For a scene to be considered
"omitted," there must be strong evidence that it was actually filmed
but not included in the movie. Bogus Journey is noted for its large amount
of omitted footage, and since the scenes were not replaced until the last minute
many of the tie-in products which came out for the movie actually followed the
original cut, offering us a rare insight into the movie that might have been
(and many still feel should have been.) In these pages we will
piece together these scenes using material from the novelization, the comic book
adaptation, the Pro Set trading cards, original storyboards and behind the
scenes footage from news reports. For more detailed explanations of how some of
these scenes played out, refer to the Script
Variations.
Breaking up rocks and the rat-eating
demon guard
The first
notable missing scene from Bogus Journey
occurred when Bill and Ted first land in Hades. They are confronted on
their rock by a demon guard who provides them with sledgehammers and orders them
to break up their own rock. To further intimidate them, the demon guard
pulls a rat out of his mouth. But instead of being scared, Bill and Ted
are amazed, and Ted proclaims they once knew a guy who got a rat in his bucket
of chicken (a classic urban legend). Finally they do start working, and
Ted finds he enjoys breaking rocks. The rat segment can be seen briefly in
the movie trailer for Bogus Journey included on the MGM / UA DVD release.
Segments of this entire sequence can also be heard during the Reaper Rap which
plays over the end credits of the movie, also featured on the soundtrack album
and CD.
Some existing
footage from this sequence exists from the theatrical trailer and
behind-the-scenes reports about the movie, as well as audio clips that were
included in The Reaper Rap:
Production
storyboards also illustrate how this scene played out originally:
This scene was
also included in the novelization as follows (the photos are not from the novel
but are included here for illustrative purposes):
"Yah," agreed Bill.
"We got totally lied to by all those album covers!"
"Totally!"
"Ted, look!" Bill pointed
into the fumes. "Someone's coming. Sort of like a
demon-dude. We'll ask him how we get - "
An enormous red pitchfork slammed into
the rock, between Bill and Ted, the force throwing them to the ground.
When they had picked themselves up again, a giant demon -- dressed in a red work
apron and wearing a visor, looking like a devil-blacksmith - - was standing over
them. Without a word he dropped two huge sledgehammers on the rock in
front of them.
"Non-non-non-triumphant,"
said Bill and Ted slowly.
The demon pushed them toward a pile of
rocks and pointed, first at the hammers and then at the boulders. Bill and
Ted stared blankly at him. Agitatedly, the demon pointed again, first to
the rocks, then to the sledgehammers, then back to the rocks.
"I think he wants us to break the
rocks with the hammers," said Ted after a moment to consider the meaning of
the demon's actions.
"Why would he want us to do
that?"
"I dunno, but do you want to argue
with him?"
"No way," said Bill.
"Let's break the rocks.
Maybe he'll get a little friendlier."
They hefted their hammers. Bill
hit a rock. Ted hit a rock. Then Bill again. Then Ted.
"Dude," said Ted, "look,
I totally broke a rock."
"Way to go!" said Bill.
The demon nodded and sort of smiled,
and they began to get the feeling that maybe, as demons went, he wasn't such a
bad dude.
They broke a few more rocks, just to
get on his good side. Rock breaking seemed to be the demon's thing.
To Ted's surprise, it seemed to be his too.
"You know, Bill, I kinda like
this."
"You wanna do it for all
eternity?"
That was a tough one. Ted thought a
moment. "No," he said with an air of finality.
"Me neither," said
Bill. "In fact, I haven't quite taken to it the way you have.
How about we quit?"
"Yah."
Bill tapped the demon on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, Mr. Demon sir, but how
long we gotta do this for?"
"Yah. It's been fun, but we
have to get back to San Dimas. It is most urgent."
"We'd love to stay . . . "
said Bill, trying to avoid hurting the demon's feelings.
The demon stuffed one of his hands into
his own mouth and pulled out a giant black rat. Holding it by the tail, he
dangled the creature in front of the guys' faces.
"Whooaa!" they said, thrilled
at such a feat.
"Not bad!" said Bill, full of
admiration for anyone capable of pulling large black rats out of his own
mouth. Such a skill would have come in quite handy in high school - - and
he was already thinking of ways of working it into the Wyld Stallyns' act.
"We totally knew this guy, in San
Dimas, you know," said Ted, "and he like got one of those in a bucket
of chicken. Deep fried."
"This is better, though,"
said Bill.
"Do something else, dude,"
urged Ted.
"Yah! Do the rat thing
again!"
The guard shook his head and slowly
pushed them back to their rock pile and pointed.
"Okay, okay, we know. Break
the rocks, right?"
The demon nodded, and Bill and Ted had
no choice but to return to their labors.
Ted didn't mind all that much.
"Dude, I'm telling you, I like this."
"Ted, you can break rocks when you
get home. You can go into the rock breaking business."
"Yah . . . I suppose, but I think
I'd maybe rather keep it as more of a hobby."
After a while, Bill stopped to wipe the
sweat from his forehead. He looked around and saw, high up in the vault of
the cave, a hideous stone sculpture - - whoever decorated the place went very
much for the rock look - - a gargoyle, half-man, half-dragon, and standing atop
this creature was a towering figure, the head man himself, surveying his evil
domain.
"Ted, dude, check this out."
"Who's that?"
"Ted. Who do you think it
is?"
Slowly the truth dawned on him.
"Whooaa . . . We gotta get his attention, Bill. He's the dude who can
get us out of here and back to San Dimas."
They looked at each other for a
moment. "Sign of the Devil, Dude!" Bill and Ted thrust
their arms back and forth, index and little fingers raised in the Sign of the
Devil, so beloved of right-thinking fans of heavy metal the world over.
"Down here, dude!"
"Yah! We are totally signaling
you, dude."
The Evil One noticed and pulled a lever
at his side. Suddenly, there was the sound of the grinding of machinery,
and slowly Bill and Ted's rock began to rise toward the gargoyle.
They clambered off their rock onto the
nose of the statue and across its red stone back to the base of a hazy red
stairway that led to the throne.
"So," said Bill, "how's
it goin', Beelzebub?"
"Excellent rocks," put in
Ted.
"We totally broke some."
"Totally."
This did not seem to impress Beelzebub
overly - - which was not surprising, considering the amount of rock breaking
activity that went on in his domain on a daily basis.
"So," said Ted, "we
broke the rocks . . . so . . . okay. Can we go now?"
"Yah, 'cause, see, this is all a
mistake. It all started with my ex-stepmom - - "
"Who's now my stepmom --
"
"Yah. See, she - - "
That was as far as they got with their
explanation. Their flow of words was cut short by a low, heavy chuckling -
- he laughed just the way you'd expect him to.
The comic book
adaptation also included this scene:
The demon guard
was also scene on the Pro Set trading card:
