Screw MacGyver! Why Not Make a Wizard Movie Instead?

Everyone's been all a-twitter (not a-Twitter, but probably that, too) about the possibility that there will be a feature film version of MacGyver, the TV series starring Richard Dean Anderson as a master of mechanical improv. While that sounds okay, I guess, it also sounds a little, I dunno, dull. If it were up to me, I'd totally greenlight a movie version of the 1986 TV series The Wizard.

Considered an extremely lucid fever-dream by most people who remember seeing the show, The Wizard starred the 4-foot-tall actor David Rappaport (Time Bandits, The Bride) as wealthy toymaker Simon McKay, who was also a brilliant scientist, designing equipment for the disabled and non-military technology for the U.S. government. With his government liaison Alex Jagger (Douglas Barr, Designing Women) and his old friend Tillie Russell (Fran Ryan, Forever Knight), he solved mysteries using high-tech equipment pulled out of his satchel, frequently crossing paths with his arch-nemesis, Troyan (Roy Dotrice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer). It was like a cross between MacGyver and F/X, and the serious treatment of a character of Rappaport's height made the show stand out in a sea of normal-sized action/adventure shows. So why not translate it to the big screen and set it apart from other summer blockbusters?

We're living in the age of some of the greatest little actors of our time. Did someone say Verne Troyer? If so, please leave, because by no means should he ever be given a speaking part in a movie ever again. No, we were thinking Peter Dinklage (Nip/Tuck, The Station Agent) for the role of Simon, although that's certainly aiming high. Somehow, he seems above starring in a remake of a TV show, although he was in Prince Caspian and Elf. Martin Klebba is another possibility, having co-starred in Pirates of the Caribbean and Scrubs, but so is Danny Woodburn, of Seinfeld and Watchmen fame.

Do you remember The Wizard? Check out the opening credits here, then sign the petition to get it on DVD here!

7 Comments

June 29, 2009 4:24 PM
Jon
Reply

I loved "The Wizard." Except for one episode when he made a perpetual motion machine. Even at 13 years old, I knew that made no sense.

June 29, 2009 7:23 PM
Rocky
Reply

Wizard only ran for one season, while MacGyver ran for 7 and is still recognized around the world today.
I vote for a MacGyver movie.

June 29, 2009 8:14 PM
Buttersister
Reply

I vote for Peter Dinklage as MacGyver.

June 30, 2009 8:47 AM
Reedo
Reply

No mention of the man, the myth, the legend, Warwick Davis?

July 1, 2009 12:31 AM
DropEdge
Reply

I really DID think The Wizard was a fever dream, right along with The Goodies and Eerie, Indiana.

(Psst. Roy Dotrice guest starred on Angel, not BtVS.)

July 1, 2009 2:52 PM
S.C.
Reply

I remember the series, and I seem to remember liking it. I think a movie of it would be better than MacGyver because, being a lot more obscure, the movie wouldn't carry as much baggage. Rappaport is, sadly, no longer with us, but because few remember the series, he isn't a critical component (I think either Dinklage or Davis would work well). Can anyone imagine MacGyver without Richard Dean Anderson? I don't think so, but he's getting a little long in the tooth for such a role (that Mastercard commercial just emphasized that, in my mind).

July 2, 2009 9:12 AM
RJM
Reply

Didn't Roy Dotrice star in Beauty and the Beast as Father?

Yes, I have no life ...

And why does it have to be either/or? Couldn't it be both/and? Let's have BOTH MacGuyer AND The Wizard!

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