BACKGROUND
In 2006, Disney Channel premiered a new series: Hannah Montana (2006-11). But this wasn’t just a TV show, because Hannah Montana became a pop sensation amongst kids, tweens, and teens, releasing CDs and putting on concerts, like any other singer would. So why should Disney have all the fun? In come Nickelodeon – the “other channel” that Disney would rather you didn’t know about – with their own show, Big Time Rush (2009-13), which launched a band along with its series, who released CDs and put on concerts.
This was never anything new, because The Monkees (1966-68) was very similar, i.e., four guys form a band in a television series and then become a real band off the back of it. In fact, when I was watching Big Time Rush, my mum mentioned that the show was basically The Monkees, but I wouldn’t know; I haven’t seen it.
I found Big Time Rush in an odd way. I was in Florida on a family holiday and whilst there, I always liked to buy the tween magazines, like J-14, so I could read about my favourite Disney stars. This time, I was about 18 and I was starting to drift away from Disney Channel as my favourite series ended and stars departed, but I still bought the magazine anyway. Whilst flipping through, I came across poster-after-poster of this band: Big Time Rush. They were cute, so of course, I was instantly fascinated with who these guys were and what show they were on.
I got home, found the show on Nickelodeon and became a fan of them over the summer. I even took those magazine posters to put up on my wall when I went to university that September, not thinking it was particularly weird. After all, I wasn’t much younger than these guys so naturally I thought, if I ever met them, they’d be much more likely to fall in love with me than any of their younger fans. I know, delusional, right?
Anyway, I did not find other people my age to be too forgiving of my interests. I was teased for the posters, as well as for my love of Disney. It wasn’t meant to be bullying, but it felt like it, and I was hurt, to be honest. But I got through the year and, by the summer, Big Time Movie had come out in the UK. I loved both the movie and the music – though I first watched it with a friend of mine who fell asleep through most of it, so not exactly a glowing review from her…Not that she was a fan, so who cares?
After that summer though, I started to feel like a kid for still liking Big Time Rush, knowing that I wasn’t their target demographic and that other people my age might be looking down on me for it. So, I vowed not to talk about “kid stuff” at university again. By doing this, I moved away from Big Time Rush, only listening to their music in secret, and I never finished watching the full series.
Recently, I decided to expand my movie reviews by venturing beyond the “Disney bubble”, and what should spring to mind as one of these non-Disney movies to write about but Big Time Movie. I had to give it a try again. I expected to find Big Time Movie quite cringey after not watching it for years, but I actually found it fun. Super cheesy but not taking itself seriously. Big Time Movie was just a good piece of light entertainment that extended the show’s overarching storyline.
PLOT
Big Time Movie begins in a huge castle where a James Bond-style villain has captured a princess. As the princess cries for help, we see the four members of boy band Big Time Rush assemble to come to her rescue. They are dressed up like spies in tuxedos and each finds their way to the castle: Kendall via a souped-up Aston Martin; Logan has a jet ski; Carlos is riding a quad bike; and James has parachuted out of an aeroplane. The villain is ultimately defeated by James falling onto the villain as he crashes through the ceiling. The princess is eternally grateful to the boys….
But then we don’t see anything else, because this was all just a dream. Carlos’ dream, in fact, which he has been woken from by a flight attendant, telling him that they are soon to be landing in London. Yes, Big Time Rush are going to London, the first stop of their world tour. The boys are very excited by this, however, Gustavo Rocque, music producer and Big Time Rush’s founder, is worried that the boys will get the tour cancelled with their usual chaos and antics. Kendall’s mother and sister, Katie, are also along for the ride. Katie is looking forward to somehow becoming a princess during her time in London, by meeting a member of the British Royal Family – because they’re so easy to find…
Once in the airport, Big Time Rush are told by Gustavo and his assistant Kelly not to get into any trouble. And yet, trouble just seems to find them, as they are rudely shoved by policemen chasing after someone in a suit holding a backpack. The man manages to swap out the backpack for an identical one on a nearby luggage carousel, but is caught by some scary-looking henchmen, including a man who has a hammer for an arm. This man is apparently a spy who is taken to a castle owned by entrepreneur Sir Atticus Moon. Moon wants whatever is in that backpack badly. He orders his henchmen to track it down once he discovers the bags were swapped.
Big Time Rush, meanwhile, have gotten to their hotel, the Queen’s Hotel, and we see that Kendall has the swapped-out backpack, unknowingly holding some sort of device wanted by a crazed billionaire. The boys are also unaware of the fact that members of MI6 are watching them, attempting to surreptitiously retrieve the backpack, but they are clearly very inept spies and they fail in their mission. Once inside their hotel room, the boys are told to remain in the room until soundcheck that afternoon, in preparation for their performance that night. Kendall then opens up his backpack to find a strange device inside. He presses the button on it and the room loses all gravity, sticking the guys to the ceiling. Kendall manages to push the button again and they fall to the ground. Suddenly, a spy enters the room aiming a gun at them. Logan is shot in the leg with a dart that knocks him unconscious. As Kendall, Carlos, and James stand there not knowing what to do, a girl comes in through the window, knocks the spy out, and takes the backpack. Two men from “room service” then burst in trying to get the bag, but Carlos catches it as it is thrown out of the girl’s hand. The boys rush out of their room through the fire escape, carrying Logan with them.
