Wonder Woman : The Excellent Adventure Edit

Bad Movies Made Less Bad Presents:
A audio mashup of one of the best movies of the 80's with one of the worst DC movies.

Major Changes:

• Dialing up the campiness of the score while dialing down the campiness of the script to find the fun movie in between.
• Show, don't tell philosophy in effect.
• Remove bad CGI Shots.
• Fix some of the main plot holes.
• Steve doesn't inhabit anyone's body
• Diana doesn't steal a plane and make it invisible, she already has one and reveals it to Steve, avoiding the fuel issue.
• Barbra doesn't ask for the second wish to be an apex predator, her change is a side effect of Max's megalomania.
• Only Max needs to renounce his wish for the world to be fixed.
• Max gets punishment.
• More 80s Music

Editing Intent:

I LOVE Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure since my youth - one of the few VHS movies I owned, and I knew it by heart. So dumb, but so great. I was also in the majority of viewers that did not love WW84, especially after reflection. With so many delays on its release date, they had tons of extra time to tighten the movie up, but clearly they did not. We can do better.

Diana kept fighting after the events of her first movie in smaller, more hidden humanitarian ways, even though she gave up hope in mankind as a whole. We do not find her in the 80s anti-social and still brooding about Steve this whole time. Instead she is a confident hidden hero, who happens upon a chance that brings him back, and she realizes AGAIN how much she lost. This movie becomes the reason she still thinks about him in the present day JL movies. She was over him in that she knew he was gone the first time, only to have him come back for a while and let him go again. She essentially gets PTSD from this experience, instead of just being lovesick for the full 100 years. (Also, Steve is not inhabiting anyone else’s body in this edit.)

WW84 also should have dialed up the 80's soundtrack. Bill and Teds was shot in '87 and released in '89, so I already knew I couldn't lock myself into ‘84 if I wanted to mix the soundtracks. Bill and ted's gave me tons of source material to work with, but I needed more, so since Bill and Ted wanted to work with Van Halen, Van Halen leads the additional songs needed. There is also Judas Priest, Pat Benatar, The Expressions, Killing Joke, Vangelis, Oingo Boingo, Def Leppard, Scorpions, Harold Faltermayer and Kenny Loggins.

Cut List:

• Themiscyra scene is cut. Originally I had trimmed the scene to be less preachy and simply more about the value of truth, but inevitably I could not justify the scene at all. The scene goes against set canon from the first movie about Diana being older when her mother finds out she is training.

• New “Material Girl” music added to Max’s commercial intro. The track was heavily mixed to add an electric guitar overlay to add a slightly more “metal edge” to the sound. Most sound effects during the scene needed to be re-foleyed.

• First look at runner’s face removed.

• Website address removed from inside the Commander Salamander store FX

• New score added to the Mall Heist scene – “Breakaway” by Big Pig, from the Bill and Ted soundtrack.

• Woman initially questioning the thief who drops the gun removed.

• Thieves do not try to talk their co-thief out of using the girl as a hostage.

• Diana does not talk during the Mall heist, doesn’t toss a thief through a drum or doesn’t interact with any chatty kids.

• Removed visual shots of mall reporter and reduced his dialogue.

• New photo inserted - Capturing Hitler to end the war (possibly avoiding dropping bombs on Japan, but not fully clarified.) Rescuing people from a large train crash. Rescuing people from a large plane crash. I tried to capture recognizable moments in history that might work, but avoided most civil rights stuff I tried out of respect to those who were actually hurt.

• Barbara intro is trimmed – no running to work intro scene, she doesn’t ask for Jake’s help, doesn’t ask Diana out to lunch, hasn’t just started working at the museum.

• The FBI has simply given the artifacts to the Smithsonian to deal with, they do not need help identifying a single item.

• Carol is less rude to Barbara.

• Scoring from Bill and Teds added to Barbara and Diana’s interactions.

• Removed Barbara recording herself discussing item 23 and 24.

• Diana and Barbara exposition trimmed for “show don’t tell” philosophy.

• Scoring from Bill and Ted’s added to restart of Steve’s watch

• Diana and Barbara’s dinner discussion re-edited to minimize the bad writing.

• Scoring from Bill and Teds added to Barbara’s walk through the park.

• Diana telling Barbara to go home removed.

• Instrumental version of Fever by Judas Priest used for Barbara’s return to the office and use of the stone.

• Instrumental intro of Weird Science from Oingo Boingo used for realization of Barbara’s transformation before meeting Max Lord for the first time.

• Max Lord initial “sinister” look removed, leaving his “sinister look” after seeing the stone as his first “dark reveal.”

• Removed discussion between Max and Diana about not having a TV.

• Removed Diana comparing stone invoice order to business card.

• New soundtrack for Barbara’s dress reveal, changed to instrumental version of Why Don't Pretty Girls (Look At Me) by the Wild Men Of Wonga.

• New soundtrack for the museum gala, changed to Present Communication by The Expressions

• Barbara and Max in her office trimmed.

• New soundtrack for the Steve reveal, changed to Why Can’t This Be Love by Van Halen

• FYI Steve does not inhabit another person’s body. All discussions trimmed to remove that part, and all blatant references to the other guy’s apartment removed.

