: I heard that!
Drill Sergeant Nasty : Colonel Oats, the head and namesake of Oats Military Academy where Ted's dad is threatening to send him in the first movie. He's only mentioned in the first film; we first meet him in the sequel at a party and he's still offering a place for Ted at the academy . However, when the duo goes to hell, the first punishment they go through is being at military school where he's this trope in full force and demands that they "get down and give me infinity". Then again, they are in HELL...
Earth Is the Center of the Universe : Mocked when Bill and Ted ask God for help in protecting their girlfriends, and are sent to meet the smartest man in the universe... who turns out to be two squat, large-nosed Martians. Or one big one, depending... Death: Did you assume that the most brilliant scientist in the entire universe would be from Earth ?
Embarrassing First Name : At the end of the film, De Nomolos' first name is revealed as "Chuck". Which isn't really that bad a name, unless you're trying to be an Evil Overlord .
Evil Knockoff : The duo's evil robot duplicates from the future.
Evil Mentor : Subverted with De Nomolos, although the viewers are meant to think he was this to Rufus for most of the film. Rufus calls him "my old teacher" in the opening scene and the villain responds by calling him "my favorite pupil." Rufus later explains at the end of the film that De Nomolos was actually his old gym teacher.
Evil Wears Black : De Nomolos and his soldiers all wear black.
Exact Words : Just before using the Good Robot Usses to destroy the Evil Robot Usses, the real Bill & Ted say to the ERU's "Catch YOU later Bill and Ted!" The GRU's knock the ERU's heads off, and Bill and Ted catch them a few moments later.
Exposed Extraterrestrials : Station. He even provides the page image. His nudity gets Lampshaded when the boys comment on his butt.
Faint in Shock : The princesses reaction when Evil Bill & Ted reveal that they're robots.
Famous, Famous, Fictional : Rufus introduces some guest speakers from the past to his students: Johann Sebastian Bach , Jim Martin and Ria Paschelle, a woman from the 23rd century who invented the statiophonicoxygeneticamplifiagraphiphonideliverberator.
Fantastic Time Management : How Bill and Ted actually end up learning to play.
Field Trip to the Past : Literally, after introducing guest speakers from the past, Rufus reminds the class about an upcoming field trip to Babylonia.
Fire and Brimstone Hell : This is how hell appears when they first arrive: breaking rocks eternally under the watchful eye of Satan , as well as a chamber filled with many forms of Ironic Hell .
Flowery Insults : Colonel Oats throws some fairly bizarre ones at them in hell. "You petty, base, bully-bullocked bugger billies!" "You're not strong, you're silky boys! Silk comes from the butts of Chinese worms." "I'll eat you up like the warm, toasty little buttercakes you are!" "You two-toed, no-nosed salamanders!"
Fluffy Cloud Heaven : Well, more "Plastic Fluorescent-Backlit Clouds" Heaven, which the duo describe as "most atypical".
Freeze-Frame Bonus : Some of the magazines and newspapers that appear detailing Would Stallyns' career in the credits are dated 2691. Maybe they get reprinted in the future.
From Nobody to Nightmare : De Nomolos apparently went from a gym teacher to a terrorist leader and would-be world-conqueror, who planned to alter history so that the future would match his own - likely dystopian - political structure. A pretty big jump.
At the Builder's Emporium, Death tells a smoker "See you real soon". After he passes by, you can see the smoker (played by the director) do a Double Take and quickly stub out his cigarette.
The bizarre costumes of the people in heaven are often jokes in themselves, including one man who walks around heaven in a boxing outfit.
Fusion Dance : The Stations can body-slam each other to form a larger, muscular STATION.
Future Me Scares Me : Sort of. The duo quickly become afraid of what they think are their future selves, before it's revealed that they're actually evil robot doubles.
Future Slang : "Station" is used as both a greeting and a positive adjective (in the fashion of "awesome"). Though at the concert at the end of the film, Ted says it can mean anything.
God : Appears as a bright light in a roughly anthropoid shape who says very little.
God Is Good : When Bill and Ted ask for help, he directs them to Station without question, even after they admit to mugging three people who had just ascended to heaven for their clothes.
Graceful Loser : Evil Bill and Evil Ted of all people, when the Good Robot Usses charge them in the climactic concert. Not only do they congratulate the originals, but they seemingly concede defeat by tilting their heads back to give the Good Robots a better target. Evil Ted: Dude, we may have met our match! Evil Bill: Kudos to you, good human usses! Evil Bill and Evil Ted: Catch you later, Bill and Ted!! Bill and Ted: Catch you later, Bill and Ted!! (Good Robot Usses punch heads off Evil Robot Usses)
The Grim Reaper : Starts off as a minor antagonist, but soon joins the guys. Later wins the Indy 500 on foot and gets caught in a lip-syncing scandal .
Groin Attack : Variant: Bill and Ted use a Melvin, a front-side wedgie, on The Grim Reaper . Later the Reaper does it to De Nomolos.
Happily Ever After : The end credits of the film feature a montage of newspaper headlines chronicling Bill & Ted's rise to fame and their music bringing about world peace and a new scientific renaissance while playing the song "God Gave Rock And Roll To You" by KISS . It's a very happy ending.
In the future, Rufus brings Johann Sebastian Bach to his class.
In heaven, there are various historical personages, including Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin.
Hollywood Board Games : Death is such a Sore Loser that he keeps asking the boys for rematches and when that doesn't work, asks to play another board game. They go from Cluedo to Battleship to Twister .
Homage : The second movie parodies the Ingmar Bergman film The Seventh Seal where a Knight plays chess with the Grim Reaper for his soul. Bill and Ted play him with classic board games and Twister.
Homemade Inventions : The Good Robot Usses.
How Many Fingers? : Parodied when Ted asks his evil robot how many fingers he's about to hold up. When the robot announces "three," Ted indeed holds up three fingers. The comedy is whether Ted only held up three fingers because the robot said so.

