Keanu Reeves, Time Lord

With the most recent flow of memes revolving the beloved actor, Keanu Reeves, especially those pertaining to the reveal of the new game Cyberpunk 2077 starring the aforementioned hero of modern society; I felt as though I should write a little about how I was introduced to Reeves as an actor and how it affected my way of thinking. I'm not going to get into every detail of the films, but at the very least explain the accuracy in terms of the theory itself.Keanu Reeves loves his fans, that definitely goes without saying. The way he interacts with them, talks to them. The best thing about him is the fact that he is absolutely genuine. From movies like The Matrix to John Wick, Keanu Reeves is an incredible badass. Though, I originally saw him as the lovable goof that is Ted "Theodore" Logan from the films Bill and Ted Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey. The time traveling duo that was all about making music and loving bodacious babes.

Growing up, I would watch these two movies over and over, I can still hear the guitar riffs in my head when they shout "Wyld Stallyns"! The thing I loved most was the sci fi aspect of it all, and looking back at it, how accurate the time travel was done. This is definitely one of very few time traveling movies that actually do time travel well, without any plot-holes or subsequent paradoxes that would foil the very nature of time. The writers definitely knew what they were doing here.

The premise of the film circulates around the Predestination Paradox. Basically, everything that happened in the film was already preordained. If you've seen Excellent Adventure, you would recall that Rufus went to the past to ensure the Bill and Ted passed their class, otherwise the Utopian world in the future based around the music of Wyld Stallyns will cease to exist. A definite sign of the Predestination Paradox is when the boys first meet Rufus; they were skeptical up until they met their future selves: "Hey Rufus." This greeting alone is an example of the Bootstrap Paradox, because at this point in time, Rufus never gave his name to the duo. Now a bootstrap paradox is a piece of information or an object that flows in a continuous cycle without end. The future selves knew the Rufus' because they had already lived that very moment and heard THEIR future selves say his name.

Just like in the first film, everything in Bogus Journey is preordained. We know the boys are going to win, we know the band is going to be stellar and create a Utopian future. The thing we don't know, is how. Their journey leads them to a wicked confrontation to the big bad at the end of the film (my favorite part to be honest). Bill and Ted get into a theoretical time traveling bout with the time traveling antagonist from the future, Chuck De Nomolos. This point in the film, Bill and Ted have risen from the grave, returned to the real world, made the band Wyld Stallyns complete, and have gotten a decent handle on the ideals of time travel.

When De Nomolos reveals himself, and carries out his plans, Bill and Ted put their heads together to come up with a plan to beat him. Bill comes up with the idea to go back in time to set up traps to best the baddie. The coolest and most interesting part about this intense moment is it's all about the winner. While De Nomolos tries to set up himself to win, it's really Bill and Ted who are the true winners (though making something spontaneous appear out of nowhere isn't theoretically possible, at least in terms of time traveling, but I'll let the thought slide on this one).

This whole battle goes off of a what if scenario of sorts. IF the boys truly won, they will go back in time to set up the traps which lead them to win, to ENSURE that they win. Predestination Paradox is all about going full circle, especially in time travel. It isn't so much that moments are necessarily preordained really, but it's off the idea that in order for one thing to happen, something needs to happen in order to trigger it, bringing about a sort of Butterfly Effect, or Ripple Effect, causing a series of chain of events.

Now, in films it's easier to set up with predestination in mind. However, for real world applications, theoretical physics isn't as easily foreseen. The battle with De Nomolos is accurate with the whole cyclical eventualities, but in terms of the multiverse, any of those moments could've led to De Nomolos winning, which in itself is a paradox all on its own. De Nomolos is from the future where Bill and Ted created Wyld Stallyns, which in turn effected the world into the Utopia Rufus is from. BUT if De Nomolos won, he would've triggered a Grandfather Paradox, which would have ultimately changed the future he came from, possibly even erasing himself from existence. The best/easiest example of Grandfather Paradox is in the name; going back in time to kill your grandfather, but if you succeeded, you wouldn't exist in order to go back in time and kill your grandfather.

The Grandfather Paradox is why I mentioned the multiverse. In the multiverse, time isn't linear, it is more like branches in a tree; do one action causes a new branch to sprout, a new timeline. These timelines exist side by side. Dragon Ball Z introduced this idea when they brought in Trunks, who, at the end of the Cell Saga, went back to HIS future and not the future he helped create. With the multiverse, the Grandfather Paradox is theoretically obsolete, as you could go back in time, kill your grandfather, but return to your original time and let another version of your newly non-existent life carry on.

I know it seems like I trailed off, but this is basically how my thought process works thanks to my exposure to Bill and Ted. The film was fun, hilarious, and almost entirely accurate in terms in time travel (at least theoretically accurate). If it wasn't for this excellent flick, I probably wouldn't have interested myself in anything sci-fi, or even question the things I already do. It honestly changed my perspective on life as a whole. And the best bonus is it was one Keanu Reeves' earliest films.

Well, until next time people. Have a safe and fun weekend!