Biggles: Adventures in Time
Encyclopedia
Biggles: Adventures in Time is a 1986 adventure
film based on the character of Biggles
from the series of novels written by Captain W.E. Johns. The film stars Neil Dickson
as Biggles, Alex Hyde-White
as Jim Ferguson and Peter Cushing
as William Raymond in his final feature film role.
pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth after his photo recon mission is shot down. Before he can work out what has happened, Jim is zapped back to the 1980s. With assistance from Biggles' former commanding officer Raymond (Peter Cushing
) who lives in the Tower Bridge
in London, Ferguson learns that he and Biggles are "time twins", spontaneously travelling through time when one or the other is in mortal danger. Together, Ferguson and Biggles fight across time and against the odds to stop the Germans changing the course of history by destroying a "Sound Weapon" with a Metropolitan police
helicopter that was stolen by Biggles while escaping a SWAT Team in 1986 London
.
and in the Home Counties
. The weapon testing ground in the 1917 scene is Beckton Gas Works
and was filmed there a year before Full Metal Jacket
was. The Bond film For Your Eyes Only
also used the location for the pre title sequence.
The original script called for an adventure film in the mould of Raiders of the Lost Ark
and would have been much more faithful to Johns' original novels. During scriptwriting, Back to the Future
was released and became a major hit, so the script was duly altered to follow this trend, in the hopes of riding out the popularity.
Several aircraft were used in the film. These included a Stampe SV.4
, which is flown by Biggles, and a Boeing Stearman
, which is flown by his archrival, Von Stalhein. Both these aircraft are of 1930s vintage. Also used in ground scenes are several genuine World War I aircraft from The Shuttleworth Collection, including the Avro 504
and LVG C.VI
.
Dickson later reprised the Biggles character in all but name, in the Pet Shop Boys
' 1987 feature film, It Couldn't Happen Here
.
fans due to its featuring John Deacon
's only non-Queen released recording - the song "No Turning Back", recorded with The Immortals. The R2 DVD release includes the video for this song, among several other special features - it also features a World War II
era aeroplane prominantly on the DVD cover, despite no such plane appearing in the film itself.
, Commodore 64
and ZX Spectrum
getting somewhat above average scores in reviews.
Adventure
An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...
film based on the character of Biggles
Biggles
"Biggles" , a pilot and adventurer, is the title character and main hero of the Biggles series of youth-oriented adventure books written by W. E. Johns....
from the series of novels written by Captain W.E. Johns. The film stars Neil Dickson
Neil Dickson
Neil Dickson is an English actor, who has worked extensively in both American and British film and television.At the age of five, Dickson contracted polio, but he was fortunate enough to make a complete recovery a year later. He attended Worksop College in Nottinghamshire playing Coriolanus in the...
as Biggles, Alex Hyde-White
Alex Hyde-White
Alex Punch Hyde-White is an English born, US raised film and television actor. He is sometimes credited as Alex Hyde White. In 1978 he signed with Universal Pictures as one of the last "contract players" in Hollywood, in a group that included Lindsay Wagner, Andrew Stevens and Sharon...
as Jim Ferguson and Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
as William Raymond in his final feature film role.
Cast
- Neil DicksonNeil DicksonNeil Dickson is an English actor, who has worked extensively in both American and British film and television.At the age of five, Dickson contracted polio, but he was fortunate enough to make a complete recovery a year later. He attended Worksop College in Nottinghamshire playing Coriolanus in the...
as James 'BigglesBiggles"Biggles" , a pilot and adventurer, is the title character and main hero of the Biggles series of youth-oriented adventure books written by W. E. Johns....
' Bigglesworth - Alex Hyde-WhiteAlex Hyde-WhiteAlex Punch Hyde-White is an English born, US raised film and television actor. He is sometimes credited as Alex Hyde White. In 1978 he signed with Universal Pictures as one of the last "contract players" in Hollywood, in a group that included Lindsay Wagner, Andrew Stevens and Sharon...
as Jim Ferguson - Fiona HutchisonFiona HutchisonFiona Hutchison is an English-American actress. Born to two citizens of the United Kingdom, Hutchison grew up in South Miami, Florida, Jamaica, and Columbia, South Carolina. Hutchison is trained in ballet and classical dance, attending the Miami Conservatory as a child...
as Debbie - Peter CushingPeter CushingPeter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
as Air Commodore William Raymond - Marcus GilbertMarcus GilbertMarcus Gilbert is a British actor, known for his roles in Jilly Cooper's Riders and Army of Darkness ....
as Eric Von Stalhein - William HootkinsWilliam HootkinsWilliam Michael Hootkins was an American character actor, most famous for supporting roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Wars, Batman and Raiders of the Lost Ark.-Early life:...
as Chuck - Alan Polonsky as Bill
- Francesca GonshawFrancesca GonshawFrancesca R. Gonshaw is an artist, writer and actress currently living and working in London.- Acting :She studied dramatic art at A.L.R.A and achieved early recognition whilst working for the BBC...
as Marie - Michael SiberryMichael SiberryMichael Siberry is an Australian stage and screen actor. He most recently starred as King Arthur in the National Tour of Monty Python's Spamalot. In September 2008, he assumed the role of King Arthur on Broadway....
as Algy - James SaxonJames SaxonJames Saxon was a British character actor. He often played aristocrats or middle class characters.Having trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made a career on screen with leading parts in television series such as the BBC adaptation of Vanity Fair , the ITV comedy Brass , the brief...
as Bertie - Daniel FlynnDaniel Flynn (Actor)Daniel Flynn is an English actor born in 1961 in Evesham, Worcestershire but moved to Bromley, Kent as a baby. He is the son of actor Eric Flynn and the brother of actor Jerome Flynn...
as Ginger
Plot
Unassuming catering salesman Jim Ferguson falls through a time hole to 1917 where he saves the life of dashing Royal Flying CorpsRoyal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth after his photo recon mission is shot down. Before he can work out what has happened, Jim is zapped back to the 1980s. With assistance from Biggles' former commanding officer Raymond (Peter Cushing
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing, OBE was an English actor, known for his many appearances in Hammer Films, in which he played the handsome but sinister scientist Baron Frankenstein and the vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing, amongst many other roles, often appearing opposite Christopher Lee, and occasionally...