Bill and Ted's long fall to Hell, which takes so long they begin playing "20 Questions" to pass the time. To be fair, it was a pretty short game: Dead Bill: Hey, you wanna play Twenty Questions? Dead Ted: Okay! I got one! Dead Bill: Are you a mineral? Dead Ted: Yeah! Dead Bill: Are you a tank? Dead Ted: Whoa! Yeah!
When this film airs on television, a commercial break is often placed in the middle of this scene, which probably makes the whole gag funnier .
If You Die, I Call Your Stuff Dead Bill: Ted. Dead Ted: Yeah? Dead Bill: If I die, you can have my Megadeth collection. Dead Ted: But, dude, we're already dead. Dead Bill: Oh. Well then they're yours, dude!
Ironic Echo : "Catch ya later, Bill and Ted!" First by the Evil Robots to Bill and Ted, then by Bill and Ted to the Evil Robots. Both times, the party spoken to is about to die.
Ironic Hell : Both boys experience this after passing through Fire and Brimstone Hell for a bit.
It's Been Done : The plot is a blend of Terminator and, of all things, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park - which featured KISS battling Evil Robot KISS. Seriously.
Kick the Dog : Evil Bill and Ted repeatedly try to kill animals. The Evil Robots' groping of the heroes' (rather chaste) princess girlfriends also counts in various ways.
Kill and Replace : Evil Robot Bill & Ted are programmed to murder the originals, wreck their relationships, and ruin their performance at the battle of the bands. They even succeed, up to a point .
Kirk's Rock : Lampshaded: Just before the boys meet the Evil Robots, they're watching that particular episode of Star Trek on TV. When the Evil Usses drag the boys up to the rock to kill them, we even get a recreation of the dramatic zoom out from Trek .
Knight of Cerebus : The humor tones down a bit whenever De Nomolos appears. He's very straightforward and serious, though he ends up being not much of a threat in the end.
Larynx Dissonance : Evil Bill changes his voice to one of the medieval babes to give Bill and Ted a fake breakup call, in order to lead them into the trap where they will be killed.
LOL, 69 : Bill & Ted have crossed out the number on their apartment door and spray-painted a large "69" next to it.
Losing Your Head : The Evil Usses' version of basketball. They end up losing their heads for good thanks to the Good Robot Usses.
Make Wrong What Once Went Right : Chuck De Nomolos' motive.
Manly Facial Hair : Bill develops a beard during his and Ted's 16 months of training as a way of showing how much they have toughened up, although the newspaper photos indicate he shaves it off later.
May–December Romance : Missy and Ted's father, who's even older than Bill's father from the first movie. And then she hooks up with Chuck De Nomolos at the end of that movie. The girl Really Gets Around .
Meaningful Name : Ms. Wardroe is actually a disguise of Rufus's .
Men Can't Keep House : Bill and Ted's apartment is a showcase of this trope.
Mirror Match : The Evil Robot Bill and Ted vs. the Good Robot Usses.
Monochrome Apparition : When Bill and Ted are dead, they're grayish-blue.
Mugged for Disguise : Bill and Ted do this to people in heaven!
Ted mentions the princesses are celebrating their fifth year in the 20th century. They arrived in the first movie which was set in 1988 so Bogus Journey must be set in 1993 when it was released in 1991.
The Great Leader's comment in Bill & Ted Face the Music about the concert happening 25 years ago would put Bogus Journey as happening in 1995.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain : Ties in with the Stable Time Loop . Chuck De Nomolos decides to broadcast his defeat of Bill and Ted live to the world. After he's defeated, this only ensures that Bill and Ted broadcast their first performance live all over the world, hence beginning the cycle of their music creating the future Utopia .
Obvious Stunt Double : At one point in Bill and Ted's apartment, Alex Winter steps off his mark and reveals the face of Keanu Reeves ' body double.
The One Thing I Don't Hate About You : Rufus mentions to the protagonists that De Nomolos was the sit-up champion of the 27th Century. At least that seems to be a compliment, it might have been meant as a goofy version of How the Mighty Have Fallen .
Orifice Invasion : Played for Laughs when Bill and Ted's ghosts try possessing two men. They squeeze in through the ears. "I totally possessed my dad!"
Overly Long Gag : When they get sent to hell. "Dude, this is a totally deep hole."
Overly Long Scream : Bill and Ted fall down a pit to hell, screaming the whole way, but the pit is so deep that they eventually get tired of repeatedly screaming and start playing 20 Questions.
Our Founder : Bill and Ted, in the future.
Out-Gambitted : The climax of the film. Both sides' plans rely on the premise that they won the current battle in the present, which would allow them to manipulate time afterwards and rig the battle in the present to their favor. "The future belongs to the winner."
Outside-Context Problem : No one, least of all Bill and Ted themselves, saw evil duplicates of themselves coming back to kill them, under orders from an attempted revolutionary with plans to turn the future Earth into a dystopia . But in turn, Evil B&T and De Nomolos likely didn't forsee B&T allying with the Grim Reaper and a duo of Martians to stop them, and constructing good robotic duplicates to defeat the evil ones.
Perfect Pacifist People : Bill and Ted's future society appears to be one of these.
Pokémon Speak : The Stations use the word "Station" for everything.
The Power of Rock : Exaggerated, as the effects of Wyld Stallyns' music are shown via a newspaper montage at the end of the film (set to KISS 's "God Gave Rock 'n Roll To You"): Wyld Stallyns Tour Midwest; Crop Growth Up 30% Bill & Ted Tour Mideast; Peace Achieved Stallyns Use World Nuclear Arsenal to Fuel Amplifiers Air Guitar Found to Eliminate Smog Bill & Ted Named Sportsmen of the Decade Rumored W.S. Split; DOW Drops 600 Points W.S. Split A Hoax - DOW To Record High Bill and Ted: The Movie Wyld Stallyns to Play Mars - "Station!"
The patio table at the princesses' birthday is littered with Pepsi cans. They also hold Pepsi cans in the previous scene.
An Establishing Shot lingers on the Builder's Emporium sign to make sure you know exactly which hardware store Bill and Ted frequent. Sadly, Builder's Emporium folded two years after the film released.
Profound by Pop Song : Bill, Ted and Death try and get into Heaven and are asked to answer what the meaning of life is for entry. They answer by quoting "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison and it works!
Really Gets Around : Missy was married to Bill's dad in the first film, but has left him and married Ted's dad by the sequel. She also flirts with Col. Oats, and the end credits reveal that she has left Ted's dad for Chuck De Nomolos.
Retroactive Preparation : B&T manage to turn this trope into a martial art during the showdown with De Nomolos.
Ridiculously Human Robots : The Evil Robot Bill and Ted, who can apparently get "full-on robot chubb[ies]" from looking at a picture of the guys' girlfriends.
Robotic Reveal : Bill punching his robotic evil twin. "Oww! You're metal, dude!"
Robot Me : There are Bill and Ted's evil robot copies from the future, and then Station improvises another robot Bill and Ted to counter them.
Rule of Funny : The movie runs on this. Bill growing a ZZ Top beard in 16 months is the least implausible joke in the film.
San Dimas Time : Interestingly, the sequel seems to throw this out by allowing Bill and Ted to spend 16 months to get guitar lessons, then return to the present to win the concert. One might assume that they have to jump 16 months into the future after they win the concert, but the news articles that display over the credits don't suggest that they vanished for 16 months after their first performance.
Sdrawkcab Name : Chuck De Nomolos is this for writer Ed Solomon.
Sdrawkcab Speech : Additionally, the exorcism chant is "Ed and Chris [Matheson, Solomon's co-writer] will rule the world", spoken backwards: D'lrow eht elur l'liw sirhc d'na de.
The Death subplot is a direct parody of Death from The Seventh Seal .
Bill and Ted watch the "Arena" episode of Star Trek: The Original Series , featuring Kirk's Rock . They are then taken to Kirk's Rock to be killed by the evil robots.
Ted possesses his father, "Like from The Exorcist 1 and 3."
The boys quote Poison 's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" when asked the meaning of life.
Les Claypool of Primus wears a The Residents shirt onstage.
Station is playing charades and miming the film Smokey and the Bandit 3 . Death guesses " Butch and Sundance: The Early Years ."
Bill's waist-length beard in the very end is obviously a nod to ZZ Top .
Something That Begins with "Boring" : Bill and Ted play 20 Questions while falling into Hell and waiting to land.
Sore Loser : The Grim Reaper when he initially loses. It take several losses to the boys for him to finally give in to their demands.
Spinning Paper : Seen during the end credits.
Squick : An in-universe example: Death gets jealous of all the praise Station is getting and starts fishing for compliments. When Ted says Station has "an excellently huge Martian butt", Death says, "Don't overlook my butt. I work out all the time. Reaping burns a lot of calories." Bill and Ted visibly shudder at this.
Stable Time Loop : Chuck De Nomolos is basically responsible for Wyld Stallyns' world fame, broadcasting their Battle of the Bands appearance to the world by accident in his attempt to Take Over the World . Also used tactically in the fight.
Sufficiently Advanced Alien : Station, despite his (their?) goofy appearance.
Tagline : "Once... They Made history. Now... They Are History."
Technology Porn : Station's assembly of the Good Robot Usses is a Homemade Inventions version of this trope.
Throw the Dog a Bone : Despite his Butt-Monkey status, Death finds himself enjoying the company of Bill and Ted and being part of the band. Given that much of his grim nature appears to cover up severe insecurity and loneliness, Bill and Ted are probably the first friends he'd ever had. Also, it's shown during the news montage that he managed to win the Indianapolis 500 on foot . His response? " I didn't know I could run that fast ."
Time-Passage Beard : Bill and Ted have beards after returning from a 16-month guitar training sabbatical. Bill somehow managed to grow a ZZ Top beard in that time .
To Hell and Back
Took a Level in Badass : At the end of the movie, Bill and Ted use the time machine to take 16 months of intensive guitar training, going from being bad on a horrendous level to astonishingly good. Not to mention using and exploiting the Retroactive Preparation trope to its' fullest extent to stop De Nomolos.
Treacherous Advisor : Parodied. Early on, Chuck De Nomolos is recognized by Rufus and calls him his old teacher. Turns out, he was a gym teacher.
Trust Password : Double subverted; when the heroes' Evil Twins arrive, Ted is suspicious, but Bill convinces him to trust them. Then Ted trusts his robot counterpart after it passes a How Many Fingers? test.
Unfolding Plan Montage : The main characters face off against the Big Bad , each telling their plans and how they enacted them, resulting in weirdness out-of-flashback as Bill, Ted, and De Nomolos, all have time travel devices.
Unnaturally Blue Lighting : Bill and Ted are treated to this when they wake up in the afterlife, and later when they're in Death's chamber playing his games.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight : Nobody seems to find it odd when Station and the Grim Reaper are wandering through Builder's Emporium.
Uranus Is Showing : Bill and Ted say they admire Uranus when complimenting God , then chuckle.
Vile Villain, Saccharine Show : Even in a Darker and Edgier movie played for laughs, De Nomolos is far more evil than something you'd expect from it. (He has a little humor potential, but it's all Black Humor .)
Visual Pun : Bill and Ted echo back "Catch ya later, Bill and Ted!" to the Evil Robot Usses... and a few seconds later, do in fact catch the robots' flying heads.
Wedgie : The characters give The Grim Reaper one.
The Whole World Is Watching : The villain De Nomolos causes all the world's channels to watch his New Era Speech , but Bill and Ted are able to defeat him and then their future selves play their music for all the world to see, which makes them internationally famous. Nice Job Fixing It, Villain
Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? : Averted in the comic and novel adaptation. Rather than the Xanatos Speed Chess battle with DeNomolos, the boys simply find the Self-Destruct Mechanism in Evil Robot B&T's heads and throw them to DeNomolos , killing him.
The Next Sunday A.D. example above implies the movie is set in 1993. The newspaper and magazine articles that appear over the credits are mostly dated as the year of release, 1991. Some are dated 2691 but they're presumably future reprints.
To make it more confusing, in Bill & Ted Face the Music (released and set in 2020) has the Great Leader saying the concert happened 25 years ago. Implying that Bogus Journey takes place in 1995.
Xanatos Speed Chess : The final confrontation between Bill and Ted and DeNomolos.
You Already Changed the Past : The entire climax is Bill, Ted, and Chuck De Nomolos performing dueling versions of this. Except that, as Bill points out, only the winner can change history, so all the things the villain thought he planted were just decoys B&T placed to lull him into a false sense of security .