At the same time, Katie has overheard the Duke of Bath checking into the same hotel as them. Hearing that he’s single and royalty, Katie plans to set her mother up with him. They are taken out for afternoon tea and shown around the city by the duke. Meanwhile, Gustavo and Kelly are horrified to find that Big Time Rush have gone missing, with their tour promoter threatening to cancel the whole tour if they’re late for soundcheck.
Big Time Rush are now in Chinatown and search for the device online, via the “London Information Kiosk”, an interactive screen that is handily situated on the street. They find that billionaire Moon was trying to make an anti-gravity device but denied it was possible to make. Carlos then sees the guy with the hammer arm, who he’d seen at the airport, coming towards them. The guys run away again and come face-to-face with that girl who knocked out the spy in their room. She tells them to get in her talking spy van if they want to live – so they do just that. The van is being pursued by the “room service” men, who are actually Swedish spies also wanting the device. The girl introduces herself as Penny Lane, explaining that her father is a spy for MI6, and, although MI6 want the device, they are less bothered about rescuing her father from Moon. So, Penny asks the guys to help her save him. Big Time Rush aren’t sure about this but then find they are wanted by the police and MI6 so don’t have much choice! Kendall reminds everyone that they need to get to soundcheck in Hyde Park, so they make a deal: if Penny can get them to Hyde Park in time, then they will help her. Penny arranges a meeting with Moon in Hyde Park for the exchange.
MI6 have discovered that the device they believe Agent Simon Lane, Penny’s father, had was part of Moon’s Project Beetle, having discovered a report all about it. The head of MI6, however, thinks that Big Time Rush has taken this “Beetle” so that they can take over the world, especially as they have found footage from the hotel of Gustavo saying just that, but in reference to the band’s world tour. It’s clear he’s barking up the wrong tree, but there’s no persuading him that Big Time Rush have accidentally got mixed up in this!
Near to Hyde Park, Penny gives the boys disguises and tells them that the park is just across the street. They need to split up and get to their soundcheck, ensuring they avoid fans, police, and the Swedish spies on their way to it. As Gustavo and Kelly nervously await the boys’ arrival at soundcheck, they themselves are captured by MI6 and taken to be interrogated. They don’t have a clue what MI6 are talking about, but they are subjected to torture anyway – in the form of someone singing Big Time Rush songs to them!
Back at Hyde Park, just as the tour promoter is about to angrily cancel the tour, Big Time Rush turn up on stage to complete their soundcheck at the Hyde Park Amphitheatre. They then rush off to meet with Moon. Moon is waiting for them with Agent Lane in tow. However, he has more henchmen with him than expected and the boys are surrounded by guns. Even Penny, who was waiting nearby to shoot at them, is caught by Hammer-Arm. But Carlos starts a fight and they manage to escape from Moon and his henchmen – having to carry Logan who has been shot with a dart once again! They run into an unusually clean public toilet which actually takes them to a secret MI6 base. Agent Lane tells them that Moon is going to use the anti-gravity device, the Beetle, to take over the world but before they can come up with a plan to fix anything, Logan accidentally shoots Agent Lane with a laser which knocks him out – and will last for twelve hours. But Logan’s having a bad day, ok?! So, it’s up to them and Penny to decide what to do next. To make it worse, the boys soon learn that Katie, Kendall’s sister, has been captured by Moon, after him and Hammer-Arm take her from their hotel. Moon tells the boys to bring him the device in an hour, or else.
They come out of the lair back onto the London streets not knowing what to do, but happy that, because they have the backpack still, they have leverage. The Swedish spies then zoom past them and steal the backpack. Great, no more leverage… Logan wants to go to the police but they can’t really do that. Carlos wants to re-enact his spy dream from earlier and, having no other ideas, the boys and Penny agree to it. Penny’s van then arrives, despite having gotten annoyed with Big Time Rush earlier and banned them from accessing it, to come and help them, complete with tuxedos for the guys and Penny’s signature spy outfit. They also equip themselves with spy gadgets.
Having received the device after capturing the Swedish spies, Moon can set about enacting his plan. He explains to Katie that his plan is to use the Beetle and a laser to push the Moon out of its orbit, and, since it’s the day of the supermoon, it’s the perfect time to do so. This will cause worldwide chaos and allow Moon to force his way into power and become ruler of the world. MI6 figure out the plan and try to stop it, however, all their systems and communications become jammed, thanks to Moon using his big “Jam” button. He also protects himself with a force field so nobody can get to him. Smart.
Big Time Rush and Penny soon burst onto the grounds and into the castle, fighting all the henchmen. Kendall rescues Katie, and they even free the Swedish spies. The laser then hits the Moon and starts to be pushed out of orbit, disrupting the oceans and causing volcanoes to erupt. Penny and James go to the top of the stairs to defeat Moon, because in Carlos’ dream, James defeated the villain by falling on him. But once at the top of the stairs, James isn’t so sure about falling, so Penny kisses him and in his post-kiss reverie, he falls from the stairs on top of Moon, disabling the force field, which obviously didn’t cover Moon from above. What a rubbish force field… The boys shut down the laser by removing the Beetle and the Moon returns to its orbit. But in a twist, Katie is taken by Moon. Big Time Rush follow them and Kendall says he’ll give Moon the device. In the swap, Kendall turns on and throws the Beetle which sticks onto Moon’s back, lifting him into space.