) who lives in the Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, England, over the River Thames. It is close to the Tower of London, from which it takes its name...
in London, Ferguson learns that he and Biggles are "time twins", spontaneously travelling through time when one or the other is in mortal danger. Together, Ferguson and Biggles fight across time and against the odds to stop the Germans changing the course of history by destroying a "Sound Weapon" with a Metropolitan police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
helicopter that was stolen by Biggles while escaping a SWAT Team in 1986 London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Production
The film was shot mostly on location in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and in the Home Counties
Home Counties
The home counties is a term which refers to the counties of South East England and the East of England which border London, but do not include the capital city itself...
. The weapon testing ground in the 1917 scene is Beckton Gas Works
Beckton Gas Works
Beckton Gas Works was a major London gas works built to manufacture coal gas and other products including coke from coal. It has been variously described as 'the largest such plant in the world' and 'the largest gas works in Europe'. It operated from 1870 to 1969, with an associated by-products...
and was filmed there a year before Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...
was. The Bond film For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
also used the location for the pre title sequence.
The original script called for an adventure film in the mould of Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Raiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
and would have been much more faithful to Johns' original novels. During scriptwriting, Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
was released and became a major hit, so the script was duly altered to follow this trend, in the hopes of riding out the popularity.
Several aircraft were used in the film. These included a Stampe SV.4
Stampe SV.4
-Bibliography:* Pacco, John. "Stampe & Vertongen SV-4B" Belgisch Leger/Armee Belge: Het Militair Vliegwezen/l'Aeronautique Militaire 1930-1940. Aartselaar, Belgium, 2003, pp. 85-86. ISBN 90-801136-6-2....
, which is flown by Biggles, and a Boeing Stearman
Boeing Stearman
|-See also:-Bibliography:* Avis, Jim and Bowman, Martin. Stearman: A Pictorial History. Motorbooks, 1997. ISBN 0-76030-479-3.* Bowers, Peter M. Boeing Aircraft since 1916. London:Putnam, 1989. ISBN 0-85177-804-6....
, which is flown by his archrival, Von Stalhein. Both these aircraft are of 1930s vintage. Also used in ground scenes are several genuine World War I aircraft from The Shuttleworth Collection, including the Avro 504
Avro 504
The Avro 504 was a World War I biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the War totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in World War I, in any military capacity, during...
and LVG C.VI
LVG C.VI
|-See also:-References:-Sources:*Heinonen, Timo: Thulinista Hornetiin - Keski-Suomen ilmailumuseon julkaisuja 3, Keski-Suomen ilmailumuseo, 1992, ISBN 951-95688-2-4...
.
Dickson later reprised the Biggles character in all but name, in the Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
' 1987 feature film, It Couldn't Happen Here
It Couldn't Happen Here
It Couldn't Happen Here is a 1988 musical film starring the British pop duo Pet Shop Boys and based around their music. It was originally conceived as an hour-long video based around their album Actually, but it turned into a surreal full-scale feature film directed by Jack Bond and co-starring...
.
Continuity
The film is notably unfaithful to the original works. In addition to the introduction of a science-fiction plot, the continuity of the Biggles universe was largely ignored: for example, even within the film's chronology Peter Cushing's character would have been almost 100 years old in the 1980s (he appears much younger), while Biggles in the film was somewhat older (in the books, he was only a teenager in 1917), and the characters Ginger and Bertie, who feature in this film, did not actually join Biggles until later, although the presence of Biggles' friend Algy, adversary Erich Von Stahlein and love interest Marie are faithful to the earlier books in the series.Soundtrack
- Jon AndersonJon AndersonJon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
- "Do You Want to Be a Hero" - Jon AndersonJon AndersonJon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
- "Chocks Away" - Deep PurpleDeep PurpleDeep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
- "Knocking at Your Back DoorPerfect Strangers (album)Perfect Strangers is the eleventh studio album by Deep Purple, released in October 1984. It represents the first album recorded by the reformed, the most successful and popular, 'Mark II' line-up....
" - Mötley CrüeMötley CrüeMötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
- "Knock 'Em Dead, KidShout at the DevilShout at the Devil is the second album by heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, released on September 26, 1983. "Looks That Kill" and "Too Young to Fall in Love" became huge hits and "Shout at the Devil" became very popular as well.-Reception:...
" - The Immortals - "No Turning Back"
Response
Poorly received by critics and audiences alike, the film remains of interest to QueenQueen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
fans due to its featuring John Deacon
John Deacon
John Richard Deacon is a retired English multi-instrumentalist and song writer, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, he was the last to join and also the youngest, being only 19 years old when he was recruited by the other members of the band...
's only non-Queen released recording - the song "No Turning Back", recorded with The Immortals. The R2 DVD release includes the video for this song, among several other special features - it also features a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era aeroplane prominantly on the DVD cover, despite no such plane appearing in the film itself.
Video game
The movie was also turned into a video game for Amstrad CPCAmstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...
, Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
getting somewhat above average scores in reviews.