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Flashback: Bill and Ted Battle the Grim Reaper by Playing ‘Battleship’

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

The Bill & Ted fan community haven’t had it easy over the past couple of decades. The only real content they’ve gotten to chew on since Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey left theaters in 1991 was the short-lived cartoon series Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures and a disastrous live-action Fox show that aired seven episodes in the summer of 1992 before being forever banished from the memory banks of every single person on the planet.

Making matters worse, series stars Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter pop up in the press every few months and promise that the long-awaited Bill & Ted 3 is on the verge of happening. We’d call it the Chinese Democracy of movies, but Axl Rose took a mere 11 years to turn that album into a reality and Bill & Ted 3 has been languishing for well over twice that time. Of course, it’s hard to blame Reeves and Winter for the stalemate. They just can’t seem to find a studio willing to pony up the cash to make it happen, even though Reeves is gearing up to begin work on John Wick: Chapter 3 a mere four years after the original hit.

Nearly every time that Reeves and Winter talk about Bill & Ted 3 they reveal a little more information about the proposed storyline. We’ve heard for years that it focuses on the two buddies growing old and realizing that their promised fate of recording music that united the planet never came to pass, but in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly they revealed a lot more of the idea along with the proposed title: Bill & Ted Face the Music. “Indomitable spirits confronted with, ‘Is this the end?'” Reeves said. “Of course, there is a little caveat in that someone comes from the future and says: ‘Not only do you have to save the world, you have to save everything.'”

Even without firm studio backing, the duo recruited original Bill & Ted screenwriter Ed Solomon to pen a new script and they even lined up Galaxy Quest’ s Dean Parisot to direct it. “The whole trajectory of getting the next one off the ground has been pretty much exactly like the experience of getting the original,” Winter said. “Going to every studio, and they’re like, ‘What the eff is this?’ It’s this kind of independent spirit, and the films have an anachronistic quality to them that’s a big part of what they are, fundamentally. I’m really happy that this one is the same. It doesn’t feel like some stale knockoff that a studio would have immediately gone, ‘Oh, this feels right. We have rebranded very successfully.’”

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If all of this wasn’t exciting enough, they also promise that William Sadler is returning as Death. For those that don’t remember, Bill and Ted med Death when they (briefly) died in Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. After defeating him in a series of games, he joined their quest and ultimately became the bassist in their band. Although it was probably lost on most viewers at the time, the storyline was a parody of the 1957 Ingmar Bergman movie The Seventh Seal where a medieval knight challenges Death to a game of chess.

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Bill and Ted opt to challenge Death to a game of Battleship . After they defeat him with an excellent strike at J-7 – “I totally knew he’d put it in the J’s, dude” – he insists they play a best two out of three. Not in much of a position to negotiate, they break out Clue . When Death incorrectly surmises that Colonel Mustard committed the murder in the study with the candlestick (it was actually Professor Plum), the games continue with Electric Football and Twister until Death finally concedes and brings them back to the surface. It’s perhaps the single greatest sequence in either of the Bill & Ted movies.

Unsurprisingly, Sadler is more than willing to put the dark robe back on to play Death in Bill & Ted 3 . “Have scythe, will travel,” he tweeted in response to the new round of Bill & Ted 3 articles. Hollywood, come on. We’re sick of waiting. They have a script. They have a director. All the actors are ready to start work, including the Grim Reaper himself. Give them the money. This trilogy needs a conclusion. In these difficult times, we need Bill and Ted more than ever.

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Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

In the one funny sequence in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey , our most excellent heroes (Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter), having been shoved off a cliff by a couple of Bill-and-Ted robot terminators from the future, attempt to barter for their lives by playing games with the Grim Reaper. As it turns out, he’s a bit of a sore loser. After being defeated in rounds of Battleship and Clue, he insists they play three out of five. This clash-of-cultures gag keeps escalating — it’s The Seventh Seal meets The Naked Gun . But for most of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey , the two stars look lost, stranded. Spun off from Sean Penn’s stoned Valley Boy surfer in Fast Times at Ridgemont High , Bill and Ted had an ineffable brain-dead charm in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), which took off from a clever, satirical premise: It was about the education of these two blissed-out all-American metal-heads. The new movie, which is about how the scruffy pair save the world (or something), sends them to heaven and hell and everywhere in between. The sets are impressive, but the joke has worn perilously thin.

