I was planning on watching and writing about “Recess” today for one very important reason, I felt like watching it this morning. Sadly the internet gods have decided to eject “Recess” from the Garden of Streaming and into the land of pirates. Since I don’t feel like donning an eye-patch this morning, I guess I’ll watch something else. Let’s see, how about…
“Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures.” – One Sweet and Sour Chinese Adventure to Go (7 out of 10) – Created by Alyson Court; Starring George Carlin, Keanu Reeves, and Alex Winter; Originally aired September 15, 1990.
For anyone out there unfamiliar with the “Bill and Ted” franchise, it’s about two teenage dudes who make up for what they lack in intelligence quotient with confident and oft unjustified optimism. The combination of these attributes is usually the cause of and solution to any problem they encounter in normal life or while piloting their time travelling phone booth.
Imagine The Doctor giving the keys to the Tardis to two early nineties burnouts but not going with them. In this scenario, Bill and Ted would be the clueless companions to no one and Rufus (voiced by George Carlin) would be The Doctor who sort of pops in every now and again to steer them out of trouble.
In this episode the dudes turn their guitar amps up to the upmost limits in order to achieve true melodious splendor and in so doing break an ancient Chinese vase in Bill’s living room. They travel back to “antique China” to retrieve a replacement vase and cartoon madness ensues.
During their adventure they invent Chinese food to-go containers, meet “Mark O’Polo,” and build the Great Wall of China, albeit poorly. That confident optimism I mentioned earlier ultimately saves the day and the dudes return home.
The series ran for two seasons, the second of which saw the replacement of Reeves and Winter as Bill and Ted. This change was made in anticipation of a live action television series of the same name. Shortly thereafter the show was cancelled.
The franchise’s short life span is really a shame, while it may be stupid, Bill and Ted offer a view of life that can’t be argued with, there is no question that they are the people Mr. Rogers knows they can be. We should all take a page or two out of their phonebook, the world could use a bit more excellence.