This had been another childhood viewing; actually, I had owned the computer game it spawned (of which an advert is included among the surprisingly extensive bonus features here more on this later).
The film is an old-fashioned adventure (based on a character, a British air ace of WWI, created by Capt. W.E. Johns) but given modern trappings by way of the time travel concept (just then brought back into fashion via BACK TO THE FUTURE [1985]), a young American ad executive is transported into the thick of battle and has to aid his so-called "Time Twin", Biggles, in destroying the German forces' secret weapon! While this element may not have been necessary in rendering the war exploits exciting, I guess it was considered safer (especially for American audiences to whom the name Biggles wouldn't mean much) then again, this makes for some amusing misunderstandings (involving the American's bewildered colleagues or him being chased by police) to go along with the dogfights (incidentally, Biggles has three inseparable buddies and a Von Richtofen-like nemesis); at one point, it's Biggles (played by Neil Dickson, by the way) who's thrown into our times and then takes a modern helicopter back to 1917!
Still, the biggest joy of the film is watching Peter Cushing's graceful farewell performance as Biggles' aged superior (not so dignified was his cameo appearance during the accompanying music video for the obligatory theme song, "Do You Want To Be A Hero?"). With this in mind, the film's ill-advised soundtrack consists of cheesy electro-pop rhythms which, more than anything, betray this as a product of the 1980s!
Apart from the expected fillers, the extras contained a number of vintage 'documents' from an interesting 20-minute featurette (in which Dickson, somewhat bafflingly, states that the film should appeal to fans of such effects-laden blockbusters as GHOSTBUSTERS [1984] and GREMLINS [1984]) to excerpts from TV programs discussing/advertising BIGGLES (to which was added the subtitle "Adventures In Time" for the U.S.) at the time of its release.
The film is an old-fashioned adventure (based on a character, a British air ace of WWI, created by Capt. W.E. Johns) but given modern trappings by way of the time travel concept (just then brought back into fashion via BACK TO THE FUTURE [1985]), a young American ad executive is transported into the thick of battle and has to aid his so-called "Time Twin", Biggles, in destroying the German forces' secret weapon! While this element may not have been necessary in rendering the war exploits exciting, I guess it was considered safer (especially for American audiences to whom the name Biggles wouldn't mean much) then again, this makes for some amusing misunderstandings (involving the American's bewildered colleagues or him being chased by police) to go along with the dogfights (incidentally, Biggles has three inseparable buddies and a Von Richtofen-like nemesis); at one point, it's Biggles (played by Neil Dickson, by the way) who's thrown into our times and then takes a modern helicopter back to 1917!
Still, the biggest joy of the film is watching Peter Cushing's graceful farewell performance as Biggles' aged superior (not so dignified was his cameo appearance during the accompanying music video for the obligatory theme song, "Do You Want To Be A Hero?"). With this in mind, the film's ill-advised soundtrack consists of cheesy electro-pop rhythms which, more than anything, betray this as a product of the 1980s!
Apart from the expected fillers, the extras contained a number of vintage 'documents' from an interesting 20-minute featurette (in which Dickson, somewhat bafflingly, states that the film should appeal to fans of such effects-laden blockbusters as GHOSTBUSTERS [1984] and GREMLINS [1984]) to excerpts from TV programs discussing/advertising BIGGLES (to which was added the subtitle "Adventures In Time" for the U.S.) at the time of its release.