Once again, Bill and Ted pepper their patented dudespeak with $10 vocabulary words and weird binary reversals designed to make them sound smart (attempting to sum up a disastrous situation, Bill says, ”This is most non-non-heinous”). Where the pair’s antic verbal fumblings once seemed vaguely hip, by now the routine doesn’t have a whisper of surprise. The characters have already been improved upon by Saturday Night Live ‘s Wayne and Garth, who have the immense advantage — well, at least Wayne does — of actually mixing a few witty observations into their party-hearty chatter. If any character steals Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey , it’s the Grim Reaper, who, as played by William Sadler, keeps smirking with pleasure at the chance to loosen up. C-

13 Excellent Facts About Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

By roger cormier | jul 19, 2016.

Writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon invented the characters William "Bill" S. Preston, Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan way back in 1983 , while performing improv with their UCLA classmates. Two years after Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure hit theaters in 1989, Matheson and Solomon decided to put their creations in front of brand new hurdles and challenges in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey , a sequel that some regard as the superior movie of the two. In the latter, our heroes are murdered by their evil robot selves from the future and must go through hell and heaven to get their vengeance. Here are some facts about the film, which was released 25 years ago today.

1. ORION PICTURES INITIALLY INSISTED ON BILL AND TED KIDNAPPING CHARACTERS FROM FAMOUS BOOKS.

While Matheson and Solomon wanted to write about Bill and Ted dying and going to hell, the studio wanted the leads to enter famous works of literature to pass an English test. "The literature idea sounds different from time travel," Solomon said , "but it ends up being the same thing: Bill and Ted go into historical settings and meet famous characters, except now the characters are fictional." The two tried to write that version before telling Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter their initial idea, which the actors preferred. Reeves and Winter told the studio that Matheson and Solomon's movie was the one they wanted to make.

2. IT WAS PETER HEWITT'S FEATURE DIRECTORIAL DEBUT.

Despite never having directed a feature film, British director Peter Hewitt beat out 50 other directors for the chance to replace Excellent Adventure director Stephen Herek (who directed 1991's Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead instead). "To this day I don’t know why," Hewitt admitted in a 1992 interview . "I think I never imagined they’d consider me so I decided to say exactly what I thought about their script ideas: what I didn’t like and would want to change as much as what I wanted left in to build on. Perhaps they admired my honesty and the fact I wasn’t scared to speak my mind."

Though he had never directed a feature film, Hewitt had plenty of veteran help. Special effects supervisor Richard Yuricich ( Close Encounters of the Third Kind , Blade Runner ) teamed up with Kevin Yagher, who designed the Chucky doll in Child’s Play (1988) and who was also responsible for designing and applying make-up in three of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, to help Hewitt execute Matheson and Solomon's vision.

3. PRODUCTION WAS DELAYED TO ACCOMMODATE KEANU REEVES' BUSY SCHEDULE.

Orion wanted the film to be released in the summer of 1991, but the 10-week shoot had to be delayed until January 7, 1991. Reeves couldn't make it until then because he was working on My Own Private Idaho (1991). They stuck to the 10-week schedule by editing the movie as they went along, shooting five days a week and editing on Saturdays.

4. THE ORIGINAL TITLE WAS BILL & TED GO TO HELL , WHICH POSED A MARKETING PROBLEM.

Producer Scott Kroopf explained to The New York Times why they ultimately decided against using a title with the word 'hell' in it: "The problem was—and it was a real one—we couldn't advertise on TV until after 9 o'clock."

5. THE WRITERS FOUND THEIR WAY INTO THE FILM.

Solomon (with glasses) and Matheson (white shirt) appear as New Agers at Missy's seance. The Nomolos in the character name of the evil Chuck De Nomolos is Solomon spelled backwards.

6. THEY KNEW THEY WERE PARODYING INGMAR BERGMAN AND THE SEVENTH SEAL .

"The biggest set piece in the movie is that in order to get back to life, Bill and Ted have to play Death in games," Kroopf explained . "And the games they play are Battleship , Clue , Twister . So your life is on the line; you're playing with Death, but you're playing games that Bill and Ted know how to play. This is a clear parody of Bergman."

7. WILLIAM SADLER HELPED WITH SOME OF THE LINES.

"I think I had more fun doing Bill and Ted than I’ve ever had making anything I’ve ever shot," William Sadler, who played the Grim Reaper, said in 2015 . "It was, once I came up with the Czechoslovakian accent and had the funny make-up done, and the idea that he’s almost effeminate. He starts off as a scary dude and almost immediately it all unravels and he becomes this kind of insecure doofus who all he really wants is for them to like him. At the end it was so sweet. I also got to be creative, I wrote the Reaper Rap. I kept having ideas, like when he goes by—I said to Peter Hewitt the director, 'Wouldn’t it be great if he walks past somebody who’s smoking and says ‘See you real soon’ as he goes by, and the person who’s smoking goes ah and puts it out?’ Peter liked the idea and said bring the camera over here, that’s Peter Hewitt as the smoker. We didn’t have an actor to play it, the idea happened on the set, while we were shooting other stuff."

8. THERE WERE STAR TREK CONNECTIONS.

Bill & Ted University was at the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys, California. It was later used for Starfleet Academy in Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001). Bill & Ted give Death a melvin at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park near Agua Dulce Springs. It was shot there because shooting the scene in Utah was too expensive. When Hewitt first came across the jagged rock at Vasquez he turned to his first assistant director and said , "Isn’t this the alien planet in every Star Trek episode?" Hewitt rented a VHS of the "Arena" episode from the original series, froze the shot, and worked out the exact place for the crew to place the camera.

9. THERE WAS A CIRCULAR MOTIF THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE.

Production designer David L. Snyder and Hewitt worked it out so that 25 sets were built on three soundstages and other outside locations, each with circular shapes . "I chose a through-line of curves and circles in a desperate need to tie it all up stylistically," Hewitt explained . "Each place is instantly recognizable, but not stereotypically otherworldly. Otherwise Bill and Ted would have had to have said at some stage, ‘Where are we?,’ as they aren’t the smartest guys in the world."

10. AN ALTERNATE ENDING INVOLVING A CAR CHASE BETWEEN BILL AND TED AND THEIR BIGGEST FEARS WAS CUT.

Alex Winter said it was "insanely funny." It was storyboarded . To get rid of their reanimated "Personal Hells," Bill gives his Granny a kiss on the cheek, Ted calls his brother and apologizes for stealing his Easter candy, and both of them are nice to Colonel Oats.

In the original ending, Bill and Ted brought themselves back from the future every minute for 10 years to make full armies of themselves. Preview audiences didn't like it , and a new ending was shot over 10 days.

11. THE DIRECTOR'S CUT WAS MUCH DARKER.

Hewitt claimed the first cut of Bogus Journey was much darker . "That’s a definite British trait," he added. "The humor was black comedy almost. The Evil Us’s were really evil! I went for it and had them running riot doing despicable things. But test screen audiences couldn’t take it ... My original cut would have played well in Britain."

12. JOSS ACKLAND REGRETS BEING IN IT.

Joss Ackland played Chuck De Nomolos. He said that many of the roles in his 50-plus-year acting career were taken just for the money or to settle bets . "I do an awful lot of crap, but if it's not immoral, I don't mind," he explained. "I'm a workaholic." As for Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey ? "I can't tell you how embarrassing that was," he told BBC News .

