Cinematic history tells us that time travel is a science fiction staple we keep returning to. Turning the clock backward — or forward — to either remedy or ruin timelines has always captivated audiences. It’s why so many films in the genre exist, like Ethan Hawke’s oft-overlooked movie about time travel. One metaphysicist, however, has pinpointed one unlikely 1989 time travel flick as having a scientifically plausible depiction of time travel: “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.” Most excellent, indeed.
In a 2023 article for New Scientist, Kristie Miller — a metaphysicist, professor of philosophy, and joint director of the Centre for Time at the University of Sydney in Australia — compiled a list of her favorite films that depict time travel. Surprisingly, Stephen Herek’s “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” stood out for its handling of the subject matter. The film depicts the cross-century travels of two high schoolers — Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted “Theodore” Logan (Keanu Reeves) — who need to ace their final history report to pass their class. The duo even makes a comeback in two subsequent films: “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey” from 1991, as well as the 2020 legacyquel “Bill & Ted Face the Music.” It’s just the first movie, though, that Miller highlights for its cogent time travel plot. One so cogent, apparently, that even two airheads navigated it successfully.
Bill and Ted’s retrieval of the keys is a great example of a time-consistent event
In Miller’s list of time travel movies, “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” stood out for having what is considered a “time-consistent” story. This refers to when time travelers don’t alter past events themselves, but they do interact with them causally. Simply put, Bill and Ted never go full Marty McFly by changing the course of history to rectify a timeline à la “Back to the Future.” Instead, past events remain as they were originally, even with the duo’s involvement.
A great example of this concept is when the film’s bumbling heroes try entering a building to break out the historical figures they’ve chosen to talk about in their report. As Miller explains it: “They don’t have the keys, but they reason that as long as they will, in the future, be able to get access to the keys, they can travel back in time and leave their younger selves the keys.” The two titular characters reasoned correctly; the scheme worked as intended, and the pair thus demonstrated their mastery of time travel in no time at all. Miller continues: “They figure that the keys will already be there waiting for them if they succeed, in the future, in travelling back and leaving them. And they are.” Simple, right?
For a franchise that sees its two protagonists not only share a step-mother but also a love for a certain raunchy number (cue air guitar), it exhibits an impressively sharp understanding of time travel. And if the technology were real — which it someday might be, with one astrophysicist claiming he’s finally figured out time travel — we couldn’t imagine any two dudes handling it better than Bill and Ted did.