MI6 arrive and thank Big Time Rush for their help, saying they’ll deal with Moon later as he flies higher and higher into the atmosphere…They are given a lift to their concert, via helicopter, almost late again. But they arrive just in time and launch into the first song of their set. At the concert, Katie tells her mother that the Duke of Bath is not a member of the Royal Family, having learnt he actually sells toilets after seeing an advert for his company on television – though she probably already suspected something was up after the duke gave her a bouquet of plungers instead of roses! When they meet the Earl of Sandwich backstage later, Kendall’s mother quickly leads Katie away, saying she’s not interested, despite this guy actually being royalty, and “third in line to the throne”.
At the end of their show, the boys are told by Gustavo and Kelly they can go sightseeing now, but find themselves face-to-face with the Swedish spies, who actually only want to return Kendall’s backpack and threaten the boys with a promise to make one of their tour stops in Sweden. They promise – and then agree to never being secret agents again! Penny and her dad, who’s awake now, then arrive, ready with their van to take them out sightseeing together. The boys do a quick-change into their tuxedos and get in the van.
CHARACTERS & CAST
For anyone unfamiliar with the concept of Big Time Rush, although the members of the real band use their actual names, the series and also the movie did not do so. Because the series came before the band, the series features fictional characters, though their first names are the same as the actors/singers, and only the surnames are different.
For example, Kendall Knight was played by Kendall Schmidt. Kendall Knight is Big Time Rush’s leader on screen and is the most level-headed one in the group. Kendall tends to be the one who is the most focused on the band and its success, not because Kendall is fame-hungry, but because he really loves being in a band with his best friends and doesn’t want it to end. This means that during Big Time Movie, when Carlos is distracted by spies, Logan just wants to see Parliament, and James is distracted by Penny, Kendall is the one making sure they get to soundcheck and their concert on time.
After the Big Time Rush series ended in 2013, Kendall Schmidt went on to have a recurring role in the Nickelodeon series School of Rock (2016-18), which was based on the 2003 movie starring Jack Black, playing the character Justin of Night Lizard. Schmidt is also known for the group Heffron Drive that he formed in 2008 with Dustin Belt. During his time on the show, Heffron Drive was on a break, but restarted again after the series ended.
James Diamond in the show is the ladies’ man and pretty boy of the band. When he isn’t singing, because he was the one most motivated to be a singer, he’s thinking about girls. During Big Time Movie, he doesn’t spend much time thinking about Sir Atticus Moon and his devious plans. He’s thinking about Penny Lane. Penny initially seems irritated by James’ advances, but eventually, she falls for his charming personality.
James Maslow played James Diamond on screen. After the show ended, Maslow was part of the line-up for Season 18 of Dancing with the Stars in 2014, where he finished in fourth place. On screen, he appeared in a few movies including Room for Murder (2018), where he played Jake; Holiday Twist (2023), playing Sam; and starred as Kevin Mohr in the Crackle series Sequestered (2014). In 2018, Maslow was one of the celebrity housemates in the US version of Celebrity Big Brother, where he finished sixth. Maslow pursued a solo singing career shortly after Big Time Rush, releasing his first album How I Like It in 2017.
Carlos Garcia is the troublemaker in the group, though he doesn’t mean to be. It’s just his light-hearted nature and excitability that get the band into all sorts of scrapes. In Big Time Movie, Carlos is in a dreamy state, thinking about how great it would be to be a spy, so when the moment comes for the boys to get involved in their own spy adventure, Carlos immediately wants to jump into it. Carlos’ spy dream actually comes in useful because he tells the boys and Penny how they should proceed on their mission to stop Moon, since Penny’s father, an actual spy, is “indisposed” – and it works.
Carlos Garcia was played by Carlos PenaVega. Since the end of Big Time Rush, PenaVega has voiced the character Bobby Santiago in the Nickelodeon animated series The Loud House (2016-present). PenaVega also starred in the Hallmark movie series the Picture Perfect Mysteries (2019-20) as Detective Sam Acosta, alongside his wife, Alexa PenaVega. They later both starred together in the Hallmark movie Love in the Limelight (2022). Following in Maslow’s footsteps, PenaVega came fourth in Season 21 of Dancing with the Stars back in 2015. He has also recently started a new band alongside friend Alex Marshall called Angels + Kings. Their first single “Lightning” was released in October 2024.
Rounding out the Big Time Rush band members is Logan Mitchell. Logan is the smartest one in the group, even aiming to become a doctor. This means he is quite analytical, logical, and serious, at times anyway. In Big Time Movie, Logan is nervous about getting involved in a spy operation, believing the best thing to do is to report it to the police, a perfectly normal response. He just wants to go and see Parliament in the city. But Logan is dragged into the action reluctantly, getting shot with tranquiliser darts on more than one occasion during the film, so he doesn’t have all that many opportunities to voice his dismay at being forced into this potentially deadly situation.
Logan Henderson was cast as Logan Mitchell. After Big Time Rush ended in 2014, Henderson took a break from the spotlight, returning to the music scene in 2017 with his debut solo single “Sleepwalker”. He later released his debut album Echoes of Departure and the Endless Street of Dreams – Pt. 1 in May 2018. It seems that Part 2 of the album is yet to be released.
