Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

by Robert Tine

Bill and Ted Vs. the Grim Reaper?
Stellar.
Killer robots from the future - Bill and Ted look-alikes - are out to terminate the real Bill and Ted.
Totally bogus.
The Grim Reaper's playing games with our excellent heroes - including Battleship, Clue and Twister.
Most Heinous.
Worst of all, if they lose their lives, Bill and Ted's rock group (The Wyld Stallyns) will most surely lose the Battle of the Bands.
Non-triumphant.

Genres: Time Travel, Fiction, Media Tie In, Comedy

201 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1991

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this like four times in middle school for whatever reason; I'm giving it three stars just to be true to that little girl.

[Dana Hutchings · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the stupidest thing I have ever read.

[Karen Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the best mother fucking book, disagree and I'll slit your throat

[Zak · Rating 2 out of 5]

The truly fascinating thing about this book is that the author chose not to just transcribe the events of the movie.

Instead he chooses to create wholly new events, to diverge the plot, re-introduce previously dropped characters, and write a new climax.

I'm guessing he was really bored.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kid you not.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Placeholder review now that I remembered having read this (though I remembered it having a whiter, less-yellow cover, hmm). I read the book first THEN saw the movie—which seems weird, but I had thrifty parents and generally didn't watch movies unless they came up on cable or in... movie rental stores? Those were a thing? Huh.

What struck me was how so many scenes were wildly different from what was in the movie, as though—and I don't know if one came out before the other or if they were concurrent releases—they were made independently of each other and the respective creators did not cross-reference to ensure continuity between them. The book has such a completely different tone from the movie, even considering that I normally get a milder impression from even the most violent book than I would from a toned-down movie version of the same, just due to the nature of each medium. Had I seen the movie then read the book, I'm sure I would've thrown the book in the trash where it belonged. As it is, I thought the book was okay enough that I had gotten rid of it organically (donation or whatever) before finally seeing the movie and being retroactively disappointed.

Probably not recommended even for fans; rating is higher than the book probably deserves. It's been a while since I've seen either book or movie, though, to give a truly fair rating.

[Dane Cobain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is pretty much what you might expect – a novelisation of the Bill & Ted movie. And I feel like I’m being kind of harsh on Robert Tine here – I didn’t think much of the film, and so the book didn’t stand much of a chance. He does an okay job, but it doesn’t exactly shine – unfortunately for Tine, the source material wasn’t great.

That said, I still read it through from start to finish – I feel a bit like a Star Wars fan who always complains about the sequels but who still watches them anyway, just because they’re still Star Wars. And if you are a fan of the films (personally, I only liked the first one, as you can probably tell), then maybe you’ll enjoy it. It expands on a few of the subplots, but I’m still not convinced that they needed to be expanded upon.

Either way, it’s worth keeping a copy of this in storage somewhere, just in case one day it becomes collectible. I can’t imagine that they’re still printing more of these, somewhere.

[Paxton Holley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a most excellent adaptation of the Bill and Ted sequel. Even though it’s under 200 pages, it has several extra scenes in it and an alternate ending from the movie.

I really enjoyed this book.

[Eddie Morin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second time through this masterpiece. It’s a shame there is no book version of Excellent Adventure. I find that I can navigate my way through life by the lessons developed by Bill S. Preston, Esquire and Ted “Theodore” Logan. Be Excellent to Each Other and Party On, Dudes. STATION!

[Niccy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually think that the movie was much better then this book, but it is worth reading for the differences from the book (which must have been based on the original screenplay, before scenes were removed), and the movie.

[Jevron McCrory · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad retelling of the screenplay at all!

As expected, there's extra scenes and the tone is light and jovial. Even the prose matches in some respects the way our dudes speak.

I prefer Bogus Journey to the Excellent Adventure BY FAR! It's just a better story.

A fun light read.