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Biggles: Adventures in Time
Written by	W.E. Johns
Starring	Alex Hyde White, Neil Dickson, Peter Cushing
Music by	The Immortals, Mötley Crüe
Release date(s)	1986
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
IMDb profile

Biggles: Adventures in Time is a 1986 feature 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.

Unassuming catering salesmen Jim Ferguson falls through a time hole to 1917 where he saves the life of dashing Royal Flying Corps 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.

The film was 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 the Second World War.

While poorly received by critics and audiences alike, the film remains of interest to Queen 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.

The movie was also turned into a video game for Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum getting somewhat above average scores in reviews.[1]

• The weapon testing ground in the 1917 scene is Beckton Gas Works and was filmed there a year before Full Metal Jacket was.

• The Bell 206 Jetranger Helicopter (Registration G-BAKF) used in the film was involved in a serious accident in 1989, when it collided with overhead electricity cables when the pilot was approaching a field to land. Luckily the crew escaped with minor injuries. However the helicopter did not fare so well. It was extensively damaged, written off and broken up for parts.

• Biggles: Adventures in Time at the Internet Movie Database
• Biggles: Adventures in Time at World of Spectrum

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