13. ALEX WINTER SAID A THIRD MOVIE IS COMING SOON.

In April 2016, Winter said that a third film was imminent—and that both he and Reeves would be reprising their roles: “We have a script, we have a director, we have a studio—we’re just trying to nail down a start date.”

Is the Grim Reaper Good or Bad? A Deep Dive into the Iconic Symbol of Death

Hey friend! As a tech geek and data nerd, I‘ve always been fascinated by the grim reaper – the creepy robed skeleton wielding a scythe. This iconic symbol of death has endured across cultures for centuries. But is the Grim Reaper fundamentally good, evil, or something more nuanced? Grab some coffee and let‘s take a deep dive into the history and meaning behind the Reaper.

A Brief History of the Grim Reaper

While death symbols exist across civilizations, the familiar Grim Reaper emerged in Europe during the late Middle Ages. Not coincidentally, this was at the peak of the Black Death pandemic that devastated medieval populations.

The plague peaked from 1347 to 1351, killing 75-200 million people – up to 60% of Europe‘s population at the time. As death swiftly felled people indiscriminately, the personification of Death arose to encapsulate the fear and inevitability of mortality.

This grim personage evolved from a convergence of imagery:

The Angel of Death from Abrahamic religions, sent as a divine messenger to collect souls
Cronus , the Greek Titan god of time who used a harvesting scythe – symbolizing time cutting down all
Medieval art depicting a long black robe and hood to obfuscate identity

By the 15th century, the Grim Reaper iconography had coalesced into the skeletal figure draped in a hooded black robe, wielding the iconic scythe to cut down mortal lives.

Religious & Mythological Origins

Death divinities and psychopomps – those who escort souls to the afterlife – have existed across religions and mythologies for millennia. Here are some seminal examples that influenced or parallel the Grim Reaper archetype:

Ankou (Breton folklore) – personification of death driving a cart to collect souls
Yama (Hinduism) – god of death judging and escorting the dead
Mot (Canaanite religion) – god of death and sterility
Osiris (Egyptian mythology) – god and judge of the underworld

But several Judeo-Christian and Greek influences most directly shaped the Western Grim Reaper:

Angel of Death

In Judaism and Christianity, sends plague and death as divine judgment
Has roots in the Destroying Angel of Passover in Exodus
Also called Azrael in Islam, who records and collects souls upon death
In Greek mythology, the personified spirit of death and twin of Hypnos (sleep)
Serene, gentle figure guiding souls to the underworld
Titan god of destructive time who used a curved harvester‘s scythe
Defeated by Zeus, but later merge with the Roman god Saturn

This mashup produced the Grim Reaper – a dark, faceless figure of inevitability wielding the feared scythe of Cronus.

Symbolism and Significance

So what exactly does the Grim Reaper symbolize in human culture and psychology? Here are some of the key meanings tied to this personification of death:

The Reaper embodies the inevitability of death – that all lives must ultimately end. It is an unavoidable fate that cannot be changed or controlled.

Fear of Death

The creepy Reaper imagery reflects humanity‘s innate anxiety about the unknowns of death and what (if anything) follows.

Impartiality

As death comes for rich and poor alike, the Reaper represents death‘s impartial nature – making no exceptions for status or circumstances.

While threatening, the Reaper also represents a transition – not necessarily an end. It may escort souls towards rebirth, afterlife, or next plane of existence.

In some depictions, the Reaper inflicts death as a form of divine judgement – righteous punishment for wrongdoing.

The multifaceted symbolism reflects the complex human relationship with mortality. While deeply unsettling, Death also represents a crossing into the next cosmic phase.

The Grim Reaper in Pop Culture

The Reaper remains a potent iconic figure, appearing across all forms of storytelling and artistic mediums:

In Dante‘s Divine Comedy , the Grim Reaper appears among the dead in Hell
In Agatha Christie‘s And Then There Were None , the Reaper strikes characters per the nursery rhyme
Albrecht Dürer‘s engraved Knight, Death and the Devil (1513) depicts a knight accompanied by Death.
Jean-Michel Basquiat‘s graffiti-esque paintings like Riding with Death (1988) feature the Reaper.

Music and Film

Bernie Taupin‘s lyrics in Don‘t Cut Your Hair by Elton John mention the Reaper
Thrash metal band Grim Reaper derive their macabre name from the figure
The Reaper hunts down the damned in the horror movie Final Destination

This small sample shows the enduring imprint of the iconic Reaper in artistic media and popular culture. It remains instantly recognizable across languages and cultures globally.

Varied Perspectives on the Reaper

Humanity relates to Death in different ways, from dreadful to celebratory. Some examples:

Ominous Figure

Most depictions emphasize the Reaper‘s menace – evoking the unknowns and fears around mortality. Horror films like Hellraiser cast the Reaper as a sadistic killer.

Comical Character

But other portrayals mock or ridicule the Reaper, satirizing humankind‘s fear of death. Bill & Ted‘s Bogus Journey features the Grim Reaper losing games and getting hurled.

Liberating Force

Some see the Reaper not as an end, but a transition towards freedom from earthly suffering. Death can represent the promise of an afterlife.

Natural Cycle

Those accepting death‘s inevitability may view the Reaper with equanimity – as part of the natural cycle of life feeding into new life.

Concluding Thoughts on the Grim Symbol of Mortality

Well, that was quite the odyssey into the Grim Reaper! To recap, the iconic Reaper emerged from medieval fears during the Black Death, fusing figures like the Angel of Death and Cronus into one ominous harbinger of mortality. Though unsettling, the Reaper reflects the continuum between life and afterlife.

The Grim Reaper remains an ambiguous and thought-provoking symbol open to many interpretations – radiating mortal dread or spiritual hope depending on one‘s relationship with death. But either way, the iconic Reaper continues to fascinate and endure in the collective imagination.

So what are your thoughts on the Grim Reaper, friend? I‘m dying to know! Does it fill you with existential angst or peaceful acceptance? Let me know!

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Inside William Sadler's Excellent 'Bill & Ted' Adventure and Reprising Reaper Role for New Sequel (Exclusive)

The actor shares how the role allowed him to break free of his resume playing "grizzly, evil doers" -- and spills on his brush with the Secret Service.

He may play Death in the "Bill & Ted" movies, but for star William Sadler, stepping into the Reaper's robes is anything but grim .

29 years after first playing the Grim Reaper in "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey," Sadler donned the white face-paint yet again to reprise his role in the new "Bill & Ted Face the Music" -- adding a new chapter to his own excellent adventure in the series.

TooFab caught up with Sadler ahead of the new movie's release on VOD this week, where he looked back at his unlikely and unexpected casting and opened up about returning to the part so many years later.

According to Sadler, who was 41 when the first film dropped, the casting department was initially looking for someone older for the role. "He's like 1,000 years old, you know, or 10,000 years old and I know they were thinking about people like Christopher Lee," explained the actor.

"But [Death] is also funny. So then I believe they were talking to Christopher Loyd, who could play that crazy guy," Sadler continued. "He would've been great in it too!"

Sadler put himself on tape for the role, did a Czechoslovakian accent for the audition and didn't hear anything for three weeks, taking that as a sign he didn't land the part. The casting director, however, eventually called -- and advised him to alter his appearance for the next round.

"She said, 'I need you to come back. Do the audition again, but you have to go to a Halloween store and get some gray and put it in your hair and black out your teeth or something because they think you're too young and too pretty,'" he recalled being told.

Instead of doing it himself, Sadler called up Scott H. Eddo -- the makeup artist on "Die Hard 2," which he had just filmed -- and had him really make him over.

