'80s Trash?: Biggles- Adventure in Time (1986)

A silly Film with a bit of historical importance.  This is Biggles- Adventure in Time, a 1986 Sci-Fi Comedy.  This is based on a Series of Books about the titular Character.  He's a WWI Air Pilot who fought 'the good fight' for Britain.  The Film uses the Characters from these Books, but takes a big turn- Time Travel.  I suppose the Title was a big giveaway.  Supposedly there were plans to make a Film Adaptation for quite a while.  The last Book came out in 1968- took them long enough!  A straightforward Film was planned, but then something happened- Back to the Future.  Now Time Travel was cool and they added a whole new (strange) element here.  Does it work?  If you don't know much about the Character (like I didn't until last night), it's not exactly heresy.  They keep the tone and feel here (as far as I can tell) and the time travel stuff is a weird bit of color.  The Story involves a man (who might be a descendant) being sent back in time to help the title character on a mission.  Will he succeed?  To find out, read on...

Our Hero- James Ferguson- is a normal guy in New York trying to make it big.  A strange man- Peter Cushing- shows up at his door, but is dismissed.

Without much warning, he is struck by lightning and sent back in time to 1917.  Sure.

He's returned via lightning and brushes the event off until Cushing arrives again.  He wants to help Ferguson, but things don't go well.

Here's the significance- this is Peter Cushing's last Film.  He died in 1994.

While at a Party, he's sent back again and helps Biggles escape a rival Pilot while documenting a German weapon.

Nice aerial shots, if nothing else.

He gets a call from Cushing and goes to London.  He explains that a hole in time is pulling him back to help Biggles and save History.

How did 'WWI Fighter Pilot Saves the day' turn into this?

Things go wrong in the Present and another trip is joined by his Fiancee.  She helps save the day and the group escapes a rough fate.

In a twist, Biggles is sent back to the Present and meets Cushing.  They get the location of the weapon and...

Say 'F--k you' to causality by bringing a Helicopter back to WWI.  Oh well, they win the day.

Back in the Present, Ferguson is pulled from his Wedding and saves Biggles and his friends, setting up Sequels that will never come.  The End.

A fun enough adventure, but nothing special.  Right off the bat, let me address the obvious question- did the Time Travel element improve the Story?  Not really.  There are fun parts to it- like the Fiancé using Mace on a Soldier- but they are fairly superfluous.  They try to make it important by having Ferguson keep saving Biggles.  In that regard, it hurts him a little.  Some random guy with no Military Training keeps saving him from certain death.  How did he make it through any previous mission?  Was Dr. Sam Beckett working on the last one unbeknownst to him?  They get some good Comedy out of the idea that he is randomly transported, but the other stuff is pretty meh.  It doesn't really hurt the Film, but it doesn't help it either.  If they had just made a simple Film about Biggles, it could have been an Indiana Jones-style romp that might be more remembered.  This Film, meanwhile, appears on lists like Worst Final Films of Famous Actors.  Ouch.  It's not a bad Film.  It has some great '80s fun to it and the Music- by Stanislas- is nice.  It's just a shame that muck the whole thing up with some Zemeckis-style shenanigans.  I also love how they avoid people being shot and show grenades as 'knocking people out,' but then do this...

Next time, I delve deep into Horror for the next Month.  It's going to be scary (and probably silly).  Stay tuned...