Penny Lane – this being a not-so-subtle reference to The Beatles song of the same name – is the teenage spy who comes into Big Time Rush’s life like a whirlwind. Her father has been captured by Moon after smuggling an anti-gravity device out of a lab. Knowing he was at risk of capture, he swapped the backpack hiding the device with an identical one to stop Moon accessing it. Penny then attempts to retrieve the device so she can exchange it for her father’s release. She claims she doesn’t want to simply hand it over to MI6 because she fears her father’s return is not their priority, so she enlists the boys to help her with her plan. As usual with Big Time Rush, the plan does not go smoothly, however, they do save Penny’s father, Simon, quite easily. If it weren’t for a poor use of a spy laser by Logan, they might have been able to defeat Moon without so much trouble! Instead, Penny has to rely on Carlos’ dream to come up with plan. Luckily, it does work, with some clunky moments, and Penny also realises her feelings for James at the same time. What a time for romance, when the world is about to be destroyed by a power-hungry billionaire…
Penny was played by Emma Lahana. And don’t let that British accent fool you, because Lahana is in fact from New Zealand. Prior to Big Time Movie, Lahana was cast as Fiona in the Disney Channel Original Movie You Wish! (2003), and had performed the recurring role of Charlotte Monroe in The CW series Hellcats (2010-11). After Big Time Movie, she went on to play Brigid O’Reilly / Mayhem in the Freeform series Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger (2018-19). Her father, Agent Lane, was played by Christopher Shyer, also not British, who most recently landed the recurring role of the Vice President of the USA in Netflix’s The Night Agent (2023-present). He also previously portrayed Richard Nixon in J. Edgar (2011), the movie about J. Edgar Hoover, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio in the main role.
Then there is Sir Atticus Moon, the villain of Big Time Movie, who plans to move the Moon out of its orbit so he can rule the world. He is clearly meant to resemble a Bond villain with his grand plans, his suit, and his love of holding cats, frequently asking henchmen to get him a cat that he can hold. The cats don’t look very happy about this most of the time… This is reminiscent of the Bond villain Blofeld who held a white Persian. However, this being a movie for Nickelodeon, the villain here is not a criminal mastermind. He seems quite scared of fights and confrontation, getting his henchmen to do his dirty work for him, and doesn’t know what to do when things go wrong. When Big Time Rush ruin his plan, he simply grabs Katie and runs outside with her, telling the boys to give him the device. Moon then hands Katie over before he gets the device – rookie error. So, this gives the boys the opportunity to trick Moon by attaching the device to him, and, since it is an anti-gravity device, Moon gets launched into the air. We don’t actually know if he ever made his way back down to Earth….
Sir Atticus Moon was played by Trevor Devall, who has a history of voice acting, having voiced Rocket Raccoon in the animated series Guardians of the Galaxy (2015-19) for DisneyXD, as well as Hobbie in Star Wars Rebels (2014-18), also for Disney XD. Devall also “played” the character of Hermiod in Stargate: Atlantis (2004-09).
There are also other characters from the Big Time Rush series who appear in Big Time Movie. Two of these are Katie, Kendall’s sister, and Kendall and Katie’s mother, Mrs. Knight. Mrs. Knight has been the boys’ chaperone during their time in LA so she would need to accompany them on the tour. Katie, meanwhile, is excited to be in London because she dreams of marrying Prince Harry and becoming a princess. This leads her to trying to set up her mother with the Duke of Bath. Although Mrs. Knight has no desire to go along with her daughter’s scheme, when she hears that the duke has seventeen castles and hundreds of staff, she’s a little more interested. But, alas, he sells toilets for a living and the relationship ends before it really begins! It’s quite a silly side plot, but quite entertaining as well.
Katie was played by Ciara Bravo. After Big Time Rush, Bravo went on to appear as Emma Chato in the FOX series Red Band Society (2014-15) and was cast as Mary Smith in the FX series A Teacher (2020). Most recently, Bravo appeared as Tina in Season 2 of the Roku series Most Dangerous Game (2020-23), and was cast alongside Tom Holland, playing the character Emily, in the film Cherry (2021). Mrs. Knight was played by Challen Cates, who currently seems to be running a winery, Challen Winery.
Then there are Gustavo Rocque, the band’s music producer, and Kelly Wainwright, his assistant. Gustavo is quite a highly strung person, and unfortunately because Big Time Rush seem to attract chaos, they do not make Gustavo any calmer! Kelly is the more level-headed one, generally taking Big Time Rush’s trouble-making ways in her stride, although the events of Big Time Movie test both of them. Gustavo and Kelly specifically tell the boys not to leave their hotel room so they don’t get involved in any mess, so they are completely shocked to find the boys are nowhere to be seen, risking the cancellation of the whole world tour. To make things worse for Gustavo and Kelly, they are directly pulled in to the havoc, as they are interrogated and “tortured” by MI6, as MI6 believe that Gustavo and the boys are planning to really take over the world, after hearing footage of Gustavo saying that they will conquer Europe. This was all metaphorical, of course, in relation to hopes their tour will be a success, but instead of getting an apology from MI6, Gustavo and Kelly are simply dumped in a field and have to make their own way to the concert. What a bad day for them…
Stephen Kramer Glickman was cast as Gustavo Rocque. After the series ended, he went on to co-host the comedic podcast series The Night Time Show (2015-present). He also voiced Ned in the animated movie White Fang (2018). Kelly was played by Tanya Chisholm, who recently was cast as Jenna in Season 4 of Tyler Perry’s series Sistas (2019-present). She also recently appeared as Holly in the Hallmark movie Dial S for Santa (2023). Chisholm might look familiar to Disney fans as she played Jackie, one of Sharpay’s entourage in High School Musical 2 (2007).