"The morning of the audition I went to his place in Marina del Rey and he made me look like a believable 70-year-old guy," said Sadler, who turned 70 this year. "I actually look better now than he made me, and I got in my car and drove from his house to the audition. And I did the audition again."

He landed the part and wound up rocking totally different, skeletal makeup in the film itself.

"Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" wound up pulling in less than half of what the original made, though a number of high-profile critics gave the movie solid reviews -- and praised Sadler's scene-stealing work as Death in particular. In the years since, the movie has become a cult classic, with fans celebrating the more surreal direction the sequel explored.

"I just had a ball doing such a big, full character," said Sadler, who explained the role gave him the "chance to be funny for the first time."

"My career in Hollywood, up to that point, had been one grizzly, evil doer after another," he said. "I'm not complaining ... it pays the bills ... but funny has always been close to my heart. I've always enjoyed playing in that sandbox."

Fun Fact: Sadler also has a cameo in the film out of costume, with his real-life wife and daughter joining him for a brief appearance as a British family during the movie's climax. His little girl now has kids of her own -- kids who have yet to see their mom's cameo.

In the 29 years following "Bogus Journey," Sadler says that when it comes to fans, "everybody wants to have a brush with Death." While he had some anonymity when the movie was first released, thanks to the makeup and the movie's low box-office, the love has grown steadily over time.

"Cops would occasionally recognize me," he said, "I guess cause they’re really good with faces."

Between his work as Death and the main antagonist in "Die Hard 2," Sadler found he'd often get stopped at airports by security guards who couldn't quite place how they knew him, but knew they should be concerned.

"That happened with the Secret Service guys. I went to Clinton's second inauguration," he added. "My wife and I were dancing ... we're out on the dance floor, in a tuxedo ... and all of a sudden, I'm surrounded my Secret Service guys and one of them came over to me and said, 'Mr. Sadler?' I said, 'Yes?' and they went, 'Ah, have a good evening.'

"Again, they knew they knew the face, they didn't know where they knew it from, but it wasn't good," he explained. "And Clinton was about to arrive like in 15 minutes and they were like, 'No, it's alright. He's an actor.'"

Flash forward 20-something years and Sadler received a call from Ed Solomon, writer on all three "Bill & Ted" movies, asking if he'd be down to return to play the Reaper.

"He sort of described what he thought, where he was thinking of taking the character and I was thrilled," he said. "I watched the first two to get ready to do the third one. I wanted to remind myself what I had had done and the accent and gestures and so on. And I was really surprised at how available ... how available that character was to me."

"It was like I kept him in a box or something for 30 years. He was waiting to come out, and he finally popped out," he added, "Never missed a beat. I loved playing him the first time around and it was just as much fun the second time."

The only difference 29 years later: "The robes are heavier. As you get older the robes get heavier."

"Bill & Ted Face the Music" will be released in select theaters and simultaneously on demand August 28.

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William Sadler Did Everything Possible To Play Death In The 'Bill And Ted' Franchise

The man who played The Grim Reaper In 'Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey' And 'Bill & Ted Face The Music' was absolutely determined to get the part.

Fans were shocked when it was announced that Bill & Ted would make another trip through time for the third film in the franchise, Bill & Ted Face The Music. While the 2020 film may not be the best in the trilogy, it reminded fans of just how important the titular characters are to pop culture. The franchise also bares some of the most iconic moments in Keanu Reeves ' career. And that's saying a lot given that he's made so many great films . But he and Alex Winter aren't the only great things in the saga about two California metalheads caught up in outrageous and cosmic adventures.

William Sadler's Death is easily one of the highlights of the franchise. While he wasn't in the first film, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, he stole the show in 1991's Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and even in his smaller role in Bill & Ted Face The Music. Willliam portrayed the usually terrifying figure with an incredible competitive nature and an even more fragile ego. Of course, this was a great foil to Bill and Ted. William picked up on this immediately after reading the script. So he did everything he could to secure the role...

6 Bill & Ted Gave William Sadler The Chance To Change His Career

William Sadler's life changed when he joined the sequel to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Prior, he had been struggling to make his mark on the film and television industry. He had an 11-year career in theater before booking small roles on Roseanne, St. Elsewhere, and Murphy Brown. Roles in Private Eye and in Die Hard 2 seemed to elevate him, but it was nothing like what playing the highly sensitive and insecure Grim Reaper did for his career.

"When I got to Los Angeles, [casting directors] took one look at me and said: 'villain'. 'You’re edgy, evil, cold-blooded … the guy who could murder you and then sit on your chest and eat a sandwich while you bled out.' It was all these despicable humans," William Sadler said in an interview with Vulture about getting cast in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. "But I was just breaking in, so I wasn’t going to turn my nose up at villain roles. And to be honest, they’re wonderful. If you can’t be the hero, it’s great to be the villain. So I was getting cast in that kind of role over and over again, and I started wondering, 'Will I ever get a chance to use this comedic side of myself?' Then Bill & Ted came along, and I thought, Well, here we go. Let’s give this a shot."

5 William Sadler REALLY Wanted To Play Death

In his interview with Vulture, William admitted that he was adamant about booking the role in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. He had seen and loved the first film but he thought playing The Grim Reaper would be really rewarding as an actor and for his career.

"The Reaper was an opportunity to make this wonderful transition because the Reaper himself starts out as this scary figure. He’s Death, the most frightening image you can imagine. And then, almost immediately, as he starts to lose the games with Bill and Ted, he starts to unravel. And in the unraveling, he becomes more human and more likable. I thought that was pretty wonderful, so I went for it," William explained.

4 William Sadler Faked His Age To Get The Part

After his first audition, where he introduced the now-iconic Czech accent, he didn't hear back from the powers that be for weeks. William told Vulture that he believed this was because they were auditioning older actors. After all, thanks to The Seventh Seal and many literary incarnations, the character of Death was always seen as an old man. And William was around 40 years at the time. So, he decided to enlist some help when he finally got his callback audition.

Related: Here's How 'Bill And Ted' Or Keanu Reeves And Alex Winter's Friendship Started

"I called the makeup man from Die Hard 2, Scott Eddo, and told him my problem. He said, 'Come over to my apartment.' So at seven in the morning, I showed up at his apartment, and he did this old-age makeup. He made me look like a believable 80-year-old man. I got in my car, drove to Orion Pictures and did the audition again, and that apparently worked. I was old enough. Which is ironic because the makeup that they ended up using was just a big white face and hollowed-out eyes. Age wasn’t really going to be an issue anyway."

3 The Origin Of Death's Hilarious Accent

"I drew from my theater background," William Sadler said to Vulture of the origin of Death's Czech accent. "I had done a play called 'New Jerusalem' at the Public Theater, a Len Jenkin play, and there was an actor in it named Jan Tříska from Czechoslovakia. The way he spoke, everything was like this. I thought it was funny and appropriate, so I stole it."

2 William Sadler Was Allowed To Improvise

Aside from his Czech accent, which wasn't in the script, William Sadler was given license to improvise in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. He is responsible for some of the funniest moments, including "Don't overlook my butt" and the cigarette scene.

Related: Bill & Ted & 9 Other Comedy Movies Starring Keanu Reeves

"We were shooting in a hardware store one night, the sequence where we’re buying all the bits and pieces to make the robot. Once I got in this character, I couldn’t turn him off. I thought, Wouldn’t it be great if the Reaper walked by somebody who’s smoking and just said, 'See you real soon,' and the guy panicked and put the cigarette out? I told Pete Hewitt, the director. He liked the idea, but they hadn’t cast someone to play the smoker. So he [played] the smoker. That’s Pete Hewitt. He said, 'Bring the camera over here,' and two minutes later it was on film. It went like that: a really wonderful collaborative effort."

