"Whenever time stands and trouble moves too fast/To save the future, we must learn about the past!"
— Opening theme
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures is an Animated Adaptation of the Bill & Ted movies that aired as a Saturday-Morning Cartoon on CBS and Fox for two seasons, from 1990 through 1991.
A Short-Runner Live Action adaptation was also produced with the same name and aired on Fox in 1992.
Provides examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Most of the shots of the time machine in the Season 1 opening are rendered in CGI.
- Affectionate Parody: Of Mister Rogers. In the second season, those two righteous dudes were shocked and totally bummed out to learn that their favourite childhood show, Mr. Radish's Condo, is about to be cancelled because kids today don't want his brand of sweetness. Cue Wyld Stallyns trying to make him stay... and making things a lot worse for him. Eventually, Mr. Radish decides to change his image completely, ending up as a Totally Radical rocker, which Bill and Ted initially consider to be most excellent... until they realise that maybe this was perhaps a most egregious error in judgement. Thankfully, Rufus shows up with Ted's bratty brother, who points out to Mr. Radish that you should Be Yourself, for your own sake if nothing else. Mr. Radish agrees, and changes back into his red sweater. It came after an episode that parodied Leave It to Beaver.
- Animation Bump: Notable in some scenes of the H-B show, such as when Rufus is ordering a pizza ("One Sweet and Sour Chinese Adventure—To Go") and Little Richard performing "Good Golly, Miss Molly" ("The Birth of Rock and Roll, or Too Hip For the Womb"), which was said to have been rotoscoped.
- Art Evolution: The show changed styles greatly after switching from Hanna-Barbera to DiC Entertainment between the
Channel Hop. This is evident with Ted's design, as he goes from dot eyes during the first season, to a more standard "Black pupils on white sclerae" look in the second.- The animation itself was also more prone to be more choppier and error prone during season 2.
- Celebrity Paradox: In the below-mentioned record store scene, Rufus notices a George Carlin comedy album on a shelf and shoots an Aside Glance to the audience.
- Classical Music Is Cool: The boys bring back Mozart and Little Richard in "The Birth of Rock and Roll, or: Too Hip For the Womb" to show how rock and classical music complement each other. In an impromptu concert on school grounds, Little Richard plays "Good Golly, Miss Molly" while Mozart interjects passages of "Eine Kleine Nacht Musik."
- Demoted to Extra: Admittedly, they didn't do much in the first two movies, but the two princesses that Bill & Ted marry were at least important; on the show, they only appear in one episode.
- Either/Or Title: Season 1 episode "The Birth of Rock And Roll, or: Too Hip For The Womb." The episode featured rock legend Little Richard in an Ink-Suit Actor role. He even furnished his voice for the episode.
- Milholland Relationship Moment: The titular heroes once broke a vase and went through great lengths to replace it before Bill's parents (father and stepmother to be precise) found out. They did get a replacement vase but ended up breaking it and Bill's stepmother showed up soon after. She then told the boys the vase was just some free prize they got at some restaurant. (Basically how the boys got the replacement vase in the first place).
- Opening Narration: From the Hanna-Barbera version:Rufus: I had been selected for a most important journey. I was to help fulfill the destiny of the two Great Ones...Bill and Ted.note
- Refugee from TV Land: There's an episode where the booth is used to retrieve a character from a TV show parodying Leave It to Beaver. As a result, the show never ends and nothing else can ever be shown on TV, so they have to put them back.
- Retool: Its second season saw a Channel Hop from CBS to Fox and a transformation into more of a tie-in for Fox's live-action series of the same name, with the original voice actors (Winters, Reeves and Carlin) replaced by The Other Darrin actors from the live-action series. The phone booth underwent a change to use "Squint" technology that allows Bill and Ted to go into books, TV shows and even the human body. It's even been shown to go into movies and IN SPACE, although this is only in the new intro.
- Skewed Priorities: Bill and Ted try to get Christopher Columbus to discover America, because if he doesn't it would mean... no Columbus Day, which would mean one extra day of school!
- Take That!: "The Birth Of Rock And Roll, or: Too Hip For The Womb" featured a veiled Take That to New Kids on the Block, who had their own cartoon show on ABC that same season. (Ironically, DiC Entertainment, which produced the New Kids On The Block cartoon, would take over the production for the second season of this show.) Bill and Ted meet Rufus at a record store:Rufus: I was just checking out this new album by New Boys On The Corner.Bill and Ted: And?Rufus: They stink.
- When I Was Your Age...: Ted's Dad lectures the boys this way.
- Who's on First?: Season 1 episode "Never Shall the Twain Meet" had the boys looking for Mark Twain. They find Sam Clemens on a riverboat, shouting "Mark Twain!", causing them to ask "Where?!" Clemens explains what the term means, but the next time he gives out the call, they again ask "Where?!"
- Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: One episode featured a rare bird that met its demise (or else escaped) while under the care of our intrepid heroes, causing them to scramble for a replacement. Thanks to their time-travelling phone booth they manage to snag one from its country of origin, with a twist. The original was a male bird. The replacement was a female bird. This is discovered when she lays an egg.