MUSIC
Th majority of the music that can be heard in Big Time Movie should sound familiar to fans of The Beatles because the songs on the official Big Time Movie soundtrack are covers of famous Beatles songs, all written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
I’m going to be honest and say that I am not a fan of The Beatles. I understand that they are a huge part of the music industry as a whole and that they are massively important specifically to the British music scene, but I don’t actively seek out their music to listen to, and have only heard their songs randomly, like on screen or on the radio. It’s nothing personal; I just wasn’t born at the right time.
Because of this, I like Big Time Rush’s versions of these songs and prefer them to the originals. I’m sure many fans of The Beatles, though, would not enjoy these covers. Big Time Rush admitted themselves that they were nervous about doing the covers, but wanted to pay homage to the legendary band. The Big Time Movie soundtrack was released on 6th March 2012, ahead of the movie’s premiere on 10th March[1]. The movie also features some songs from the band’s second album Elevate which was released in November 2011, and some from their first album BTR, released in October 2010.
The first song to be heard in Big Time Movie is “Help!”, which plays during the opening spy sequence. It begins immediately as the captured princess is about to cry “help”. Funny about that, it’s like it was planned. This sequence and song set up the audience to get ready to watch a spy-inspired movie. “Help!” was first released in 1965, this being the title song of The Beatles’ film of the same name. “Can’t Buy Me Love” is the next Beatles song to be heard, as it is used for the scene when Big Time Rush are escaping from Hammer-Arm and Moon’s other henchmen who have followed them into the city. This song was released in 1964 and was part of the album A Hard Day’s Night.
Following on from that is my favourite song in the soundtrack, “We Can Work It Out”. This is played as the band are trying to get through Hyde Park to their soundcheck without being spotted by the police, screaming fans, or Moon’s men, so obviously, they are in weird disguises to do that, with mixed results. But they also appear in all black outfits at one point, which I believe is referencing a performance of this song by The Beatles. I can’t work out what the umbrellas and bicycles the band play about with during this scene mean though, other than I’ve seen images of The Beatles holding umbrellas and riding bicycles for photoshoots. Big Time Rush begin this song by stepping onto the “Abbey Road” crossing – except it’s not the real one – in that iconic pose. “We Can Work It Out” was originally released by The Beatles in 1965. Then there is “Revolution” which can be heard during the fight scene at Moon’s castle, when Big Time Rush and Penny Lane manage to foil his plan. This song is “foreshadowed” as Moon says a few times just before it about being ready for a revolution. This song was originally released in 1968.
The final Beatles song to appear in the movie is “A Hard Day’s Night”, this being Big Time Rush’s first song in their concert set at Hyde Park that evening, referencing the difficult day they’ve just had. This song was recorded in 1964 for The Beatles album of the same name. The other song on the official Big Time Movie soundtrack is “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, which does not appear in the movie, although the band did perform this at some tour shows. The Beatles recorded this song in 1963.
But The Beatles covers aren’t the only songs to appear in Big Time Movie; they had to use some of their own music. During the Hyde Park concert, Big Time Rush follow “A Hard Day’s Night” with the song “Elevate”, which is from the band’s second album of the same name. This song was written by Damon Sharpe, Johnny Powers Severin, James Maslow, and Eric Sanicola. You can also hear “Big Time Rush”, from the band’s first album BTR, and “Music Sounds Better With U”, from their second album, performed as part of Gustavo and Kelly’s torture scene. “Big Time Rush” is played towards the end of the film. It was written by Matthew Gerrard, Charlie Midnight, and Jay Landers. I thought I heard “Music Sounds Better With U” in the background near the end of the movie as the guys are told by Gustavo they can finally go sightseeing after their concert too. “Music Sounds Better With U” had many contributors including Ryan Tedder, Noel Zancanella, and Big Time Rush.
Finally, within the credited songs, you can hear “Any Kind of Guy” from the album BTR, and “Famous”, which is also on the same album, although not in some countries. It was not on the UK CD of BTR that I bought anyway. These songs were written by Matthew Gerrard, Charlie Midnight, and Jay Landers; and Desmond Child and Andreas Michael Carlsson, respectively. An instrumental clip of “Any Kind of Guy” is used when Gustavo and Kelly go to Big Time Rush’s hotel room with the tour promoter and find them gone. A small snippet of “Famous” is heard just as Big Time Rush get the idea to have MI6 take them to their concert via helicopter. It is then followed by an instrumental version of “Big Time Rush” as they actually get on stage.
There are also two snippets of uncredited songs that can be found in Big Time Movie. One is “Rule Britannia”, composed by Thomas Arne and James Thomson, which can be heard as the band are about to land in London and their plane flies over sights of the city. The second is “Brandenburg Concerto #3 1st Movement” by Bach, which is played during Katie and her mother’s afternoon tea. It may also be the classical music playing in the background whilst they are in the hotel lobby, but I’m not sure.
Finally, Guy Moon is credited as the composer on Big Time Movie. Moon was also the composer on other Nickelodeon programming, such as Danny Phantom (2004-07); the Fairly Odd movie trilogy (2011-14); and, of course, the Big Time Rush series.
Just as a warning, I watched Big Time Movie on DVD, however, I also watched parts of the movie on Paramount Plus, where I noticed that not all of the songs within the movie are played in full. This is probably a licensing issue and I’m unsure if this affects every country where Paramount Plus is available.
