Line #15 Trivia/TheWizard


1	!!The 1986 TV show:
2	* PropRecycling: H.E.N.R.I. is the renamed and repurposed prop of the robot Pal from the Showscan movie ''Let's Go''. This reuse is more than likely due to Eric Allard and his position as one of the creators of Simon's many robotic inventions.
3	* RecycledScript: The episode "Endangered Species", is about a wolf child turns out to be the heir of a murdered co-owner of a company, and the other co-owner wants to finish the job. It was recycled, almost scene for scene, from an episode of ''Series/{{Manimal}}'' called "Female of the Species". And then the script was recycled AGAIN in 1994 for an episode of ''Series/ThunderInParadise'', also titled "Endangered Species". The same writers - [[Series/{{Baywatch}} Michael Berk and Douglas Schwartz]] - are credited for all three shows.
4	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Had the series made it to a second season, H.E.N.R.I. the robot would have become a regular. The Wizard fansite has drafts for two episodes that would have been written, and H.E.N.R.I. is prominently featured in both of them. He might have even been intended as a replacement for Tillie; she is not in the finale, and neither draft mentions her at all.
5	* WrittenByCastMember: David Rappaport helped with "Trouble In The Stars", getting a "Story By" credit in the intro.
6
7	!!The 1989 film:
8	* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: They correctly pronounced ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MlGNj9FUhY Ninja Guy-Den]] (as opposed to Ninja Gay-Den).
9	* CompletelyDifferentTitle:
10	** Released in Japan under the title ''Sweet Road''.
11	** Some territories title it as ''The Genius''.
12	** In Germany, it's called ''Joystick Heroes''
13	* CreatorBacklash: Jenny Lewis considers her involvement with this movie to be mediocre at best, particularly after she established herself as the lead singer of indie rock group Music/RiloKiley. In [[http://defgav.com/rilokiley/articles/lunchdate.html an interview]] from 2003, Lewis described ''The Wizard'' as something that she wished people would stop asking her about, noting "That's cool and all, and that was fun, but it just gets like, a bit annoying because I feel like I have more interesting things to say." In [[https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/jenny-lewis-on-the-line-new-album-interview-800113/ a 2019 interview]] with ''Rolling Stone'', Lewis explained that she was uncomfortable with her association with ''The Wizard'' because early in Rilo Kiley's career, hecklers would show up to their concerts just to yell video game references at her.
14	* {{Defictionalization}}: This movie was the loose inspiration for the [[http://www.atarihq.com/tsr/nes/nwc/nwc.html Nintendo World Championships]].
15	* DeletedRole: A young Creator/DanteBasco had a role as one of Corey's friends that we would meet in the first act but his role was left on the cutting room floor.
16	* DeletedScene: Several, as the original cut clocked in at around 150 minutes making it far too long for a family film. Scenes cut include a more deeper look into Corey's home life (including meeting several friends of his, one played by a young Creator/DanteBasco), more development of Christian Slater's character, Sam being an ineffective father, more of the BlendedFamilyDrama between Christine and her former step children (which was only briefly mentioned in the final cut), the kids sneaking into Universal Studios to attend Video Armageddon, and more. The scenes were finally released for viewing on Shout Factory's 2020 Blu ray release.
17	* {{Misblamed}}: Some blame the cheesier parts of the movie on Nintendo, since it seems an awful lot like a [[ProductPlacement 100-minute Nintendo commercial]], but [[https://www.popoptiq.com/the-wizard-1989/ Nintendo actually took a rather hands-off approach to the creative decisions]]. The vast majority of the ExecutiveMeddling leading to a TroubledProduction was from Universal.
18	* MissingTrailerScene: Some of the above mentioned deleted scenes can be seen in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT6zfPC3sDk the trailer]]
19	* PropRecycling: The Hawk Hauling truck is from ''Film/OverTheTop''.
20	* SerendipityWritesThePlot: Normally, using a feature film to promote an upcoming video game would be completely unrealistic, because the scenes filmed at their specific point in time may end up showcasing the game in a much earlier development stage and looking worlds apart from the final product. Thanks to a ROM chip shortage going on at the time though, Nintendo had to delay the North American release of ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' by a considerable margin, allowing them the opportunity to drum up hype by way of this movie, with the Japanese version having already been available before the movie even started production. Had it not been for that shortage, this movie might never have been made.
21	* StarDerailingRole: Between this and ''Film/LittleMonsters'' being released in the same year, studios' desires of turning Creator/FredSavage into a movie star after he got hyped up with ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' and ''Series/TheWonderYears'' vanished.
22	* ThrowItIn: It's pretty obvious that Jenny Lewis and Creator/FredSavage cracking up at the end of the scene where she kisses him was ''not'' scripted.
23	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
24	** Originally the Platform/GameBoy was going to appear, but Nintendo didn't want it in as they feared it would be too early of a reveal to competition; Not that it mattered much in the end, as the film would end up releasing five months after the handhelds American debut.
25	** Originally, Haley's home town was going to be Las Vegas. However, the film crew couldn't find any casinos in Vegas that would allow them to film with the kids nearby, so Reno became her home town instead since it was the next best option.

Context Trivia / TheWizard