1 Death Didn't Pigeonhole William Sadler

Despite transitioning from the day-player villain to a comedic role, William claimed to Vulture that the role didn't cause him to get typecast.

"I went from Bogus Journey to The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile and so on. I didn’t get pigeonholed playing Death over and over, which was good," William said. "Careers are strange. I never got typecast as a comedic actor. You hear actors complain, 'They won’t let me play anything serious,' or 'They won’t let me do a romantic role,' or whatever. I think you try to find the joy in all of it whenever it comes down the river."

Next: The Truth About Carrie-Anne Moss And Keanu Reeves' Friendship

The Best Grim Reapers In Pop Culture

It's the encounter many of us dread, but none of us can avoid — meeting the Grim Reaper at the end of our lives. Popularly depicted as a hooded figure carrying a sharp scythe, the Grim Reaper, aka Death, is generally seen as a silent and merciless entity who wants nothing more than to drag us to our final destination.

Is he really, though? For that matter, is the Grim Reaper even a "he"? That's the question pop culture has been asking over and over in movies, TV shows, and comic books. Their depictions of who and what Death really is has us questioning who we'll actually encounter in our final moments. From an attractive goth girl to an unseen relentless force to Brad Pitt, the Grim Reapers on this list run the gamut from welcome dinner guests to unstoppable monsters. Who would you like to spend your last day on Earth with?

Death of the Endless is a perky goth girl

When Neil Gaiman created a new Sandman for the DC Universe, he introduced an entire pantheon of abstract beings that made up the Sandman's extended family. Dubbed "The Endless," each member represented the embodiment of a natural force, including Dream, Delirium, Destiny, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Delirium, and, of course, Death.

Only Death isn't the grim hooded figure most of humanity thinks she is. Instead, Gaiman chose to make Death an attractive goth girl with a perky, easygoing personality. In fact, considering how unbalanced and dysfunctional the rest of Dream's family is, Death ends up being the one member of the Endless you might actually want to spend some time with.

Viewing everyone in the world as her friend — since she'll meet all of them eventually — Death enjoys pleasant relations with many mortals who sense who she is. In her miniseries "Death: The High Cost of Living," we learn Death spends a day as a living woman to reconnect with humanity and life. Frankly, anyone who displays that sort of love of life deserves to be the last person we see.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Grim Reaper

The Grim Reaper may come across as a little, well grim — but like many people with a tough exterior, he has his goofy side. This is on full display in the 1991 film "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey," the sequel to the classic "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." In the movie, Death (William Sadler) attempts to bring teenage slackers Bill and Ted to Hell, but the duo just gives him a wedgie before they run away. Later, they win their lives back by beating Death at multiple games, including Battleship, Clue, and Twister.

Admitting defeat, Death joins Bill and Ted on their adventures and even plays bass in their band. Sadly, in the 2020 film "Bill & Ted Face the Music," we learn the Reaper has a falling out with Bill and Ted after he starts playing 40-minute bass solos and gets kicked out of the band. Who knew Death had such an ego?

Death: The Sexiest Man Alive

If Death can be a sexy goth girl in Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" series, why can't the Grim Reaper also be People's 1995 Sexiest Man Alive Brad Pitt? That's the premise of "Meet Joe Black" (1998), a romantic fantasy film that shows what happens when Death takes a holiday. Of course, since sightseeing in a hooded cloak might attract too much attention, Death decides to go incognito by taking over Brad Pitt's body and hoping the paparazzi also took a holiday.

Along the way, Death, going by the alias Joe Black, meets a few interesting people, including Bill Parrish (Anthony Hopkins), a dying media mogul who functions as Joe's guide in exchange for a few extra days of life. Things get tense when Joe falls in love with Bill's daughter Susan (Claire Forlani), and begins throwing off the natural balance of existence. In the end, Death realizes certain mortal pleasures aren't his to hold onto. Even if he does get to look like Brad Pitt.

Death, thy name is Homer Simpson

Despite his position as a safety inspector at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) has a tendency to take on a lot of different side gigs to earn extra money. At one point, the "Simpsons" star actually ended up taking over Death's duties.

This happened in "Reaper Madness," an animated segment from "Treehouse of Horror XIV." In the episode, the Grim Reaper, who also goes by Doug, comes after Bart, but Homer bashes Death's head in with a bowling ball. With the death of, well, Death, everyone in the world becomes functionally immortal, which doesn't sit well with people like Moe after he tries to hang himself unsuccessfully.

In an effort to set things right, Homer accidentally turns himself into the new Grim Reaper by donning Death's robes "Santa Clause" -style. He harvests a lot of souls (including people with better seats than him at the ball game) but chooses to draw the line when his wife Marge appears on the list. This puts him at odds with his new boss, God, but Homer is nothing but efficient when shirking from his work responsibilities.

Death still lives with his mother in Family Guy

Death actually has a recurring role in the animated series "Family Guy," where he's portrayed as a bit of an asthmatic loser who's unlucky with women (mostly because he keeps killing them during his dates). Otherwise, he's a pretty laid-back dude who enjoys drinking bottled beer using his own eye socket as a bottle opener. He also tends to hang out a lot with Peter Griffin (Seth MacFarlane) and even has Peter fill in for him when he sprains his ankle in "Death is a B***h."

Interestingly, Death isn't the only Grim Reaper on the show — nor is he immune to the risks of actually dying. In "Grumpy Old Man," Death dies in a traffic accident and gets to meet "Superdeath." He apparently also likes to outsource a lot of work since his dog takes care of animal souls crossing over.

Thanos' Lady Death is fickle

In the MCU, Thanos claims he wants to kill off half the universe in order to bring balance back to existence. In the comics, however, Thanos' goals are more relatable — he wants to impress a girl. This girl turns out to be Death, the Marvel Universe's living embodiment of the end of all things. Feeling the universe has an overabundance of life, Death resurrects Thanos to solve the problem.

Unfortunately, once he gains the Infinity Stones, Thanos and Death start having relationship problems . Death isn't pleased that Thanos has made himself her superior, and Thanos doesn't like getting the cold shoulder from his crush. In an effort to sway her, Thanos murders half of all life in existence, but even this grand gesture isn't enough to make Death warm up to him. Maybe he should have tried holding up a giant boombox like John Cusack in "Say Anything" ?

As if this wasn't bad enough, Thanos later discovered Death prefers hanging out with Deadpool over him. Furious that the Merc with a Mouth is making a play for his lady, Thanos curses Deadpool with immortality so he can't be with Death. Nevertheless, Deadpool has plenty of near-death experiences on a regular basis, giving him lots of opportunities for a few dalliances. Honestly, Thanos just can't catch a break.

Disney Death

Disney animated films have a disturbing tendency to kill off beloved family members. From Bambi's mother to Anna and Elsa's parents to Mufasa, if you're related to a protagonist, then your odds of surviving the first half-hour of your movie aren't great.

In Disney's 1997 film "Hercules," we get to meet the man responsible for many of these lives cut short — the God of the Underworld himself, Hades (James Woods). A fast-talking, Hollywood agent-type with flaming blue hair, Hades rules over an entire realm full of lost dead souls. Notably, the souls are put there by the Fates, a trio of three creepy women who measure the threads of life and then cut them.

Hades' story has a sympathetic side — he is forced to rule over the dreary underworld by his brother Zeus (Rip Torn). Feeling slighted by the other gods, Hades launches an ambitious plan to overthrow the Greek Gods and move into Mount Olympus permanently. Naturally, Hercules stops him, and Hades winds up swimming with his lost souls.