PRODUCTION
Big Time Rush, as a television show for Nickelodeon, officially began with its first season on 18th January 2010, having been created by Scott Fellows, who had previously created the series Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide (2004-07), also for Nickelodeon. The official series debut on the evening of 18th January set a new record for a Nickelodeon series, becoming the highest-rated and most-watched live-action premiere of a series for the channel with 6.8 million viewers[2]. It seems that this record has not been beaten in the years since. The first season ran until 20th August 2010 and consisted of twenty episodes.
A two-part pilot episode, “Big Time Audition”, first aired on 28th November 2009. This pilot introduced audiences to the four members of Big Time Rush and saw them get the opportunity to go to Los Angeles to start a band, having originally just been four guys from Minnesota. This set up the premise of the show, which followed the band through their time adjusting to new lives in California, and took viewers through the band’s journey from unknowns to international fame.
Supposedly, the four characters within Big Time Rush were written to be similar to the actual personalities of the actors and singers. However, I never really saw that, and interviews with the band, both then and now, only add to my feeling about that. Of the four of them, I think Kendall was the most like his character, but that’s really only because Kendall in the show was the steady, sensible one. Obviously, I don’t know them so I can’t actually comment, but it was quite clear to me that they were playing characters in a show after watching interviews with them as a real band. That’s probably a good thing really!
Speaking of Kendall, did you know that in an unaired pilot for a series to be called Brand New Day Kendall was replaced with a different actor? Big Time Rush could’ve been a very different series if this pilot had been greenlit. Instead, although Brand New Day was set to feature James, Carlos, and Logan, there was no Kendall, because the actor playing the fourth member of Big Time Rush was Curt Hansen; his character was called Curt Knight.
Based on the few clips and snippets of information I have found about this unaired pilot, it would seem that the plot of the pilot was more or less the same as “Big Time Audition”, with Gustavo Rocque plucking the boys out of Minnesota to take them to California to make them stars. But, outside of Curt not being Kendall, there were a couple of other differences. One was that Curt’s sister was not little Katie, but was actually a teenager. Another was that, at the end of the episode, Big Time Rush had to perform to Griffin, Gustavo’s boss, to convince him that the band could continue. In the aired pilot, they perform “Big Time Rush”, the series’ theme song, however, in the unaired pilot, they sang “This is Our Someday”[3]. That would’ve been the only thing from the unaired pilot that I would’ve liked kept because that’s my favourite Big Time Rush song, but even just from watching clips of the unaired pilot that surfaced online, it didn’t feel right without Kendall.
Since this version of the pilot was never released to the public, there hasn’t been anything publicly stated by the band or the creators of the show about why Curt was replaced with Kendall. Just because fans want to know why doesn’t mean they ever need to, or will, find out. It has been said that the reason was simply that Curt looked too much older than the other three and he sounded too much like James, so a lack of talent was not the issue here, especially as Curt Hansen went on to perform the role of Fiyero in the Broadway musical Wicked, both on Broadway and in touring productions. Hansen’s story with Big Time Rush also did not end with the unaired pilot as he appeared as the character Dak Zevon, a clear parody of Zac Efron, in two episodes of Season 1 of Big Time Rush.
After the success of Season 1, a second season began shortly after the first one finished. Season 2 consisted of 29 episodes, starting on 25th September 2010 and ending on 28th January 2012. This was my favourite season of the show, though I did only watch the first two in full. They’d sorted out James’ hair in this season; I appreciated it.
Just under two months after Season 2 ended, Big Time Movie was set to premiere. This movie would continue the storyline of the series which had ended with discussions about Big Time Rush going on a world tour. London was their first stop on this tour.
Big Time Movie was written by Scott Fellows, the creator of the series, which makes sense for continuity. It was directed by Savage Steve Holland, who had directed multiple episodes of Big Time Rush, including the pilot “Big Time Audition”. For Nickelodeon, Holland had directed episodes of other series including Zoey 101 (2005-08) and Fellows’ Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide; as well as Nickelodeon movies such as A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! (2011), a live-action/animated continuation of The Fairly OddParents (2001-17), co-written by Scott Fellows and Butch Hartman. Holland had also previously directed for Disney, with the Disney Channel Original Movie Stuck in the Suburbs (2004) and several episodes of Lizzie McGuire (2001-04) and Phil of the Future (2004-06).
I don’t want to ruin anyone’s illusions about Big Time Movie, but I should say that, despite being set in London, it was not filmed there. Gasp! Like many television movies, especially those meant to be set in the UK, Big Time Movie was filmed in British Columbia, Canada. Production tried their best to make Big Time Movie look like London, but some might’ve noticed a few misrepresentations and misunderstandings of the city, such as Kendall continuously referring to the London Eye as “the giant Ferris wheel”, which I would’ve expected Logan to have corrected him on, and how I have never seen a “London Information Kiosk” interactive screen on the streets of London. There are others but the real thing to bother me, because I’m a bit of a royalist, is that the Earl of Sandwich claimed to be third in line to the throne. In 2012, Prince Harry was actually third in line to the throne, as Prince George was not born until 2013. The Earl of Sandwich, an actual title currently held by Luke Montagu, the 12th Earl of Sandwich, is way down the line of succession. These were obviously not meant to be factual, more for comedy or story purposes, but it’s always good to correct misconceptions, just in case. I don’t want anyone going to London and being disappointed that there are no information kiosks for them to Google stuff – because we don’t have phones that can do that now or anything…
Anyway, one of the locations used to film Big Time Movie was Hatley Castle, which was the setting for Moon’s castle, and the evil villain’s castle at the start of the film. It has been used for various other productions. For example, Hatley Castle was the setting for Auradon Prep, the school in Disney Channel’s Descendants film series. It is also the home to X-Mansion in some movies within the X-Men and Deadpool film franchises[4].