• New Soundtrack for Max wishing to become the Dreamstone, changed to a metal cover of Chariots of Fire by Vangelis

• New Soundtrack for Barbara strength reveal, changed to Eighties by the Killing Joke

• Diana and Steve in bed trimmed to feel like its her bedroom, and Steve wardrobe scene has been cut.

• Max asking the FBI agents about the charges removed.

• New soundtrack for Steve exploring the world, changed to Father time by Shark Island, from the Bill and Ted soundtrack

• Removed trash can art discussion

• New soundtrack for Steve at the Air and Space museum, change to the Top Gun Anthem by Kenny Loggins.

• Barbara leading group discussion at work trimmed to remove the glasses part.

• Removed Barbara leaving to go do something after Steve and Diana leave her office.

• Slightly trimmed Diana struggling with the lock.

• Diana doesn’t read the Latin inscription again.

• Diana’s exposition in Max’s office trimmed.

• Diana and Steve do not discuss the problem with commercial flight and passports, and about wanting to fly one.

• New soundtrack for Diana and Steve’s Archive arrival, changed to The Boys and The Girls Are Doin’ It by Vital Signs, from the Bill and Ted soundtrack

• Diana already has an invisible jet, which she stores at the archive and surprises Steve with. (In my opinion, just as plausible as the theatrical explanation lol)

• FX during Diana and Steve’s discussion about flight in the jet to remove colored flashes from fireworks.

• Barbara’s beating of the harasser trimmed slightly

• Emir Said Bin Abydos still has his oil holdings, and Max takes it.

• Removed Steve telling Diana “You keep saying that” in the car ride with Diana in Egypt

• New soundtrack for Egypt battle scene, re-foley needed throughout. Changed to Invincible by Pat Benatar with electric guitar lead mixed in from a metal cover.

• Battle heavily edited. Diana does not flip a truck and land on Max’s vehicle, and she does not save the children. Diana begins the battle, fast running sequence removed, but after she is injured in the arm, she is trapped under a truck while soldiers shoot the tires out. Steve is forced to take over the vehicle Diana is hiding from to allow her to escape, letting the rest of the caravan escape.

• Mention of roman emperor removed from info Barbara gives to Diana, some info about how Barbara obtained the flyer removed.

• New intro music for Barbara reveal heading to Capital Records, change to Rock You Like A Hurricane by the Scorpions

• Baba Jide character edited to be less silly

• During the scene with the book, all mentions that EVERYONE needs to return the wishes is removed, focusing only on Max. All mentions about a Monkey Paw from here on are removed. Scene tightened.

• Scene in Max’s office trimmed to remove any references to gaining TV time from the televangelist are removed.

• Max and Alistair discussion trimmed slightly.

• Old people discussing the pandemonium and his cows removed.

• Diana and Steve discussion in her apartment trimmed to remove reference to body possession

• Asteria flashback trimmed to remove discussion about the strength of the armor, and FX added to return Asteria’s eyes to blue.

• Max’s discussion with the President about the satellite system is trimmed for pacing and to remove silliness

• Max and Diana confrontation trimmed to remove Steve going for the sword and the exposition about saving lives. Security guard trimmed to only dodge the lasso once before firing on Diana.

• Barbara and Diana fight trimmed slightly, Steve does not use the “new move he just learned” on Max. Max’s “Do you want to be a real boy” line removed, Barbara and Diana discussion about “what was lost” tightened

• Diana leaving Steve trimmed to remove her silly CGI running shot, and Diana learning to fly is cut.

• Max and Barbara’s helicopter ride discussion ends after Max talks about his plan for becoming invincible, and Barbara does not ask more anything.

• Initial scene of Alistair scared in Max’s office are moved up to Max’s initial broadcasting message.

• New soundtrack to Diana and Cheetah fight scene, changed to Breaking the Law by Judas Priest. Re-foley required throughout scene. Fight trimmed to minimize the worst CGI. Barbara does not talk in Cheetah form. Large cat growls added for fight vocals, and screeching cat sounds used when she is hurt or being electrocuted. No discussion about renouncing wishes.

• Final confrontation with Max highly edited to remove her attempts to lasso him, instead only resorting to convincing him to renounce his wish. Nuclear government shots moved nearer to the end of the scene, and edited to seem like only America launched, so only the missiles created by wished were destroyed. Shots of Alistair on the freeway are removed. I could not remove “a Beautiful Lie” from the movie as it was so embedded into all the audio channels, but I was able to add a metal cover intro of the song as a lead in to Diana’s monologue before to make it all appropriate for the movie as a whole.

• New soundtrack for the “wishes reversing” section of the scene, changed to a solo electric guitar riff.

• Helicopter transportation of Max removed, we find him just searching somewhere.

• Epilogue for Max in text added to final shot of him hugging Alistair

• Diana dining alone moved to the end, with her seeing the jet as motivation for the next scene, Diana learning to fly. New soundtrack for learning to fly sequence, change to Have You Ever Needed Someone so bad by Def Leppard, and re-foleyed.

• Asteria sequence moved up before credits, trimmed slightly to remove the “my culture” reference. New soundtrack added, changed to Two Heads are better Than One by Power Tool from the Bill and Ted soundtrack. Added "To Be Continued" for that 80's style nod over mid-credit scene.