Final Destination proves you really can't escape the reaper

Picturing Death as a dark hooded man might be scary, but the truth is giving an abstract idea a physical form also helps make it seem more manageable and reasonable. That's not the case in the "Final Destination" franchise, where Death remains an unseen and intangible — but extremely deadly — force of nature.

When high school student Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) has a premonition that the plane he's on is about to blow up, he quickly gets off of his flight along with several other students and his teacher. Minutes later, the plane does explode, but Alex and his friends aren't out of the woods yet.

Apparently, the Grim Reaper isn't pleased when people escape its grasp, so it starts coming after them. This unstoppable force causes all sorts of weird chain reactions that result in the teenagers being hung in showers, impaled by shards from a computer screen, or decapitated by random shrapnel. The kids soon learn they need to really watch their backs for the rest of their all-too-short lives.

Unfortunately, even after Death claims its first batch of escapees, the game isn't over yet. It seems those death-defying teens prevented a whole bunch of other people from dying in their stolen moments, requiring Death to engage in some very messy cleanup duty. The reaper never appears physically, and is all the more frightening for it.

Chess Champion Death

Bill and Ted may have won back their lives by using their amazing Twister skills to beat Death in "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey," but in the 1957 classic "The Seventh Seal," Death has a more sophisticated game of choice — chess. In this Swedish film, Death (Bengt Ekerot) engages a medieval knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) in a chess match. Believing he can survive as long as he keeps playing, Antonius plays throughout the film's story.

This version of Death became so popular that he made a memorable cameo in the 1993 action-comedy "The Last Action Hero," which sees multiple film characters escape their original stories. This time, Death, played by Ian McKellen, steps right out of "The Seventh Seal" movie to track down Arnold Schwarzenegger's film character Jack Slater after Jack stumbles into the real world and gets shot. Assuring everyone that Jack is not on his lists, Death remarks that he was "only curious" about the action star — and then leaves, sneering, "I don't do fiction."

Dead Like Me likes to outsource

Being Death is a tough occupation — which is probably why the TV show "Dead Like Me" decides to divide the job responsibilities by revealing the "Grim Reaper" is actually a work title shared by multiple deceased individuals who go around collecting souls.

After aimless college dropout Georgia "George" Lass (Ellen Muth) gets killed by a toilet seat falling from the Mir space station, she doesn't get heaven or hell. Instead, she's shanghaied into becoming a Grim Reaper, unable to move to the Great Beyond until she's reached a certain quota of souls. Fortunately, she gets to learn the ropes from some reaper veterans, particularly Rube (Mandy Patinkin), who mentors her through her initial adjustment period.

The show ended up running for two seasons, with George growing increasingly accustomed to her bizarre new job. Having someone the other reapers call Toilet Seat Girl come to collect your soul probably doesn't seem too scary, but George turns out to be very dedicated to her duties.

Death of Discworld

Death of Terry Pratchet's "Discworld" book series is known for being many things. Cat lover, humanity enthusiast, and even grandfather. While not the universal Death, this chill skeleton still has his hands full tending to the deceased of Discworld. While other depictions of Death might be workaholics, Discworld's Death has a variety of outside interests. He likes eating curry (although being a skeleton, it's hard to say how he actually eats), smokes a pipe, and even acts as a stand-in for Discworld's Santa Claus, Hogfather.

In fact, Discworld's Death is so sympathetic to humanity that he's bent the rules for several humans — giving extra lives to the Little Match Girl and adopting an abandoned child. He often offers dying people a chance to play games for their lives and will even throw some games on purpose if he likes his opponent. All in all, he's easily one of the nicest Grim Reapers you could ever hope to meet — although unless you find yourself in Discworld, it's doubtful you'll have the pleasure.

In animation, Death got to be voiced by Christopher Lee, who also voiced the Reaper in a 2008 live-action adaptation of "The Colour of Magic." The popularity of Pratchett's Discworld novels has even allowed Death to be depicted on radio, computer games, and theatre. Who knew Death could be so popular or beloved?

Death has great job perks

Among the many job options that you might consider pursuing over your lifetime, being Death probably doesn't rank very high. But don't write off being the Grim Reaper so quickly. In the novel "On a Pale Horse" by Piers Anthony (and the comic book adaptation by the Innovative Corporation), hard-luck kid Zane is all set to take his own life after losing a chance for love — but accidentally shoots Death between the eyes instead. This turns out to be a great career move for Zane, however, since whoever kills Death has to become the new Death.

As Death, Zane gets to ride on a pale white horse that can also shapeshift into a boat, plane, or limo. He also receives cool gadgets like a deathwatch and gets to commute from Purgatory to Earth when he needs to collect souls. Unfortunately, while getting used to his new duties, Zane discovers he's been duped into becoming part of a secret plan to prevent Satan from killing the lovely Luna Kaftan, a woman destined to thwart the Devil's schemes. In the process, Zane decides to go on strike and leave several dying mortals in agony until Satan relents. Yeesh! Who knew Death could play that level of hardball?

Death is a great housekeeper

Generally speaking, you don't want to try and trick Death. The Grim Reaper has a way of staying on top even against the cleverest foes. However, Death (Greg Eagles) clearly never planned to play games against happy-go-lucky Bily (Richard Steven Horvitz) and cynical girl Mandy (Grey DeLisle) in the animated series "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy." After Mandy cheats in a limbo contest against Death, the Grim Reaper is forced to be the children's best friend and servant for all eternity.

As such, Grim needs to do all of Mandy's chores and clean up after the children's exploits. He even does the dishes every night, much to his disgust. While this is terrible for Death, it's good news for Billy and Mandy since they now have access to Death's incredible supernatural powers to visit the Underworld and meet famous monsters like Dracula or the Wolfman. Death might be the scariest figure you could hope to meet in "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy," but as long as you're pulling the strings, he's a handy guy to have around.

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13 Excellent Facts About Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey

1. ORION PICTURES INITIALLY INSISTED ON BILL AND TED KIDNAPPING CHARACTERS FROM FAMOUS BOOKS.

2. IT WAS PETER HEWITT'S FEATURE DIRECTORIAL DEBUT.

3. PRODUCTION WAS DELAYED TO ACCOMMODATE KEANU REEVES' BUSY SCHEDULE.

4. THE ORIGINAL TITLE WAS BILL & TED GO TO HELL , WHICH POSED A MARKETING PROBLEM.

5. THE WRITERS FOUND THEIR WAY INTO THE FILM.

6. THEY KNEW THEY WERE PARODYING INGMAR BERGMAN AND THE SEVENTH SEAL .

7. WILLIAM SADLER HELPED WITH SOME OF THE LINES.

8. THERE WERE STAR TREK CONNECTIONS.

9. THERE WAS A CIRCULAR MOTIF THROUGHOUT THE MOVIE.

10. AN ALTERNATE ENDING INVOLVING A CAR CHASE BETWEEN BILL AND TED AND THEIR BIGGEST FEARS WAS CUT.

11. THE DIRECTOR'S CUT WAS MUCH DARKER.

12. JOSS ACKLAND REGRETS BEING IN IT.

13. ALEX WINTER SAID A THIRD MOVIE IS COMING SOON.

Is the Grim Reaper Good or Bad? A Deep Dive into the Iconic Symbol of Death

A Brief History of the Grim Reaper

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Angel of Death

Symbolism and Significance

Fear of Death

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The Grim Reaper in Pop Culture

Music and Film

Varied Perspectives on the Reaper

Ominous Figure

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Liberating Force

Natural Cycle

Concluding Thoughts on the Grim Symbol of Mortality

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