Since Big Time Movie was being promoted as “Austin Powers meets James Bond with Beatles songs”, some level of stunts was needed in the movie. In some cases, the stuntmen had to do the work for the actors or other methods were used, such as a dummy being thrown from the top of the stairs in Moon’s mansion at the point that James is meant to be crashing down onto him. Kendall also did not actually drive the Aston Martin his character is driving at the beginning as he couldn’t drive “stick shift”. However, in others, Big Time Rush got to do their own stunts. For instance, Carlos was allowed to drive the dirt bike that his character is riding at the start of the movie, at least for some shots, and James, whose character jumps out of a plane during that opening sequence, did perform his own stunt here, jumping around ten feet down onto crash mats.
Big Time Rush got to work with some big names whilst filming Big Time Movie. For example, their stunt coordinator was Garvin Cross, who had just worked in the stunt department on Inception (2010) at the time, and their costume designer was Angus Guthrie, who won the Oscar for Best Costume Design on Moulin Rouge! (2001)[5].
RECEPTION
Big Time Movie premiered on 10th March 2012 on Nickelodeon in the US. It was later released on Nickelodeon in other countries over the next few months. It premiered in the UK on 26th May 2012, for example. During its first weekend, Big Time Movie reached around 13 million total viewers in the US, with the primetime premiere averaging 4.1 million viewers[6].
Big Time Movie and its director Savage Steve Holland were nominated at the 65th Directors Guild of America Awards for outstanding directorial achievement in the Children’s Program category, but lost out to Paul Hoen who directed Disney Channel’s Let It Shine (2012). That’s just a tad bit awkward for Nickelodeon to lose out to its biggest rival channel!
In terms of reviews for Big Time Movie, these were mostly positive from fans of the television series, who were the target audience for the movie. It was a good extension of the storyline, since having a band go on to do a world tour is a natural progression in their career, and it involved the same silly humour that the programme was known for. Many appreciated the references to James Bond movies as well as The Beatles. The covers of Beatles songs were also considered to be good, according to fans of Big Time Rush. The movie also only has a runtime of just over an hour, so it’s perfect for children to focus on However, a movie cannot limit who sees it only to those who should like it, so, there are negative comments online about Big Time Movie too. The majority of these state that the acting and plot of the movie are awkward and cringey, likely because the viewer was not part of the target demographic at the time of watching. When I was nineteen, I didn’t find Big Time Movie cringey at any point, but watching it as an adult, I did at times, so it’s a fair comment to make, but Big Time Movie was never aiming to be Oscar-worthy material.
Unsurprisingly, other reviews focused on the fact that Big Time Movie was seen to be ripping off The Beatles, both through their covers of popular Beatles songs, as well as through the plot of Big Time Movie. Although there is nothing overly similar in the plots of Big Time Movie and The Beatles films like A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Help! (1965), the silly humour and antics that happen during everyday band life did feature in those Beatles movies. These movies did, however, inspire the series The Monkees (1966-68), which, in turn, inspired the making of Big Time Rush. So, to say “rip-off” is harsh, and “influenced by” is more appropriate.
I also read a few comments saying that the movie was “offensive”. I’m not quite sure who would be offended by Big Time Movie. Perhaps British people because it used some stereotypical characters and misunderstanding of British life, although I’m British and didn’t find it at all offensive. Inaccurate, yes, but offensive, no. The only thing that perhaps could be deemed offensive is the Japanese “torture” scene, where Kelly and Gustavo are tortured by a Japanese man singing Big Time Rush songs at MI6. Torture methods shouldn’t be made light of, so this was a slightly awkward attempt at humour, but I can see the intent behind it, to actually mock Big Time Rush themselves and not Japan. Some accents in this movie might also be classed as “offensive”, but mostly bad accents are just funny.
LEGACY
After Big Time Movie was released, Season 3 of Big Time Rush premiered on Nickelodeon shortly afterwards, on 12th May 2012. This ran across twelve episodes ending on 9th November 2012, and used many of the songs from Big Time Rush’s second album, Elevate. Season 4 of Big Time Rush then aired from 2nd May 2013 to 25th July 2013 and consisted of thirteen episodes. This time, music from the band’s third album 24/Seven, released in June 2013, was used throughout the season.
It would appear that the cast of the Big Time Rush series knew that Season 4 would be their last, probably because the main four were in their mid-twenties by this point and no doubt wanted to get on with their own careers. The band breaking up after releasing their third album was even a plot point in Season 4 Episode 11 “Big Time Break Out”, so that’s even more evidence that the show was coming to a conscious end. Season 4 ended with a two-part special called “Big Time Dreams”. In this episode, Big Time Rush were nominated for five awards at the Tween Choice Awards – an obvious nod to Nickelodeon’s own Kids’ Choice Awards, complete with slime, or, in this case “goop”. However, they couldn’t enjoy the ceremony as they were pulled into an evil plot whereby the award ceremony’s sponsor was trying to hypnotise the world into wanting to eat his mac and cheese product all the time. With help from Alexa PenaVega, playing a fictionalised version of herself as an actual “spy kid”, Big Time Rush foil the plan and make it on stage just in time to perform and receive their award for “Awesomest Song”. The episode ends with all the boys achieving their dreams: Logan to find the “goop” room at the awards show; James to become “official” with his girlfriend, Lucy; Kendall to have the band be a success, together; and Carlos to finally get a girlfriend, this being Alexa PenaVega, his real-life girlfriend at the time.
