The Wizard of Speed and Time (film)

Straeker: There are your film cans, but you can't move them.
Jittlov: Why? Are they stuck to the floor?
Straeker: No, to the system!

The Wizard of Speed and Time is a 1989 low-budget feature film written, directed, and starring animator Mike Jittlov. It presents a heavily-fictionalized and very satirical version of how the original Wizard of Speed and Time short was made. It incorporates a remake of the short, as well as portions of some of his other short films (such as Time Tripper and Animato).

The tricks of movie magic are exposed; but so are the tribulations of the independent moviemaker working around the heavily-unionized Hollywood film industry.

In the film, a director, Lucky Straeker (Steve Brodie), and a producer, Harvey Bookman (Richard Kaye), bet over whether Jittlov can actually complete a major effects assignment, and Bookman does everything in his power to thwart Jittlov.

The feature film is also filled with subliminal messages, many hidden in single frames during the "Wizard Run" sequence (which was remade and expanded from the original short film), or hidden in electrical sparks generated by various happenings in the film.

The film was filmed in 1983 but remained on the shelf until it was released to a very small number of theaters in 1989. It was later released on VHS and laserdisc. Although there is no official DVD release yet, Jittlov's fans have (with Jittlov's knowledge and at least tacit approval) created a DVD image file, and made it available for free on peer-to-peer networks until such time as an official release is realized.

Many scenes in the movie turned out to be only too prophetic, according to Jittlov.

Tropes used in The Wizard of Speed and Time (film) include:

Acting for Two: Jittlov is not only the Wizard, but the judge who gave the Wizard a score of 9.7.
Banana Peel: Inexplicably left in the middle of a country road, miles from anywhere.
Bridal Carry: How the Wizard transports his hitchhiker.
Character as Himself: Mike Jittlov is credited as being played by "The Wizard". The Wizard, subsequently, is listed as portraying himself.
Cult Classic
Everything's Better with Sparkles: Especially when they turn into large gold stars that can be held and admired.
Fast Tunnelling: Demonstrated by the Wizard when he simply runs through a mountain in his way.
Homage: The "acceleration" montage right before the Banana Peel has been reproduced by a couple of big-budget films.
"I Am" Song: A different one is used in the remake of the short, probably because of rights issues.
Memetic Outfit: Mike Jittlov is dressed throughout the film in his trademark green jacket and sneakers.
Montage: After the Wizard bypasses the mob of girls looking for a lift and before he hits the Banana Peel, there is a rapid sequence of still photos of landscapes into which the camera zooms, one after another. Each frame of this montage is loaded with subliminal messages.
No Budget: Jittlov had to borrow the shoestring on which he made this film.
Pixilation
Robe and Wizard Hood
The Runt At the End: The smallest marching tripod in the movie studio. Also the birdlike clapboard.
Security Cling: The Wizard's passenger during her ride.
Self-Deprecation: Jittlov as the judge who gives the Wizard the 9.7 score -- and then gets beaten about the head and shoulder by the other judges.
Shout-Out: The film set into which the Wizard falls is inside the castle in the Magic Kingdom -- a tip of the hat to the show on which the film originally appeared.
Special Effects Failure: Seen throughout as examples of the work of anyone other than Jittlov.
Stop Motion: Used -- with lip syncing! -- in the movie studio segment.
Super Speed
Title Drop: In the first line of the "I Am" Song which makes up the second half of the film.