Although “Big Time Dreams” was quite a cute episode, it didn’t feel like a fitting ending to the whole show. Some comments online found this to be a disappointing finale, feeling that it basically took the plot of Big Time Movie, the events of which the boys didn’t even mention during the episode. Many did like the last few moments of the episode though, with the band’s performance “We Are”, as well as seeing clips from the best moments of the show playing on a screen behind them.
After Big Time Rush the show ended, the band completed a final tour, their Live World Tour, in February 2014. The band then broke up, seemingly forever. Throughout their time on television and in the music industry, the show and the band had won multiple awards at the Kids’ Choice Awards. Big Time Rush won Favorite International TV Show at the Kids’ Choice Awards in Mexico in 2011; Argentina in 2013; and Colombia in 2014. The band won Favorite Music Group at the US Kids’ Choice Awards in 2012 and the Fan Army award in 2013. The band also won Favorite International Group in Argentina in 2012, Mexico in 2013, and Colombia in 2014. The show was even nominated for Best International TV Show at the BAFTA Children’s Awards in 2010.
But Big Time Rush were over, giving the guys the freedom to do whatever they wanted in their lives in the meantime. However, in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic stressing out much of the world, Big Time Rush reunited momentarily to release an acoustic version of their popular song “Worldwide”.
That could’ve been where the band left their reunion, crushing the dreams of many fans, but they did not stop there because in 2021 Big Time Rush officially announced that they were reuniting, by going on tour. This was the Forever Tour which began in Washington D.C. on 23rd June 2022 and spanned many areas of the US, as well as some cities in South America, becoming their first headline tour in nearly a decade. It ended in Rio de Janeiro on 5th March 2023. And that was not all. In June 2023, Big Time Rush released their fourth album Another Life and went on tour again, the Can’t Get Enough Tour, visiting areas of the US, Canada, and Mexico during the summer of 2023.
This was then followed by a UK and Europe Tour which took place in June 2024. They went to cities like Berlin, Paris, Madrid, London, and Manchester. In October of that year, the band went to Australia and Asia for another mini-tour, heading to places like Sydney, Melbourne, Singapore, and Manila. The band’s most recent fan event was Big Time Rush on Ice which was their Christmas 2024 event, held in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
2025 is going to be just as exciting for fans, as the band announced a new world tour on 20th February 2025, named the In Real Life Worldwide tour, with dates starting in cities across the US from July 2025, going until the end of August, before the band head off to Europe in November 2025, visiting cities across the continent, like Berlin, Milan, Barcelona, Paris, London, and Athens, until the tour ends in December. It was also announced that Katelyn Tarver and Stephen Kramer Glickman, both of whom starred in the Big Time Rush series as Jo and Gustavo respectively, will be joining the band on their tour.
There has also been some discussion around a new Big Time Rush movie being in the early stages of development, which potentially could feel similar to Zoey 102 (2023), the reunion movie for Zoey 101, though hopefully a Big Time Rush reunion will be more accomplished than Zoey 102…
FINAL THOUGHTS
In all honestly, the, for want of a better word, bullying that I experienced during my first year at university around my love for Big Time Rush did somewhat taint the show and the band for me. I only watched a few episodes of Big Time Rush Season 3 before giving up and moving on with my life.
Over the years, I have felt somewhat cheated out of experiences that real Rushers – their fandom name – got to experience. I missed out on Big Time Rush’s third album; I never got to see the finale episode of the television series live; and I didn’t get to see Big Time Rush reunite around 2021. I wasn’t even aware that the band had got back together until a few months ago. Obviously, I can go back and find these moments online now, but it might’ve been nice to live through them with everyone else.
But I really need to move past that, and this week, by researching Big Time Movie, I’ve managed to get closure on that chapter in my life because I got to go back and look at old interviews, clips of past episodes, old songs, and new music. It was a lot of fun.
Big Time Rush will always have a special place in my heart and, although I can’t count myself as an official Rusher, I wish the guys nothing but the best for the future, either with the band or in their solo projects. I look forward to seeing what they do next.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Jason Lipshutz, ‘Exclusive: Listen To Big Time Rush’s ‘Big Time Movie’ Soundtrack’, Billboard.com, 29th February 2012.
[2] Credit: Nickelodeon, ‘Nickelodeon Scores Record-Breaking Night with Brand-New iCarly and Big Time Rush Debut’, PRNewsWire.com, 19th January 2010.
[3] Credit: Author Unknown, ‘Brand New Day (partially found pitch pilot of “Big Time Rush” Nickelodeon musical comedy series; 2007)’, LostMediaWiki.com, date unknown.
[4] Credit: Hatley Park, ‘Over 80 years of filming’, HatleyPark.ca, date unknown.
[5] Credit: Nickelodeon, ‘Behind the Scenes – Big Time Movie – Photoshoot’, MafeHD YouTube Channel, 5th March 2012.
[6] Credit: Nickelodeon, ‘Nickelodeons “Big Time Movie” Scores Top Spot for the Week With Kids and Tweens and Reaches 13 Million Total Viewers’, TheFutonCritic.com, 13th March 2012.
The Disney Purist 